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12/22/07
There's Something About Mary
What does the name “Mary” mean? Surprisingly, her name has two contrasting meanings: chubby, abundant, blessed, wealthy, beloved, and bitterness, grief and suffering. In the book of Ruth, Naomi told her kinsmen to call her Mara because she had lost her sons. Mary, according to Gabriel, was greatly favored. According to the prophet Simeon, a sword would pierce her heart as she would witness the brutal crucifixion of her Son. Such a dichotomy was the story of Mary’s life.
Frederick Buechner's little book of character sketches of people from the Bible has this to say about the angel Gabriel as he encountered Mary: "She struck him as hardly old enough to have a child at all, let alone this child. But he had been entrusted with a message to give her, and he gave it. He told her what the child was to be named, who he was to be, and something about the mystery that was to come upon her. 'You mustn't be afraid, Mary,' he said. As he said it, he only hoped she wouldn't notice that beneath the great golden wings, he himself was trembling with fear to think that the whole future of Creation hung on the answer of a girl."
Mary spent her life trusting God for the impossible: a baby conceived without an earthly father, a narrow escape from a murderous king, a husband who died before his time, and a misunderstood Son who claimed He was God Himself. Throughout her life, Jesus’ mother fought the cruel gossip that Jesus was illegitimate. She watched her precious Son endure the scorn of the religious leaders and the threats of the Romans. And, though she knew He would die for the sins of the world, she had to watch His agony and bloody crucifixion. But she was also there when the tomb was blown apart and her Son, the Son of God, gloriously cheated death. Mary’s suffering turned to abundance and blessing.
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