| What I Can Learn From . . . , Part 15: Mary |
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| Written by David Lawrence |
| Monday, December 19 2005 00:00 |
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Mary was a young Jewish virgin whom God selected to be the mother of His Son. Roman Catholic tradition has created a virtual cult of Mary, mixing the Biblical figure with superstitions and pagan myths to create a queen of heaven who has the power to intercede on behalf of Christians and to whom Christians should pray. Protestants tend to react by neglecting Mary and not giving her the proper honor that God sanctioned. Protestants need to read the Magnificat, Mary’s song of praise in Luke 1:46-55 to understand the heart of Mary. God in his grace gave Mary tremendous strength, not just to bring the child Jesus into the world, but to keep to herself what was revealed about Him to her, and to thus stand aside and allow God to unfold His eternal purpose in the life of her child. The unselfishness of Mary is amazing. Only once did she prod him, perhaps a bit prematurely, at the wedding feast in Cana (John 2), but Jesus still provided the wine for the guests, only after a little chiding of his mother for arranging his schedule for him. What is most impressive about Mary is her reaction at the cross. She was there, please remember. She saw done to her son what no mother should ever have to endure. The motion picture The Passion of the Christ was graphic, but perhaps still did not represent the horror of the occasion. Yet Mary kept silence, when she could have given the unbelieving Jewish religious leadership what they wanted to hear, information that only she could provide: Jesus’ parentage. It was Jesus’ claim to be the Son of God that caused him to be crucified, and if Mary had acquiesced, although falsely, to their wishes and named her son as a bastard and given them the name of the man who conceived him, they probably would have laughed, taken him down, and allowed him to be subjected to ridicule and rejection by all his disciples. That would probably have given them even greater satisfaction. At least, for any mother, it would have been worth taking a chance. But Mary kept silent. What can we learn from Mary? Not that she was born free of original sin, for she says in Luke 1:47 that God is her savior, and only sinners need saving. But we can learn that when God extends mercy and grace to someone, we can rejoice in that and respect such a person (“From now on all generations will call me blessed”, Luke 1:48b). We can emulate her patience, her faith, her love, her tenderness, and her willingness to submit to the will of God even if such submission causes great pain. Christian women can and should use Mary, above all others, as their own personal model. What a woman! What a mother! What a Christian! |
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