May the Lord bless us as we turn
together to his word tonight. We'll turn to the chapter that
we read in the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 2. And we'll
read the first part of verse 35. Luke chapter 2 and verse 35. Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thy own soul also. Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thy own soul also. Mary was a greatly favoured young
woman. The Lord came to her when she,
it would appear, was relatively young. She was betrothed to be
married, we know, but she was not an old lady and she was greatly
favoured. greatly blessed to be chosen
of God and throughout the ages the women of Israel had longed
that it might be them that would be chosen to bring forth the
Christ and yet here is Mary in that town of Nazareth chosen
and greatly favoured. But Mary also suffered much. She had a life of hardship and
many, many difficulties and much suffering as a result of her
being chosen to bear the Christ, to be the mother of Jesus. And
here we have this amazing word spoken by Simeon in the temple
as they brought Jesus up in those early days of his life. And Simeon
speaks wonderful words and yet speaks Hard words to Mary. Here before him he has the mother
of Christ. She has recently given birth
to the saviour of the world and yet he turns to her and speaks
a hard word. Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thy own soul also. Mary in her life lays great heights
of blessing. great heights of wonderful favour,
and yet she also experiences great depths of sorrow, great
moments of blessing, great moments of teaching also throughout her
life, and yet moments of painful wounding, of piercing through
her soul. And yet Mary's life Although
utterly unique in one sense as the mother of Jesus Christ, her
experience is not utterly unique. By that I mean that her blessings
and also her sorrows are mirrored also in the lives of other believers. And as we see the life of Mary,
from when we're first introduced to her to the last time she's
mentioned at the beginning of the Book of Acts, really we have
much instruction and encouragement for the Lord's people today. And I want firstly this evening
really to trace through the Gospels the times that we read of Mary.
and the wonderful encouragement we can find from them. Firstly,
we read of her when she receives the announcement that she is
to be the mother of the Lord. We read this in Luke chapter
1 from verse 30. We read that the angels said
unto her, when the angels came to him and she was troubled at
his saying and cast in her mind what manner of salutation it
should be and then from verse 30 The angel said unto her, Fear
not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God." Now if we just
imagine the scene and try and put ourselves in Mary's shoes
at this time, she has received a message directly from the angel
that she is to have a child. And having heard the message,
her reaction is, well, how can this be, seeing I know not a
man? And if we consider the context
here, Mary is being told that she will have a child. Mary is
not married. She is betrothed, she is engaged,
but she is not married. As far as society is concerned,
she is single, she is a virgin. And yet she is being told that
she will have a child. And this news will be noised
abroad and others will be told what has happened, then the rumours
will very quickly spread throughout Nazareth that Mary has been unfaithful,
that Mary is conceived outside of marriage and she will quickly
become a stigma in the social standing. She will be judged
perhaps for her actions or perceived actions She could face judgment,
she could face punishment for what the society perceived as
happened. This was a hard word for her
to take. I am a single woman. What will
people think if they see I'm with child? So immediately there's
a there's an element of sorrow, there's a difficult message for
Mary to receive. And yet, mixed in that difficult
message, of course, is a wonderful message. Thou shalt conceive
in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name
Jesus. He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest. The Lord shall give unto him
the throne of his father David. He shall reign over the house
of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
This child will be the Son of God. This child was the promised
Messiah. This child is Him who will fulfil
the prophecies and will sit on the throne of David forever.
He shall reign over His people forever and forever. You see
the wonderful blessing which is in this announcement as much
as the difficult it must have been for Mary. Here, the Virgin,
shall conceive and shall be the mother of Christ, the mother
of the promised Messiah. As we come on, we come then to
the birth of Christ as we read about in Luke chapter 2. And
again, what juxtaposition we have here, what sorrow and yet
what rejoicing we have in the birth of Christ. They make their
way to Bethlehem, the hard, tortuous journey from Nazareth in Galilee
down to Bethlehem. difficult, especially heavily
pregnant as she was. And they come to the town and
she must have been tired, exhausted because of the journey. And there
they find there is no room for them anywhere to stay. The only
place which is suggested is this cattle shed or this stable by
the side perhaps of the inn. And there, of all places, not
back at the home in Nazareth, not back with her mother and
father, perhaps, with the support of all the family. There, of
all places, far away in Bethlehem, in a cattle shed, she goes into
labour and gives birth. And all she has is to wrap the
Lord Jesus in His swaddling bands and to lay Him in a manger, a
cattle trough, the feeding trough for the animals. What sorrow
that must have been for a first mother, She knew who she was
giving birth to. She knew here was the promised
Messiah and yet all she had was a manger to lay him in. How sad it must have been for
her. What sorrow, what difficulty in that shed that night. And
yet, accompanied with that sorrow is a visit by a group of shepherds. who have heard from the angels
on the hillside that unto them is born in the city of David
a Saviour which is Christ the Lord. And they went and they
told, they must have told Mary all that they had seen and all
that they had heard on that hillside that night. And they reminded
her that here was the promised Messiah and that it was a glorious
night. It was not a night for sorrow.
