HAIL MARY!…Bill Thoughts For Today…

Understanding important truths from the Bible….

Luke 1:26-30

²⁶ Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, 

²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 

²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 

²⁹ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. 

³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.

Any who begins to write about Mary the mother of Jesus must do so with caution and sensitivity.  There is an excess to the extreme on both sides of the honor due her.  For some she cannot be over-exalted or accorded too great a place in the salvation of a sinner.  Others do not think there is any special honor due her.  Enough is said when she receives recognition as the virgin-mother of the Savior.

An excess of honor given her should never detract from the true honor due her.  There are many in the Roman Catholic Church who want her to be declared the fourth member of the Godhead.  A former Pope was petitioned by a large majority of dignitaries, priests, and nuns to declare her as deity and it was stated at that time he gave serious consideration to this.  These are the same ones who worship her as redemptress, intercessor, and the first source of forgiveness of sins.

Protestants rarely take part in these excesses.  But it is the error of many to fail in giving her the credit and dignity of the Scriptures.  Alexander Whyte in his most worthwhile, (among a treasure of worthwhile biographies) description of her allows a glimpse of her as she is in the Scriptures, “For my part I do not know the gift or the grace or the virtue any woman ever had that I could safely deny to Mary.  The divine congruity compels me to believe that all that could be received or attained or exercised by any woman would be granted beforehand, and all but without measure, to her who was so miraculously to bear, and so intimately and influentially to nurture and instruct, the Holy Child.  We must give Mary her promised due.  We must not allow ourselves to entertain a grudge against the mother of our Lord because some enthusiasts for her have given her more than her due.  There is no fear of our thinking too much either of Mary’s maidenly virtues, or of her motherly duties and experiences.” Bible Characters, Joseph and Mary to James the Lord’s Brother, page 7.

There is another quote from Whyte that demands reading,  And again, if we are to apply this sure principle to Mary’s case, “according to your faith so be it unto you,” then Mary must surely wear the crown as the mother of all them who believe on her Son.  If Abraham’s faith has made him the father of all them who believe, surely Mary’s faith entitles her to be called their mother.  If the converse of our Lord’s words hold true, that no mighty work is done where there is unbelief:  if we may safely reason that where there has been a mighty work done there must have been a corresponding and a cooperating faith; then I do not think we can easily overestimate the measure of Mary’s faith.  If this was the greatest work ever wrought by the power and the grace of Almighty God among the children of men, and if Mary’s faith entered into it at all, then how great her faith must have been!  Elizabeth saw with wonder and with worship how great it was.  She saw the unparalleled grace that had come to Mary, and she had humility and magnanimity enough to acknowledge it.  “Blessed art thou among women:  Blessed is she that believeth, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.”  Ibid pages 8-9.

Any fair appraisal of this 15 year old maiden in a family, a country, and under a religious system that offered no mercy to a woman pregnant out of wedlock must see in her a greatness that is without peer.  I have heroes such as David, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Josiah, but none can sit in anywhere but at Mary’s feet.

The Bible never intends her to be anything other than a sinner who had God’s grace.  She is the mother of other children.  We are told Jesus had brothers and sisters.  Mary sinned in coming with her family to take Jesus away from his work.  But how can we do anything but look with amazement at the Angel’s words, “ Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”  “You are endued with grace, that is, the Lord is with you.”

What should our response be?  With God’s New Testament Church we both should and can bow before God and thank Him for such a hero of our faith to be the mother of the Savior.  Never sinless, no Savior, no intercessor she, but a truly great saint in God’s church who takes her place with those worthies that have so greatly contributed to the being and growth of God’s Kingdom.

Please read Luke 1:46-49 and consider this as an encouragement to your faith.