The Faithful Heart of Mary
The Evangelist Luke tells us that after the visit of the shepherds to the infant Jesus and their report of the angelic messengers, Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
We may take the comment as a historian’s citation of his source. It is possible that the Evangelist met Mary and heard about the manger in Bethlehem from her own mouth. Then, prompted by the Spirit of God, he incorporated her recollections into his first volume. The reference to Mary thus serves as an added witness to the truth of Luke’s story. Might it not also, however, tell us something about Mary herself?
The shepherds’ words were not the first Mary had heard about her child. Just nine months ago the angel Gabriel had spoken to her, and his message was confirmed by a cousin, Elisabeth, and by Mary’s own husband, Joseph, each of whom had received a like revelation from God. To what Mary already knew, the shepherds added an explicit reference to the child’s identity as the Christ (though there could have been little doubt of that) and a reminder that his birth was not a private family matter: it was for all people; the angel’s words are perhaps intended to hint at the worldwide extent of the child’s salvation.
These things Mary took into her heart. She meditated long about them.
Yet though Mary turned these things over in her heart, though she rehearsed them often to herself, she did not grasp what they meant. As many as twelve years later, when her child himself, found among the doctors in the temple, spoke more words for her to keep in her heart, she failed to understand. Indeed, he grew to adulthood, and his mother still did not know the whole truth. She never doubted that her child was Lord and Saviour, but how would he save his people? She could not tell.
She could not tell, but she could believe. God’s salvation was beyond her comprehension, but she could trust his word. Why did Mary ponder those things in her heart? Not because she understood them — but because she knew they were true. What did it matter that she could not make sense of God’s revelation? He had promised salvation, and he said that her child was the Saviour. She could hear his words to herself and to the shepherds. She could accept those words as true. She could trust God to make their meaning plain in his own time.
So she kept the words in her heart.
Many years later — thirty-‐five years or so — Mary stood by her dying son. Even then, perhaps, she pondered the words from heaven. Unto you is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord. Where was God’s salvation then? How could a man hanging on the cross save?
Mary did not need to know. She had God’s word for it, the word spoken by angels. She had believed that word without understanding it. Now, despite her great sorrow, she still believed. She could not see beyond the cross, but God could. He had told her that her son would reign over an endless kingdom, and somehow God would bring the promise to pass. God’s words, kept in her heart over so many years, were enough for the Lord’s mother.
A few weeks after the cross we catch our last glimpse of Mary. Luke’s second volume records her as a member of the first Christian church. Her son Jesus had risen victorious over death; salvation was provided for all who will believe. Mary now had the answer to her heart’s pondering. She understood at last what it meant for her son to be Christ the Lord. She returned to the angels’ words again, this time with a new appreciation of their meaning.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, Mary’s understanding was clearer. Her knowledge was more complete. But one thing was the same: just as when she first took in the angel’s message, Mary still believed the good news of God’s word. Her heart responded in faith.
You and I too have received the word of God. In the Bible we have more of that word than Mary knew.
Our responsibility is the same as hers. Do we believe the word? Is your heart like the faithful heart of Mary?
Brendon Johnson is a freelance writer and is active in his church in Courtenay, BC.