It has been said that behind every great man there is a great wife; it should also be said that before every great man, there was a great mom. I have entitled this message, “Mary’s One-Line Sermon,” and I’m going to let some of you down now and tell you that, although Mary’s sermon was only one line, my sermon today is several lines longer.
Now, my mom, who was also named Mary, preached some great one-line sermons to me as I was growing up. She had a one-line sermon from Revelation 19, about the coming judgment: “Wait till your father comes home!” She had a one-line sermon from Luke 2, about the nativity: Every time I left the front door open she would ask, “Were you born in a barn?” She had a one-line sermon from Matthew 28, on international missions: “There are children starving in India!” She had a one-line sermon from Isaiah 53:5, about the substitutionary atonement: “This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.” She had a one-line sermon from Luke 16, about Lazarus and the rich man: “You want your allowance, and people in Hell want ice water.”
But no mother ever preached a more meaningful one-line sermon this one. Do you realize that John 2:5 is the last words of Mary that are recorded in the Gospels? And do you realize that John 2:5 is the only commandment given by Mary in the entire Bible?
I want to break down this one-line sermon into three pieces, and draw a parallel between what she told the servants at that wedding, and how we can extrapolate her words and apply them in our spiritual lives. Let’s look into this mother’s heart.
Note first of all that she and her Son Jesus and His disciples were at a wedding in Cana, and a problem arose: The wine was finished, and wine was culturally important for the wedding celebration. Once she had appealed to Jesus, her Son, for a solution, “His mother saith unto the servants, Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”
Let’s look at the first point in Mary’s one-line sermon: “Whatsoever…” Now, remember, Jesus wasn’t just her Son, Jesus was also her Lord. And once this mother had appealed to her Lord to help the servants, her first word of instruction to the servants was, “Whatsoever…” Now, she had no idea what He might do. Up to this point, he had not performed a single recorded miracle. But even without seeing a miraculous manifestation of His power, Mary was well aware of who He was because she had been told by Gabriel in Luke 1:32, “He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest…” She had heard Simeon cry out to God when he beheld baby Jesus at the temple, in Luke 2:30-32, “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” She knew He was the Son of God and God the Son and the fulfillment of all the messianic prophecies her people had been waiting for centuries to be fulfilled.
Despite not having ever personally witnessed His miracle-working power before, she had a faith in Jesus that was so deep, she said to servants, without reservation, no matter what he commands, “Whatsoever…” It doesn’t matter what’s coming up, if it’s His will, it’s going to be right and good and just. In using that word, she was expressing her complete confidence that whatsoever Jesus does, it righteous and perfect because He is perfectly righteous. She places no caveats or qualifiers on it – whatsoever is the will of Christ will the need of the moment, the future, and of eternity.
Is that your heart, as a believer? As the servant of Jesus, do you give Him a blank check, assuming that whatsoever is of Him and from Him is ideal? If you want to be a servant of Jesus Christ, then Mary’s “whatsoever” must be the default response to Him that echoes into your Christian walk today. You can trust what 2nd Corinthians 1:20 tell us about Jesus; His mother already knew that “For all the promises of God in him – in Jesus - [are] yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.” What caveat or qualifier can we put on his righteousness? None. None whatsoever. Mary the believer knew her Lord. Mary the mother knew her child.
Now, what was the second point in Mary’s one-line sermon? She said, “…he saith unto you…” Having appealed to her Son, who was also her Lord, Mary prepared his servants for something mighty that was about to come forth – His word.
She recognized the power of Christ’s word: “…he saith unto you…” Even though she hadn’t seen a miracle from Him yet, as His mother, she had seen what His word could do. She had lost him in the crowd returning from the Jerusalem Passover, and she had found Him in the temple at 12 years old, lecturing the brightest theological minds in the spiritual center of Judaism, and how did they respond to the words of this child? Luke 2:47: “And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.”
Mary knew this as a mother of a Son. Mary knew this as a believer in the Christ: Whatsoever His word was going to be, it was going to be perfect for the need of that moment and for all time. How did He create the earth? He did create the earth, you know. John 1:3 says of Jesus Christ, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.” But how did he do it? Genesis 1 tells us He spoke it into being. His Word had the creative power to call the universe into being out of nothing. Verse after verse of the creation account begins, “And God said, let there be…” earth and oceans and stars and planets and sun and moon and plants and animals and people. He said them, and they were. It happened exactly as Genesis says it did. Charles Darwin knows that now. Carl Sagan knows that now. Richard Dawkins will know it soon. But Mary knew it then.
