Mary the Mother

Mariology

It’s sort of a strange thing, to talk about Mary, the mother of Jesus, having grown up Baptist and still going to Catholic grade school. — I would probably say that anyone who has a strong background in Catholicism who is Baptist or protestant probably has an odd relationship in their head with Mary.

The reason being is that Mary is venerated by the Catholic Church. — I am using the word venerated very carefully here as it is the word that most Catholics would use to describe their relationship with the saints or with Mary. The Latin term that they would use is Dulia when referring to the saints and hyper-dulia when referring to Mary. Essentially it is respect, or in the case of Mary great respect. This is different by their understanding than their relationship to God which is termed Latria

Marian Dogma’s

According to Catholicism there are 4 Marian Dogmas. Which means that there are 4 things that you must believe about Mary to be Catholic. It’s not optional.

Let me read to you from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The Church's Magisterium exercises the authority it holds from Christ to the fullest extent when it defines dogmas, that is, when it proposes, in a form obliging the Christian people to an irrevocable adherence of faith, truths contained in divine Revelation or also when it proposes, in a definitive way, truths having a necessary connection with these.

Essentially, you believe these things, or you are not allowed to be a Catholic:

Divine Motherhood

The first of these doctrines is the doctrine of Divine Motherhood. As Baptists we could almost agree with this. The statement can mostly simply be put that Mary was the mother of Jesus. No problems there. How it’s presented is that Mary is the Mother of God. — That is where we get the problem.

See, this doctrine places Mary in the position of mediatrix. Since her son is Christ, and fully divine, she mediates between the divine nature of Christ and humanity, since she being the mother of Jesus is the source of His humanity.

In this, it is ascribed to Mary a role that wholly belongs to Christ.

1 Timothy 2:5 tells us

1 Timothy 2:5 KJV 1900

5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

In his paper on Marian Studies, The Reverend Micheal Griffin of St. Florian Monastery in Milwaukee Wisconsin wrote:

this act of the Alma Socia Christi — Meaning, acting as an associate of Christ) was, in some way, part of the price that had to be paid to free the world from sin. The price that Christ paid was the shedding of his own Precious Blood, but this life also belonged to Mary. She had rights over her Son that no one else possessed or could possess. These rights she willingly relinquished in payment for our sins.

Salvation then, according to this Catholic theologian is not just an act of Christ but an act of Mary’s sacrifice because she had rights over the life of Christ. Being his mother.

And while it is completely true that we should honor our mothers, they don’t maintain ownership of our lives. — On biblical, social, or traditional ground, a mother is afforded no right to take the life of their child, adult or otherwise. — So — This reasoning starts to fall apart, even before we get to Jesus in Matthew 12:50 saying

Matthew 12:50 KJV 1900

50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

Perpetual Virginity

The second of the Marian Dogma’s is her perpetual virginity. Essentially she was at he time of Christ, continued to be, and forever is a virgin.

The first part of this is fulfilled prophecy. In Isaiah 7:14 we read

Isaiah 7:14 KJV 1900

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, And shall call his name Immanuel.

Of that, there is no dispute. But the perpetual nature of that virginity is where we run into trouble.

In Mark 6 we read of Jesus trip back to his home town, let’s look at vs 2 & 3:

Mark 6:2–3 (KJV 1900)

2 And when the sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue: and many hearing him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought by his hands? 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

Now, the argument has been made that this refers to Jesus’ cousins… the explanation being that that that the word ἀδελφός (adelphos) is used for cousin because there was no word that meant cousin in the Greek. Reason alone makes this a little surprising, you would think that that any culture would have a word that describes siblings from the same parent. It’s just very helpful in language. — But really Colossians 4:10 blows this theory out of the water

Colossians 4:10 KJV 1900

10 Aristarchus my fellowprisoner saluteth you, and Marcus, sister’s son to Barnabas, (touching whom ye received commandments: if he come unto you, receive him;)

ἀδελφός (adelphos): Brother

ἀνεψιός (anepsios): Cousin

The word here translated sister’s son is not ἀδελφός (adelphos) but rather ἀνεψιός (anepsios). Cousin.

Knew Her Not

Even still, Matthew 1:24-25 reads

Matthew 1:24–25 (KJV 1900)

24 Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: 25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.

The words till and firstborn give us some indication that there were children to follow.

The Immaculate Conception

The third Marian Dogma, the Immaculate conception was made part of the Catholic tradition in 1854 by Pope Pius the IX, this dogma states that Mary was kept free of original sin — meaning that she was born sinless.

There is no reference to this in scripture. At all. Period. — Any attempts to support this claim through biblical text ends up stretching verses, out of context, to try and fit the narrative. And it is a really really far stretch to get there.

No the reality of Romans 3:23:

Romans 3:23 KJV 1900

23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Applies even to Mary. Mary is part of all.

The Assumption

And then there is the final Marian Dogma. The Assumption of Mary.

This Dogma states that Mary did not die, rather she was brought up into heaven in the same manner as Enoch & Elijah. This Dogma came to be in 1950 believe it or not, and it was necessary to address a theological problem brought about by the immaculate conception. If Mary were sinless, how could she have died a death as a result of sin? So, by logical necessity she would have to either be assumed into heaven, or she would live forever.

A Great Mother

It would be wise for us to be careful in how defensive we get about these Marian Dogmas. Do we believe that any of them are true? No, we don’t. But, we can’t discount the character of Mary because of the Dogma’s of a religious system that were codified as recently as 1950.

The fact remains that Mary was a very Holy woman and undoubtably a tremendous mother.

Found Favor

If you have your Bibles turn them over to Luke 1 and we are going to look at v26-30

Luke 1:26–30 KJV 1900

26 And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.

Notice how Mary is addressed in v28 Thou that art highly favored and again in v30 thou has found favor with God.

