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Mary listensFriday, December 8, 2000
Luke 1:28 Mary said yes. And because she said yes, her faith has been admired and emulated for 2000 years. Her "yes" brought Jesus into her life, as a baby, as a boy, as a man. There were many times when she might have questioned just how "highly favored" she really was: giving birth to her baby in a stable, racing across the desert to escape King Herod's killers, losing her 12 year old in a huge city and hearing him defend himself by saying he was just "about his father's business," and finally watching him die a horrible, unfair death on a Roman cross. On the other hand, so many moments of joy did Jesus bring her, from that first moment of acceptance and obedience as Gabriel came ("My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior" 1:46) through Jesus' coming of age and his adolescence ("his mother treasured all these things in her heart" 2:51), to the moment when the stone was rolled away and she saw her son, her savior, triumphant over death. Melannie Svoboda writes, "What strikes me is...how utterly free Mary was to respond to God's call. Nothing held her back from saying yes to God. Not fear, not pride, not even false humility." Once she said yes, and only then, she saw the world through God's eyes. Her obedience permitted her Father to bless her, bless her son. And life opened up for her like a yellow tulip in the early spring. Lord, in my life show me how to trust in you with all my heart, with all my mind, with all my strength, as Mary did. Search me, test me, know me, lead me in the way everlasting. |
I think the last time I was called anything close to "highly favored," it was by a telemarketer trying to sell me a credit card. I turned him down. When I pick up the phone and hear the friendly voice of someone who doesn't know me, I am no longer innocent. I expect a sales pitch, my defenses come up, and I almost always say no.