Hi and welcome to Pearls from the Word program.
I'm Miisu Piipari and today we will look at the life of Mary, mother of Jesus -
and see how Jesus can be seen in her life.
Let's read a Bible verse from Matthew 23, verse 11.
"But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant" (diakonos).
The Greek word diakonos means a person -
who carries out the commands of another person, especially his master -
and is a servant of the king. And we know who the King is, don't we?
Mary's attitude and dedication to God's will -
resembles this passage well.
She gave her whole life, including her body, under God's care.
So she served with her whole being. And as I'm recording this program, -
I feel that behind the screen there are many Marys, -
people who have given their whole lives to be used by God, -
including their bodies, in spite of a potential life danger.
Let's look at Mary's life. First some background information about her.
Despite her young age, Mary was engaged to a carpenter called Joseph.
At that time the age when most women got married was about 15 years, -
so according to one estimate Mary was 14 when she was engaged.
There is some controversy about that but she was definitely under 20.
Through His foster dad Joseph, a descendant of David, -
Jesus even had the legal right to the throne of David. Imagine.
He was a descendant, root and seed of David also through His mother, -
so He had a natural, inherited right to the throne of His father David.
So Mary, too, was from the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David.
Let's read from Gospel of Luke, chapter 1, verse 32.
"He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: -
and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David."
Let's also look at Isaiah 11, verse 1 that also talks about this root.
"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, -
and a Branch shall grow out of his roots."
Amen. Here we see something of the bloodline and inheritance -
Mary and Joseph had.
So Jesus is divine as the spiritual root of David -
and a human as David's descendant.
There isn't much written about Joseph after Jesus's teenage years.
He is mentioned in the story of the temple but not really after it.
From Mary's life we can see that she was a spiritual person.
She always went to the Passover feast even if as a woman she didn't have to -
since the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem was over 300 kilometres.
Even Mary's Song of Praise in Luke chapter 1 verses 46 to 55 -
shows that Mary knew the Scriptures, -
as does the way how she encountered Elizabeth -
after getting pregnant of the Holy Spirit.
Elizabeth was six months pregnant, and he baby jumped in the womb -
out of pure joy when she saw Mary.
I'm sure Mary needed this encouragement -
because to be honest her life was in danger.
If angel hadn't spoken to Joseph he would have abandoned Mary.
It must be hard to believe someone gets pregnant of the Holy Spirit -
but as we know that the Holy Spirit has the life-producing power -
we know that it had happened.
But what does the life of Mary tell us about God?
We look at Mary's life because God wants to tell something about Himself -
through Mary's life. Let's look first at Mary's steps of faith.
What can God for example do through motherhood -
i.e. how can we see faithfulness, trust and obedience in Mary's life?
Being a mother is a gift from God, -
and Mary really gave her life to be used by God and Jesus -
in spite of being in a real danger.
She was willing to walk in obedience, repentance and sanctification.
I want to tell you some things about the life of Mary, -
how she walked in the will of God. Firstly she was ready to die.
Or actually how can we see God in it? He was ready to die for you.
God is ready to die on your behalf.
Mary's life was at risk when she accepted the angel Gabriel's mission -
and became pregnant with baby Jesus.
We also see that Mary stood by Jesus. God stands by you, too.
How faithfully Mary supported Jesus and walked with Him -
in His good and bad days, even in difficult days.
From Mary's life we can also see that God is a protector.
Joseph and Mary also protected Jesus when they fled Herod to Egypt.
We see from her life also that God trusts in what He has put in us -
in spite of ourselves, even though we don't always fully understand it.
Even if we only see bad things in ourselves, -
He sees us as beloved, suited for Him and accepted by Him.
We see for example that when Jesus turned water into wine by a miracle, -
Mary was the one who was able to warn Jesus and tell Him -
that His ministry was about to begin. She knew it before Jesus.
Through Mary's life we also see a God -
who wants to support you and suffer with you.
If we think of how Jesus was imprisoned, tortured and mocked, -
Mary was willing to faithfully be there on His side and to bear His suffering.
From the life of Mary we also see that God comforts us -
and that He wants to come into all the difficult moments of our lives -
offering us comfort, love and support.
We see God's undeserved and unfailing love, -
the love of a God who won't abandon you in any situation.
I also want to talk about Mary's position as a leader.
We can think that Mary was probably a well-known person, like a celebrity, -
among the disciples of Jesus since she was Jesus's mother.
She had a certain position there.
I believe Mary was like a quiet leader among the women.
She loved, supported and encouraged them into a godly life.
In Mary's leadership we can find a person who holds on to faith -
in spite of circumstances, which is a model for us in the days to come.
It says in Hebrews 13 verse 7 according to the Amplified version: -
"Remember your leaders -
[for it was they] who brought you the word of God; -
and consider the result of their conduct [the outcome of their godly lives], -
and imitate their faith [their conviction that God exists -
and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, -
the Provider of eternal salvation through Christ, -
and imitate their reliance on God with absolute trust and confidence -
in His power, wisdom, and goodness]."
Think about it. So as we look at Mary's life as a leader -
we consider how she trusted in and relied on God, -
how she always held on to the fact that Jesus is the Son of God -
and how she never gave up.
In other words, Mary trusted in God and didn't question Jesus.
Mary radiates peaceful trust to God throughout her life.
According to the Gospel of Luke -
Mary treasured the promises about Jesus in her heart and reflected them.
I think it is the same thing we do when we contemplate the Bible -
and the Holy Spirit gives us revelation.
We see in Mary's life also difficult and unpredictable things, -
such as when she became pregnant as a virgin through the Holy Spirit -
and had to make people believe that yes, it was God.
We also see how a young Jewish woman surrenders herself -
into the will of God in spite of a life danger and fear of abandonment.
She was afraid of losing her fiancé Joseph -
who could provide her the security of marriage as a mother of a baby.
In all this we see Mary's trust in difficult situations.
If we think about this we can see from the Bible -
that Mary's family was torn apart by religious conflicts.
After Jesus Mary gave birth to four sons and at least two daughters.
We are not sure how many daughters she had, but at least two.
In the beginning Mary's other children didn't believe in Jesus, -
but it says in Acts 1 verse 14 that even His brothers -
accepted Him after His death, amen. We can see that a change took place.
Also if we think of Mary's leader characteristics and steps of faith, -
she also trusted God in her finances -
even if she didn't know yet how she'd make the ends meet.
Mary followed Jesus throughout His life even though she didn't know -
how she would be looked after. But Jesus took care of Mary -
until the last moment of His life, saying to John: "Here is your mother."
In practice it meant: "Look after her."
In spite of all the hard phases of life Mary carried the faith in her heart -
and didn't give God up. If you are a believer for a long time you may say -
as a pastor once said me: "Thank you Jesus that I'm still in faith".
All of us will have so many difficult situations and tests in life.
That is why God asks us to look at leaders who stood by their faith.
Amen. I want to end with this verse, -
John 12, from verse 26.
"If any man serve me, let him follow me; -
and where I am, there shall also my servant be: -
if any man serve me, him will my Father honour."
Study the life of Mary and her steps of faith.
Try to do the same she did, trusting in Christ. Amen.
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May your harvest be plentiful also in your own lives. Amen.
English translation: Anni Lähteenmäki / TV7