Becoming His Story. Mary-Elsie Wolfe
him by her statement “Do whatever he tells you.”
As we are called to be leaders, we remain followers of the greatest leader of all time. So it was with Mary.
Jesus showed compassion to Mary’s role as his mother even at the end as she stood by the cross. “When Jesus saw his mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, ‘Dear woman, here is your son.’ And he said to this disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from then on this disciple took her into his home” (John 19:26–28). Kanagaraj sees this scene as highly significant in establishing the emerging “Christian community (represented by one male—the beloved disciple; and one female—Mary) that will derive its life from the cross.”34 He concludes that this final act before saying “it is finished” on the cross envisions a “community of new disciples in which men and women have equal roles to play.”
Mary’s ongoing ponderings culminated at the cross. She accepted her changing role and the tremendous challenges of her emerging calling. Mary accepted the fate of her son, remaining with Jesus even while she grieved his physical pain, torture, ridicule, and abandonment. She endured with him beside the cross.
Even following the death of Jesus, Mary gathered with the disciples, praying and participating in his call and mission. Mary served her call in faith by her giftedness. She experienced a deeply rooted and growing relationship with Jesus.
Just as he does with us, Jesus showed an interest in Mary’s life—in the things that mattered to her. We are limited in what we know about how Mary adapted to life changes, but we do know that as she remained with Jesus, Jesus remained with her (John 15). That’s a promise and an encouragement we gain from Mary’s life!
Mary’s source for perseverance—Jesus—offers comfort to women feeling pressed by the many activities of life. This can certainly happen throughout the journey of different life seasons.
Writer and speaker John Ortberg talks about a young mom of toddlers who confessed that her life of prayer and Bible reading was much more regimented prior to parenthood. Ortberg explains that caring for two young children, offering daily expressions of gratitude and prayers for help and patient acceptance of trials, can become a kind of school for transformation.
No question, many moms would agree that the constant exercising of putting others before yourself is a developed discipline that helps define character. When we bring God’s Spirit in conversation with those daily challenges, we develop endurance. Paul explains in Romans that endurance comes from facing trials, which develops strength of character and ultimately hope (Rom. 5).
So our season of life is no barrier to having Christ formed in us or allowing our story to merge with his. In fact, it is often in walking through the valleys that we grow. Every moment is a chance to learn from Jesus how to live in the kingdom of God. Paul writes in his letter to the Colossians, “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in…Jesus” (Col. 3:17 NRSV).
Mary demonstrates for us what discipleship can look like. In doing so, she shows us how discipleship enters into God’s story.
28 “‘Dead’ Man Revived Four Months Later,” The Toronto Star, March 24, 2008, accessed January 30, 2017, https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2008/03/24/dead_man_revived_four_months_later.html.
29 Jey J. Kanagaraj, “The Profiles of Women in John: House-Bound or Christ-Bound?,” Evangelical Review Theology 27, no. 1 (2003): 29.
30 Tom Wright, Matthew for Everyone 2 (Westminster: John Knox Press, 2004), 156.
31 Wright, Matthew for Everyone 2, 156.
32 Wright, Matthew for Everyone 2, 157. The story of the Israelites being freed from slavery is recorded in Exodus.
33 Sherri Brown, “Water Imagery and the Power and Presence of God in the Gospel of John,” Theology Today 72, no. 3 (2015): 289–98.
34 Kanagaraj, “The Profiles of Women in John,” 31.
Chapter 7
A Female Apostle Is the First Evangelist
(John 4:3–30)
At times, we can feel immobile, stagnant, uninspired. Our gift from Jesus is to be mobilized to new opportunities, new insight, a new race, a new culture, a new hope, new possibilities. Becoming the story of Jesus means that we participate in what Jesus is doing. As we grow in Jesus, we become aware of the many ways he is moving all around us.
The Samaritan woman reminds us that God calls us beyond the expectations of others—or ourselves. Her example guides us along a path of adventure and possibility. We see in the Samaritan woman a road of discovery at the invitation of Jesus as well as the opportunity to inspire in others that same invitation. She is an apostle and evangelist. We see in her one becoming part of God’s story—in multiple ways. That’s the story we want to emulate!
Here is the story of the Samaritan woman:
[Jesus] left Judea and returned to Galilee.
He had to go through Samaria on the way. Eventually he came to the Samaritan village of Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Jacob’s well was there; and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well about noontime. Soon a Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Please give me a drink.” He was alone at the time because his disciples had gone into the village to buy some food.
The woman was surprised, for Jews refuse to have anything to do with Samaritans. She said to Jesus, “You are a Jew, and I am a Samaritan woman. Why are you asking me for a drink?”
Jesus replied, “If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask me, and I would give you living water.”
“But sir, you don’t have a rope or a bucket,” she said, “and this well is very deep. Where would you get this living water? And besides, do you think you’re greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us this well? How can you offer better water than he and his sons and his animals enjoyed?”
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