Mary’s life was not about Mary
And she even makes a bigger deal out of us than she does herself.
Countless mothers have chosen to make their children’s birthdays a bigger deal than their own. There is no better example of this than Mary. Each year, Mary’s September 8 birthday comes and goes with very little fanfare, while the world stops and takes notice of her son’s birthday, a birthday that changed the very way we count years.
It is precisely Mary’s decision to treat herself as a background character in the story of Christ’s life that has made her great.
First, Mary’s life, from the moment it began, was about Jesus.
Second, Mary’s life was a model of the Our Father, the ultimate expression that our life is not about us.
Third, even when she is clothed with the sun and crowned with stars, Mary is a side story.
In Revelation 12, we read a story about salvation history that begins with “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.”
Fourth, Mary even makes a bigger deal out of us than she does herself.
Astonishingly, Mary doesn’t only make herself a side player in Christ’s life. She makes herself a side player in every Christian’s life.
She didn’t just serve Jesus. She serves us. And it isn’t just Jesus’ birthday that we make a bigger deal out of than Mary’s. We celebrate our own birthdays more than hers, too.
That’s okay. She’s a mother. She wants it that way.
