Mary received the word of God with a ready heart (Luke 1:38). She did an excellent thing. Zechariah and his wife were old and barren. When an angel announced to Zechariah that he would have a son, who would become John the Baptist, he doubted. What God told him was something that had happened before. Most notably, Abraham and Sarah gave birth to Isaac in their old age. Zechariah had no excuse. The angel rebuked him and shut his mouth until the child was born, and he acknowledged the word of God by naming him John. Someone who doubts the word of God ought to remain in silence. He should not be permitted to opine or teach about anything. He should never be in a position to instruct God’s people.
Mary was better than Zechariah. What God told her was something that had never happened before, that a woman could give birth as a virgin, without any relation with a man. She wondered how something like this could happen, and the angel explained that the Holy Spirit would come upon her to conceive the child. Then she accepted without further question. How God’s kingdom would prosper if his people would embrace his word like this! How much blessing and happiness would come upon humanity! All of us should receive his word on salvation, healing, success, righteousness, fruitfulness, and a hundred other things with the words, “Let it be unto me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
Nevertheless, other than this commendable performance, we have no record that Mary ever contributed anything more to the work of Jesus or the kingdom of God.
Mary was out of touch with Jesus since the beginning. When Jesus was twelve years old, he stayed behind in Jerusalem after the Passover, but his parents were unaware of this. When they returned to search for him, they found him conversing with religious teachers. All those who heard him were amazed at his wisdom and insight. As someone who is obsessed with God, I would have asked him to tell me what he talked about with the theologians. And I would have said to him, “Son, next time you do something like this, let me know so I can join you and listen in.” On the other hand, Mary said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this?” And Jesus replied, “Didn’t you know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Of course he would be there. She should have known what he meant by this, since she knew better than anyone that his father was God himself. However, even with the message from an angel, the experience of the virgin birth, and this explanation from Jesus, Mary did not understand what he meant (Luke 2:41-50). She had no ill-intention toward Jesus, and she kept these things in her heart (v. 51). But she did not understand.
At a wedding at Cana, both Mary and Jesus were present. When the wine ran out, Mary deferred to Jesus and told the servants to follow his instructions. She said the right thing, if she was right in getting involved in the first place (John 2:4). She told the servants to do what Jesus said, not what she said. She had no power and no solution. She could only point to Jesus. That was fine. However, she appealed to Jesus only as a problem-solver, not as a miracle-worker. This is likely correct especially judging from her later attitude toward the ministry of Jesus. What she did made her spiritual defect even more obvious. By this time, she had been with Jesus for thirty years. This episode demonstrated that she regarded Jesus as someone resourceful and dependable, but her later attitude demonstrated that she did not regard Jesus as more than that.
I mention this so that no one can point to this occasion as a counterpoint to the facts about Mary that we shall consider as we continue. (In fact, if we suppose the unlikely case that she had regarded Jesus as more than a mere man and expected him to perform a miracle, it would make her subsequent behavior even more bizarre and inexcusable, because it would become an extreme case of apostasy.) Here although it appeared Mary behaved admirably, her attitude during the ministry of Jesus revealed that she could not have thought of him as anything more than a dependable man of the house. To reach only this level of perception after spending thirty years with Jesus was concerning, to say the least. Again, she did nothing wrong here, but this episode shows us that Jesus had made himself trustworthy, so that there was no excuse for her subsequent attitude toward him.
Mary probably thought that Jesus was insane. Jesus had attracted large crowds with his ministry of preaching and healing. Instead of supporting him, his family attempted to restrain him and said, “He is out of his mind” (Mark 3:21). Mary was likely part of this effort (Mark 3:31). As Jesus said, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” Perhaps it was difficult for people who had watched him grow up to regard him as someone special, even someone lightyears out of their league. On the other hand, we might say that the people who had watched him all this time should have more easily concluded he was someone special. In any case, unbelief is never justified.
We might imagine that it was difficult for Mary, who gave birth to Jesus from her own womb, to regard her son as some exceptional character from heaven. But again, she had that message from an angel, the experience of the virgin birth, and many years of living with Jesus. She had more time with him than anyone else. The angel even said to her, “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom shall have no end.” He told her to her face that Jesus would be the Son of God and the Messiah. Any difficulty had been overcompensated. Did she believe the angel after all? She accepted his word about conceiving a child, but how about the rest of what he said?
She should have known who Jesus was earlier than anybody. She should have supported anything he set out to do stronger than anyone else. Jesus never hesitated to teach women about God (Luke 10:42). If Mary had asked him to clarify anything, do you think he would have refused? But here she was, calling him from outside the crowd, attempting to stop him. She was not one of the insiders. Given her supernatural experiences and revelations, this was a bizarre level of unbelief and spiritual dullness. If she was among those saying that he had mental problems or that he was doing outrageous things, and the biblical evidence suggests that she was, then she committed the sin of blasphemy. She was among those who came to restrain his ministry, so that at this point she worked against the gospel of Christ and the kingdom of God. If she had been successful in stopping Jesus, then all of us — including her — would have been doomed to burn in hell.
Mary was less blessed than any ordinary follower of Jesus in her role as his mother. A woman in the crowd called out to Jesus, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you” (Luke 11:27). In other words, “Blessed is Mary.” But Jesus replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it” (v. 28). In other words, any ordinary follower of Jesus in good standing is more blessed than Mary in her role as the physical mother of Jesus. Mary was not “the mother of God,” even though some heretics like to use this blasphemous expression. In fact, since God created all things by the Son, Mary herself was a mere creation of Jesus (John 1:3, Colossians 1:16). She was mother only to the physical body of Jesus, nothing more. The privilege was unique indeed, and no one can take this honor from her, but it was inferior to the privilege of following Jesus as a deliberate and obedient disciple.
