“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Matthew 5:48

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I wonder what Mary thought about Jesus as she traveled to Bethlehem before his birth. Did she wonder which traits she might share with her son, the Son of God? After all, children tend to share many of the characteristics of their parents. 

In Luke 1, an angel appears to Mary and announces that she will become pregnant and give birth to a son who will hold King David’s throne forever. Mary keeps cool under pressure, “‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’” (Luke 1:34). 

Similarly, Jesus, when arrested before being crucified, asks, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and clubs? Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns” (Luke 22:52-3). Jesus, like his mother, is not rattled. He asks a straightforward question as Mary had done before an angel.

In Luke 2, we read, “But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart” (v.19). She appears to have a thoughtful and reflective demeanor. The Scriptures tell of Jesus frequently going off to a solitary place. Did His mother model some of this? 

Before Jesus says in Gethsemane in the presence of angels, “Yet not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42), Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said” (Luke 1:38). Both are sacrificial servants of God.

Jesus presses His followers, “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48). Perfect in this sense means complete and fully mature in character. He is saying that as God’s children, we must cooperate in our spiritual transformation to be more like our heavenly Father. As children, we, at times, display the behavior, emotions and attitudes of our natural parents. And we see this as Christ displayed some of Mary’s and of His Father’s. 

Through the Holy Spirit, we are motivated to be more like Christ. By nature, we cannot be perfect as God is perfect, but we can desire to be more loving, more thoughtful, reflective, and more willing to be sacrificial servants. 

Next Steps

Pick one of the Gospels and look for examples of Jesus showing the same characteristics of His mother: straightforward questions while under pressure, thoughtful and reflective, and submissive to God’s will. Do the same with how He modeled God’s character. Be encouraged, we have the ability to do the same by the power of the Holy Spirit.