Mary’s devoted heart

Good News Magazine ^ | Dec 03 | Dick McClain

[xzins]

Mary’s devoted heart
By Dick McClain

Growing up, I don’t recall having heard a sermon on Mary, the mother of Jesus. She did get dusted off every December for the Christmas pageant. But apart from her annual appearance reincarnated in the form of a budding young thespian, she hardly existed. Perhaps the folks in my evangelical Protestant circle felt that the Catholics went a little too far.

While I’ve never been accused of tilting toward Rome, somewhere along the line I began to suspect that we were being robbed by our silence about Mary. After all, the woman God chose to become the mother of our Lord just might have something to say to us today.

Which brings up another point. Not only did I not hear much about Mary; I didn’t hear much about any of the women of the Bible. When they were presented it was only in the context of their being a model for women, never for men. The implication was that the male heroes of the faith—Moses, Joshua, David, Peter, and all the rest—were role models for all Christians, men and women alike. But the female heroes of the Bible—Deborah, Naomi, Ruth, and Priscilla—were only models of Christian womanhood.

I ditched that idea.

All of this leads me to suggest two things. First, Mary’s life is worth studying and emulating. And second, she is a good model for my entire family, both male and female.

In the first two chapters of Luke, there are fascinating insights into the quality of Mary’s life and faith. Her godliness was evident in a number of traits that we would do well to pattern.

Faith in God
Who comes to mind when you think of biblical examples of faith? I’ll bet you immediately thought of Abraham. Not a bad pick, considering the fact that he believed some rather unbelievable things God told him. But have you thought about the message Gabriel brought to Mary?

Mary was a teenage girl from a poor family who lived in an obscure village in a tiny nation, which itself was under subjection to a foreign power. One day an angel came to her with a message from God.

She had found favor with God; she would give birth to a son whom she was to name Jesus; her baby would be called the Son of the Most High and would sit on David’s throne forever; his kingdom would never end; and all this was going to happen without her ever having sexual relations with a man.

Now, be honest. Would you have believed that?

The remarkable thing is that Mary did! In fact, her cousin, Elizabeth, greeted her as “She who believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished” (Luke 1:45).

That’s real faith! She was willing to take God at his word, even when what he said didn’t square with anything her experience told her to be true. We too must choose to believe God if we are to be godly people.

A surrendered life
Perhaps you have read Mary’s story, sensed the unparalleled excitement of what she was experiencing, tried to put yourself in her place, and concluded, “Wouldn’t it have been glorious to be Mary!”

But stop and think about it. How could she tell Joseph, to whom she was already legally betrothed? Although they had not yet begun living together, they were considered married and could be separated only through divorce. Don’t you think the prospect of suspicion flashed through her mind? It must have. Under similar circumstances, most of us would have asked the Lord to find someone else to do the job.

But not Mary. Her answer to the angel was a model of submission. “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38).

Why was she so ready to submit? Because she understood herself to be God’s servant. Maybe the reason we are so prone to resist God is that we see him as our servant. We’ve got it backwards. We need to come to see, as Mary did, that God is God and not just some spiritual genie that we hope will magically fulfill our every whim.

A life of unassuming humility
One thing about Mary in those Christmas pageants that always struck me was her willingness to go without complaint to the stable.

Not me! If I had been Mary, I probably would have said, “Listen here, buster! This baby I’m about to have is no ordinary child. He is God’s Son and your King. We deserve better than this!”

In Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor” (Luke 6:20). Mary was poor. We know that because of the sacrifice she and Joseph offered when they presented Jesus at the temple. Since they fell below the poverty line, they qualified to give a pair of doves or two young pigeons, rather than bringing the customary lamb (see Luke 2:24 and Leviticus 12:8).

I don’t buy into the notion that God loves poor people and hates rich folks, or that the impoverished are constitutionally spiritual, while the wealthy are hopelessly ungodly. But I do know that amidst our affluence we have adopted an inflated sense of our own importance, rights, and prerogatives. Consequently, we have concluded that the world owes us a lot; other people owe us a lot; and God also owes us a lot. We have a bad case of inflated expectations.

The answer is not quitting our jobs and signing up for welfare. But if we are serious about godliness, we, like Mary, must relinquish our rights, surrender our demands, and accept whatever God gives.

 

Faithfulness in spiritual disciplines
Unlike many people today, Mary didn’t treat spiritual things casually.

When it came time to present Jesus at the temple, Joseph and Mary headed for Jerusalem (Luke 2:22). Only after they “had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord” did they return home (2:39). And when Passover season came, they went up to Jerusalem “every year” (2:41).

