Highly Exalted One

1Chronicles 29:11 - Yours, O LORD, is the greatness, the power and the glory, the victory and the majesty; for all that is in heaven and in earth is Yours; Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head over all. 

I was saddened in my spirit one day as I was lunching with a couple of newfound friends I had delightfully golfed with. I have no idea how we got on the subject of religion but we did. Seems to be a subject in Phoenix that is not, surprisingly, avoided. I'm all for it...

We discussed where each of us attended church in the area. Somehow Easter was brought up and one woman said she could not watch the movie the Passion of the Christ because it was just too hard to view. I attempted to explain it was to show the torment Christ went through for all our sins and how we need to understand this.

The subject did a quick turn that was totally unexpected for me when she said, "And the torment of His mother, Mary." I agreed it would have been difficult for her...for any mother...to see their son go through something as horrific as what Jesus went through.  Then she quickly said, "You know I still have my statue of Mary decorated in honor of her."

How sad I was to hear this. She had/has missed the whole point of Easter. It was not about Mary; it was all about Him. Surely she bore Him, raised Him as an earthly mother, considered Him for a time as her earthly Son, taught Him, but it was His Heavenly Father who Jesus ultimately listened to. As with other conversations we were having, they became disjointed or interrupted, yielding to unfinished discussions, which was frustrating for me. So my thoughts ended up only in this blog.

More on Jesus and Mary: I recall Jesus' words to her at the wedding in Cana when she approached Him to bring about the miracle of the wine: Dear Woman, it is not yet my time. Woman! Sounds harsh, but it really was a term used then, one spoken with the utmost tenderness and affection. He would never have spoken disrespectfully to His mother. He needed her to realize that He was no longer of an age where He was still under her authority. He listened and obeyed His Father in Heaven. Her response to the servants at the wedding was "Do whatever He tells you." An understanding, humble answer.

We're called to do that ourselves today. Whatever He tells us. We are to seek Him out for His gift of salvation, a gift only He can give us. No one else is worthy to give this gift. His work on the cross is what counts, nothing anyone else, including Mary, has done.

Yes, Mary grieved. We should grieve too...that we are all sinners in this world and that Jesus had to...and willingly chose to...die for us...even for His mother.

There was another time Mary was expecting more than she got. She and her other sons (who did not believe Jesus was the Son of God) were seeking Him out. Here is what ensued: Mark 3:31-35 - Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, "Look, Your mother and Your brothers  are outside seeking You." But He answered them, saying, "Who is My mother, or My brothers?" And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, "Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and mother."

Here is Jesus pointing out that those who followed Him, were His true spiritual family. It was not all about His earthly family, as hard as that sounds. It's about what He came to earth to do. He had to come as a person who came from heaven to earth and lived and went through the pain like our everyday life's pain. He had to be a real person, yet set apart, to everyone, including His mother. He was showing everyone that He is the ONLY way, truth and life and ONLY by Him was anyone to get to the Father. Even His dear, sweet mother, Mary, needed ONLY what He could give. She, too, had to give her life to the Lord, even if He was her Son.

We are born into this world naturally, but it is our spiritual nature that is important. The only way that spiritual nature is satisfied is our turning to Jesus as our Savior. Mary cannot do that, nor can anyone else. ONLY by the name of Jesus.

Mary was an excellent example of purity in a woman, strength, sacrifice...and of letting her Son be who He needed to be. She followed Him but did not excel Him. She was the very willing vessel God used to bring about this miracle birth. She was God's earthly servant (Luke 1:38). She was her Son's earthly servant...just as we who have received Christ are to be.

Yes, she was called blessed. The Proverbs 31 woman is called blessed. I can say I'm blessed too. We both have known and know the Son. She would have felt the same pain any other mother would losing a child. She learned from Him, in time, to allow Jesus to do what she by now she saw He had to do. But she is not a saint to be worshiped over her Son. ONLY the name above all names is to be worshiped. All praise, honor and glory be to Him ONLY who sits on the Heavenly Throne at the right hand of God, His Father. 

Philippians 2:9-11 - Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.