Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Tuesdays Teachings - Mary

I have decided that since some of my favourite blogs I have written seem to be written and posted on Tuesdays that I will start a regular column called Tuesdays Teachings. I pray that you all enjoy, learn and apply to your lives what the Holy Spirit is speaking in me.

MARY

One of the stories in the Bible that has always stayed with me is the story for the Wedding in Cana. I know most people think of this story in terms of Jesus' first miracle - which it is - but I often think and have even joked about it that this story is about a son obeying his mother.

We all think and have the image of Mary in our mind as a gentle woman who would never have yelled at Jesus when she was frustrated; was always patient; always had dinner on the table for Joseph when he came home from work.... do you get my drift. The perfect wife and mother. Truly a Proverbs 31 woman. However, I like to think about her in terms of her strength and humanity. She faced down the gossips while she was carrying Jesus - "What do you mean she's pregnant? She's not even married" Yet, this young woman of about 16, went forth and stayed her ground. She never lost faith and went forth with God's plan for her life. Could you have done that, I don't know if I would have had the strength and conviction.

We know that she was also human and lost her temper at least once with Jesus:
Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom.

After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him.

After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

"Why were you searching for me?" he asked. "Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Luke 2:41-50 (MSG)

I love this paraphrase. I can imagine Mary just losing it on Jesus. Anger, frustration, hurt, pain, anxiety, stress and questioning herself - what kind of mother am I that I forgot my son. Then she takes all these feelings out on her son. Luckily her son was Jesus and not Macaulay Culkin.

When we look at John 2, we see that Jesus, his mother and disciples attend a wedding in Cana. When the wine has been finished, Mary commands Jesus to "make" more; Jesus rebukes his mother. However, Mary is determined. She knows what her son is capable of. She is determined to have her way. She tells the servants to do what Jesus commands them to do. Jesus obeys his mother (now if he wasn't perfect, he probably had some comments like our children do when we ask them to do something they don't want to do).

Jesus tells the servants to fill 6 jars with water "to the brim" and then take the jars to the Master of the Banquet. The Master, unaware of the circumstances, accuses the bridegroom of bringing the choicest wine out last. In this first miracle of Jesus, He revealed himself and his disciples believed.

Notice that it took seeing the actual miracle for the disciples to believe after seeing the miracle, but Mary believed from the beginning. She knew who Jesus was. She believed in her son when others didn't. She had faith in Him to help.

We can learn much from Mary and Jesus in this story. Mary believed the Angel when he told her that her son would be the Emmanuel. She believed in Jesus when no one else did. Jesus was a good son, he obeyed his mother, even though he wasn't ready to begin.

Do you obey when asked to do something extraordinary by someone who believes in you?
Do you believe in your children?
How is your faith - limited or blind?
Do you believe in your God faithlesslessly and unquestioningly?
What does it take for you to believe?

Mary believed in Jesus. She believed in Him as a mother, as a daughter of God, and as a child of Christ. Are you willing to believe that in Him all things are possible?

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think it must have been so hard to be the mother of the son of God. His own confidence in who He was in God's eyes would have highlighted her own insecurities (because we all have them, don't we?!). And yet, like you said, she chose to unfailingly put her trust and faith in Him. Beautiful.

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Alberta, Canada
I'm a 39 year old (oh yeah I'm telling you my age) Stay at Home mom. A former Bad Girl now reformed sinner, I'm married to my Y2K guy and raising 3 great children from God. Proudly Canadian, however, missing the West Coast, I currently live in the prairies watching the farmers fields produce as I learn how God produces the fruits in me.
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