That's What She Said

Earlier this week the Gospel reading was Mary's Song. To those unfamiliar this is a simple prayer of thanksgiving that Mary offers after being greeted so graciously by her cousin Martha. It's a wonderful prayer...honest and humble. It got me thinking about how significant Mary is in Jesus' life...and how she should be in ours. She was there at the beginning of Jesus' Earthly life...and there at the end. And she was there afterward...when He rose again. But it occurred to me...that for all of her significance...we only hear her speak three times.

The first time Mary speaks we hear her offer her complete and unwavering obedience to God (Luke 1:38). The second time we hear her speak it is the prayer of thanksgiving from the Gospel reading I mentioned earlier. She sings of God's holiness and of His mercy. The third time she speaks, we hear her instructing the servants at the wedding feast to "do whatever He tells you (John 2:1-11). So there you have it. Jesus' mother speaks only three times in the Bible and we get three messages: 1) Serve God...His will be done, 2) God is holy and merciful, and 3) we should do whatever He tells us.

As I think about it...that's pretty good advice. And its not advice from some scholar living in a lofty tower, it is advice that was lived out in Mary's life. She is not only our teacher...but our example. Service, worship, and obedience. It seems to me we can do alot worse than apply these "sayings" of Mary to our own life. Maybe this Christmas...as we pause to thank God for the His precious Son, we should pause to think about Mary...about how she lived...and about what she said.