It was not a night for sadness. This was a glorious night for
them because the Lord had announced the coming of the Christ. Indeed,
the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God. We read that
Mary kept these things and pondered them in her heart. And what comfort
and what thought she must have had as she considered all that
had happened that night. She considered the trial of the
labour and birth in the stable and she also considered the visit
of the multitude of the heavenly host and of the worshipping,
praising shepherds. We see the two sides of Mary's
life. Come through the chapter and
we come to the time that she comes with Joseph to Jerusalem.
and meets with Simeon and then with Anna. And she hears these
words as we've read together in verse 35, a sword shall pierce
through thy own soul also. Again, you see, sorrow. A prophecy, a word of sorrow
and sadness. Mary, you will suffer. You will
have times of difficulty. described in such intensity as
a sword piercing through your own very soul. This will not
be something light and easy to brush off. It will be a piercing
through your soul. There will be true sorrow and
hardship and suffering. And what words to a new mother
as she has come in this spirit of rejoicing, surely, bringing
her new son to the temple at this time. And yet, here's a
prophecy of sorrow, but accompanied with it, of course, again, is
the positive. As He says, and they hear these wonderful words,
He will be a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of
Thy people Israel. And they hear from Simeon that
he has been told and revealed to him that he would see the
Lord's Christ. And he holds the Lord's Christ
in his arms and he cries with joy, Now let us now, thy servant,
depart in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have
seen thy salvation. Again, you see the two sides. Mary is brought down in one sense.
and yet accompanied with it is such wonderful words and prophecy
that Christ has come. Move on through this chapter
and we come to the time when Mary and Joseph go to Jerusalem
for the Passover. They take Jesus up. He's 12 years
old. They take Him with the other
crowd from Nazareth who have come down to celebrate the Passover
in Jerusalem. And here we have again a time
Difficulty, a time of sorrow. Who we, the child Jesus tarried
behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it.
And they, supposing him to be, have been in the company, went
a day's journey, and they sought him among the kingsfolk and acquaintance. When they found him not, they
turned back to Jerusalem, seeking him. They lost him. They went
on assuming he was with other friends and neighbors and family
and so forth and they lost him for a whole day. They didn't
know where he was. Was he amongst the people? Was
he back in Jerusalem? If he was in Jerusalem, where
was he in Jerusalem? And they were, as any mother
or father would be, naturally afraid. They found it very difficult. They were afraid of what may
have happened. They were sorrowing. They were
fretful. And when they do find Him, they
say, Psalm, why hast thou dealt with us? Behold, thy Father and
I have sought thee. Sorrowing. Why have you dealt
with us like this? Why have you allowed this to
come to pass? We've sorrowed. We've sought you for three whole
days. What long days they must have
been for Mary and Joseph. What long nights they must have
been as they searched for the Lord Jesus Christ. Where was
He? What a difficulty for Mary. She had been entrusted by the
Lord with the privilege of bringing up the Son of God in His human
form, and they'd lost Him. And yet, attached to that time
of difficulty is a time of teaching, a time that is good for Mary,
because the Lord's response, how is it that thou sought me?
