History records many famous last words: Caesar’s “Et Tu, Brute?” In literature there are famous last words; Charles Dickens, “It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done.” In movies, “There’s no place like home” from the Wizard of Oz or from King Kong, “It wasn’t the airplanes, It was beauty that killed the beast.” There are funny last words: W.C. Fields proposed this for his tombstone: All in all, I’d rather be in Philadelphia. There are memorable last words: Dr. King on the night before he died preached “I have been to the mountaintop and I’ve seen the promised land.” There are solemn last words in the Bible like the words of Jesus: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” Today’s gospel account has the last words of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. It’s not her dying words – this is from the second chapter of St. John’s gospel and Mary appears several more times in the ministry of Jesus, is there at the crucifixion and gathers the disciples in the upper room to await the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. But Mary is not remembered as speaking on those occasions. This passage contains the last recorded words of the Blessed Mother: “Do whatever he tells you.” All that had led her to that moment, and all that would follow after that moment, including watching her son die a cruel death, are captured in saying: “Do whatever he tells you.” In other words, whatever is God’s will is for the best. What greater advice could we receive! If we do whatever he tells us we will turn the other cheek and thus be on the way to ending the cycle of violence. If we do whatever he tells us the hungry will be fed, the poor will be clothed, the sick and imprisoned will be visited. If we do whatever he tells us we will forgive seventy times seven times and lose all resentment. If we do whatever he tells us we will find there is a blessing even in mourning, even in being poor in spirit, even in being persecuted. If we do whatever he tells us the prodigal son will be welcomed home, we will play the good Samaritan and the lost sheep will be found. Heeding those last words of Mary are at the heart of gospel faith.
Contrast those last words spoken by our Lady with her first words as recorded in the gospels. Remember the scene – the angelic messenger appears to her and announces that she is going to become the mother of God. “How can this be?” she asked the angel. How can these words of yours be true when they don’t fit into my understanding about how things should go? The young girl was perplexed, questioning, confused. “How can this be?” The woman of faith at Cana thirty-some-odd years later was confident and sure. “Do whatever he tells you.” Whatever you do for God, that will be for the best. How did Mary get there? How did she mature from a teen-ager who demanded answers to a woman of blessed assurance no matter what? And these are not idle questions of historical interest about someone else in the long ago and far away. They are similar to questions that rise in the lives of you and me and every believer. No doubt we too have had our moments of confusion and questioning. “How can this be?” “Why am I going through this illness right now?” “How come, despite my best efforts, my family does not yet reflect the unity, love and peace we strive for?” “What is the reason the innocent suffer, the good die young, the rich get richer and the poor poorer?” “Why does grief and loss make me feel so alone?” So our challenge is to grow as Mary did from confusion into confidence, from fear into faith, from hesitancy into hope.
The basic message we need to learn: we are the beloved of God just as we are. In the Old Testament lesson from the prophet Isaiah we hear: “No more shall people call you ‘Forsaken,’ but you shall be called ‘My Delight’ for the Lord delights in you.” The prophet wanted Israel to have a sense of themselves as loved and valued by God. The angel Gabriel echoed those lines when he appeared to Mary, “Rejoice, O highly favored daughter. Blessed are you among women. You have found favor with God.” The angel wanted Mary to know herself as loved and valued by God. Remember the scene of the baptism of Jesus at the Jordan River that we heard proclaimed last week. The heavenly voice said, “You are my beloved son. I am well pleased with you.” Jesus could only begin his public ministry after he knew himself as loved and valued by God. The scriptural evidence suggests that for Israel, for Mary, for Jesus the foundation on which one can build a confident faith is an awareness of oneself as loved and valued by God. That is our story as well. At the moment of our own baptism God claimed us, as God claimed Jesus, as beloved children in whom God is well pleased. That means, no matter what is happening all around us, no matter how the storms are raging, God says to us, “you are no longer ‘forsaken,’ you are ‘my delight’ for I delight in you.” The scriptural evidence is that God is just crazy about us! Experiencing ourselves as loved and valued by God, before we’ve accomplished anything, just by being who we are, moves us from doubt and fear into hope and trust.
The epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians illustrates another key to growing in confidence. “To each individual different kinds of spiritual gifts are given from some benefit.” One of the reasons that Mary (and we) ask “how can this be?, how can God have a plan for little old me?” is that we don’t understand that the spirit of God thinks we important enough to give us spiritual gifts. You can easily imagine Mary thinking, I’m nobody special. I’m too young. I don’t have any special talents. I’ve never been on TV. And yet, the apostle insists, the Spirit produces spiritual gifts, “distributing them individually to each person as he wishes.” Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that “the Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you.” The angel assured Mary that she would be given spiritual gifts by God’s Holy Spirit. At our baptism we are made temples of the Holy Spirit so we too are given the blessed assurance that spiritual gifts have been give us. Once we know we are gifted by the Spirit – gifted with faith, gifted with a listening ear, gifted with a new day, gifted with family, gifted with prayer, gifted with a loving heart, whatever our gift is – then we can move from confusion to confidence, from fear to fidelity.
What Mary got, and what we need to get, is the understanding that God is at least as good as we are and if we give a little God will give a whole lot more. For the Lord will not be outdone in generosity. If we sow the seed of God’s word a little bit, God will multiply it thirty, sixty and hundredfold. If we share our loaves and fishes God will multiply it to feed thousands. If we give up anything for the sake of the gospel we will receive much more in the kingdom. If we give someone in need a drink of water we’ll be able to walk on water. If we give of our time we’ll be given eternity. That is our blessed assurance. That’s why we do whatever he tells us.
