A Mother's Example

"Let it be to me according to your word." -- Mary to the angel Gabriel, Luke 1:38

"Father, if it is your will, take this cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done." -- Jesus in prayer, Luke 22:42

Do you see a close similarity between these two quotes? Don't they express the same idea? The same submission to the will of God? The same willingness to set aside personal feelings about what His will might involve? Surely it is something more than mere coincidence that this same attitude is put into action in the lives of both this mother and her son.

Jesus, who was with God from the beginning, had to have known Mary long before he became her child. He knew her heart and mind before she raised him. He knew that becoming her son would expose her to accusations of fornication, as well as every mother's nightmare of being preceded in death by her child. He knew the joys and griefs Mary would experience before she ever experienced them. He knew what pain lay ahead for him personally, but he submitted to the will of God anyway.

Mary was willing to be the living fulfillment of prophecy by carrying out the virgin birth of the Son of God. She had to have guessed what people would think and assume and say behind her back, but she submitted to the will of God anyway. She had no way of knowing how Joseph would react, or whether her engagement to him would be secure, but she submitted to God's will anyway.

Joseph, for his part, submitted to God's will by going through with his marriage to Mary in spite of a pregnancy he knew he was not responsible for. Even though he believed the baby was from God, he knew the potential damage to his reputation, and he chose to submit to the will of God anyway.

Scripture does not tell us the extent of his parents' influence on Jesus. But it's clear that both of his earthly parents lived out submission to the will of God at some personal cost. It can't be a coincidence that, 33 years later, their precious son did the exact same thing.

What do our children see in our lives? Do they see submission to the will of God? Do they see parents living in obedience to God, or do they see that as a concept paid only lip service?

Children grow up and make their own choices about Jesus, but those choices may very well be echoes of what our children saw in our lives years and years before.