Jesus created this world with His word. Jesus will conquer this world with His word. Revelation 19 tells us that one day Heaven will open and Jesus the conquering King will return. And verse 13 says He will be “clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God,” And by His Word he will conquer! Verse 15 says, “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword…” – His powerful, conquering word – and verse 21 tells us that the same word that created the world is the very word that will conquer the world: “And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth.” When Mary spoke of “Whatsoever he saith unto you,” she knew she spoke of the greatest power in the universe.
By His word He created, by His word He will conquer, and by His word He converts. What miracle was about to command with His word? It was the miracle that transformed common water into the wine of joy, a perfect picture of the conversion that occurs by the transforming power of His word. Romans 10:17 says, “So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” We are saved by faith, faith that comes by hearing, hearing the converting word of God. Is that your heart, as a believer? As the servant of Jesus, do you know His word, and do you declare its power to those in a state of need? Mary the believer knew her Lord. And Mary the mother knew her child.
By saying “Whatsoever…” without knowing what was to come, she declared faith in the perfect righteousness of Jesus. By saying “Whatsoever he saith unto you…” she declared the inerrant trustworthiness of the creating, conquering, converting power of His Word. And by saying “…do it,” the third point in her one-line sermon, Mary declared that Jesus is worthy of not only having whatsoever he saith heard, but also that Jesus is also worthy of having whatsoever he saith obeyed.
This is where a lot of us are lost. We have heard the glorious truths of grace and forgiveness and mercy preached so much – and I say “Hallelujah!” to those truths, for those truths are the truths of salvation – but somewhere along the line, embracing those glorious truths came at the neglect of other, less-comfortable, but equally-crucial truths! Truths like obedience and submission and surrender! Those truths are the truths of discipleship! Jesus purchased grace and salvation for us by dying in our place on the cross and shedding His blood. Grace and the salvation it brings cost us nothing; but discipleship…friends, true discipleship costs us everything. And it’s worth much more.
Believers, too often we think we can listen to “whatsoever He saith” unto us, and that entitles us to claim we love Him. But Jesus says loving Him means more than listening: In John 14:21 He says, “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me.” We love Jesus by obeying Jesus.
Mary said don’t merely listen to what He commands, “DO IT!” Is that your heart, as a believer? As His servant, do you receive “Whatsoever he saith unto you” and stop there, or do you trust Him and love Him enough to also “DO IT?” When we merely listen but refuse to obey, the Bible says we are not His servants, but are only fooling ourselves. James 1:22: “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.” Mary the believer knew her Lord. Mary the mother knew her child.
Some of you were raised by godly mothers. As mothers, they knew their child. As believers, they knew their Lord. And, God bless ‘em, they told you in their own way, that when it comes to Jesus, “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.” Believers, as we honor our mothers today, including this most influential of all mothers, Mary, heed today the one-line sermon she preached to the servants at that wedding so long ago. Trust His perfect righteousness in whatsoever is His will. Recognize the creating, conquering, converting power of that which “he saith unto you” – His word. And, in obedience, “do it!” If we are ever to be His servants, if we are ever to truly love Him, we must.
Is there something here for the unbeliever among us, as well? Yes, there is. It turns out, much of what Jesus said, He said to unbelievers. And whatsoever it is, it is righteous, it has the power to create, conquer, and convert, and it is worthy of full obedience. Do you want to be saved from endless, conscious torment in Hell and saved for eternal life with Jesus in Heaven? There is only one way, and this is what he “saith unto you”: Repent. Admit to God that you are a sinner – because you are – we all are – and ask Him to forgive that sin and ask Him for the power to turn from that sin, and then do it. Jesus saith unto you in Luke 13:3, “[E]xcept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” Repent. Do it. What else does Jesus “saith unto you?” He says to trust in Him alone, not anyone else, not your good works, as the only way to be saved. In John 3:18, He saith unto you that “He that believeth on him [on Jesus] is not condemned: but he that believeth not [on Jesus] is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Trust Jesus. Do it. What else does Jesus “saith unto you,” dear, unsaved friend? He says that whoever would be His servant must follow Him. Whoever would be His servant must follow Him. In John 12:26, He saith unto you, “If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be…” Follow Him. Do it. “Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.”
