Mary: The Exemplary Mother

Introduction

Mom’s Choice Awards website:

What does it mean to be a mother?

Being a mom means that “sacrificing my body, my time, my finances, my sleep, and my mental health to raise my kids will be worth it in the end, because life isn’t about me anymore.  I just hope my kids survive my weaknesses, and realize I love them more than anything.” -Heather

“Being a mother means being an emotional blankie for your children. They snuggle with you at night, run to you when they’re hurt, and stand behind you in scary situations. There’s nothing more warm and fuzzy.” —Maia Haag, Co-Founder & President, I See Me! LLC.

"Most mothers are instinctive philosophers." —Harriet Beecher Stowe

“Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

“Because I said so.”

“Close the door; you weren’t born in a barn.”

“If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you?”

“You just wait until your dad gets home.”

“If you want to act like a child, then I will treat you like one.”

Mary as one of the (or perhaps THE most) important mothers of all time.

Reflect on Catholicism.

1. Worships God (1:46-48)

For Just Being God (v.46-47)

Luke 1:46–47 (NASB 95)

“And Mary said: ‘My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.’”

“My soul exalts the Lord”:

“soul” - various meanings, but here it is life, entire being. It echoes Psalm 103:1 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, And all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

“exalts” (Μεγαλύνει) - “to make great, magnify, glorify”

This hymn of Mary often referred to as “The Magnificat” (Latin translation)

“the Lord” (κύριον) - The term used to refer to God in the OT; later, to Jesus himself

“And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior”:

Mary now uses the verb “rejoice.” She has extreme gladness and elation.

Recognizes Her Creatureliness (v.48)

Luke 1:48 (NASB 95)

“For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.”

Here, Mary observes her lowly estate. She did not come from a rich family. She was not of royalty. And her Son, Jesus, would follow in her footsteps. He would be born in a feeding trough in a stable.

Mary recognizes who she truly is. But it also shows us that she understands the difference between herself and God. She grasps her creatureliness. She understands that there is a difference between her and her Creator, so much so, that she refers to herself as God’s “bondslave” (literally, just “slave”).

We see this attitude displayed from the very beginning of Mary’s story when Gabriel brought her news of Jesus:

Luke 1:38 “And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

Illustration & Application

1 => An exemplary mother is someone who has faith in God and worships him for just being God.

Psalm 46:10 “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

“Come now, insignificant man, fly for a moment from your affairs, escape for a little while from the tumult of your thoughts. Put aside now your weighty cares and leave your wearisome toils. Abandon yourself for a little to God and rest for a little in him. Enter into the inner chamber of your soul, shut out everything save God and what can be of help in your quest for him and having locked the door seek him out. Speak now, my whole heart, speak now to God: ‘I seek your countenance, O lord, your countenance I seek.’”

Anselm, Proslogion, I (p. 84)

2 => An exemplary mother is someone who recognizes that God is God and she is but a creature and bondslave of the Lord.

This is the most basic of distinctions we all need to recognize: Creator vs. creature.

Psalm 144:3–4 “O Lord, what is man, that You take knowledge of him? Or the son of man, that You think of him? Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a passing shadow.”

James 4:14 “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.”

The exemplary mother worships God for:

2. For Who God Is (1:47, 49-50)

Savior (v.47)

Luke 1:47 (NASB 95)

“And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.”

The term Savior/salvation is used 35 times in the OT in reference to God.

Psalm 95:1 “O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, Let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation.”

Throughout the OT, we see God continually saving his people Israel: from Pharoah, Amorites, Perizzites, Philistines, Babylonians . . .

Israel has known only God to be her Savior and no one else.

But why is Mary praising God as Savior here? Because she is the mother of the one who would save Israel and the world: the Messiah.

A kind of twist to the plot: the term Savior that is used for God will be taken on by Jesus, thereby making an equivalency between Jesus and God. Jesus is God in the flesh who has come to save the world from its sins.

