Can Mary Change God’s Mind?
Who can know the thread of the relationship between someone and their god, but them — and their God?
And yet, of the Blessed Mother, there is much that is written and extrapolated and debated — all to know whether those who love her would do well in honouring her.
But in deconstructing the relationship between Mary and God in order to learn more about her, we perhaps pass over the lessons that our Mother is teaching us about him.
What did Mary know about God?
In her song of praise, known as the Magnificat [Luke 1:48–55], we see evidence that Mary was well-versed in scripture. As a young Jewish woman, she is aware of the prophecy of the coming Messiah and locates her own humble existence in the context of its fulfilment.
Her song bears a striking resemblance to Hannah’s prayer of thanksgiving in 1 Samuel 2:1–10, and through it we learn our first lesson — here is a woman who is close to God and treasures his word.
As she proclaims in her song then, Mary is intensely cognisant of the unchanging nature of God — a god who keeps his word. And this we are already told through God’s own prophets. Through the prophet Malachi he said, “For I, the Lord, do not change.”, and in the words of another, Balaam, he revealed of himself, “God is not a human being, that he should lie, or a mortal, that he should change his mind.” As someone with divine foreknowledge, God has no reason to change his mind.
And so, when Mary is told by the angel Gabriel that she has been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah, she knows that if God has chosen her, he has done so with perfect knowledge and this is his perfect will.
How Mary responds is the next lesson we ought to learn from her relationship with God — she aligns her own will with the will of God.
“Let it be with me according to your word.”, says Mary as the perfect model of surrender, and it is in similar fashion that she conducts herself with Jesus too.
The miracle at Cana, recorded by John in his gospel is the nucleus of much debate — does Mary cause Jesus to bring forward his ministry; does Jesus initially seem callous and unconcerned about the problem that Mary points out; does Mary seem to ignore Jesus’ response and take his compliance for granted? But again, perhaps these are not issues we ought to concern ourselves with. Jesus came to fulfil the law perfectly, the fourth of which demanded honour for parents — Jesus would have never said or done anything to dishonour either of his parents.
We can then safely extrapolate that while performing the first of his miracles at Cana, Jesus was able to honour his earthly mother, while remaining obedient to his heavenly Father.
In the events leading up to the wedding we see that, like his Father, Jesus has foreknowledge. Not only does he tell Nathaniel about his past, as he sat under the fig tree, but also his future — one in which the disciple would see “heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” [John 1:51] And so, when Mary approaches Jesus with her prayer, she makes sure to align herself yet again with the will of God, trusting in the divine knowledge of Jesus. And herein lies the next lesson we can learn from our Mother — the way in which she presents her petition.
- Mary observes that there is a problem — it is a feast, but the blessed mother is no mere guest; she is concerned. When we pray for someone, is it only for those who request them from us…or are we concerned enough to pray for strangers like they are our family?
- Mary states the problem — “They have no wine.” She makes no indication or mention of why this is or what will happen or why this couple deserves a solution. When we take our prayers to God, do we tell him our problems or do we make an elaborate case for ourselves?
- And finally, Mary again surrenders, as she did to God at the angel’s announcement. In her words to the servants is her invitation to us to join in surrender — “Do whatever he tells you.”
And like all the people who interceded before her in prayer, causing God to ostensibly ‘change’ his mind, what Mary caused to happen was in the will of God, as is with every good thing that he wills for us.
What happens when we begin to pray/intercede like Mary does?
When we pray like this, drawing near to God to know his nature, aligning our own will with his, and surrendering to him, we are inevitably — like the water was that day – transformed.
For those of us for whom the answered prayer will be the ‘sign’ that will make us believe, it is. For those who have surrendered to the will of God, no sign is needed – for grace is given.
Author’s Note: My Backwards Journey from Jesus to Mary
Most people are drawn first to Mary, who then leads them to her son. In my case, it was the other way around and I wondered at this, until I asked our Mother why. If I already knew the very persons she would point me to, what more could I gain from knowing her? The answer was so simple and profound, that I had to share.
I knew that the thing I needed to learn the most was surrender, and little by little, I was beginning to learn it. However, crouching behind this desperate desire to surrender was a caveat — I needed to know. Jesus, who I had been learning from, was the exemplar of surrender and obedience, but he had foreknowledge — he knew, and surrendered. But if I was to surrender in faith, without knowing the outcome of it, I would have to learn it from one who did not know, and surrendered — Mary.
