As we celebrate Mother’s Day, let us look at the life of Mary, the mother of Jesus.
After Jesus ascended to heaven, the disciples gathered in the upper room. Acts 1:14 lists those who were there: the apostles, the women, and “Mary the mother of Jesus.”
She was not a leader. She was not a preacher. But she had something no one else had – more than thirty years of memories about Jesus that only she could tell.
The Gospels were written decades later. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were not following Jesus as a child.
So where did the stories of His birth, the shepherds, and the boy Jesus in the temple come from? They came from Mary. She had treasured these things in her heart (Luke 2:19, 51). And after the resurrection, she finally told them.
First, recognize that Mary was a faithful keeper of stories.
Luke 2:19 says, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.” The Greek word for “treasured” is sunterei, which means to hold securely. For 30 years, Mary did not fully understand everything she had seen. She watched her son grow. She stood at His cross. But she kept the stories.
When she understood at last who Jesus really was, she told what she had kept hidden.
Mothers are the keepers of family stories. Without Mary, the infancy narratives of Jesus would not exist.
To mothers today: your daily, seemingly small acts of remembering matter more than you know. Do not despise the quiet work of treasuring. One day, those stories will be part of your children’s spiritual inheritance.
Second, understand that Mary was present at the cross and the upper room.
John 19:25 tells us, “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother.” Most of the disciples fled. But Mary was there. She watched her son die.
The crucifixion was not only a theological event. It was a mother’s nightmare. Yet she did not run. She stayed. And after the Ascension, she stayed again, praying in the upper room.
Mary teaches us that faithfulness is not about avoiding pain. It is about staying present.
Many mothers endure painful watching. They watch their children suffer. Mary understands that pain.
She stood at the cross. And she knows that after the cross came the resurrection.
To mothers who are hurting: do not give up. Stay present. Stay praying. The upper room is coming.
This Mother’s Day, we honor Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was a faithful keeper of stories. She stood at the cross when others ran.
She prayed in the upper room when the church was born. And she opened her treasure box of memories so that we could know the story of Jesus.
Mary did not write a Gospel. But without her, the Gospels would not contain the birth, the shepherds, or the boy Jesus in the temple.
What stories are you treasuring? Like Mary, keep the treasure. And when the time comes, speak. | NWI
