e167 God Calls Us to What We Cannot Do Alone (talkin’ about Mary, mother of Jesus, and the rest of us)

This is Faith to Witness 99, motivating us to hear God and share the Shepherd.  

Season 3 Episode 167 God Calls Us to What We Cannot Do Alone (talkin’ about Mary, mother of Jesus, and the rest of us) 

Here’s the gist, human. This is the perfect time to ponder how God brought Mary, the mother of Jesus into his Will. Because God calls us to what we cannot do alone. If you are proud of your independence, feel like you have life figured out, you are in control, that God fits within your plan. But. This episode is not for you. You’ve got this. Or do you? What could a sovereign God and the mother of Jesus possibly shine a light on in the final days of 2025? You tell me. Join us. E167. Thanks for listening.

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I’m Kathryn Bise, your host.

When I read about Mary, the mother of Jesus, how the angel came to her, how she sang a song of commitment, on first take it seems she had the kind of anointing that gave her a free ride on the glory tails of a divine God.

That God would take care of everything for her. He did that. And he gained glory for Himself from it.

But it wasn’t a free ride. It required Mary’s free will.

God Called Mary to Him

And what a grounding it was. That when the angel came, she experienced these emotions.

Fear, wonder, overwhelm…

Mary was a teenager. She was engaged to Joseph. I picture her being privately giddy in her young love. Shy, but deep about her overwhelming feelings for him. I imagine he was on her mind all the time.

But God called Mary to him. He sent an angel to explain it to her. He watched her reaction.

Luke 1:26-38

 

The Birth of Jesus Foretold

 

26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”

 

29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

 

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”

 

35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”

 

38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

 

God Called Mary to His Glory

And what did Mary do next? She rejoiced in the nature of her God.

Luke 1:46-55

 

Mary’s Song

 

46 And Mary said:

 

“My soul glorifies the Lord

47     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

48 for he has been mindful

    of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

49     for the Mighty One has done great things for me—

    holy is his name.

50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,

    from generation to generation.

51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones

    but has lifted up the humble.

53 He has filled the hungry with good things

    but has sent the rich away empty.

54 He has helped his servant Israel,

    remembering to be merciful

55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,

    just as he promised our ancestors.”

 

When Jesus was born, Mary experienced the glory of becoming a mother for the first time, that first look at her little boy’s face. The face of a promise kept from the Almighty God of the universe. When she committed her free will to God, she had to let go of how she thought her wedding, her marriage and life with Joseph would be,

And those first years, I would say up until Jesus was 12, until the synagogue experience, she had those connections, moments with her son, not unlike every mother. But she did so pondering God’s call in her heart (Luke 2:19). That when he called her to him, her calling to birth the divine Son of God did not stop at raising a son.

Because she was raising a Savior.

God Called Mary to Courage

As a mother, all kinds of anxiety stir my heart when I read about Jesus, when he stays behind to teach in the synagogue at age 12. When Joseph and Mary leave to return to Nazareth and realize Jesus is not with them. I can easily picture myself in Mary’s shoes when she finds him, and he says, “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s House?” (Luke 2:49)

All the years of pondering in her heart about what would come, when it would happen, what was in store for this son. A son she loved, earthly mother to earthly son, who had a divine ending to consummate. I am sure her heart flickered with anxiety at this moment.

She carried her calling through Jesus’ ministry and watched the crowds love him, then hate him. She learned from him. Mary above all people, and I believe this, knew, saw, felt, aligned with his divinity with a sacred reverence and rectitude that originates in the womb, that comes from the God who sent the angel to call her to him. What a bond.

How many times she must have felt heartache so deep she cried out to the God who had called her to such matriarchal suffering. How many times she dropped what she was doing to run, to help Jesus, comfort him as only a mother can, provide food, some warmth for rest, and tender words only he would call home in his heart, to bring him along the path they shared as mother and son.

God Calls Us to What We Cannot Do Alone

This is an easy lesson to benefit from, isn’t it? No, it is not. During the Christmas season believers celebrate Jesus coming into this world. Our every hope is anchored on the resurrection of the soul of Jesus. Our redemption counts on it.

But here is what lays hidden to many. The question embedded in how God came to Mary to draw her close to him.

Are we willing to accept a calling from God that we cannot do without him?

Mary did. Like no mother ever could on her own.

It was impossible for her to impregnate herself.

It was impossible for her to raise an earthly son into a Savior.

It was impossible for her to navigate the demands of her son’s anointed ministry.

It was impossible for her to stand at the cross and watch her son be crucified.

It was impossible for her to prepare his burial linens.

It was impossible for her to outlive his life on earth.

It was impossible for her to take comfort when he was gone.

But God made it so. From the Holy Spirit breathing life into her womb to the apostle John caring for her at the command of the Son in his final moments on the cross.

God calls us to what we cannot do alone.

When God calls, his sovereignty runs through your calling. He is the one doing the calling and we are ones who are saying yes to it.

It is not a free ride on his glory tails, but a “yes” to giving our free will to his Will to every human might be redeemed.

This is what Mary said “yes” to. That the love she would feel for her earthly son would ultimately be a sacrificial love for her Savior. That her words, her actions, would be submitted to and live within God’s calling to every human, to accept the Son, to believe in the beloved Son he sent to us.

This is so powerful for how we live our days. For every calling from God. What a heart map for how we receive God’s callings for us. We recognize where we are, what our honest reactions are and give it to God, we drop to our knees to rejoice in how he has chosen to draw us closer to him, and we treasure his intent while we suffer.

So here are three affirmations to remember what Mary did, an inspiring heart prompt for our spiritual life as we say yes to God’s callings throughout our lives.

1. I give him my fear, doubt, anxiety about what God is calling me to do.

Because God is sovereign.

2. I witness his glory with joy in your calling.

Because God is faithful from beginning to end.

And the third affirmation, comes from chapter two.

Luke 2:19

 

19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.

As we live through our calling, God persudes our heart.

3. I embrace suffering and ponder the treasures within my calling.

Because God created me to follow his Son.

Although Mary didn’t have the words of the apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians, she had her son to love her through to the other side of salvation personally, and for the world.

It’s pretty overwhelming as a mother to think about how many times she surely said these words, as she lived her earthly life birthing Jesus, raising him, and accepting him as her personal Savior.

Philippians 4:13

 

13 I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

If Mary can accept the call, so can we.