The implication is that Mary wasn’t one to shirk her spiritual responsibilities. It’s easy for us to neglect spiritual disciplines. Average annual worship attendance in the United Methodist Church typically limps along at less than half the membership. Many Christians would recoil at the suggestion that we should actually part with 10 percent of our income. I’m reminded of a cartoon that pictured a church sign that read: “The Original Lite Church: Home of the 3 Percent Tithe and the 45 Minute Worship Hour—50 Percent Less Commitment Required.”

Sincerely godly people don’t neglect the Word or worship, prayer or tithing. They don’t treat spiritual disciplines cavalierly.

 

Spiritual sensitivity
Read Mary’s song, recorded in Luke 1:46-55. It’s more than magnificent. It is the overflow of a heart that was accustomed to communion with God.

How did Mary come to be so spiritually alert? Luke gives us a clue.

Following the shepherds’ visit, we are told that Mary “treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart” (2:19). And when Mary and her family returned to Nazareth from their trip to Jerusalem for Passover when Jesus was twelve, we read that again she “treasured all these things in her heart” (2:51).

Mary managed to carve time out of her busy life to ponder the deeper significance of what was taking place. She took time to pray, to meditate, and to reflect on what God was doing.

Most of us do not decide one day that we don’t want to be in tune with God. We don’t decide not to pray. We just let the priceless treasure of communion with God slip unnoticed through our fingers.

Spiritual sensitivity is not inherited, it is acquired through spending time with God. To borrow Terry Teykl’s phrase, Mary “prayed the price.” If we want to experience true godliness, we must do the same.

In trusting God, surrendering her life, giving up her rights, and learning to listen to the Spirit, Mary set an example for us all to follow.

Was she a super saint? No. Did she demonstrate sinless perfection? Not likely. But a devoted follower of God? You can be sure of it.

We can be the same.

Dick McClain is Vice President for Partnership Ministries with The Mission Society.  He serves as Executive Director of World Parish Ministries, a ministry of The Mission Society.

[The Grammarian]

I think it's the biceps.

That or the beards. It's scary seeing more hair on a woman than on a man!

[Catholicguy]

Sorry, "The Immaculate Heart of Mary" and Christianity don't mix. Counting her blessed among women is something else entirely from counting her as a "super-saint" or the one woman with an immaculate heart. D-fendr: Hi mom? Huh? xzins: Football season's over, man. I was going for a three-pointer.

Far from being over, the Football Season has just entered its most important phase- The Playoffs.

I note your knowledge of football is as accurate and as reliable as your knowledge of Christianity. You hold partial truths about both.

C'est la vie.

[drstevej]

***I note your knowledge of football is as accurate and as reliable as your knowledge of Christianity.***


Hail Mary is a long pass, right?

[Catholicguy]

Hail Mary describes a desperation pass. While virtually all desperation, last second, passes are long, not all long passes are Hail Marys. Former Oakland Raiders great Daryl Lamonica, he of sainted memory, liked to throw a long pass on the very first down of the very first offensive series in the first quarter.

"Calvin, like Luther and Zwingli, taught the perpetual virginity of Mary. The early Reformers even applied, though with some reticence, the title Theotokos to Mary . . . Calvin called on his followers to venerate and praise her as the teacher who instructs them in her Son's commands."

{J.A. Ross MacKenzie (Protestant), in Stacpoole, Alberic, ed., Mary's Place in Christian Dialogue, Wilton, Conn.: Morehouse-Barlow, 1982, pp.35-6}

I supect that were Calvin alive today he would be a football fan - NFL Europe though - and he would not object to "Hail Mary" being used as shorthand for a way to describe an act of desperation.

"Hail Mary, full of Grace....blessed are thou...blessed is the fruit of they womb, Jesus...Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinful quarterbacks and wide receivers and pray my pass will be completed now and at the hour of our sudden death overtime playoff game. Amen"

[xzins]

The season is over. They're in the playoffs and in the bowl games.

DrSteve, a great fan of LSU, who had a decent team this year realizes that football teams like Vanderbilt are no longer playing football. There is one thing to account for this: their season is over.

As is the season for most everyone.

It would be accurate to differentiate between the regular season and the playoff/bowl games.

So....maybe you don't know as much about football as you think; maybe there are arguments you simply don't acknowledge because you choose not to.

And maybe...just maybe....you aren't God's final authority on Free Republic regarding the matters of the Roman Catholic Church.

Whaddayathink?

[conservonator]

I was waiting for the Mariolaters to show up.

What a coincidence; I was waiting for the Maryphobs to show up!

