“Mary the Mother” Part 6 – Mothers in the Back

Mary was always meant to take a backseat to her son. Any of my readers who are mothers know that you raise children to move on and no longer need you. You hope they have their own, successful, happy lives. We still worry and pray, especially when they are enduring troubles and trials of their own. We want to know about their lives. But we no longer have a primary place in them, until they eventually have to take care of us. More about that in our final blog about Mary the mother.

Matthew 12:48-50 [NIV] 48 He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

But with Mary and Jesus, since He came as Savior to us all, since He was foretold to be the perfect Lamb of sacrifice for us all, that relegation to the backseat of her oldest child’s life had additional consequences that no mother could truly prepare for. She could not protect Him, and so she witnessed the sacrifices He made for her and the whole world from her backseat position, beginning with giving up His family life (which may have seemed like giving up His family) to begin His ministry years.

Let’s look at some of the ways that Mary showed up in the ministry years of the life of our Savior, her child.

John, in his gospel, records the first known miracle Jesus performed. This incident also gives us a view into what Mary must have known or understood about who Jesus was. The way it is written, it seems like Mary was very comfortable with Jesus being able to perform a miracle. John 2:3-5 [ESV] “When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no wine’. And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever He tells you’.”

Had He done miracles in her presence already? Or had the incidents she’d experienced in His earlier life given her this confidence? The visits from angels with good news and warnings, the prophecies of Anna and Simeon, His teaching the temple – all the things she kept in her heart – may have culminated in this confident request.

Let’s not miss that she was confident both that He could do it and that He would do it because she asked Him to.

After this, Jesus left the area with His disciples and His family. [See John 2:12] But things started changing at some point. Perhaps the incident where He turned over the money changers tables in the temple at the time of the Passover. [John 2:13-25]

Perhaps His siblings got embarrassed by that. Or maybe they just had their own busy lives and didn’t want to follow their older brother around while He went off to do His work.

Or maybe this incident did it for them. Mark 3:32-34 [KJV] 32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. 33 And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren? 34 And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

I could see myself saying about my own sibling, “Well, if that is how he feels, then I’m just going to move on. He obviously isn’t concerned about me. Why should I support him?”

Whatever the cause, we find a changed relationship between Jesus and His brothers in John 7:2-5 [ESV] 2 Now the Jews' Feast of Booths was at hand. 3 So His brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing. 4 For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world." 5 For not even His brothers believed in Him. Notice, though, that we can safely assume that Mary did still believed in Him. And isn’t that the way it is with us mothers? We believe in, have faith in, our children, even when no one else does.

Like so much of what we experience, Jesus went through this loss of family support and also gave us instruction regarding this happening to us. Mark 10:29-30 [KJV] 29 And Jesus answered and said, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's, 30 But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

It was necessary that Jesus leave His family home and His family to do the work that would save us all. The Father fulfilled for Him, as He will for us, the promise made in Mark 10:30. Matthew 12:48-50 [NIV] 48 He replied to him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" 49 Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."

While it seems that Mary no longer traveled with Jesus for the remainder of His ministry, it seems like she never lost faith in Him. We will cover more about that in the next blog. The things Mary “kept in her heart” may have sustained her when her other sons doubted Jesus.

Sweet sisters, we also need to keep the teachings, the love, the answered prayer and the other blessings we have received forefront in our minds and tucked into our hearts to be a shield and source of strength when trouble comes for our children, and belief might falter. Like Mary, these things will help sustain us in those tough times when our children have grown and moved on to fulfill their own purposes in life.

We have one more lesson to learn from Mary, the mother of our Savior. And it spans the gamut of human emotions from heart break to joy.

Thanks for coming along with me on this journey.

You can write me now in the chat, or any time at Nancy@DymanicChristianMinistries.org.