There’s something about Mary…

There are probably as many views about Mary as there are Christian denominations around. Denominations are man-made, and so are their views. Let’s see what the word of God has to say about her.

A few words come to mind – namely “blessed” and “full of grace”. Although there are a few women mentioned in the Bible, Mary is the only who was able to make the claim “All generations to come shall call me blessed” (Luke 1:48). That in itself is a very strong statement, and hard to imagine coming from one who is “full of grace”. But it will be worth looking deeper into it and trying to understand correctly the concept of “grace”.

Mary was not only present at the 1^st miracle that Jesus performed, at the wedding at Cana, but had an important role to play. As a mother, she wasn’t just there to cheer her son on as a mother would at her son’s achievements. She was very instrumental in getting Jesus started in His ministry. She may not have said much, but the little she said carries a lot of weight.

As Mary was obedient to her call, she too instructed the servants at the wedding feast to “do as Jesus tells you”. This simple statement was to instil obedience in the servants – a good lesson for all of us, in fact. Obedience is also linked to trust as many times we have to obey even when we don’t understand. But that was the beauty of Mary who could do it from a young age.

We may not pray “to” Mary, but if we honour her as the mother of our Lord and call her blessed, we can show our honour and respect by taking our cue from her to “do as He tells us”.