Ghosting Mary

If I’m honest, for years I avoided Mary, the mother of Jesus.

You know, not in the grocery store or around town but in my thinking and Bible teaching.

It wasn’t personal.

Growing up, I was a checklist, abide-by-the-rules kind of girl, afraid of my own shadow and nervous if someone next to me stepped out of line. So, being Baptist as the day is long, Mary created enough anxiety for me that I developed Mary-phobia.

The adults in my life probably made pretty inoffensive, factual statements about the difference between the Baptists and Catholics (the two churches in our small town) but through the megaphone of my inflated, phariseeical need to get things right, I heard “DON’T EVER WORSHIP MARY OR PRAY TO HER OR EVEN LOOK AT HER WITH ADMIRATION SO YOU DON’T ACCIDENTALLY SLIP AND BECOME CATHOLIC!”

So, I ghosted the mother of God.

I’m not really sure how I pulled off this thinking during Christmas when Mary comes up all the time in Bible readings at church but I probably hummed a little song in my mind when her section was read. As I studied the Bible, it’s like I took a mental Exacto knife and removed the Magnificat and other mentions of Mary in the gospel.

But, then I grew up.

We need Mary like we need Simon Peter, James, John, Priscilla, Lydia, and Paul. We need to understand her life with Jesus and let that inform ours. Why?

Because Mary said an unqualified YES to God.

Specifically, she responded to the angel Gabriel saying, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38 ESV).

That’s a woman to emulate. That’s a woman to study. That’s a woman to know.

Every plan she had for her life. Every expectation of loving one quiet man, raising children, and following the ways of the Jews faded in the light of God’s glorious call on her life. Poof!

And she was just a smalltown girl who loved God.

Mary is more, though, than an example of a follower of God who chose obedience.

Her life tells the story of how obedience often leads to a life of struggle, sacrifice, and pain mingled with joy so satisfying a follower can endure the rest. She is a disciple who can help us find a way to endure our times.

Suffering right from the start.

Imagine Mary returning home from Egypt and running into a friend her age at the well.

“Mary, welcome home! What lovely boys you have helping you! Blessed with sons, may God be praised.”

“Rachel, I’ve missed you! And look at you! It seems you’ve had one child nearly every year.”

“Actually, it was every year, but two are . . . well, you know. The massacre of the innocents. My two boys would have been . . .well . . . close to the age of your Jesus.”

Mary suffered from the start. Changed plans. Set apart. Suspicions. Doubts from others. Running from Herod. Prophecies about her son, her child, but God’s Son, God’s Chosen One.

Years of division in her home. Brothers against Brother. The heartache of being the mother of THAT Rabbi–THAT Jesus

And yet, the joy of being the mother of THAT Rabbi–THAT Jesus.

And the agony of watching Him die. Every nail piercing this mother’s heart. Remembering the angel but recoiling from the soldiers gambling for her son’s robe as He bled and died.

And yet the joy of the resurrection! The wonder of His ascension. The exhileration of the Upper Room!

Yes, in Mary’s life, God shows us the life we will have when we say our unqualified YES to Him. Yes, Lord, let it be. Yes, Lord, I believe. Yes, Lord, I am Yours, I will follow.

Like Peter telling Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,  and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68-69 ESV).

We need Mary because she shows the power and the pain of obeying God, of saying YES to Jesus.  We need Mary because her eyes were on Jesus and that’s where our eyes need to be, this season and every season.

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6 ESV).

This Christmas, when you see Mary or hear about Mary, don’t ghost her. Listen to the story her life is telling. Listen to her words to the angel. Say YOUR Yes to Jesus. Worship Him alone.

What about you? Did you ever ghost Mary? I’d love to hear from you! I respond to every comment and reply to every email. May you be blessed in this beautiful season. Amen.

What's a good Baptist girl got to learn from Mary, the mother of Jesus? https://t.co/1KOHw8DXUl #marymotherofJesus #ghostingmary

— Lori Roeleveld (@lorisroeleveld) December 19, 2024