Following Jesus to the Cross ~ The Story of Mary

 

“My soul magnifies the Lord, 

And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 

For he has looked on the HUMBLE ESTATE of his servant.

    For behold, from now on all generations will call me BLESSED;

For he who is mighty has done great things for me,

    And holy is his name.

And his mercy is for those who fear him

    From generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;

    He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

He has brought down the mighty from their thrones

    And exalted those of humble estate;

He has filled the hungry with good things,

    And the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

    In remembrance of his mercy, 

As he spoke to our fathers,

    To Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

(Luke 1:46-55)

Sisters, these are the words of a young woman whose heart was filled with awe and wonder at God's amazing GRACE. This is Mary's song, and in it she tells of her extraordinary God and what He has done for her.

Mary recognizes her "humble estate" which really means that Mary recognizes her sinfulness, her neediness, and her helplessness. And so she is overwhelmed by God's amazing grace that He has taken notice of her, His servant.

So she sings to MAGNIFY the Lord...she sings because God's JOY fills her soul...She sings to TELL of God's mighty deeds and His holy name. Mary makes much of God's grace.

You see, Mary was an ordinary Jewish girl, growing up in an ordinary town called Nazareth. Her life and plans were unfolding in an ordinary way---she was a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, and according to the law they were husband and wife awaiting their wedding day. And on an ordinary day like any other, God turns Mary's life upside down with a message of GREAT JOY.

In Luke 1:26-38, we find the beginning of Mary's story. God sends the Angel Gabriel to Mary to JOYFULLY proclaim the good news that God had decided beforehand to bestow upon Mary the

UNDESERVED

UNMERITED

UNEARNED

RICHES OF HIS GRACE.

However, as Mary hears the angel's joy filled greeting her heart is greatly troubled. She is trying to comprehend what the Angel means:

That God has lavished His grace upon her?

That God is with her?

For Mary knows the story of creation from the Scriptures---how Adam and Eve had rebelled against God, and because of their disobedience they were sent out of the Garden of Eden. Their sin separated them from God, and the whole human race fell with them. "For all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

And Mary, like all of us, was born a sinner in need of a Savior.

So imagine Mary's shock when the Angel Gabriel tells her that God is JOYFULLY drawing near to her and lavishing upon her His grace!

This is not all though, the angel says more to Mary:

"Blessed are you among women."

This word "Blessed" is from the Greek word "Eulogeo", which means "one well spoken of and acted upon...one who is experiencing the blessing of God" (Zodhiates).

The idea here is that God has taken action in Mary's life to make her well spoken of...God is the one acting and speaking while Mary is the one receiving the blessing of God. For God has chosen Mary to bear His son in her womb---not because she deserves this honor but because God is bestowing this honor upon her because of His unmerited grace.

Mary is blessed---SHE IS SPOKEN WELL OF BY GOD---not because of who she is or what she has done, but because of who God is and what He has done for her.

And what has God done for, Mary? God had chosen Mary to be with child by the Holy Spirit and give birth to a son and call His name Jesus. This child would be called the son of the Most High---THE SON OF GOD. Jesus would reign the King of kings and His Kingdom will never end.

Mary was given the great privilege of becoming a part of God's rescue mission by carrying the Savior of the world inside her womb. 

She was given the privilege of beholding God do the impossible by sending His Son---the Word of God---into the world through her.

Jesus---the Son of God---the Word become Flesh---Full of Grace and Truth 

would dwell within Mary---and because of this she was blessed among women.

And what was Mary's response?

Sisters, SHE BELIEVED GOD. Mary had faith in God that He would do what He said He would do.

Mary surrendered to God's plan for her life and recognized that she was His servant to do whatever He asked her to do. She said "Yes" to the Lord by faith and believed His Word.

Mary's "YES" to God meant that she would be walking down a hard, lonely road. From a human perspective, her future was uncertain at best for she did not know how Joseph, her betrothed husband, would respond to this news that she was pregnant (with the Son of God!) and if he would even believe her or not...or how her parents and family would respond let alone her community.

She would be misunderstood, misjudged, and disgraced. 

But Mary does not let on that any of this even bothers her at all. For not too many days after hearing the message from the angel, she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth who is also witnessing God do the impossible in her life. For she had been barren, and now in her old age God has taken away her disgrace and she is pregnant with a son who will prepare the way for the Lord.

