Christian Message Boards: MOTHER MARY'S ADVICE

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Posted by WildB (Member # 2917) on :

by Cornelius R. Stam

"Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it" (John 2:5).

When, at Cana's wedding feast, the mother of Jesus had seen that the wine had run out, she had at first approached Him for help, but had received a reply which all the theologians of the centuries have not been able to soften: "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come" (John 2:4).

She must learn the painful lesson that as Son of God He must deny the claims of any who would boast a closer relationship to Him on grounds of physical birth.

Mary must not think of Him as "My son". She must, like every one else, learn to know Him as Her Lord and Saviour.

Humble, believing Mary could take the lesson well, however. Before this, when He had spoken in similar fashion she had "kept all these sayings in her heart". Now she goes to the servants and says: "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it".

Mary would do the same today. If she could speak she would direct her worshippers to the Lord Jesus Christ, and say: "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it".

Strangely, the vast majority seem to think of His words only as the words which He spoke while on earth. They have forgotten or have never known that our Lord Jesus spoke again from heaven by revelation to the Apostle Paul and that in his epistles we have the words of the Lord Jesus to us today (See Galatians 1:11,12; 2:7-9).

Paul was, in a special sense, the ambassador of the rejected Lord. To him was committed "the gospel of the grace of God" (Acts 20:24) and the mystery of God's "eternal purpose" (Eph.3:1-11). In bringing his first Epistle to Timothy to a close, he wrote: "If any man teach otherwise [than he had been teaching] and consent not to wholesome words, EVEN THE WORDS OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST...he is proud, knowing nothing...from such withdraw thyself" (ITim.6:3-5). Likewise, to the unruly Corinthians he wrote: "...If I come again, I will not spare: SINCE YE SEEK A PROOF OF CHRIST SPEAKING IN ME..." (II Cor.13:2,3).

Mary's advice today would be to believe the gospel that Paul preached, "...how that CHRIST DIED FOR OUR SINS according to the Scriptures...was buried, and...rose again the third day..." (ICor.15:3,4).

Posted by Carol Swenson (Member # 6929) on :

Goodpost WildB. The Corinthians' conversion and the indwelling Holy Spirit should have been proof enough.

Since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you. (2 Corinthians 13:3)

This verse has been interpreted in three ways:

1. They are doubting that Christ speaks through Paul
2. They are doubting Christ
3. They are asking to know more about Christ

I think they are doubting Christ because in verses 5 & 6 Paul writes:

Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test? But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test.

Some people say doubt is a lack of faith, and others say doubt is a part of faith, as John the Baptist doubted (Luke 7:19), and Peter doubted (Matthew 14:30), and their doubts led to greater faith.

As Christian philosopher Dallas Willard observes, the issue ultimately comes down to what we really want:

“The Bible says that if you seek God with all your heart, then you will surely find him. Surely find him. It's the person who wants to know God that God reveals himself to. And if a person doesn't want to know God—well, God has created the world and the human mind in such a way that he doesn't have to.”