More on Mary: This is my Son in Whom I Am Well-Pleased

Sorry about the earlier duplicate post. Also, in the earlier post, when I wrote that Jesus was half-God and half-man, I should have written that he was fully God and fully man. Wars have been fought over such hair-splitting so I need to be more careful :-).

As I "mulled" over (a little Christmas levity) Mary's role this morning, I thought of the verse from Mark 1 describing Jesus' baptism and the voice of God exclaiming, "This is my son in whom I am well-pleased." To me, that verse indicates two things: 1) That Mary was a good mother because Jesus hadn't done anything yet to prove his power, but God was pleased with him anyway 2) That parents need to affirm a child's worth even before she/he "does" anything.

I assume that Joseph had a little to do with the fact that Jesus turned out okay. But the poor guy doesn't get much press in the Bible. We hear about him in the first few chapters of the gospels, and then he disappears. We see him for the last time when the twelve-year-old Jesus gets left behind in Jerusalem, and his parents finally find him in the temple. However, it is Mary who addresses Jesus. Some may think less of Mary because she seems worried about Jesus and his disappearing act, but again I admire her attention to the important details of mothering. What was she to do? Leave her insubordinate twelve-year-0ld boy alone in a strange city? One time I lost my two-year-old son in a mall at Christmas three days after my daughter was born. She had come two weeks early, and I had just handed in my grades less than a week before and had not done my Christmas shopping. So I put the newborn in the snugli front carrier and David in the stroller and off we went to the Johnson City mall. However, I was light-headed and not paying attention to my son and he slipped away one time when I let him out of the stroller. Finally I found him chatting with a nice saleswoman. She patted my hand and said, "Honey, maybe you should go home." I was very happy to find David, but I was also irritated that I hadn't gotten my shopping done.

Mary, on the other hand, let her son "sass" her, still pondering his precocious actions in her heart. Sometimes, I should have been more like Mary--taking time to appreciate the way my kids broke up mundane routines.

Also, I'd say that Mary's example of going back to find her son proved to be an influence as Jesus formulated his parable of the lost sheep. Mary was like the good shepherd who went back to find the one lost sheep. And because of Mary's influence, 18 years later, God was able to say, "This is my son in whom I am well-pleased."