Mary treasured all these things in her heart, Luke
tells us twice in chapter 2: the angel, cousin Elisabeth and shepherds have all
told Mary that her baby is Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord. So perhaps it’s no
surprise when they bring him to the temple and Simeon knows who he is too – ‘a
light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel’. But
she might not have expected to be told that ‘a sword will pierce your own heart
too’. A mother’s heart which was to be broken when she watched her son be
rejected, spoken against and die on a cross.
In Luke 9 we read that the disciples had the
exhilarating experience of praying for people to be healed and seeing Jesus
feeding the 5,000. Then Jesus says to them - “Whoever wants to be my disciple
must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For
whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for
me will save it.”
Will we treasure in our hearts those times when God
has spoken clearly to us? When, like Mary, we have been able to say “the Mighty
one has done great things for me, holy is his name”? Memories to sustain us
when the going gets tough?
The Psalmist knows: “The Lord is
close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit”.
This is a promise for us too.
Susie
Wilkinson
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