MARY THE MOTHER OF JESUS
Isaiah 49:7-9a
Luke 1:46-55
May 10, 2009
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Let me start by saying I have a deep respect for the Catholic Church, and what follows is not Catholic bashing – I don’t approve of that. But, over the past 2000 years the Catholic Church has really messed with our concept and perception of Mary. To the Roman Catholic Church she is not simply ‘Mary – the mother of Jesus’. Instead, she is the Theotokos, the God-bringer. You may be surprised to know that for the first fifteen hundred years they had a pretty normal concept of Mary. Most of the alterations to her reputation are from the most recent five hundred years.
Around the year 1500 the RCC was looking at John 2:1-11; the story of Jesus’ first miracle – changing water into wine. They noticed something interesting about the interaction between Jesus and Mary. Mary notifies Jesus that the wedding party is out of wine. She makes a simple statement, “They have no wine.” But, like the Jewish mother she was, you can tell she is actually pushing Jesus to do something about the problem. Jesus responds to her with the first century equivalent of, “Not my wedding, not my problem.” Mary doesn’t let it go. She turns to the servants and says, “Do whatever he tells you.” She implies that Jesus is going to do something about this. And, of course, he does; he performs a miracle.
What jumped out of this pericope to the Catholic Church was this; Mary has a special relationship with Jesus, and she can influence his decisions; even get him to change his mind; even get him to perform miracles. This is the basis for the Catholic practice of praying to Mary as an intercessor. This is why Catholics will pray to Mary and ask her to convince Jesus to give them a miracle.
Around that same time, 1500 CE, the concept of Purgatory became ingrained in the Catholic psyche; the idea that there is a waiting station between earth and heaven. The Catholics believe you don’t get into heaven just because of faith in Jesus Christ. You must also have performed ‘good works’ in your life. If you die with faith, but not enough good works, you end up in Purgatory. Your time in Purgatory (and you could be there for five to ten thousand years) could be reduced if you borrowed someone else’s good works. The church decided that no one had more spare good works than Mary. So, for a price, you could buy Mary’s extra good works and cut down on your time in Purgatory.
The Protestant reformation took place in 1517, and we split away from the Catholic Church. Three years later, in 1520, the RCC adopted the official position of Mary’s perpetual virginity. A monk named Erasmus of Rotterdam was reading from the book of Ezekiel (44:1-2) which says, “Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary, which faces east; and it was shut. The LORD said to me: This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it; for the LORD, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut.”
Now, Ezekiel was talking about a gate going in and out of the Holy Temple, but Erasmus decided he was talking about Mary’s womb. Because God has moved through her womb, it shall now and forever more remain shut. Based on that Scripture the RCC took the stance that Mary lived her entire life as a virgin. They believe that Jesus’ brothers and sisters belong to Joseph from a previous marriage, which would make them older than Jesus. There is no explanation why in the journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, from Bethlehem to Egypt, and from Egypt back to Nazareth only Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are mentioned – no other children. When we Protestants talk about the Virgin Mary, we mean that she had never had sex with a man when Jesus was born. Then, she and Joseph had four boys and two or more girls together. When the Catholic’s talk about the Virgin Mary they mean she has never had sex.
Which brings us to the Immaculate Conception. Most Protestants misunderstand this to mean that since Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and not a man, that he is the object of the Immaculate Conception. Not true. Augustine reasoned that Original Sin (the sin from Adam and Eve) travels down to each person in the blood of their parents. If that’s the case, then isn’t Jesus tainted by Original Sin from Mary? In 1854, only 150 years ago, the Catholic solution was to decide that Mary was immaculately conceived, and was born without Original Sin, so she couldn’t pass it on to Jesus. Of course, if God could arrange it so that Mary could be born without Original Sin, why didn’t he just do that for Jesus in the first place?
The last questionable decision concerning the Mother of Christ is called the Assumption of Mary. Psalm 16:10 says, “You will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.” Peter tells us that verse is speaking directly about the Resurrection of Jesus (Acts 2:22-27). God forbid Jesus’ body to rot in the grave, and brought him back from the dead. In 1950, Pope Pius XII decided that if Jesus wouldn’t rot in the grave, neither would Mary. Officially the Church decided that immediately after her burial God took the body of Mary up to heaven, and did not let her flesh decay. The Assumption of Mary.
To most Protestant denominations, such as Methodists, much of the veneration of Mary seems unjustifiable. We don’t agree with their Scriptural proofs, and we don’t embrace their conclusions. More than that, we have intentionally pushed the Mary ‘pendulum’ too far in the other direction. We act as if there is something shameful about Mary, as if she should never be mentioned. That’s not right. Just like John the Baptist, or the Apostle Paul; Mary was a special person, uniquely used by God, at a very specific point in time, to accomplish his Holy will.
Let’s talk about what we do know about Mary of Nazareth; Mary the Mother of Jesus. Most of what we know about Mary comes from the Gospel of Luke. The information is so personal and private, it is highly likely that Luke met her in person. The genealogy of Jesus, his ancestry, is different in Matthew than it is in Luke 3:23-28. Luke starts his list of ancestors with, “He was the son, so it was thought, of Joseph.” We believe that Luke gives us Jesus’ ancestry through Mary, which he learned from Mary’s own lips.
