Mary, Mother of Jesus

Luke 1:26-38

One of the things that is obvious about the characters surrounding the Christmas story is they are relatable. God is not using the elite in the world.

Zechariah and Elisabeth were an older couple who could not have children.

The Shepherds had a job that literally stunk.

Joseph was a blue-collar worker.

Therse are not the people we would expect to see in this great work God is doing. But it is encouraging to see them involved because most people in the world are common. It reminds us that God sees people differently than the world does.

This morning, we consider Mary, the mother of Jesus. I have to qualify her as the mother of Jesus because there are so many Mary’s in the Bible. Have you ever noticed how many Mary’s there are in the story of Jesus?

Mary, mother of Jesus

Mary Magdalene- seven demons

Mary of Bethany (Martha’s sister)

Mary the wife of Clopas (Luke 6:15)

Mary, the mother of John Mark (Acts 12:12)

Mary, hard working church member in Rome (Rom. 16:6)

I mentioned that the people surrounding the Christmas story are relatable to us. Unfortunately, so much false teaching and superstition has been attached to Mary that it is difficult for anyone to relate to her. As we work through our text, I’m going to deal with some of those things. My intent this morning is to give you an accurate view of who Mary the mother of Jesus was. As you see that you will find she is a person we can find common ground with.

1. She was a poor woman (26).

Three proofs of her poverty.

A. The city she was from.

Nazareth was an unknown city 75-100 miles North of Jerusalem. It was small. It had about 300 people that lived in it.

It was in the region of Galilee. Galilee was surrounded by Gentile cities and considered less righteous. There was a well-known saying about the little city “Can any good thing come from Nazareth?” (John 1:46)

B. The man she married.

She married a young man who was a common worker. We talked a lot about him last week. He was a noble man who had an honorable job. But the job he had would not make him rich. This shows she did not come from a rich family. It would be uncommon of for a rich man to betroth his son to a poor girl.

C. The offering she made.

After Jesus was born, she and Joseph were required to offer a sacrifice in the Temple. The sacrifice was supposed to be a lamb. If you were poor and could not afford a lamb, you could offer two dove. They offered the doves (Luke 2:24).

A poor woman

From a poor place

With a poor husband

We should never look down upon the poor. We should not despise poverty. Poverty is not a disease. It is a state of living from which God gathers many of His people.

The rich are not better than the poor.

The rich are not necessarily smarter than the poor.

The rich are not necessarily harder workers than the poor.

The rich are certainly not necessarily more blessed than the poor.

2. She was a virgin (27).

A. She committed herself to godliness.

She wasn’t a virgin because she couldn’t find a guy. She had a man. His name is Joseph. She was a virgin because of her commitment to the Lord. We live in a day in which virginity is looked down on. I pray to God things change in our country. Young women who are committed to Christ can relate to Mary. You are doing it God’s way, not the worlds way.

B. She did not plan to always be a virgin.

How do you know? I know because Joseph agreed to marry her!

Virginity before marriage is virtuous.

Virginity after marriage is not virtuous at all.

There is nothing sinful about intimacy unless it is outside of biblical marriage. I’m going to read a verse to you that will make some of you blush. It is a verse in the Bible that talks about a married couple. It’s a command:

let her breasts satisfy thee at all times; and be thou ravished always with her love. Prov. 5:19

Don’t look at little Mary and think she didn’t plan on losing her virginity. She did! That’s why she was betrothed to be married.

C. To teach that Mary remained a virgin after marriage is unbiblical and dangerous.

The Catholic church teaches that Mary remained a virgin after Jesus was born. This is called Perpetual Virginity: She remained a virgin before the conception, during the time she carried Him and after the delivery.

This is unbiblical:

1) She had other children. At least 6 more (Mark 6:3)

2) The Bible says Joseph “knew her not until she had given birth to a son” (Matt. 1:25)

3) The Bible nowhere says Mary remained a virgin after Jesus was born.

This is dangerous:

Did you know that Catholicism even teaches that Jesus was born in such a way that Mary’s physical body retained its original state when He was born. This is the exact quote from the catechism is:

just as the rays of the sun penetrate without breaking or injuring in the least the solid substance of glass, so after a like but more exalted manner did Jesus Christ come forth from his mother’s womb without injury to her maternal virginity.

What this implies is a woman is less virtuous because she is not a virgin. Our young women have enough problems with body shaming in our culture. We don’t need to teach them they are less godly because their bodies have now changed. It is degrading to women.

It is also a works-based mindset. If I want to be like Mary, I better keep my virginity forever.

3. She was given favor by God (28-30).

A. She was a recipient of God’s grace.

“O favored one”

These verses are used to teach that Mary is a dispenser of grace. It is believed by praying the rosary that Mary can give grace to those she hears. It’s believed Mary is the channel through which God dispenses grace from Christ to His church.

The word “favored” is the same Greek word used in Ephesians 1:6 to describe all believers.

He has made us accepted (highly favored) in the beloved

The angel told Mary she received grace from God.