Q. Name a theology thaht prohibits love, admiration, and venoration for anyting other than Christ.

A. Yours.

Get a clue: Christ's grace gives the faithful the capacity to MULTIPLY our ability to love, in fact it is the only thing that gives us the capacity to truly love one another. To be blessed by grace is to know that love is not limiting or limited. It is not only possible to love Mary, and all the saints; intensely it is the inevitable reflection of our cooperation with the free gift of grace.

If one has the capacity to elevate Mary to a level of veneration that you find uncomfortable, imagine how much further they elevate their worship of Christ.

Is you ability to love so limited that you have room only for Christ?

[Catholicguy]

The season is over. They're in the playoffs and in the bowl games.

The playoffs are part of the football season although not all the teams are qualified to be in them; just as not all collections of like-minded christians are worthy of being called a church.

DrSteve, a great fan of LSU, who had a decent team this year realizes that football teams like Vanderbilt are no longer playing football. There is one thing to account for this: their season is over.

Typical proddy error. The errors of Subjectism are thought normative for others.

is the season for most everyone.

So, now you are modifying your original arguement. Typical Proddy :)

would be accurate to differentiate between the regular season and the playoff/bowl games.

Now you are admitting that you were acting in haste in jettisoning the fullness of truth about football. :)

...maybe you don't know as much about football as you think; maybe there are arguments you simply don't acknowledge because you choose not to.

No. I know a lot about football.

maybe...just maybe....you aren't God's final authority on Free Republic regarding the matters of the Roman Catholic Church.

All my arguemnts are sourced with Documentation from the Living Magisterium. I KNOW I am not the expert. Holy Mother Church is and her Docrines are the Doctrines of Christ and they are exoteric and easly accessible in the Cathecism which is freeely available online.

Whaddayathink?

I think with the mind of the Church established by Jesus - Matt 16:18. That is the duty of ALL Christians.

[The Grammarian]

What a coincidence; I was waiting for the Maryphobs to show up!

To be a Mariophobe would imply that I hated Mary and was afraid of her. I am neither afraid of her, nor do I hate her. She is, as the Bible says, blessed among women.

Q. Name a theology thaht prohibits love, admiration, and venoration for anyting other than Christ. A. Yours.

I love other people than Christ alone--I could not be a Christian if I did not love my brother, for example. I admire people, heroes of the faith like John Wesley, E. Stanley Jones, A.W. Tozer and W.E. Sangster. I even venerate them, to the degree that I admire them. I do not, however, pray to them or let them come anywhere near usurping God's place in my heart.

If one has the capacity to elevate Mary to a level of veneration that you find uncomfortable, imagine how much further they elevate their worship of Christ.

There are those who would 'venerate' Mary to the point of proclaiming her Co-mediatrix with Christ. Tell me how their veneration of Mary has elevated their worship of Christ. I am not convinced that the elevation of Men in one's sight elevates God still higher.

[conservonator]

To be a Mariophobe would imply that I hated Mary and was afraid of her. I am neither afraid of her, nor do I hate her. She is, as the Bible says, blessed among women.

pho·bi·a n. A persistent, abnormal, and irrational fear of a specific thing or situation that compels one to avoid it, despite the awareness and reassurance that it is not dangerous.

This dictionary definition seems to fit you and many other Protestants to a "T" when it comes to Mary. On the outside it almost seems to reflect a faith in Christ so weak that to focus, even obliquely, on anything else would damage, beyond repair that professed faith. And frankly, Maryphobe is far less offensive than the implications that the term "Mariolitors" conjures up.

I love other people than Christ alone--I could not be a Christian if I did not love my brother, for example. I admire people, heroes of the faith like John Wesley, E. Stanley Jones, A.W. Tozer and W.E. Sangster. I even venerate them, to the degree that I admire them. I do not, however, pray to them or let them come anywhere near usurping God's place in my heart.

Your inability to discern the intent and faith of those who hold the Mother of God in the highest esteem of any human has no bearing. Frankly, you willingness to venerate heretics and apostates before the Mother of God is appalling.

There are those who would 'venerate' Mary to the point of proclaiming her Co-mediatrix with Christ. Tell me how their veneration of Mary has elevated their worship of Christ. I am not convinced that the elevation of Men in one's sight elevates God still higher.

You do understand that the “co” in co-mediatrix doesn’t mean equal to don’t you? I can tell you how veneration of Mary elevates Christ but I can never convince you until you abandon your man made tradition of Protestantism and all the baggage it caries. All true Catholics recognize that Mary is a created being. All true Catholics realize that the created can never eclipse God who alone is worthy of worship. If this is true, and it is, than any elevation or veneration Mary enjoys magnifies our worship of God. Again, your inability to understand and my inability to explain adequately are not conditions of truth.