Servant of the Lord
Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.
Luke 1:38
We know very little about Mary. When Matthew and Luke provided a family tree for Jesus they did so through Joseph’s descendants. The Bible makes no mention of Mary’s family line or even of the name of her parents. Other sources tell us that they were called Anne and Joachim, but we cannot be sure. In Luke’s account we find her in Nazareth and so that may well have been her home town. We presume that she was probably a late teenager when the angel Gabriel came to her with the astonishing news that she would miraculously become the mother of the Son of God. But hazy as our knowledge may be of Mary, we are given a remarkable picture of someone who trusted God completely. Having heard the news, she simply identified herself as the Lord’s servant and accepted the truth of this amazing revelation.
The title ‘servant’ is often used of people who follow God. In the Old Testament we find it being used of Moses, Joshua, Samuel and David, among others. And in the New Testament, we are shown that it is the ultimate privilege to be a servant of the Lord. Indeed, Jesus himself told his disciples that he came “not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). The apostle Paul often spoke about the importance of living as a servant of the Lord and gave careful instructions to his young friend Timothy as to how to be a “worthy servant” (1 Timothy 4:6).
The thought of being a servant probably doesn’t immediately appeal to anyone. We live in a society in which the so-called service economy dominates. We used to be the greatest manufacturing country in the world, but the service sector now occupies more than 80 per cent of the economy. We can easily be lulled into thinking that the perfect life must be one in which we do nothing for ourselves but get waited on hand and foot. But Jesus shows us a better way. Indeed, serving God is the most liberating and rewarding life of all, and long ago young Mary completely understood this.
QUESTION
In what ways do you think of yourself as the servant of the Lord?
PRAYER
Loving Father, thank you for calling me to be your servant. Help me always to eager to serve you before anyone else. Amen