“the Lord is with you!”

“you have found favor with God” (30)

Look at 1:47. She calls God her Savior. Sinners need a Savior.

It’s true that 1:48 says that all generations will call her blessed. That doesn’t mean she is exalted. She is blessed in that God chose her to carry His Son. That is a wonderful privilege.

Notice her response:

Greatly troubled (29)

Confused (29)

Afraid (30)

This is how a sinner reacts in the presence of Holy God.

B. It is a great danger to teach that Mary was without sin.

The Catholic church teaches that Mary was:

Born without a sin nature. This is called the immaculate conception.

They believe she never sinned a single time in her life.

They believe that she never died. The assumption of Mary is the teaching that Mary was taken body and soul to heaven.

That’s not the picture Scripture paints of Mary. The Bible teaches all have sinned and fallen short of the gory of God. Mary was not a perfect woman. She needed God’s grace just like we do.

4. She was chosen to be the mother of Jesus (31-37).

A. She was told details about her child.

She would have a Son- A gender reveal before the pregnancy !

He would be called Jesus- Savior.

He will be great.

Luke said john would be great in the Lord’s sight (1:15)

Jesus is just great. Everyone will know He is great. Some of you may not be impressed with Jesus right now, you will be impressed with Him one day.

at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:10)

He will be the Son of the Most High. His Divine nature = God and man.

He will be King. When Jesus comes back it says

“ On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” (Rev. 19:16)

This child will rule over creation as eternal King.

B. She was confused about how this could occur (34-35).

Two difficulties:

1) How can a virgin conceive a child?

2) How can a human give birth to the Son of God.

I have heard enemies of the gospel say blasphemous things about this. Let me make it clear for you, there was no sort of relations between God and Mary.

The Holy Spirit took the egg of Mary and united it with the Divine nature of Christ. This is the mystery of godliness.

The Word became flesh. Jesus did not have a body. He existed just as the Father and the Holy Spirt do, in Spirit form. The Holy Spirit took the divine nature of Jesus and united it with the human nature of Mary. For nine months Jesus was in the womb of Mary.

He is therefore:

A legal heir to the Davidic throne.

A representative of the human race

Able to suffer, bleed and die.

He was God and man.

Did you know that if you looked at the face of Jesus you could probably see some of Mary in it? He had her DNA. It’s her Son.

It’s God’s Son too.

Mary was confused. I’m confused too. I don’t understand this. It’s what Scripture teaches.

The Holy Spirit of God created a body from the egg of Mary and united the Divine nature of the Son of God with that body.

It’s ok to be confused with the deep things of God. Mary was and she was getting it straight from Gabriel. We are not able to comprehend some things. They are too great for us.

C. Wonder should be a part of the Christmas season.

Wonder why God saved us. If you know why God saved you, you are confused!

Wonder at the story. It’s unbelievable. We need grace just to accept it.

You’re going to do a lot of things this Christmas season: buy, travel, eat, go to parties, fellowship.

Don’t forget to wonder. Don’t forget to ponder the great mysteries of God.

After Mary was visited by the shepherds who worshipped Jesus it says:

“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)

4. She was an obedient woman (38).

A. She saw herself as a servant.

She submitted to the Master and it was not easy.

The stigma she carried all her life. When Jesus was in His 30’s they were still bringing up the rumor that His mother was immoral (John 8:41) “We were not born of fornication”.

She suffered from the pains of childbirth.

She ran for her life when Herod tried to kill Jesus.

A sword plunged through her soul when she saw her Son crucified.

We shouldn’t think Mary had been praying “Lord, let me be the mother of the Messiah.” There is no hint of that. But when the Lord came to her she submitted to Him.

Do you see yourself that way? Are you a servant?

B. She submitted to the will of God.

“let it be to me” Catholics call this Mary’s fiat. “fiat” is Latin for “let it be”. There is a teaching in Catholicism that identifies Mary as a co redeemer because of this little phrase. They say we owe some praise to Mary for our salvation because she allowed Christ to be born through her.

In fact Mary is called the Queen of heaven because she is the mother of Christ. Pope Pius in 1954 made the idea official writing:

“The most Blessed Virgin Mary is to be called Queen not only because of her Divine Motherhood, but also because she, by the will of God, had an outstanding part in the work of our eternal salvation.”

Folks, it’s not true. Mary didn’t see herself that way. She saw herself as a humble servant of God. There is no Queen of heaven. The same logic could be used of the church: We are the Bride of Christ. The wife of the King is the Queen. We are the Queen of heaven.

There is no Queen of heaven.

Mary tells us who she is: I am the servant of the Lord.

There is an interesting interaction that takes place in Matthew 12:

While he was still speaking to the people, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Who is Mary? She is a great woman of God. She is an example of a sinner saved by the grace of God. She was a humble servant the Lord used in bringing Christ into this world.

We should follow her example. We should not pray to her.

We should call her blessed. We should not bow to her.

Christ is our only Lord, Savior, and Mediator.