What Mary Knew
In last week’s Moment of JOY, we were asked the question, “Are you a Mary or a Martha?” In short, is your highest priority being still (Psalm 46:10) or being busy? The point being that we can become so busy with doing all of the “right” things that we can miss out on truly being present with God. We learn that placing too much attention on the things of this world can be a distraction from the one thing that is most important.
Mary of Bethany, whom the passage in Luke 10: 38-42 refers to, knew that the most important thing she could do was hear from the Lord. She valued being in the presence of the One who spoke of eternal truths. She had faith in Him. Mary, Jesus’ mother, also had faith in her son, but it came from a different place.
In Luke 2, we read how the shepherds reacted to seeing Jesus in the manger. They were understandably excited. “When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them” (Luke 2: 17-18). In contrast, Mary’s reaction to what had just taken place was that she “treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2: 19).
Mary’s thoughts of Jesus were not like those of anyone else in history. She knew He wasn’t like other boys. Even Jesus’ brothers doubted him (John 7: 5), but not Mary. His birth came from her own virgin body. She didn’t need to be convinced of who He was because she knew Him in a way that no one else could.
Mary again had a moment of heart treasuring later in Luke 2 after temporarily losing 12-year-old Jesus. Three days later she found that he had been teaching in the temple courts. Just as anxiety had settled in among His followers during the three days that followed His crucifixion, Mary and Joseph were anxious when they didn’t know where He was. However, calm returned to Mary when she found him. The reality of who Jesus is again returned to her heart.
Accepting Jesus as our Savior happens when He becomes real to us. While different from Mary’s reality, our own moments of epiphany are no less authentic.
For the believer, we can use our salvation testimony and all of the other moments when God reveals Himself to us as mileposts in our faith journey. It’s easy to get caught up in doing all of the religious things we do and not take time to treasure up all of these things and ponder them in our heart. Our hearts benefit when we take time to meditate on and worship Jesus for who He is.