The angel Gabriel told Mary right to her face: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” He was an angel. It was a supernatural event. The heavenly being appeared to Mary, and spoke to her in audible and intelligible words. He called her child “Son of the Most High.” He said that the child would inherit the throne of David. He promised that his kingdom would last forever. Nothing was unclear. Nothing was hidden. He said all this to her face.

When Jesus was born, some random shepherds showed up out of nowhere. An angel had said to them that the child would be “Christ the Lord.” As the angel was telling them this, there appeared a heavenly host praising God and singing about the boy. The angel sent the shepherds to Jesus. Mary was there when they visited the child and marveled at him in front of her.

Then some even more random wise men appeared. They started their journey from far away, and followed a star and went through King Herod to find the boy. The star was supposed to signify the birth of a great king predicted by ancient writings. Then they brought out gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh — gifts for royalty. And Mary saw these wise men worship the child in front of her. They were educated and wealthy men in another part of the world who should have had no way of knowing about the child or where he was. But they came and worshiped her baby right in front of her.

At the temple, Simeon took the child in his arms and spoke by the Holy Spirit. He said that the child was the salvation of God, the light of revelation for the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel. Simeon said to Mary, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel.” He said this to her face. Anna the prophet also came forward and spoke about the child to everyone who was looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. She did this right in front of her.

After all of this, Mary still did not know Jesus. It looked like she had no idea who he was. When Jesus was twelve years old, he went missing during a visit to Jerusalem, and Mary searched for three days before it occurred to her to look for him at the temple. Of course, Joseph was also slow about this, but unlike Mary, people never made him into some kind of super saint. They found Jesus in the temple, sitting among the teachers. When they found him, Mary scolded him, saying, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” Jesus answered, “Why did you have to search? Didn’t you know that I would be at my Father’s house?”

It is not merely our interpretation that there was something wrong with Mary. Jesus himself said she should have known where to find him. She should have assumed that he was there. After everything that had been said to her face, and after everything that had been done right in front of her, she should have known where he would be. Jesus was all about God. The angel told her to her face, that he would be called “Son of the Most High.” Any mentally functioning person should have known. The Bible even said a few times that Mary thought about what she experienced. But she still did not know! She had no idea. She was shocked. She was frustrated.

Many years after this event, and after Jesus had launched his ministry, it appeared that Mary was among those who thought that he was insane. The Gospels record that his family went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.” When his mother and brothers arrived, they stood outside and sent someone in to call him. They wanted to take him home, probably to stop his ministry. Despite all that had been said to her face, even by angels and prophets, and despite everything that had happened around Jesus right in front of her, from ancient predictions, to angels singing on top of people’s heads, to having a vision to escape the king’s murder attempt, Mary still seemed to side with those who doubted Jesus, those who thought he had lost his mind. She should have been his strongest supporter, but when she appeared in his ministry, she stood outside and wanted to take him away. All this is amazing to read, that a person could be like this.

When someone in the crowd said to Jesus, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you,” Jesus replied, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” He did not simply say, “Also blessed” or even “More blessed” are those who obey, but he said “Blessed rather” are those who obey, as if those who obey belong to a different and superior category of people. This could be an indication that Mary was not among those who hear and obey the word of God, and Jesus became dismissive of her role. This is something to consider, but we will not push this perspective too far based on scant evidence.

Nevertheless, Jesus indeed contradicted the idea that Mary was especially blessed just because she was his mother. He made it clear that true blessing comes from hearing and obeying the word of God, but this describes the life of any ordinary disciple. Being a Christian in good standing is more blessed than being the mother of Jesus. In comparison, Mary’s biological connection to Jesus meant very little. Did Mary hear and obey the word of God? Even without the statement from Jesus, the evidence up to this point indicates that she did not.

There is evidence that Mary finally became a follower of Jesus. She was present with the disciples in Jerusalem after his ascension, waiting for the promised Holy Spirit. She was among those who received the Holy Spirit and spoke in tongues on the day of Pentecost. Since Jesus said that to obey the word of God is more blessed than to be his biological mother and to give birth to him, this means that Mary’s most excellent spiritual attainment on record was not when she accepted the word of God and conceived the body of Jesus, but it was when she believed and obeyed the word of God to receive the Holy Spirit and to speak in tongues. However, the baptism of the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues is something still rejected by many who claim to be Christians and who have the benefit of reading about Mary’s absurdly slow road to discipleship. This makes them even worse than Mary.

Mary eventually understood and believed. She became a follower of Jesus, trailing behind thousands of others who experienced fewer advantages but who started to follow Jesus years before she did. It took her a long time, far longer than it should have, when God told her with overwhelming clarity who Jesus was since the beginning. Mary was never the super saint and mother that people imagined. She was spiritually dull, reluctant to believe and understand, and she underestimated her son’s identity and mission. The angel spoke to her, the shepherds spoke to her, the wise men spoke to her, the prophets spoke to her, and Jesus himself spoke to her. They said what they knew right to her face, but she did not believe or understand. We have no solid evidence that she became a disciple before the resurrection of Jesus.

And then, Mary was never mentioned again.