We don’t know the details of Mary’s life prior to the conception, but what we can assume is that Mary lived a life that was God honoring, and so was favored by God.

Trusting

Not only was Mary favored by God, but Mary trusted God. What did verse 29 say?

Luke 1:29 KJV 1900

29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.

To say that she was troubled, in the Greek it is διαταράσσω (diatarassō). Louw Nida defines this as “causing great distress”. Mary heard the words of the angel and it wasn’t that she was a little confused, or that she was unsure: The Bible says she was greatly distressed.

She had no idea what to expect. But she knew that God had something for her to do, and that she would be willing to do it. And that is often how we react to the unknown, isn’t it. With fear.

And even early it was clear that being a parent wasn’t going to be something that would be easy for her. If you look at the next chapter, in Chapter 2 v34-25 we read the prophecy of Simeon to her regarding her son Jesus.

Luke 2:33–35 KJV 1900

33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Someone saying that a sword shall pierce through your soul, is not exactly what I would call encouraging!

Yet, she trusted in God’s will

Suffering

And she did suffer didn’t she. In Jn 19: 25-27 we read this well known scene from the crucifixion

John 19:25–27 KJV 1900

25 Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 26 When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! 27 Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

Gloria Vanderbilt, who was the heir to the Vanderbilt railroad fortune said this:

I have heard it said that the greatest loss that a human being can experience is the loss of a child. This is true. It doesn’t just change you, it demolishes you. Is the pain less? No, just different. It is there forever, till the day you die.

It is something that I hope to never experience, but from those who I know that have experienced it — I don’t doubt this statement in the slightest.

But here, Mary, saw her child raised upon a cross. Striped of his clothes and his dignity. Spat upon, he beard plucked, his body scourged and his face mutilated beyond recognition.

Did a sword pierce through her soul. Yeah, it did.

Mothers & Others

Because of the association that we have with Mary and Catholicism it is easy when you are not Catholic to relegate her just being part of the Christmas story. Maybe someone who shows up as a side character at the wedding in Cana.

But Mary is an absolute hero of our faith. Her character and her motherhood is an example not just to mothers but to all believers.

Finding Favor

Mary was used by God because God found favor in her. Whether you are a mother of young children or grown, a future mother, or Christian who may never be a mother — Be it man or woman. The only way you be usable by God — Is if you first find yourself favored by God.

That is the lesson of Matthew 25. This is where we have the parable of the talents, the Master gives out talents to his servants (talents being a form of currency, a type of money worth about the same at the time as 100lbs of gold.

Only one of the servants proved faithful and the response of the master is found in v21

Matthew 25:21 KJV 1900

21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.

We have to be faithful in the basics.

When I started my bi-vocation job several years ago I there was an expression that was constantly used about getting the basics of the job done correctly. Someone would say “We need to get the blocking and tackling done right before we can do anything else”. Full disclosure, I had no idea what this expression meant. I knew that a block and tackle was what you called a pulley system that you would hang up high to lift heavy items. — So I just went with it. — I was going to use the term in this message, and realized I had no idea what it meant so I looked it up. — As I came to find out Blocking and Tackling was a football term, go figure — Meaning you have to be good at blocking and tackling to win football games. — I was just over-thinking it.

But the point is this, and it is true for football as much as it is true for the life of a Christian. Unless we get the blocking and tackling right, the basics of our faith — We can’t be useful to God in anything.

We need to learn faithfulness. We need to serve where we can in the small things before we can move on to the greater things of the Kingdom.

Trusting

In addition to our faithfulness we need to trust God. Sometimes that means that we don’t have the full plan. We don’t see how doing things God’s way is going to work out but we agree that God’s ways are better than our ways and we step out in faithfulness.

Here is something that might come as a surprise or it might seen extraordinarily basic — but when we do things and we have a pretty good idea of the outcome, that isn’t acting on faith, that is acting on reason. See, we are called to faith and reason. And we can’t call ourselves faithful if we don’t step out on faith.

Suffering

And just like with Mary, there is suffering. I can’t imagine the suffering that Mary went through. But I can tell you that the Christian life isn’t a life free of suffering.

In 1 Peter 4:1-2 speaks of suffering and says

1 Peter 4:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; 2 That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

This isn’t talking about suffering that we bring upon ourselves. There is plenty of that. This isn’t the suffering that comes from sin. This speaks of the way that a believer will often suffer for standing up for righteousness.

If you want to get talked about behind your back, stand up for what is right. If you want to be excluded from the group, reject immorality. If you want to have your heartbroken — get involved in ministry.

But know this, what we read in v1 — We can know that we have ceased sinning when we suffer for the sake of righteousness.

Mothers

Mary had her soul pierced through with a sword. She saw her son upon that cross. She had already lost her husband. This was a woman acquainted with sorrow.

Being a mother, is hard. It may be that God will call you to stand through extraordinary grief when all you want to do is collapse under the pressure.

I can tell you, mothers that I see you, and I see your hard work and suffering — But me saying that means nothing. — What actually has real, eternal value is this: God see’s you. God see’s what you are going through. God see’s the things your husband overlook. God see’s the things your children take for granted, or don’t even know that you are doing.

I want to close with this passage, in Matthew 12:46-50, speaking of Jesus we read

Matthew 12:46–50 KJV 1900

46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him. 47 Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to speak with thee. 48 But he answered and said unto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? 49 And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren! 50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother.

When it’s hard — when you are suffering — when you have set your heart to doing what is right before God. You aren’t just a mother to you kids, you are a mother to Jesus.

Not in the maternal since, but in that close intimate relationship of family.

Let’s Pray