She is the source of the infancy narratives. If not for Mary, we wouldn’t know anything about Jesus before he was thirty years old. We know that she was a person who placed service to God above personal comfort. I believe in free will; that each of can refuse to accept the ministry God wants from us. When it was explained to Mary that she would give birth to the Son of God, as a virgin, she had to know that no one would believe her. She had to know that she would always be accused of being a promiscuous liar. She had to know what name they would attach to her young son. And yet, when presented with the choice, she said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Pretty brave.
We know that Joseph was alive when Jesus was twelve years old and was accidently left behind at the Holy Temple (Luke 3:41-42). We know that by the time Jesus was thirty Joseph had been dead a long time; the neighbors didn’t remember him (Mark 6:3). So, we assume Joseph died shortly after the Temple incident. Jesus had four younger brothers and at least two sisters. If you think it’s hard being a single parent to seven children under the age of twelve now, imagine what it was like for Mary in the year 10. It took a strong woman to not only survive, but to thrive, in that environment. We don’t believe that Jesus was born with perfect knowledge, because the Bible says he learned as he grew up (Luke 2:40). That means it was his mother who taught him to strictly observe the Jewish practices. She obviously practiced her faith in her home.
We know she was a deep thinker, who did the best she could to interpret the events of her life and make sense of them. We now know that the Messiah came for all people, to set us free from slavery to sin. However, the first century Jew believed the Messiah would set them free from slavery to corrupt government and domination by Rome. When Mary is blessed by her cousin Elizabeth she breaks into the song we read this morning. It is called ‘The Magnificat’, because that is how it begins in Latin. For centuries we have said that Mary was excited about giving birth to the Savior of all mankind. But, more recent analysis makes a very good case that Mary is talking about being set free from Caesar Augustus and Herod the Great. She took the information available to her, and interpreted it in accordance with her culture.
Then, Jesus was born, and the Shepherds came to Mary that night with more information (Luke 2:17-19). They were able to tell her that Jesus would be the Messiah for the entire world, not just Israel. The Bible tells us that Mary spent time deeply contemplating this information, and trying to interpret its meaning. When Jesus was forty days old Mary took him to the Temple for the purification and dedication ceremony. There she met Simeon, who announced to her that Jesus would be the Savior of both Jew and Gentile. But, his ministry would be controversial and possibly end violently; and Mary herself would suffer emotionally (Luke 2:35). The Bible tells us again that Mary deeply contemplated the meaning and application of this prophecy.
After twelve year old Jesus had accidently been left behind at the Holy Temple Mary gives him a stern lecture about parental worry and respect. Jesus replies with a cryptic answer about the Temple being the house of his true Father. Rather than pinching his ear and nagging him all the way back to Nazareth, the Bible tells us that Mary looked deep into her own heart to try and reason out the meaning and purpose of his words. All of this should tell you that Mary was a deep thinker. She didn’t take situations at face value, but did her best continually modify her behavior and her beliefs in light of the information God shared with her.
I think she eventually figured Jesus out, and knew what was in store for him. Yet, she loved that boy like a flesh and blood child of her own. Towards the end of his three year ministry she began to fear for his physical safety and tried to get him to stop preaching. We can’t tell from the grammar whether it was Mary, or one of Jesus’ brothers, but someone accused Jesus of being crazy so they could pry him away from the crowds and get him to a safe place. When Jesus rejected his family’s efforts, Mary understood that following her son would eventually force every person to choose between doing what was expected and living in God’s presence.
She came to Jesus’ execution (John 19:25). Can you imagine how much strength and willpower that took? To see your son tortured and murdered after being wrongly convicted of a crime he didn’t commit? That took a strong woman. We know that Jesus loved her back. From the cross he gives her into the care of the Apostle John (John 19:26-27). The Greek comes across a little stilted; this is your new son and this is your new mother. Actually, it’s much more intimate than that. It was a tender moment of love.
Mary remained with the Christian community until her death (John 19:27; Acts 1:14). She was a powerful prayer warrior. There are some verses in the book of Revelation which may be talking about Mary. They say, “A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth. Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born. And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne; and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God.” If those verses are speaking about Mary, it is clear that God considers her a major player in the battle between good and evil.
We Protestants are wrong to deny or belittle the importance of the Mother of Christ. On this Mother’s Day, let us value the strength, love, and discernment of Mary just as we would any of the Apostolic saints.
J. D. Douglas & Merrill C. Tenney, The New International Dictionary of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1987), 628.
Elizabeth A. Johnson, “Mary of Nazareth: Friend of God and Prophet,” Living Pulpit 10:4 (October – December 2001), 12-17.
Scot McKnight, “The Mary We Never Knew: why the mother of Jesus was more revolutionary than we have been led to believe,” Christianity Today 50:12 (December 2006), 26-30.