Week 24: The Importance of Being Mary, the Mother of Jesus

 

This is a sensitive subject.

Some of my forefathers were Catholics and my closest friends are. One of the best Bible studies I follow is by a Catholic gentleman. The last thing I would want to do is to be offensive. Yet we must uncover the truth as revealed in the Scriptures and interpreted by the Holy Spirit. No ordinary task this, as we are up against nearly twenty centuries of entrenched belief systems buttressed by none less than the establishment of the Holy See.

Over the years, the Catholic church has shed many of its dubious beliefs such as the Purgatory and the convenient trade system it engendered. My concern at this point is more about the magnification of Mary and the exaltation of sundry (no slight intended) saints.

So, what does the Bible say?

Not surprisingly the prophetic book of Isaiah, so often compared to the whole canon, with its 66 chapters that uncannily correspond to the Bible’s 66 books, comes up with the first answer:

• Isaiah 7:14 KJV: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Matthew 1:22 declares the fulfillment of this prophecy and Luke 1 fills in the details:

26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

Let us see the elements of Mary’s choice from among the thousands of eligible virgins in Judea at that time:

1.  highly favoured (Luke 1:28)

2. the Lord is with her (Luke 1:28)

3. blessed among women (also Luke 1: 28, 42)

4. The Holy Spirit will come upon her, and the power of the Highest will overshadow her (Luke 1:35)

5. mother of Lord (Luke 1: 35, 43)

6. humble acceptance (Luke 1:38)

All of the above make it abundantly clear that Mary was special, extra special; indeed, divinely chosen for the “impossible” conception.  That certainly makes her worthy of our admiration.

“A good man obtains favor from the LORD” says Prov. 12:2; in order to be highly favoured, Mary must have been quite extraordinary. There is a just perception that non-Catholics fall short of acknowledging Mary’s greatness in this regard; they might even be held guilty of dismissing her as just another woman.

However, doctrinally the truth of virgin Mary’s conception through the power of the Holy Spirit is etched in immortal words both in the Apostle’s Creed and the Nicene’s Creed recited Sunday after Sunday.

After her sojourn with her cousin Elizabeth during which time she gained greater understanding of her call, Mary proclaims in her famous Magnificat (Luke 1:46,47)

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”

Here we see a more or less explicit recognition of the fact that He who is to be born of her is Lord, God and Saviour. How does she know the concept of Saviour? We need to go to Matthew 1:21 wherein Joseph was informed of this truth by an angel. Remember Joseph was betrothed to Mary, and it stands to reason that it was he, who told Mary.

Mary then, was what modern financial circles would call a special purpose vehicle (SPV).  Once the task is accomplished, the vehicle is dismantled. Mary has no further role in Jesus’s mission on earth, beyond displaying motherly emotions. In fact, in the few interactions recorded in the Bible, Jesus comes across as being almost brusque in the treatment of His mother, that is until His crucifixion when He (metaphorically) embraces her and takes responsibility for her as the eldest son.

In particular, Mary has absolutely no role in our salvation which hinges solely upon our faith in the vicarious sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our sins.  This is the work of grace. Mary (and the saints in general) can make no recommendation for us howsoever hard we might pray to her. There she stands in front of the cross, just like you and me.

What about idolization? A definite no. Unless you want to break the second commandment!