Wished ye not that I must be about my father's business? Now
they didn't understand that word immediately. But we read that
his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And that must have
been a time for teaching for Mary. As the Lord opened her
understanding more as to who he was and what his role and
what his mission was upon this earth. That he was to be about
his father, God's business in his life. and Mary's understanding
as she pondered these things must have been opened as she
thought on how the Lord would ultimately obey His Father in
heaven, and how He would confound even the wisdom of the doctors
of the law in the temple. Who this, her child, really was,
lost and afraid, and yet she saw a glimpse at that time of
the wisdom of the Lord Jesus. Next time we read about Mary
chronologically, I believe, is if we turn to the Gospel of John
in chapter 2. We read of Mary at the marriage
in Cana of Galilee. We know the account, I'm sure,
how they were invited to this wedding and Jesus was there and
his disciples and also his mother and they wanted wine. And the
mother of Jesus said unto him, They have no wine. She approached
him. Jesus said unto her, Woman, what
have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come. This may have sounded quite a
hard word from Jesus to his mother. Why do you bother me with this
matter, with this issue? Why do you bother me with this
trivial issue that there is no wine? My hour has not come. My hour to be revealed has not
come. My hour finally of suffering
has not come. Why do you bother me? What have
I to do with thee in this situation? Now we don't know how it was
taken. We don't know the tone of voice
that the Lord used. We don't know how it was taken
in Mary's heart. We must leave these things. But
I believe it must have been a hard word in one sense for Mary to
hear. And yet, of course, coupled with it, The Lord Jesus then
performs this wonderful miracle. She still has faith to believe
and she goes to the servants and says, whatsoever he saith
unto you, do it. And we know how the Lord turned
that water into wine. Again, you see, in this circumstance,
the Lord's mother may have felt put down, may have felt as if
the Lord had put her down in her place. and yet he works this
wonderful miracle and this miracle leads to the disciples, we read,
believed on him. That's a wonderful work and a
wonderful encouragement it must have been for Mary at this time,
at this marriage at Cana. We move on and we come to another
occasion as we read in Matthew's Gospel and we read of that, well
we read it in three Gospels in fact, but in Matthew 12 rather
We read of how the brothers of the Lord and his mother came
to find him, to speak with him. Matthew 12 and verse 46. We read,
While he yet taught to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren
stood without desiring to speak with him. And one said unto him,
Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without desiring to speak
with thee. They came to see him. And much could be said on this.
Were they right to come? Was their attitude right? What
were they going to say? There's much that could be said
here. But on the face value as we see
it, they have come to speak with Jesus, her son. And Jesus answered
and said unto him and told him, Who is my mother? Who is my brethren? He stretched forth his hand towards
his disciples. He said, Behold, my mother and
my brethren. Whosoever should do the will of my Father which
is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."
Now, like the time of the marriage of Cana, we could say that this
may have sounded like a reproof. Your mother has come to speak
with you. And yet, Jesus' response is, well, who is my mother? He
doesn't welcome her in. He doesn't welcome His brethren
in that they might take pride of place may have felt put down
by these words, disregarded by these words of Jesus. It may
have been hard to be seemingly rejected by her own son. She wasn't, of course, but that's
how it may have appeared. But actually this whole occasion
isn't a rejection of his mother. It's not a casting away of Mary
as if she's unimportant and he doesn't care for her. What it
does is it expands her view. It isn't just his natural mother
and natural brethren. It's all who do the will of my
Father in heaven. It expands their view as to who
is his real family? Who does he love? Who does he
care for? What is the family of Christ?
It's those that do his Father's will, who hear and obey him.
