Honor and Value

Chapter 15 from Mary: honor and value.

When you travel with Jesus
you make a lot of surprising
discoveries.

One day a motel
owner
on the shores of
the Sea of Galilee
decided he needed a bigger
parking lot.

And every Israeli’s worst
nightmare and fear
happened to him.

They found ancient ruins
under the carpark
and
the Department of Antiquities
came in,
shut down the construction,
and turned the motel property into
an archeological dig
that might go on
for decades.

No business,
no constuction,
and no disturbing of the area.

Luckily for him,
the place they discovered was very important,
the site of many events in the New Testament,
and the ruins of one of the synagogues
where we know Jesus came to preach.

Magdala.

And the heart of the ruins in Magdala
is a Jewish ritual bath,
a mikvah.

It was used for ritual cleansing,
and for new converts to Judaism.

Yes, the mikvah
is where Baptism comes from.

On another trip,
I came upon another mikvah.

This one was in the Pyrenees
and almost identical to the ancient one
in Magdala.

This one is running
and it is in Lourdes.

We miss so much of what God is doing
because we have limited ourselves
and others
with a lot of labels.

Let me tell you something,
God is not limited
by your labels.

The pools in Lourdes
have over five thousand
medically verified
miracles
attributed to them.

In the 1840’s
the sickliest child
of the poorest family in town
had a vision of a Lady
when she was picking through the town dump.

The Lady told the girl
to dig through the garbage and she would find a spring.
And the waters of the spring
would heal people.

Lourdes
is one of the top
pilgrimage sites
on earth.

I was given a trip to Lourdes,
and arrived in a thunderstorm
on a Friday night.

I ran from my hotel in the rain
to see the candlelit procession
just as the parade began.

And
every time the people sang
the Hail Mary
there was a flash of lightning
and a clap of thunder.

I took a video,
I knew nobody would believe me.
And when they came to the Lord’s Prayer,
the entire sky,
exploded into a glorious display
of lightning
that was as bright as mid-day.
I thought to myself,
“Lourdes must be quite a place.”

If you keep an open heart,
and an open mind,
God will never stop speaking to you.

If you are
humble
the Lord will
trust you
with an ongoing
conversation.

He is always looking for new friends.

There is a lot to take in
when you go to Lourdes.
It is very similar to Jerusalem,
where the sacred
and the shabby
stand shoulder to shoulder.
I marvelled at the hunger of the pilgrims,
and how volunteers from all over the world
came to minister to the sick
and dying.

Every afternoon they have a procession of all the sick
and I saw a paralyzed woman slip out of her
push chair.

The entire parade,
of around five thousand
invalids,
was stopped until that woman
was back in her seat.

Every human being
has value
and should be honored.

Some of it was overwhelming
and challenged my grids.
On my last night in Lourdes,
as I looked down over the courtyard,
and saw twenty thousand pilgrims
processing with candles,
I asked the Lord
what He thought about all this.
“Lord,
isn’t this a bit much?
Don’t you think
this smacks of idolatry?”

God is really big.

And when Jesus answers your questions,
expect to be surprised.

“I love my mother.”

God is
The Most Relational Being
in the Universe.

It is all about relationship.
And when you remove
relationship
from doctrine
and dogma,
you remove God.
That’s why all
these right people
have stopped
talking to one
another.

Right is easier than relationship.

John,
the disciple
who lived with Mary
and took her as his own mother,
tells us that the
commandments of Jesus
are simple:
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and love one another.

The church
doesn’t seem to realize
that the world
stopped
paying attention
to it
a long time ago.
The world doesn’t need
another
“ism” or “ology”
that thinks it has all the answers.
Cities are being burned by people
who think they are right.

No,
the world doesn’t need any more
right people.
The world needs love.

Now I’m not talking about
mushy,
crummy love.

Remember,
you need to know the Scriptures
and the power of God.

God is holy.

Holy Love.

Love that stops a parade for one person.
Love that risks it all to say “yes” to God.
Love that stays in relationship
and is consistent
even when you disagree.

Honor
and value
come from relationship.

You are the offspring of the Woman.

You are here because She said “yes,”
and the best advice she gave us is this:
Do whatever He tells you.

Too often
we think it is okay
to dishonor
someone
because their opinions
are different
from ours.

And except for the essentials:
calling evil good,
and denying our Lord,
the Bible
says you have to love one another.

God honors you
and values you.
This is the God
that calls people
to have a candlelight parade
for his mother
every night.

When you look at it that way,
then some of the wars
and arguments you have had with people
probably are a bit silly.

It’s all about relationship.

And
God wants to be
your friend
and wants
you
to
recognize
how precious
and valuable
you
are.

May you be blessed
with the knowledge
of the Love of God.
May you know
how deeply loved you are.
May you understand
that you are God’s masterpiece.
God sees you.
You are precious.
You are holy
and designed to host
the Holy Spirit.
You are part of the song
God sang at creation,
and God wants that song
to resonate through
you to the world.
You are more than you can do,
and more than you can create.
God doesn’t measure you
like the world does.
You are crowned with glory
and honor.

Your destiny
is to be
a master copy
of the Icon
of the Father.

Go change the world,
with your head
held high,
knowing that
that Jesus
with the great company of his
holy ones,
walks with you
and is cheering you on.

Father,
Open my eyes
to see the beauty and value
you have put in me.
May I follow the path
that our Mother in faith,
Mary,
followed,
and become a maker of the Word
in flesh.
Just like Jesus,
our Lord.
Amen.

---

This is a chapter from my book Mary: Honor and Value. If my work encourages you, consider becoming a paid subscriber or buy me a coffee. Thanks.