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The Bible doesn’t offer us much information about
Mary, but her role in God’s redemptive plan was unique.
Luke 1:26-56 records Mary’s encounter
with the angel Gabriel and her visit with her relative Elizabeth. In
chapter 2, we see her pondering everything that has happened in
connection with her son’s birth. In the same chapter, Mary gently
rebuked 12-year-old Jesus for causing Joseph and her much concern by
remaining behind in the Jerusalem temple instead of joining the
caravan back to Nazareth ( Luke 2:41-49 ).
Mary
is mentioned again at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee when
Jesus performed His first public miracle ( John
2:1-12 ). She appears a few times after this in connection
with our Lord’s brothers and sisters( Matthew
13:54-58 ; Mark 3:31-35; 6:1-6 ). When
Jesus hung on the cross, He looked down and tenderly said, "Dear
woman, here is your son!" ( John 19:26 ), assigning
her to the care of the apostle John. The last mention of her is
found in Acts 1:14 , where she is referred to as
"Mary the mother of Jesus."
Mary
was a remarkable person. The angel who came to Mary with the
announcement that she would bear the Son of God said that she had
"found favor with God" ( Luke 1:30 ). God honored
her above all other women by choosing her to become the virgin
mother of the Messiah. However, the biblical accounts do not
emphasize her role as the mother of Jesus. In fact, nowhere in
the Gospels does Jesus even call her "mother."
Although the Gospels portray her motherly concern, they
clearly show her subordination to her son. In John
2:4 , Jesus called her "woman" (which wasn’t as harsh an
expression in Greek as it would be in modern English), apparently to
gently show her that His relationship to her as Savior must take
precedence over that of son.
The
Bible nowhere refers to her as the mother of God or implies in any
way that she was born without sin. In fact, she herself recognized
her need of a Savior ( Luke 1:47 ). She was
qualified to give birth to the sinless Son of God because God chose
her and miraculously caused her to conceive by the "overshadowing"
of the Holy Spirit( Luke 1:35 ). While it is right
to honor her as the mother of Jesus Christ, there are no biblical
grounds for placing her in a position of mediation between ourselves
and our Lord. The Scriptures declare:
There is one God and one Mediator between God and
men,
the Man Christ Jesus (1 Timothy 2:5).
Written by: Dan Vander Lugt |