A time of sorrow, perhaps a time of difficulty for a while, and
yet really her mind She's taught, it's expanded in her view as
to who the Lord loves and cares for. She's taught in that circumstance. Well let us now come to the real
fulfilment of these words. Yea, a sword shall pierce through
thy own soul also. Because of course Mary had these
occasions in her life, in the life of the Lord Jesus, but it's
when she comes to the time of his death that this sword pierces
through her soul, I believe. We read at the foot of the cross,
there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, his mother's sister,
Mary the wife of Cleopas and Mary Magdalene, his mother. Now perhaps we can read over
that quickly and not really think what that means, but here we
have Mary who gave birth to the Lord in Bethlehem. Mary who presented
him at the temple and heard those wonderful words of Simeon. Mary
who had the privilege of seeing him grow up in his life and of
course was taught much by her own son. Mary who loved him as
a mother loves her son and Mary who loved him more than that
because she loved him as her Lord and as her God and her Saviour. And yet here she is at the foot
of a cross of shame and she observes his agony and his suffering on
that cross. and she must stand by at the
foot of that cross and see all her own son endures. Can we imagine how much this
sword pierced through her own soul as she saw the physical,
not to mention the spiritual agony and suffering of her own
son, this son whom she had been given by the Lord, this son who
was the promised anointed Messiah, this son who she loved and adored
as her son and as her God, and yet she sees his suffering, his
rejection, and all that that picture at the cross conjures
up for us. There she is, as this sword is
pierced through her own soul. The agony of Mary at the foot
of that cross is something we cannot hardly contemplate. And yet, and yet, there at the
foot of the cross, she hears her son's words in love towards
her. When Jesus therefore saw his
mother and the disciples standing by whom he loved, he saith unto
his mother, Woman, behold thy son. And saith he to the disciples,
Behold thy mother. Even in his suffering on that
cross, he makes provision for his mother so that she might
be cared for by John and they are brought together union from
that hour the disciple took her into his own home. She hears
his love and care even in his agony and suffering. In one sense,
what a comfort that must have been, but she hears much more
than that from the foot of the cross. She hears much more glorious
words than that as she stands and witnesses the suffering of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because there at the foot of
the cross, as she sees her son suffering such agony, she hears
words such as, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise, spoken
to a condemned thief. She hears words of love and pity,
Father forgive them, for they know not what they do. She hears
words of love. and of mercy and she may not
have fully appreciated what she beheld and fully entered into
what was occurring on that cross but nevertheless as she stood
there in the sorrow and piercing of her soul at the foot of the
cross of Christ she beheld the very act of redemption She beheld
the shedding of blood in the place of sinners. She beheld
the Lord dying for her sins and the sins of the whole church.
There, though a horrible, in one sense, sight for her, there
was a glorious sight at the foot of the cross. There was her hope. There was her life being bought,
there was her son suffering in her place, pierced through her soul, and
yet blessing at the foot of the cross. Mary, greatly favoured, and yet
suffered much. And all this suffering, the piercing
of her soul, all of it led, I believe, for her to understand more about
Jesus and gave her the privilege of receiving such blessing from
the Lord Himself. I think I'm right in saying that
the last time we read of Mary, is following the ascension of
Jesus in Acts chapter 1. Her Lord, her Son, has been received
into glory. And again, how hard that must
have been in one sense, although she rejoiced as a child of God. At the beginning of Acts, Acts
chapter 1, verse 14, we read of her here. These all continued
with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and
Mary, the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. He's been
taken into glory now, and yet Mary is found with the disciples
in prayer and in worship. Mary is found in the company
of the brethren, in the company of the church left below, She
is found now in the family of the redeemed, worshipping and
praising God and pleading and praying together. Mary is blessed
here with the Lord's people. Did you see the sword pierced
through her own soul in so many times? And yet I believe attached
to each occasion was blessing and teaching. Well, what does that teaching
and that lesson have for us today? Well, as I said earlier, I believe
this life, these occasions, in a sense are mirrored by the Lord's
people in their experience, not literally, of course, not in
the same depth, of course, but for the Lord's people, there
are bitter times. bitter, hard and sorrowful times. But we prove that there is blessing
in it. That there is favour even in
the midst of the bitterness. There is sweetness from the bitterness. And we find that as the word
says, all things are working together for good, though it
may be so bitter. We may ask questions. For instance,
why does God allow us to feel the bitterness of sin? And when
we feel the weight and bitterness of sin, and we feel how hard
it is, and in a sense how unbearable it is, why does the Lord allow
us to feel the bitterness of our sin? Why does he not allow
us to go on in the enjoyment of the world? feeling happy and
content with what we have. Why does He bring us to feel
the bitterness of guilt? Why do we feel that pierce, as
it were, of our soul? Well, the answer is obvious,
isn't it? For a wonderful, gloriously positive reason that the Lord
brings us to feel our sin. It's to bring us to flee to Christ. is to bring us to realise our
need, is to bring us to flee to the only one who can help
us, the only one who can give life when we feel our death,
the only one who can give hope when we feel despair. The sword
of justice must pierce through our soul to bring us to flee
to Christ. And when we're in the depth of
bitterness, if we feel our sin and haven't known the release
of liberty that Christ can give, we may think, why are we like
this? Why would the Lord bring me here?
Why do I feel like this? Why do others not feel like this?
