Jewells of Thought

Devotion Time

The young maiden chosen by God was humble. A lot has been taught about Mary through the generations and years since. Her name according to Ms. Hunt like many is Miriam and was named for the original Miriam from Exodus Moses’ older sister the prophetess. I love this detail: the name either comes from the Egyptian word for beloved or the Hebrew word for rebel. So beloved seems as being the best meaning.

Another beautiful detail from Angela’s research is reading the Greek and Hebrew words and their meanings. Mary was “highly favored” the word kecharitomene in Greek means I favor. God chose to grant Mary this favor above all other women, not that she was any more deserving of the favor but simply because God made this decision and it was settled.

There is so much meat in this lesson today. One of the biggest takeaways though is the fact she had to learn that although she was chosen to be Christ’s mother her purpose in life in reference to His life would change rather abruptly. She would always want to protect Him, but she had to learn that He was not hers to keep. She was still and would always be the Lord’s servant doing God’s will.

How difficult as a mother would that have been though… honestly? How many times did she have to remind herself of that fact? “I am the Lord’s servant.”

Yet think about that too. Angela lists all the men who scoffed at the idea of being God’s chosen one. Moses, Gideon, and Jonah all tried to get out of this role they were selected for and yet Mary didn’t hesitate. She immediately believed Gabriel obeyed and accepted this mission given to her. She was merely a teenage girl who could have been stoned to death if anything had gone wrong. There was a lot to deal with in this mission that a 13 year old couldn’t have imagined of dealing with like dealing firsthand with Herod’s anger.

Mary’s role in Christ’s life was a learning curve. He needed her as a baby, but she had to force herself to not cling to him as His mother at a certain point in her life. There is a time when we have to let things go and put them solely in God’s hands. She showed how to do so with grace. She still had her other children, but Christ was the defining moment of her life. Having her other children must have helped with the ache of slowly losing Him when His ministry started, but a firstborn is unmistakable. Especially this one.