Mary's View: Why God chose Mary to be the Mother of His son

“For nothing is impossible with God” Luke 1:37

Did Mary really write a journal? Most scholars will say girls during Mary’s time were not able to write. But is it possible? Yes, it is and how much better is Jesus’ story when written by His mother. There is so much during Jesus’ early life that only Mary would know. If we are not allowed to believe she wrote these events for us to know the real Jesus, how will we ever learn of them?

(The following blog uses excerpts from Chapter One of Jeus My Son: Mary's Journal of Jesus' Early Life)

When the angel greeted Mary, she wondered why God had chosen her. She was a humble peasant girl with no unique qualities except one.

     The only difference between me and all the other girls is my ability to read and write.

Girls during those times, as a rule, did not read nor write. So how did Mary learn these skills?

     Fortunately, my parents believed in the importance of education for girls as well as boys.

Did Mary enjoy using her writing skills?

      Like the patriarch, David, with his holy verses of praise, my love for writing is only second to my love of serving my dear Lord.

Writing material was scarce during Mary’s time. How did she obtain the material she needed to learn the skill or to record in her journal?

     Since both my parents work closely with the priests in the synagogue, they have access to the parchment and papyrus left from the priests’ studies. They bring home every scrap piece of writing material and every extra drop of ink they can find to encourage us to write.


God looked at Mary’s heart and saw that she was worthy to be the mother of the Messiah. Did Mary think her ability to write may have influenced God’s choice?

     God knew I would be compelled to record the events of his son to tell the world things that only a mother would know. Surely that is one of the reasons God chose me.

Mary Bailey is the author of Jesus My Son: Mary's Journal of Jesus' Early Life. Visit http://www.jesusmyson.com/ for more information.

Mary's View: Losing God's Son in the Temple

Have you ever lost a child? I lost my two-year old son one sunny Sunday afternoon when a few mothers from church decided to take our children to a carnival. The group was walking along when suddenly I couldn’t find my son.
My sister and I frantically retraced our path asking everyone if they had seen a little boy with a burr haircut. No one had seen him. I dreaded telling my husband how I had lost his son.

A few minutes later I saw him standing under the Ferris wheel just watching the people go around. When I ran up and grabbed him, he couldn’t understand all the tears. He didn’t realize he was lost.

When I hear the story of Mary losing her twelve year old son in the temple, I recall the fear I felt that day. I can’t imagine how Mary must have felt.

       We had lost Jesus—the son God had entrusted to our care.

This trip was special to Mary because at the age of twelve

      Jesus will soon graduate from one of the schools of the synagogue of Nazareth. He will be presented to us by the rulers as a responsible citizen of Israel.

Joseph searched throughout their caravan to no avail. Jesus could not be found. With no other choice they headed back to Jerusalem in search of their lost son. Did Mary not worry knowing this was God’s son and He would take care of him? Not quite--she was a mother.

       The roads are not safe and I knew something bad had happened for Jesus not to come to our site. I repeatedly apologized to God for losing His precious son.

When Mary found him, I am sure she was as relieved as I was.

      I wanted to rush to him with hugs and kisses before I scolded him for not staying with us.

Did Mary forget who Jesus was? If she did, Jesus reminded her.

        He looked me straight in the eyes and respectfully asked, “Mother, why were you searching for me? Don’t you know that I must be about my father’s business?”

As any mother today, Mary worried for her lost son. Nothing can replace the bond between a mother and a child.

      He is still my flesh and blood. My heart will always have a special place for him.

It doesn’t matter how confident we are that God has us in the palm of his hands, there are times when worry is the only thing a mother knows to do. We easily forget that the angels who watch over our children are the same ones who sat at God’s throne every day.

Mary is the author of Jesus My Son: Mary's Journal of Jesus' Early Life

Mary’s View: Did Jesus Perform Miracles at Home?

 Did you ever wonder if Jesus performed miracles when he was living at home with his earthly family? John records Jesus’ first public miracle when he turned the water to wine at a wedding in Cana.

             

Why was this wedding so important to Mary that she would be concerned about the wine shortage? If she was a guest, she may have felt sorry for the bridegroom since it was a disgrace to run out of wine, but would she want Jesus to expose his abilities for some wine? The ceremony must have been extremely important to Mary for her to want Jesus to identify his ministry to these people over a wine shortage.

We know Jesus had brothers and sisters. We also know weddings were a very important event during Jesus time. Most would last for a week.

This particular wedding could have been one of Jesus’ brothers or sisters. Since it was of such value to Mary, perhaps it was the wedding of her youngest daughter. Jesus is believed to have been around 30, so Mary’s youngest daughter would have been around 12 or 13 which is the accepted age for Jewish girls to marry during Jesus’ time.

Mary simply said to Jesus, “They have no wine.” She didn’t ask him to do anything. She just made a statement. She knew Jesus would be concerned if the groom of his little sister was embarrassed at their wedding.

Jesus replied, “Woman, what does that have to do with us? My hour has not yet come.”

Woman? Why would Jesus call his mother woman? Perhaps this was a term of endearment Jesus had used for Mary before. It almost implies he was teasing Mary. 

Mary wasn’t upset with the salutation because she turned to the servants and said, “Whatever He says to you, do it.”

Mary knew without a doubt Jesus could fix the wine shortage. She didn’t ask him to do anything. She knew he would do it because she had seen him do so much more at their home in Nazareth.

He knew how important it was to his mother and little sister and he could not bear to disappoint them. His little sister was marrying the man of her dreams and he wanted the ceremony to be one she would remember forever. He may have also thought this was the last time he would see her.

By the power of two persuasive women, Jesus did perform the miracle and John was there to record it.

So did Jesus perform miracles at home? Mary would not have known Jesus could fix the wine shortage if she had not witnessed similar things at home.    

This miracle also reinforced to the six followers he had already chosen that he was indeed the Messiah with special powers. 

John writes about a lot of events the other disciples don’t mention. He knew of the importance of this miracle to show Jesus’ concern for his earthly family. To identify this as just a first miracle is an injustice to the relationship of Jesus and his family.  He performed this miracle for his little sister and his mother whom he deeply loved.