Remembering Mary Ann Jones
In twenty years, I have done a lot of funerals. The logistics are tough—coordinating schedules and working with people who are coming from what seems like the four corners. The day itself is hard, walking with the family through the ultimate moment of closure as they dread the finality that a service brings. But the best part of a funeral for me is sitting with the family reminiscing about the life of the one who has passed.
I sat with the family of Mrs. Mary Ann Jones this past week after she lost her battle with cancer, doing the same thing that I have done many times over. But there was a special quality that has stood out to me this particular time. The quality was the way in which God spoke to me through the stories and testimonies of the family and friends who witnessed to her life.
As they talked about her qualities and characteristics, her love for her family and her love for her Lord, Mary Ann began to fade away. It was as if less of her shone and more of Jesus in her became more evident. Jesus began to take center stage, and it moved me deeply.
For some reason, I saw the life of a saint powerfully paint the picture of Jesus through their living in ways that I had never come to see it before. It was so clear, seeing Jesus more than the person. It was as we always hope and pray it to be in us.
The worship bulletin for Mrs. Mary Ann Jones
“And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” —2 Corinthians 3.18 (NET)
Paul here is talking about what happens when we turn to Jesus. Only through Jesus can we understand the true glory of God. And with Jesus and the glory of God revealed, we are changed—transformed!—into a redeemed image that reveals Jesus to others. Our lives lift the veil that hides the glory of God—when those lives reflect Jesus. To reflect His glory is to make looking at us and seeing Jesus hard to distinguish, because God is being revealed. We are being made into that same God-glorifying, God-reflecting image that Jesus reveals. A favorite Scripture of mine is John 14.9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father” (NIV).
Now, Mary Ann Jones didn’t look anything like the Jesus we see kneeling in the garden in famous stained glass windows; or like the Jesus of the ancient icons depicted in mosaics in the Middle East. And yet, she looked just like Jesus. Her life was a daily breathing in of God’s Spirit and a daily breathing out of godliness that God grants through those who are faithful.
We, too, may do such a thing through our love of and service to God. For when we love God we love like God and the world see’s God’s love. And they need that love! They need a witness to the work of Jesus on their behalf; they need a reflection of His life so that they can see Him, know Him, and receive Him in order to be transformed by Him. The world needs the veil lifted so that they can experience the eternity-granting glory of the Lord.
It’s time to fade into the background, letting go of what we think is important, and serving the Lord through reflecting His glory!
—Pastor Whit
Read more inspirational messages regarding faith by checking out past Whitt’s End articles.