Why does it seem to be unique to me? Why do I feel like a sword
is piercing through my soul? Well, the Lord is bringing you
there. The Lord is working there. because
there will be a wonderful promise and a wonderful positive from
that experience. The positive is to be brought
with Mary to the foot of the cross and see there a suffering
Saviour in our place. We may ask, in our experience
as Christians, why does God seemingly withdraw from us at times? Why
does it feel like God removes Himself from us, we mourn, as
we say, an absent God. Why would the Lord do that to
us? Why would we lose the feeling sense of His presence at times?
Surely if He loves us, He'll be with us at all times. Surely
if He loves us, we will always feel that presence. Why would
He withdraw at times? Why would He bring us into that
bitterness? Well, it's for a good reason.
there for positive reason. He may bring us there to show
us our sin, to show us that we've turned to an idol, to show us
that we've become too close to the world and we've, as it were,
crowded Him out with the things of the world and He will withdraw
to show that we're missing the one thing that our soul really
needs. And you'll withdraw to bring us into a time of hunger,
and a time of want, and a time of thirst, again, to bring us
to flee to Christ. To bring us to realise that without
His presence we have nothing. In His presence is fullness of
joy, outside of His presence is want and wasting. and he will
work to bring us to flee unto him again and find bread for
our hungry souls, food when we feel our need of him. Why does
he withdraw for our good? We may ask why does he not answer
prayer as quickly or as we expect him to? Why does he wait to answer? Why does He not answer the way
we expected? Again, the bitterness does have
a sweetness. Why does He wait to answer prayer
at times? To make us fall more on our knees. To make us plead more. to give
us a deeper sense of how much we need Him, to deepen our faith
and deepen our dependence upon Him. So we are not looking at
all to ourselves or anyone else and as the time goes on we realise
more how much we cannot help ourselves and we pray the more.
We pray the more fervently and the more ardently. The bitterness
is used for sweetness. Why does he withhold answers
to prayer? Well, is it not to make his name
more glorious in the end? As we look and see the answer,
unexpected as it may have been, and yet when we see it, we realise
the wisdom and the goodness of God, perhaps in not giving us
what we ask, but giving us what was right, we prove his wisdom
and goodness in the end when he appears for us. Why do we
feel the bitterness of having to wait on the Lord? Because
them that wait on the Lord shall rise up with wings as eagles,
shall walk and not be weary and run and not faint. Finally, why do we have to feel
the sword, the piercing, the sorrow, the bitterness of death? Why do we have to pass such a
way? a great enemy before us, a fear
for us all. And the strongest in faith of
the Lord's people, I believe, always have times of fear of
death. Why must we pass that way? Why
does the Lord make us? Well, look at it the other way. Remember that the curse through
Christ has been removed. O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is the victory? We must pass through death if
the Lord does not return. It's a result of the curse upon
us all as fallen human beings. And yet the sting of death is
removed by the Saviour Himself. And we must remember The death
for the Lord's people is but a passage to life, the door to
glory, and the way to be with him. The bitter is made unimaginably
sweet. And John Bunyan saw Christian
crossing the river in Pilgrim's Progress. and we read that we
saw him at the other side and as he presented his certificate
and entered through the gates of glory and Bunyan writes most
poignantly at the end of his allegory, and I wished I could
go with them. You know, isn't it wonderful
to sometimes see or hear of the death of others and how we sorrow
and what an enemy it is and yet we long to go with them. The
bitter is sweet. Well, may we take courage tonight.
The Christian life is not always easy. Mary was no different. The mother of God, the mother
of the son of God, herself, was no different. She was still a
saved sinner. highly favoured, and yet blessed
and taught through suffering. And we must remember that for
her, and for us all, our lives are really summed up in that
hymn we sing. All to make us sick of self and
fond of him. And he was to Mary And He is
to all of His people the object of our love. And He will work,
and perhaps He will often work through the piercing of our soul
to make us increasingly the object of our love and the focus of
our worship, working to bring us closer, closer to Him. May we be helped to look up in
our times of trial, in our times of seeming sadness and bitterness. Look up, as I believe Mary did,
and see above it all our Saviour's loving hand, for he has, as we
sung in opening, done all things well. A sword shall pierce through
thy own soul also. Oh may God add his blessing tonight. Amen.