Mighty One (v.49a)

Luke 1:49 (NASB 95)

“For the Mighty One has done great things for me;”

Mary knows that God is a God of strength and power. We would say “omnipotent.”

Psalm 24:8 “Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle.”

Nothing is too difficult for God.

Martin Luther’s hymn (first verse):

“A mighty fortress is our God, a bulwark never failing; our helper he, amid the flood of mortal ills prevailing.”

The prophecy of Christ:

Isaiah 9:6 (NASB 95)

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

Holy (v.49b)

Luke 1:49 (NASB 95)

“And holy is His name.”

“Holy” = separate - from sin

God is the standard of moral perfection. Because of his moral perfection, he’s glorious and marvelous to behold.

Isaiah 6:1–5 “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called out to another and said, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.” And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him who called out, while the temple was filling with smoke. Then I said, “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips, And I live among a people of unclean lips; For my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.””

Merciful (v.50)

Luke 1:50 (NASB 95)

“And His mercy is upon generation after generation Toward those who fear Him.”

NASB capitalizes these words because it’s very nearly a quotation of Ps. 103:17.

Psalm 103:17–18 “But the lovingkindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children’s children, To those who keep His covenant And remember His precepts to do them.”

“God is merciful to those who fear him” = we often think of mercy in the context of forgiveness of sins. It is when we are not given what we deserve. But mercy also carries with it the idea of showing compassion and love to the downtrodden. This is the context here.

R. Kent Hughes:

“Mercy is compassion to the miserable.”

God shows compassion and love to those who are looked down upon in society and those who fear him (have faith in him and obey him). In the Gospels, especially in Luke, we see that Jesus’ ministry was largely focused upon the outcasts of society, whether the poor, sick, tax collectors, Gentiles, “sinners” . . .

Jesus began his ministry by quoting Isa. 61:1-2:

Luke 4:18–19 ““The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, And recovery of sight to the blind, To set free those who are oppressed, To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.””

Illustration & Application

1 => An exemplary mother really knows who God is. She has such an intimate relationship with him that she can describe him in words: savior, mighty, holy, merciful.

Another way to look at this: a mother knows her theology and her Bible. Do we?

We might be tempted to think Mary had it easy knowing the Scriptures and God. But, in fact, much more difficult. Most people, especially women, at the time could not read. They learned the Scriptures from listening and memorizing them.

We live in a blessed time: post-Gutenberg. Johannes Gutenberg (15th century) developed the printing press.

2 => But we must go further than traditional theology and biblical knowledge. An exemplary mother really knows him like Mary did.

JI Packer (Knowing God, 26):

“Interest in theology, and knowledge about God, and the capacity to think clearly and talk well on Christian themes, is not at all the same thing as knowing him. We may know as much about God as [John] Calvin knew—indeed, if we study his works diligently, sooner or later we shall—and yet all the time . . . we may hardly know God at all.”

To know God is not merely knowing the fact that God is good, God is great, and to thank him for the food we ate.

To know God is to cry out like Mary: “My soul exalts the Lord, And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior!”

As JI Packer goes on to say in Knowing God: To know God is to have energy for him, to have great thoughts about him, to show great boldness for him, and to have great contentment in him.

I would add: to know God is to be active for him and committed to him.

An exemplary mother truly knows God and worships him for who he is.

But an exemplary mother worships God also for:

3. For What God Does (1:51-55)

Luke 1:51 (NASB 95)

“He has done mighty deeds with His arm;”

A might God does might deeds!

Anthropomorphism = to attribute human like qualities

God does not really have an arm; it is a symbol of strength.

Exodus 6:6 “Say, therefore, to the sons of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage. I will also redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments.”

Deuteronomy 3:24 “‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as Yours?”

Mary would have known about God’s strength delivering her people Israel from Pharoah and many of their foes throughout history.

