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Near the start of my ministry, I remember this woman, we’ll call her Mary Anne. She was very quiet in our Bible Study, at times not very noticeable. But you could tell that she was always listening, always soaking everything in. She didn’t have a lot of knowledge on the Scripture. That’s why she was there. But whenever she had something to say, it was always so true, so wise. She was a humble woman too, never prideful. I think I learned more from her than I have almost anyone I have been in a Bible Study with.
When I hear our Gospel passage this morning, I think about Mary Anne. She really embodies this text. Here is someone who was not a scholar and who approached the Scripture with child-like wonder. To her all was revealed. And yet she didn’t lord it over anyone. It wasn’t about power or a sense of knowing with her, but about living within the presence of God.
Mary Anne is who Jesus calls us to be like. We are not called to crave power, but instead we are called to rejoice that God has granted us service in this world and a place at our Lord’s side. We are not called to be proud or boastful, but to realize how much we need God, especially when it comes to the revealed truth in the world.
Listen like Mary Anne. Crave to be closer to God. Don’t focus on yourself or how great you may think you may be, but instead bring your life and your focus to building up God’s kingdom here on earth so that we all might be a part of it in the world to come.