And it is here that Mary sings her song of overflowing praise to God for what He has done for her. Before she praises the Lord, though, Elizabeth joyfully proclaims:

"...Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord" (Luke 1:45).

This is a different Greek word for "Blessed"---from the word "Markarios".

And the idea here is that God has made Mary fully satisfied---He has made her HAPPY. Not because of her circumstances outside or around her but because Christ is dwelling inside her.

And so from a heart fully satisfied in God, Mary's lips overflow with praise to God because she counts it a privilege to be His servant:

-to face misunderstanding

-to face shame

-to face disgrace 

For the sake of bringing the Savior---her Savior---into the world.

She considers it a privilege to walk down a hard, lonely, and dark road because the Light of the world lives inside her.

Well, Joseph and Mary have to travel to Bethlehem to be registered in the census of the whole Roman world, and so when Mary's time to give birth comes they find themselves homeless---not even a place in the inn is available! So Mary ends up delivering Jesus where the animals are kept, wrapping him in cloths and lying him in the animals' feeding trough. 

God's rescue plan is unfolding, and on this dark night in Bethlehem God sends angels to announce His Son's birth to shepherds who are out watching their sheep in a field. And the angel proclaims the GOOD NEWS that the Savior has been born to them.

The shepherds decide to go see this Savior, and they find Joseph, Mary, and Jesus just as the angel had proclaimed. The shepherds are filled with great joy and share what the angel had proclaimed to them. And everyone who hears what the shepherds say wonder at it---they marvel. This word has the idea of stopping to behold something amazing and then moving along. 

However, when Mary hears the shepherds' words...she treasures them all up in her heart and ponders them. She doesn't just marvel and move on....Mary stores away all the words in her heart where she can guard them and treasure them and combine them with all the other words that the angel told her and Joseph and then she thinks on them....

and she thinks on them....

and she thinks on them. 

You see, Sisters, the Good News is the treasure that fills Mary's heart just as Jesus was the treasure of God's grace that filled her womb. Now she beholds her Savior---this little baby before her. She sees God's salvation plan unfolding, but she cannot see all the pieces and how they fit together. So many unknowns cloud Mary's eyes. Yet she treasures up each word of the Good News that she has heard in her heart and thinks about them all the time. 

Sisters, we must remember that Mary's faith was a long journey of surrendering to God's sovereign will and plan for her life. And though her path was hard and lonely, God was with her every step of the way and he sent precious people to strengthen Mary's faith as she obeyed Him.

Think of what a precious gift it was for Mary to spend the first three months of her pregnancy being encouraged by Elizabeth's mature, joy filled faith! You see, Sisters who better would be able to pour into Mary's heart and prepare her to walk with God by faith through reproach and disgrace than Elizabeth? For this godly, older woman had nearly spent her entire married life walking with God through her own reproach and disgrace because she had been barren. Elizabeth's heart was a cultivated garden of character that God had planted and watered with her tears through years and years of heartache, and now Mary was enjoying and gleaning from the harvest God had grown in Elizabeth. 

Again, think of how God provided Mary with a leader and protector in her husband Joseph who faithfully obeyed God without hesitation and took Mary as his wife when she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 

Mary was a woman just like all of us who had good days and bad days. And perhaps the reason why Mary treasured the words that the shepherds proclaimed from the angel was that her heart needed them so much. 

Nine long months had passed since Mary had heard the angel's message of God's amazing grace...six months had passed since she had said goodbye to Elizabeth and been strengthened by the faith of this older woman----Mary's heart and body and emotions would have been spent and utterly exhausted after traveling all the way to Bethlehem and giving birth to Jesus. And God sent Mary exactly what she needed---the Good News of great joy that enabled her to persevere and not give up. 

About thirty-three years pass by from that dark night when Mary first held Jesus' in her arms....

And now Mary finds herself living through the darkest day of history as she watches her son---Jesus Christ---walk down a hard, lonely, dark road to Calvary. 

Mary watches as Jesus bears the cross over His shoulders for her.

She watches as Jesus is misunderstood, misjudged, disgraced, shamed, flogged beyond recognition, mocked, ridiculed, condemned to death, and nailed to the cross for her sake. 

Mary follows Jesus to the foot of the cross where she beholds her Savior bearing all of her sin upon Himself. 

