Supermodel: St. Mary The Virgin 2011

Isaiah 61:10-11
Galatians4:4-7
Luke1:46-55

Mary is a model for all of us who want to bring Jesus into our world, because that is what she is most famous for. When the angel let her know it was going to happen, Mary questioned it because she was not a stupid girl. She knew where babies come from, and she knew she had not done what it takes to make a baby. The angel told her not to worry about that – God would take care of it. So, Mary said ok – Be it into me.

So it is with us. We can have a million reasons or excuses why we can not bring Jesus into our world, and none of those reasons or excuses are too big or complex for God to handle. All we have to do is say ok – Be it unto me. Mary’s story does not stop there – she was not a stupid girl. We get hints that she had family support (her fiance‚ does not dump her, and she visits her cousin), so she probably had the usual prenatal care for the time and place, nurturing the child inside of her.

So it is with us. Once we take Jesus inside of us, we need to nurture him. That is where disciplines (or if we would rather call it “discipleship”) come into play. We need to feed ourselves well so that Jesus can grow in us by prayer, scripture reading, and other classic Christian disciplines. We won’t lose Jesus if we don’t do those things, but we won’t be able to bring him forth into our world unless we do those things.

Eventually, Mary finally gave birth. It was not in a fancy or important place, and it was not among fancy or important people. So it is with us. We can bring Jesus only into the world that we know, not the world we do not know. Our families, schools, businesses, neighborhoods, parishes, and monasteries are where we bring Jesus forth. We do not need to save the whole world, but we do need to let Jesus into our part of the world to save it.

Mary was not a stupid girl, and she was not a stupid woman. She let Jesus grow and when the time came, she let Jesus go. The only story we have of the two of them as adults before his crucifixion is the story of the wedding at Cana. There was a problem, and she let him know, but she did not tell him what to do.

So it is with us. Once we let Jesus into our world, we need to not tell him what to do. We need to let him know the problems, but he is much better at solutions than we could ever be.

Mary – the supermodel for us all. May we be like her – let Jesus into us, nurture Jesus in us, let Jesus out of us, and then let Jesus go to do what he needs to do.   AMEN