Devotional 8-28-15

VISITING MARY’S HOUSE

High on a mountain outside of the ancient city of Ephesus there is a small stone house that is known as Mary’s house. When my husband, Steve and I visited it a couple of years ago, we knew very little about it. We only knew that the Apostle John was reported to have taken Mary with him to Ephesus after Jesus’ crucifixion (John 19: 25-27) and that this was where many believe she spent her final years. Our tour bus was the first to arrive there that day. Steve and I were among the first people off the bus and the fastest walkers by far! This made us the first people to enter that day and gave us a few minutes alone before the crowds started to arrive.

It was a simple 2 room house. The first room was a very small chapel lit by candles. There was a table altar with a Turkish rug on the floor. A circular alcove containing a statue of the Virgin Mary was built into the wall behind it. On the left side of the altar in a small brick alcove is a Turkish Bible open to John 19:25-27. On the right side of the altar, in a similar alcove, is an icon of Mary. 

These details I looked up later. At the time I had only the impression of a simple chapel and an overwhelming sense of the presence of Mary! The feeling was so strong that I just started talking to her in my head. I have never experienced anything like it before or since. She was there! We went on into the second room which was set up as a small bedroom--again very simple. Then we went out. We had not spoken since entering the house. I looked at Steve and asked if he had felt it. “Oh, yeah!” was his heart felt reply. This confirmed my feelings, To say that Steve is a skeptic about such things would be an understatement. This was not my imagination.

In my last devotional (August 8) I quoted an article about how Mary’s house was discovered. God used a poor, uneducated, German nun. He gave her a vision of where Mary’s house was located. Nobody listened when she spoke in her own language. So  God made her speak in Aramaic. God finally had the church’s attention! The foundation of what had been Mary’s house was discovered and rebuilt. This was a true miracle!

Steve’s and my experience was our own personal miracle. Would our experience have been the same if we had been part of a large group? I don’t know. I just know that it was a powerful “God moment” in both of our lives.

Margaret Williams