It’s almost Mother’s Day! We can’t escape the ads, and it’s best to shop for gifts at a special price and book a table for brunch to celebrate. For sure, pastors will be delivering appropriate-for-the-day messages and, most likely, handing out flowers.
There’s a woman who has been hailed by many over the centuries. She is most popular at Christmastime. Perhaps we can look back and see why she is an incredible inspiration to mothers.
We often hear comments such as, “You would be a great mom!” or “I hope the baby will follow soon now that you are married!” These words sound prophetic because they can happen at one point. And the “I told you so” comment will come, along with enthusiastic admiration of the baby.
The book of Isaiah reads, “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (7:14). Did any of the young women of long ago imagine themselves as the one conceiving this special child, as they read and studied the words in Scripture? Did they see a selection from the parade of beautiful virgins, much like Queen Esther’s, to be that kind of story?
The emphasis of Scriptures, of course, was more on the coming Messiah, the savior long-awaited by Israel. The virgin-mom detail was overshadowed by the power of the child-king to be born. There wasn’t a specific mention of a woman’s name, but it was clear that she would come from the tribe of Judah, as promised in Micah 5:2.
Mary came into the scene when she was already engaged to Joseph. There was no mention of anything outstanding about her, like her beauty or a skill, except her lineage and purity, and those made her highly favored by God. When the angel announced to Mary her mission to have a child and give birth to the Son of God, she didn’t protest and asked how that would be possible. After the angel explains how conception through the Holy Spirit’s power will happen, she humbly replied, “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38). Did the words of Isaiah and Micah come to mind at this time to help her accept?
When pregnant Mary was visiting with her cousin Elizabeth, who was also pregnant with child, and Elizabeth’s baby leaped in her womb, Elizabeth proclaimed, “Blessed are you among women… Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promised to her!” (vv. 42, 45). But Mary didn’t gloat in this regard. In fact, how hard was it for her to be betrothed to Joseph, but be with someone else’s child, explaining that this was the miraculous baby foretold in Scriptures?
Women usually focus on their natural ability to carry a child, sometimes even carelessly with the process, and sometimes do not think that they will have the opportunity to bear their own. We don’t think of the supernatural factor, the participation of God in conceiving a child, which the psalmist points to, saying,
“For you created my inmost being;
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
When I was made in the secret place,
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
All the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be” (Psalm 119:13-16).
Mary was the exact opposite. Mary’s obedience to God led her to worship through a song instead. She said,
“My soul glorifies the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
For he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on, all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name” (vv.46-49).
She thanked and praised God Almighty for the honor bestowed upon her! She knew that she was highly favored among women for being chosen to be the mother of Jesus. When Jesus was born, the shepherds came to see him and shared what the angels had told them about the child: “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it”, says Proverbs 22:6. We need to raise our children with godly values. But more than that, we must teach them to “love the LORD [our] God with all [our] heart and will all [our] soul and with all [our] strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5). We are to impress this on our children, talking about them from the time we wake up to the time we go to bed at night.
We see Mary and Joseph with Jesus traveling to attend the prescribed feast days, part of God’s command. On one occasion, the Festival of the Passover, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem while their party left the area, unaware that he wasn’t with them. Returning to look for him and finding him in the temple courts days later, they were greatly surprised by his questions and answers as he sat among the teachers. But they were still worried—and rightly so. And as a mother, Mary still needed to do the hard talk: “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you” (v.28). And although Jesus’ answer was baffling—referring to him being in His Father’s house—Mary kept this in her heart, just like what she did with the shepherds’ message at Jesus’ birth.
The Bible says that “Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man” (v.52). Did Mary aspire for Jesus’ future, such as marriage and family? Or did she leave everything up to God, with the complete understanding that what was eventually required of him was his business? Surely, being driven out of his hometown by angry people filled with the desire to throw him down the cliff wasn’t what she was expecting to happen to her son! But it did—and he left.
Mary would have heard news of the great things Jesus was doing in his ministry. She must have felt so proud of her son, who became a household name, with multitudes following him wherever he went. But she was probably worried about him because there were enemies of the truth he was delivering.
Many mothers have proclaimed how much they would have given to take the place of their child, whether suffering from a terminal illness or death. One grieving mom, who lost her son to leukemia, posted, “I still look at pictures of you and cry. Losing you will never sit right with me.” And it came with a heartbroken emoji.
Think of the day Mary received the news that Jesus was taken captive, flogged, and paraded with a crown of thorns. Picture the crowd shouting, “Crucify! Crucify!”, when there was no basis for the charge (John 19:6). How heartbroken she must have been to see her son suffer a most painful death, to hang on that cross for people to continue ridiculing, and to see soldiers even fighting over his clothes. But Jesus, knowing of her great love for him and sorrow over these events, asked his disciple John to care for his mother.
But what joy Mary must have received when her son was nowhere to be found in his tomb. Surely the news of Jesus’ resurrection brought new hope to her!
Scripture unfolded before Mary’s eyes and invited her to actively participate in the most beautiful role ever given to a woman—to be the mother of the Son of God. Everything she kept in her heart confirmed the tremendous blessing one could ever receive. Her song of praise still rings true today:
From now on, all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name” (Luke 1:49).
Mary obeyed the Word of God and was grateful for the privilege of being her Savior’s mother. She continues to be an inspiration today.
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Liliboas
Luisa Collopy is an author, speaker and a women’s Bible study teacher. She also produces Mula sa Puso (From the Heart) in Tagalog (her heart language), released on FEBC Philippines stations. Luisa loves spending time with her family over meals and karaoke!