She, Herself & God
Mary’s Maternal Confidence
“The wine supply ran out during the festivities, so Jesus’s mother told Him, ‘They have no more wine.’ ‘Dear woman, that’s not our problem,’ Jesus replied. ‘My time has not yet come.’ But His mother told the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you.’ Standing nearby were six stone water jars used for Jewish ceremonial washing. Each could hold twenty to thirty gallons. Jesus told the servants, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ When the jars had been filled, He said, ‘Now dip some out, and take it to the master of ceremonies.’ So the servants followed His instructions.” (John 2:3-8)
One of the turning points in my life was when I witnessed the woman who gave birth to me pour her heart out about our family’s poverty. It happened when I was in my early teens, and it really made me understand at last that we were so poor and I had to take life so seriously. So from that day on, my mind had been programmed that I would be used as an instrument in uplifting our living condition, which meant that I should strive to finish college so that I could eventually send my younger siblings to college too. Although at that time, I was clueless as well why my mother chose me to play the role of a co-provider because my father was still alive and working and both of them were physically healthy. But now that I am having a review of the past, I have an idea at least why my mother did that: maternal confidence. It was her mother’s instinct, which I reckon was the Holy Spirit working that made her tell me about our painful reality because the time had finally come for me to start preparing for my future responsibility as a Filipino firstborn. And thanks be to God, I can confidently say that I delivered on expectations as our family’s bread runner-up through the years.
I reckon the same maternal confidence made Mary, the mother of Jesus, tell her Son about the lack of wine supply when they were at a wedding in the village of Cana in Galilee. She already knew that He was the Messiah, and it was the Holy Spirit working that made her realise the time had finally come for Him to start His ministry on earth. We can therefore conclude that it was the combination of her submission to the Lord, her faith and piety, her spiritual mindedness, and her maternal confidence that pushed Mary to go out of her way and tell the servants at the wedding to do whatever Jesus would instruct them to do. So even if her Son initially rejected her suggestion, Mary was confident that Christ would still do what was expected. And thanks be to God, the first miracle of Jesus took place on that day: turning the water into wine, which marked the so-called year of inauguration of the ministering Christ.
How about you? What are your personal experiences when it comes to maternal confidence? Are you like me who was entrusted with a bigger responsibility by your mother? Or are you already a mother like Mary who is being guided by your mother’s instinct? And how does your children respond to you whenever you exude your maternal confidence? Are they like Jesus who initially rejected His mother’s suggestion but followed her later on? How do you handle a situation when your mother’s instinct is being questioned and challenged? Do you submit to the Lord’s authority just like Mary when the angel told her the good news that she would be the mother of the Messiah? Or do you rely on yourself and assert your own opinion? Do you declare your faith in God and your piety towards Him in a song just like what Mary did in her magnificat? Or do you succumb to doubts and frustrations because things do not make sense at all? Do you set your minds on the things of the Spirit and wait patiently for the Lord to do His full work just like Mary when she was raising the so-called King of the Jews? Or do you focus on the present situation, on the things of the flesh, and on what seems to be practical and normal?
As a woman of God, each of us should exude not just maternal confidence but full confidence in the Lord our God. Whether we are single ladies, married women, or mothers, we should always embrace our identity as a Christian whose confidence comes not from ourselves but from the One we live for because without “Christ,” each of us is an “i.a.n.” (which stands for “I am nothing”). We should always believe that the Lord is in full control of our situation; hence, we should always choose to trust instead of doubting, to praise instead of complaining, and to endure instead of giving up. We, too, should always wait on God’s timing instead of relying on the timeline that we set and be sensitive to God’s voice instead of listening to the noise that we create. And when the time has finally come for us to act in accordance with the will of the Lord, we should be like Mary: fully confident not due to her mother’s instinct but because of the Holy Spirit working.
Father God, we thank You for the life of Mary because she was used as an instrument for Jesus to be born into this world so that He could live the life we should have lived and die the death we should have died. We praise You not only for Mary’s maternal confidence but also for her spiritual mindedness, her faith and piety, and her submission to You. She is indeed blessed because You called her, chose her, and cherished her to be the mother of Your only begotten Son. We pray that as a woman of God, each of us will learn from her story, follow her example, and embody her characteristics so that we can be the women that You designed us to be. Above all, we invite Your Holy Spirit to fill us, strengthen us, and empower us, as we conclude this year, face another one for Your glory, and await the return of the King of kings. All these we ask in the Name of Your greatest Gift to mankind, the greatest Turning Point in our history, and the great I Am: the one and only King Jesus Christ. Amen.