The Two Sides of Being Jesus' Mother

 

In the days following the Holy Night of Jesus’ birth, I think about how Mary must have delighted in seeing that her child looked and acted just like the other children.  “I can do this”, she thought. 

Then came the traditional trip to the Temple, presenting baby Jesus to the Father. Here Mary was so soon made aware of what must have haunted her the rest of her baby’s life. (Luke 2:22-40)

Being a mother means that you live with the happiness your child produces in life. But it also means living with the sorrow that your child produces in life. Mothers best relate to Mary’s shock upon hearing that her precious Infant Holy would also be the sword which would one day pierce her soul.

“Jesus was still in diapers when his parents brought him to the Temple in Jerusalem as the custom was, and that’s when old Simeon spotted him.  Years before, he’d been told he wouldn’t die till he’d seen the Messiah with his own two eyes, and time was running out.  When the moment finally came, one look through his cataract lenses was all it took.  He asked if it would be all right to hold the baby in his arms, and they told him to go ahead but be careful not to drop it.  ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation’ he said, the baby playing with the fringes of his beard.  The parents were pleased as punch, so he blessed them too for good measure.  Then something about the mother stopped him, and his expression changed.  What he saw in her face was a long way off, but it was there so plainly he couldn’t pretend.  ‘A sword will pierce through your soul,’ he said.  He would rather have bitten off his own tongue than said it, but in that holy place he felt he had no choice.  Then he handed her back the baby and departed in something less than the perfect peace he’d dreamed of all the long years of his waiting.” (Frederick Buechner, Peculiar Treasures: A Biblical Who’s Who. Harper & Row, 1979, pp. 156-157. S. Hoezee, cep.calvinseminary.edu)

There are always two sides to saying ‘yes’ to God.