What Was Mary Doing?
There came a day when not even Jesus could answer the question, what was Mary doing? Let me give you the background for what happened that day so you’ll understand its context.
It should not surprise us that the mother of him who was called the Word would be a woman of the Word herself. We saw how true this was while Mary clung tenaciously to the words she had received while Jesus was on earth.
The greatest blessing this world has ever known came into being because someone agreed to the Word, despite the awful predicament this acceptance presented.
You remember Scripture’s account of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary. This unmarried, Palestinian girl thought she knew what her future was going to be. She would marry Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth; and then, like her parents and their parents, she would raise a family as a good Jewish wife and mother.
But then one day—and, oh, what a day! —the angel Gabriel appeared to tell this teenage girl that the Lord from on High had chosen her to become the mother of the Son of God.
So how was Mary going to explain this proposed pregnancy? She, an unmarried virgin, miraculously impregnated by God … and now—wonder of wonders! —blessed with a child! Why, a story like this would certainly set tongues to wagging! And her husband-to-be to wondering!
Of course, had Mary declined, and had other prospective mothers similarly declined, Jesus wouldn’t have been born.
This is because—for Mary then, and for us today—the Word by itself can’t produce the desired result—not without a commitment from the human heart. In fact, it wasn’t until Mary spoke those crucial words, “Be it unto me according to thy word,” that the angel could then depart and the miracle could then occur.
What followed Bethlehem came to be known as “the hidden years,” the years that saw baby Jesus grow up to be a man. There was an appearance of the boy Jesus at the temple; but other than that, not much is known about those growing-up years. Except for a few family members, no one even knew that the Messiah was in their midst.
Finally, the time came for Jesus to declare himself. You know the story. While attending a wedding at Cana of Galilee, Mary discovered that her very dear friends had run out of wine—and this represented a monumental embarrassment in that day!
The wedding feast was such a highlight in Jewish life that families would scrimp and save for many years to assure abundance. But since these wedding feasts often lasted for a week or longer, calculating and providing the needed supply for them was no easy task. In this instance, the dreaded shortage occurred; so Mary went to Jesus.
In hearing what Mary had to say, Jesus was immediately faced with a quandary: What was he supposed to do—perform a miracle? But why would Mary think this was an option? Jesus had never performed a miracle before!
Yet it was clear that was what Mary was asking! This implied request posed a major problem for Jesus, because he knew that if he did what Mary was asking, his days of quiet ministry were over.
Knowing that Mary was expecting a miracle, Jesus reminded her, tenderly, that his hour hadn’t come yet; meaning, of course, the appointed time for this new ministry phase to begin had not arrived.
Undeterred, Mary released her faith by speaking words to the servants so reminiscent of the words she had spoken more than three decades earlier, “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5).
Wasn’t this how Mary responded to that word from the Lord many years before—God spoke, she complied, and a miracle occurred?
Well, as Mary found herself facing the impossible again, she knew exactly what was needed—a word, and then obedience to that word, and a complete trust in God.
Hence, this little lady walked away from Jesus that day with complete confidence. She didn’t know exactly what Jesus would do, nor how he would do it, but the important point is—she did not withdraw her request!
To the contrary, her faith expected a miracle that day, or she wouldn’t have said anything to the servants. Instead, she would have apologized for this intrusion on the divine timetable and returned to her friends with feeble words of comfort.
Do you see how exalted this transaction was? Here we find an intersecting of the human and the divine! At the outset, God approaches Mary with a request that put her in a dilemma. And now Mary was approaching God with a request that put him in a dilemma.
When Jesus went to the wedding party that day, he had no idea his ministry was about to be launched to another level. Having laid omniscience aside to become a man, Jesus was totally dependent, always, on knowledge flowing from the Father—and the Father hadn’t said anything to Jesus about this!
But when Mary came to Jesus with this request, this Jewish mother who wasn’t easily going to be denied, that request moved God! And suddenly—what do you know? — Jesus got a word he hadn’t received before!
The result that day wasn’t just a miracle (although Israel hadn’t seen one of these for centuries), but a miracle of a higher order, what theologians call a nature miracle. In order to turn water into wine, the whole process of grapes being planted, nurtured, plucked, aged, squeezed, and distilled had to be completely bypassed. On that one day, water became what water could not become! This transformation wasn’t natural; it was supernatural!
When evaluating Scripture’s reports of miracles, A.B. Simpson noted how “the devil is trying to get the supernatural out of the Bible, out of the church, and out of our individual Christian lives.…” Yet, myriad, magnificent miracles were prominent throughout Jesus’ ministry, and all had their beginning that day in Cana.
The impossible happened all because someone sought a word, got a word, and obeyed that word. And doesn’t this speak a-much-needed encouragement for your life? Perhaps you find yourself in a situation that seems to have impossibility written all over it.
So what should you do—accept what reason is telling you and respond to the situation with a sweet smile and utter futility? Or should you do as Mary did and move both the heart and hand of God with an expectancy rooted in the Word—an expectancy that refused to be deterred by the testimonies of sense and sight?
“Whatever He says to you, do it.” These words from Mother Mary speak of complete commitment, do they not? Yet, many restrict their commitment by doing only that part of Scripture they agree with, or that part that isn’t inconvenient, or that part that isn’t hard, or isn't contrary to reason.
The selective obedience that edits God has a way of keeping self on the throne, thereby preventing the arrival of the most awesome answers from God.
What was Mary doing? She was teaching the church, and the world, so much by casting her care on Jesus, and leaving it there!
