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Transcript 000A — Was Mary (Jesus' Mother) Special?
CALLER: In Luke 1, an angel told Mary, the mother of Jesus, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women" (v. 28) and, "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God" (v. 30). Later, when the mother of John the Baptist saw Mary, she said, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" (v. 42). Doesn't all this show that Mary is very special and deserves the special respect of all Christians?
HC: Surely, both the angel and Elisabeth gave Mary a beautiful salutation. But when we study those statements carefully, we find that they are not unique of Mary at all. Take the first phrase in verse 28, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured." The Greek for "highly favoured" there is the same word God uses in Ephesians 1:6, where it is translated "accepted." There we read, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."
In Ephesians 1, God is talking about the salvation of all believers. Verse 5 says, for example, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." So, Ephesians 1:6 may very well be translated to read, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us highly favoured in the beloved."
You see, God is not a respecter of persons. He does not put Mary on a higher pedestal than any other believer. She is highly favored just as every other believer is highly favored. Indeed, all of us believers are highly favored because from all the sinners in the world God had chosen us to become saved by His grace.
The same holds true for the next statement the angels made to Mary, "The Lord is with thee." Isn't the Lord with every believer? Certainly. He promises, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Here again, Mary does not stand any differently than any other child of God.
Now, in verse 30 Mary is told that "Thou hast found favour with God" The word "favor" is a Greek word that is normally translated "grace." Again, it is not unique with Mary. In Genesis 6:8, we read, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Or we can go to Acts 7, where God, talking about David, says in verse 46, "Who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob."
Actually, the phrase "thou has found favor with God" applies to every believer. We have found grace with God; we have been saved by the grace of God. So, in verse 30, the angel Gabriel is merely telling Mary that she is a child of God. And that's why he begins that sentence with the comforting remark, "Fear not, Mary."
Both the angel and Elizabeth say to Mary, "Blessed art thou among women." Does this statement imply that we Christians should look upon Mary with special favor? To the extent that Mary was singled out from among women to give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, she is special. That is a very signal blessing. Nevertheless, notice how the Lord Himself addresses this subject of Mary being His mother. We read in Luke 11:27, "And it came to pass, as he (Jesus) spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, ant said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." There, we have a woman who wants to eulogize Mary especially for the fact that she gave birth to Jesus and nursed Him. But listen to Christ's response in verse 28, "Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."
What Christ does there is to politely direct people's attention away from Mary and put all believers on the same level. He doesn't want anyone to look upon Mary as a super Christian, even though she was chosen to give Christ His human nature. We are not to glory in any created being. We glory only in Jesus Christ.
What He wants is for us to submit to one another ant to listen and keep the word of God. Such are the people that are blessed.
There is another incident relating to this subject that is recorded in Luke 8. Beginning with verse 19, we read, "Then came to him (Jesus) his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press (because of the pressing crowd). And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. Ant he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it."
Once again, you see, Jesus deliberately shifts the emphasis away from Mary and declares in effect, that as long as you have spiritual ears to hear the word of God and a heart that longs to do the will of God, you are a member of My family.
Please understand I am not trying to belittle Mary. Surely she was mightily used by God to carry Jesus in her womb, to give Him his human nature; and to nurse and bring Him up afterwards. And she is a beautiful example of what a believer of Christ ought to be. We can see her exemplary humility by looking at just the first three verses of her song of praise, or the "Magnificat." In verse 46 she starts, "My soul doth magnify the Lord."
That opening statement alone shows that she knows the Scripture well. It is effectively a condensed version of Psalm 34:2-3: "My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together." Now, notice the context of Psalm 34 in verse 4, "I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." It has to do with salvation. In other words, Mary's soul is magnifying God for the salvation she has received.
We can see this even more clearly in her next statement. She says in verse 47, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."
You see, Mary realizes that she, like anyone else, is by nature a sinner and is therefore subject to eternal damnation. Now, she rejoices because, in the child she is given the privilege to bear, God has provided her with a Savior.
She continues in verse 48, "For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."
The Greek word for "handmaiden." there literally means "female slave." Describing herself as a slave of God, she is praising Him for the mercy of being mindful of her lowly condition and of granting her salvation. And for that reason, all generations shall call her blessed.
Summing up, let me say again that Mary is a beautiful example of what a believer of Christ ought to be. Even though she was given the great honor of bringing Jesus into this world, she realizes that by nature she is a lowly sinner under the wrath of God. Like every other believer, she has been saved by the grace of God.
Moreover, the Lord Jesus Himself goes out of His way twice to impress upon us that Mary is no different in God's eyes from any other obedient child of God and that she is not to be adulated. All honor and glory and praises must go to God alone.