But here, Mary certainly would be in awe of God’s strength and ability to have her conceive as a virgin as well. Her thoughts echo how God is able to take the lowly like her and make something grand and blessed to carry the Messiah.

In other words, Mary recognizes the providence of God—his continual work in the world.

Psalm 104:14–20 NASB 95

He causes the grass to grow for the cattle, And vegetation for the labor of man, So that he may bring forth food from the earth, And wine which makes man’s heart glad, So that he may make his face glisten with oil, And food which sustains man’s heart. The trees of the Lord drink their fill, The cedars of Lebanon which He planted, Where the birds build their nests, And the stork, whose home is the fir trees. The high mountains are for the wild goats; The cliffs are a refuge for the shephanim. He made the moon for the seasons; The sun knows the place of its setting. You appoint darkness and it becomes night, In which all the beasts of the forest prowl about.

What kind of mighty deeds does Mary have in mind here specifically?

Lowers the Prideful (v.51b-52a)

Luke 1:51–52 (NASB 95)

“He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. ‘He has brought down rulers from their thrones.’”

God brings low the prideful. He did it throughout all of Israel’s history. And now God is doing it in the most significant way by bringing the Messiah into the world.

God has always been distraught over those who are prideful.

Proverbs 8:13 ““The fear of the Lord is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.”

Although God used Babylon to chastise Israel, he also brought Babylon down because they were haughty: Isaiah 13:19 “And Babylon, the beauty of kingdoms, the glory of the Chaldeans’ pride, Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Lifts Up the Lowly (52b)

Luke 1:52 (NASB 95)

“And has exalted those who were humble.”

Proverbs 29:23 “A man’s pride will bring him low, But a humble spirit will obtain honor.”

Provides for His People (v.53)

Luke 1:53 (NASB 95)

“He has filled the hungry with good things; And sent away the rich empty-handed.”

Psalm 107:9 “For He has satisfied the thirsty soul, And the hungry soul He has filled with what is good.”

Keeps Promises (v.54-55)

Luke 1:54–55 NASB 95

“He has given help to Israel His servant, In remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, To Abraham and his descendants forever.”

Thousands of years had passed since God made a covenant with Abraham. Gen. 12, 15, 17: he promised to make him a nation, land, and to bring the Messiah into the world. Someone to rule on the throne of David forever.

Illustration & Application

1 => An exemplary mother recognizes and then worships God for what he does--his continual work in her life, the life of her family, and the life of God’s people.

There was a young lady by the name of Monica who gave birth at age 23 to a son. She was a committed, pious Christian. She prayed for the salvation of her son every day of her life.

To Monica’s dismay, her son grew up to reject the Christian faith. Once he was grown, he left home and began delving into and accepting the many of the pagan philosophies taught by the universities of the time. He became a rather promiscuous man. He eventually fathered a son outside of wedlock but left him and his mother to fend for themselves.

During this entire time, his mother Monica continued to pray with tears for his salvation. One day, like the prodigal son, he came to his senses and had a conversion experience that led him to accepting Christ as Lord and Savior.

This son, who was now a Christian, went on to become one of the most influential philosophers and theologians of history: Augustine.

Augustine’s mother’s prayers did not go unanswered. She knew God worked and continues to work in her life, the life of her family, and the life of God’s people. Her prayers changed the course of history.

Do you have a child who has gone astray? Have you gone astray? . . .

2 => An exemplary mother never forgets God’s promises.

He lifts the lowly and downtrodden. He promises to help his people:

Romans 8:28 “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

He remembers his promise to save those who put faith in Christ:

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.”

Conclusion

Mary, the earthly mother of Jesus, gives us a picture of an exemplary godly mother.

Upon receiving news of being God’s vessel to bring the Messiah into the world, she broke out in worship to God for who he is and the things he has done and is doing.

This is the greatest thing a mother could ever do for her family: to provide an example of someone who has genuine faith in God and knows him personally.

Are you, mothers, being an exemplary mother to your children? [Note: this continues throughout all of life.]