Reader.

When we think about Mary, the mother of Jesus, most of us picture her in the birth of Jesus, or at the wedding in John 2, where she draws His attention to the need and speaks her final recorded words, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5), or within the events of the resurrection weekend.

But we see her one more time, in the upper room at Pentecost (this year, May 24, 2026). A beautiful YouTube documentary of a new artist piece

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If you want to sit with this part of her story, along with other surprising Marys, The Women Around the Cross podcast is available on Spotify. Session 6, The Epilogue: More Marys, reflects on this. [Listen here]​

“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” Acts 1:14 (NIV)

Don’t you wish they had recorded her prayers then? And given us another Magnificat?

Unlike much of my Protestant upbringing, where prayer can be speaking to God about whatever I feel led to pray about, which is not wrong, Jewish prayer is rooted in generations of prayers already given in the Old Testament.

So it’s possible that the words of the Magnificat were not a one-time response, but part of how she prayed.

For example, her opening line echoes Psalm 34:

How beautiful those words would have sounded as they crossed her lips after Jesus’ resurrection.

Mary would have been named after Miriam in Exodus, the sister of Moses who stood on the far side of the sea and sang when God delivered His people from slavery. So when we see Mary in that upper room at Pentecost, we are not seeing something isolated. We are seeing a life formed in prayer, intertwined with the life and work of Jesus.

She draws Jesus’ attention to the need at the wedding. She remains near in His suffering. And we find her again in the upper room at Pentecost, praying with the others as they wait for what He promised.

Jesus had told them, “It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I don’t go away, the comforting Counselor will not come to you” (John 16:7, CJB), the Holy Spirit.

She is there, waiting with the others for the gift He said would come.

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​What do you notice about her life?

Miriam, the first recorded worshipper in Exodus, is someone I will be studying more deeply in our Women of Deliverance series this year. We recently looked at the midwives, and next week, April 13th, we step into the story of Moses’ mother, Jochebed.

If you would like to join us, you will receive the recordings from the first two sessions. We will be studying Miriam in May.

$110.00 $82.50 Born for Deliverance: Women of Exodus Last year, as we studied Women of Wisdom, a friend sent me The Bible Project episode 7 Powerful Women in the Bible Who... Read more Join us here!

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I’ll close with Mary’s words after Elizabeth blesses her.

He is Risen indeed!

With you,