She hears His cries: "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" as God the Father's righteous wrath crushes His soul because of her sin, 

And Mary watches as Jesus gives up His spirit and dies in her place. 

What started out as an ordinary day in Nazareth more than 33 years before--- by God's amazing grace, led Mary to the foot of the cross where her own soul was pierced with sorrow as she watched her son---God's Son---pay the punishment for her sin. 

By faith Mary believed God's Word---and now here she stood at the cross beholding her Savior for God had fulfilled His Word.

Sisters, our lives and circumstances differ greatly from Mary's story, but each of us too must follow Jesus to the cross where we behold our Savior bearing the punishment for our sin. 

The Good News of the Gospel is the message that God has drawn near to each one of us through Jesus Christ to lavish upon us the 

UNDSERVED

UNMERITTED

UNEARNED

RICHES OF HIS GRACE!

Jesus died on the cross in our place, He was buried, and on the third day He arose from the grave! 

JESUS CHRIST IS ALIVE! 

And all who believe in Him will not perish but have eternal life! (John 3:16).

Sisters, this is GOOD NEWS! For we are all sinners in need of a Savior, and God has taken notice of us and done for us what we could never have done for ourselves! We could never pay the penalty for our sins, "but God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). 

And like Mary, we must respond to God's message of Great Joy---and how we respond will change the course of our lives and our eternities forever. Will we believe God's Word and walk by faith, following Jesus to the cross? And will we live a life of faith like Mary did....for though she responded to the angel's message by faith, she also had to live out that faith for the rest of her life.

 Mary's faith was not a one time declaration, but an everyday choice to walk by faith and not by sight. We too must choose to live by faith and not by sight. We must come to the cross and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and every day after that come back to the cross and keep on believing---step ...by step.... by step until we reach Heaven when our faith shall be turned to sight.

So let us BELIEVE God and consider it a privilege to do whatever God asks us to do, Sisters. 

For Ephesians 1:3 says: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." 

God has blessed us in Christ---this is the same Greek word that the angel spoke to Mary "Eulogeo"...God has taken action to speak well of us in Christ. God is doing all the work and we are receiving all the blessings in Christ because of what Christ Jesus accomplished at the cross.

Now as Paul says in Romans 5:1-6:

 "...We have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. 

And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly."

God has given us the privilege of being His daughters because of the Lord Jesus Christ, and like Mary, God's grace is an invitation for us to join Him in His rescue plan. When we join God by faith we not only receive salvation in Christ but we also are given a mission to spread the message of God's amazing grace to our families, our neighborhoods, and the world around us.

Sisters, saying "YES" to God means that we will suffer for the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul puts it like this in Philippians 1:29 "For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake". 

If we follow Jesus, we will be misunderstood, misjudged, disgraced, shamed, and our plans for our lives will be turned upside down. We will walk down hard, lonely, dark roads to take the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to those who have not heard of God's amazing GRACE. 

Hebrews 13:12-14 puts it this way:

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

Sisters, we must follow Jesus outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. To do this, our eyes must be fixed upon Christ

"the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. 

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted." (Hebrews 12:2-3)

There are not two kinds of Believers! One that stays on the sidelines watching Jesus from inside the city gates of this world, and those who go outside the gate to follow behind Jesus...NO....receiving God's wondrous, amazing, undeserved, and FREE GRACE means that we must take up our cross by faith and follow Jesus down the pathway of suffering outside the camp, surrendering to God's sovereign will for our lives as we take the GOOD NEWS to those around us and live out the GOOD NEWS for all to see...for the riches of God's GRACE are only found in JESUS at the cross.

So today, let us BELEIVE GOD'S WORD like Mary did! Let us be filled with awe and wonder at God's amazing grace to save sinners like us, and let us overflow with praise to our Mighty God who has done great things for us.

Let us persevere through the difficulties, sacrifices and suffering we face for Christ's sake by treasuring the Good News of the Gospel in our hearts and thinking on it continously. God will meet all of our needs as we obediently follow Him by faith---and what we need the most is the Good News of the Gospel!

Sisters, let us be women and girls 

who BELIEVE GOD'S WORD

                                          

who SING GOD'S PRAISE

                                                      

who TREASURE GOD'S GOOD NEWS.

And who 

FOLLOW GOD'S SON to the cross where we will behold our SAVIOR.