She was not more blessed than any ordinary follower of Jesus, who said that any person who hears and obeys the word of God supersedes Mary in terms of the level of blessedness. The same applies to the natural brothers of Jesus. They mocked him as someone who wanted attention (John 7:3-5). Anyone who obeys the word of God is more privileged than people like them. Nevertheless, they would later believe in him, and became like the rest of the disciples — not more privileged, but just as privileged, because of their faith. Mary and the brothers were privileged, but less privileged than any true disciple of Jesus. Those who physically followed Jesus were privileged, but less privileged than those who follow him by faith and obey his teachings, whether or not they have seen him. If we would bestow endless honor and praise to Mary for being the physical mother of Jesus, as both Catholics and Protestants often like to do, shouldn’t we first honor ourselves for being the disciples of Jesus? Shouldn’t we preach sermons and make ornaments about ourselves instead?
In another place, he was told, “Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” But he answered, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” and “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” Thus Jesus disowned Mary in the spiritual sense. He denied that the natural relationship had any significance that mattered. It was indeed a privilege and a blessing to be the vessel for the Messiah’s human body, but her role was limited to the natural realm. She contributed nothing spiritual. She even reached a point where she considered her son mentally unstable and tried to stop what he was doing. Still, false religion insists on giving her undue adoration.
Carnal religion tends to emphasize ritualism and sacramentalism. Making something special out of the natural relationships of Jesus aligns with this kind of thinking. This is an empty faith, and the religion carries empty promise and empty assurance. It can provide only a feeling of religion, and a shell of holiness. For many people, this is enough, even though it is not enough to save them from hell. This is why it remains popular to prefer a kind of religion based on rituals, sacraments, and sabbath and holy days (Colossians 2:16).
Mary joined the early disciples to receive the Holy Spirit and to speak in tongues. Although the followers of Jesus had witnessed his resurrection and had believed in him unto salvation, they did not stop there. Jesus said that they must also receive the Holy Spirit to receive power from heaven (Luke 24:49). He called it baptism with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5). If anyone confesses with his mouth that Jesus is Lord and believes in his heart that God raised him from the dead, then he is saved (Romans 10:9). There are other things that he can know and receive, but there is nothing more he must know or receive in order to be saved. The disciples had confessed and believed in the resurrected Christ for at least forty days (Acts 1:3), but Jesus still did not send them forth to face the world. He said they needed the Holy Spirit. Whatever works of the Spirit they had experienced, in the terminology of Jesus and the Acts of the Apostles, they still did not have the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-16, 19:2-6). This was a different event from their conversion or salvation. Salvation is salvation. Forgiveness is forgiveness. But power is power. To receive Jesus Christ is to receive salvation. To receive the Holy Spirit is to receive power.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples gathered and devoted themselves to prayer, and Mary was among them (Acts 1:14). At some point, she repented of her previous view of Jesus and became one of his disciples. Many hundreds of people had attained a level of blessedness that surpassed her as the physical mother of Jesus (Luke 11:28). She had fallen behind by failing to follow him, and likely regarded the Son of God as someone who had mental problems. But she did not remain in this condition. She no longer considered him a madman. She finally grasped the truth and began on the path of the greater blessing. In less than three years, thousands believed in Jesus. Many believed in him within minutes or hours of knowing about him. It took Mary more than three decades to believe, but she finally became one of us and reached our level. Assuming that she did not backslide between the Ascension and Pentecost, she was among those who received the Holy Spirit and started to speak in tongues (Acts 2:4). She was correct when she said that all generations shall call her blessed (Luke 1:48). And she became even more blessed — as blessed as any ordinary follower of Jesus — when she accepted his identity and mission, and received the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues.
Have I recited the facts about Mary to denigrate her memory? If so, then Scripture is the one that has a vendetta against her. However, the Bible also records the facts of someone like David, who committed murder and adultery. In fact, he committed adultery, and then committed murder to cover up the adultery, which made both the adultery and murder even worse. Yet the Bible has no vendetta against David, but it calls him a man after God’s own heart — of course, for reasons other than the adultery and murder. We do not dishonor Mary, but facts are facts. I commend her for receiving the word of God about a miracle that had never happened before. People claim to be Christians nowadays, but remain skeptical about almost commonplace things like healing the sick and speaking in tongues. This behavior proves them to be the wicked and worthless servants that Jesus mentioned in his teachings.
Mary said, “Let it happen to me according to your word.” This is what Christians ought to say when God says, “Himself took our infirmities and carried our sicknesses.” This is what Christians ought to say when God says, “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.” And this is what they would say, if not for the fact that they think Jesus was insane. Mary no longer thought that Jesus was out of his mind. She believed Jesus and was saved, and after that she obeyed his instruction to receive the Holy Spirit. If anyone admires the mother of Jesus, then follow her example to believe in Jesus for her salvation, and follow her example to receive the Holy Spirit and to speak in tongues. Was she some super saint? No. She never was. It took her more than three decades to become an ordinary follower of Jesus. But she made it. That is more than what I can say for most people, including those who claim to be Christians. For that, I call her blessed.
Mary was never mentioned again.
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