Mary

Today on Renewing Your Mind. I'm Lee Webb, and today we're going to consider one of the most misunderstood characters in the Bible. Some believe that Mary, the mother of Jesus, should be venerated, while others tend to ignore the important place she holds in redemptive history. How should we view this woman who was told by the angel Gabriel that she had found favor with God?

Here's Dr. R.C. Sproul. A title bestowed upon a woman by human beings is this title, Theotokos. A title bestowed by the ancient church upon Mary. And the title Theotokos means mother of God. Now, of course, when the church bestowed this title, Theotokos, upon Mary, by calling her the mother of God, they didn't mean anything so crass as to suggest that somehow Jesus derived his divine nature from his mother. It's not that Mary had a divine power to transmit deity to her offspring. What is meant by this confession in the early church was that Mary was the mother of a child. Which child was God incarnate? Think, women, of the awesome responsibility that you feel and that you experience with the care of a child. Because every child is precious. But Mary has God incarnate in her crib.

That is a responsibility none of us could ever really imagine. But think of what kind of a woman God would choose to bear the Christ. When I look at heroes and heroines, I can think of none greater than Mary, the mother of God. Now, I realize I'm a Protestant, an advocate of Reformed theology, and I'm aware of the tension over the centuries between Reformation theology and Roman Catholic theology. And one of the bitter points of disputes has been the role and the function of Mary in Roman Catholic theology. The Roman Catholic church has exalted Mary to a high level of veneration.

And in reaction to that, Protestant churches have said no, and in their reaction have tended to move to the other extreme and to act almost apologetic that there ever was such a person as Mary. And Protestants ought not to forget that there is no human woman born of man of greater character from which we can learn than this woman whom God selected to be the mother of Jesus Christ. I'd like to take a few moments to look at just a couple of insights into Mary's life and into her personality as we find it in the Scripture.

Let's go first of all to where it all starts. Where this humble peasant woman is approached, as we read in Luke's Gospel, in the six months of her cousin's pregnancy, that is the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary. Some of you have heard the rosary, and those who are not Catholic in their background sometimes also react against the rosary. Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed art thou among women, blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus, holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and ye have our death, amen.

Do you realize that the first stanza of the rosary comes from Scripture itself? It is a repetition of the greeting that the angel Gabriel gave at the time of the annunciation. He comes and says, Hail Mary, full of grace. The angel recognizes this woman as a woman with a plentitude, an overwhelming measure of grace within her. Hail Mary, full of grace, how blessed you are. The statement blessed are you among women means what? Of all of the women in the world, you are most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, for the Lord is with you. Now when Mary saw this angel, she was troubled, troubled at what he said, not just at the sight of him, but at his words.

And cast in her mind what kind of salutation this should be, but the angel said to her, Don't be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. For behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and you will call his name Jesus. And he shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. You mean I'm going to be the mother of the successor to King David? I'm going to be the mother of a king.

And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Now Mary was puzzled at the beginning, now her bewilderment, instead of being solved by the explanation of Gabriel, is intensified. For she says, How can this be, since I know not a man? It's impossible. I'm a virgin.

It can't be. Again, Mary isn't trying to play games and pretend that she's a virgin, because there's no sense pretending you're a virgin if you're not a virgin when you're talking to an angel, right? She is absolutely astounded by this, and the angel answered her and said, The Holy Ghost will come upon you, the power of the Highest will overshadow you, therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. For with God nothing is impossible.

Now, that's the announcement. Mary's response is crucial for us to see. Her response is called in theology Mary's fiat, and I think this is one of the great misnomers in theology. Fiat is a word we usually use to describe what?

A car, okay? But it is the Latin form of the imperative of the verb to be. So a fiat is a command. Gabriel tells her she's going to have this child, and Mary responds by saying, Listen, behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word. Now, that last phrase, Be it unto me according to thy word, is stated in the imperative form. That's why it's called Mary's fiat. The command that she utters is, Be it unto me.

Let it be. Now, the tone of her command was not an imperious authoritative mandate where she says to Gabriel, Do it. Notice the context in which she says this. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. I am willing to be a slave to my God. It's not like Mary is saying, Be it so unto you according to my word, but be it so unto me according to thy word. Here, her command is an act of surrender and of acquiescence to the command of the Lord. Mary's saying, If that's what you want, then let it happen. And then the next thing we see about Mary is that she goes to see Elizabeth.

She's all excited. She enters into Elizabeth's house. Elizabeth's baby jumps in Elizabeth's room in recognition. And Elizabeth echoes the greeting of Gabriel. Blessed art thou among women. Blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

Whence is this to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? And then Mary, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, sings a song. Do you know the name of the song? You Episcopalians know the name of the song.

And what's the name of the song? The Magnificat. Remember that one, Margaret? The Magnificat. So named for the first words in the Latin version of the biblical text. The Magnificat, in my estimation, is one of the most moving songs that we find anywhere in Scripture. I used to teach a course on the Gospel of Luke for women, for women only. And I gave assignments in that course. And one of the assignments that I gave the women in that class was that they had to go home and memorize verbatim the Magnificat.

And I made this promise. I said, if you will memorize the Magnificat, it will transform your prayer life. Because the elements of godly prayer are so richly contained in this prayer from the mouth of the mother of Christ.

How does it begin? My soul doth magnify the Lord. That's a prayer of adoration.

My soul magnifies God. The second part, which St. Thomas Aquinas gave so much significance to, and my spirit, the innermost part of my being, doth rejoice in God my Savior. In the days of Thomas Aquinas, there was arguments as to whether or not Mary was sinless. And Aquinas, the great Dr. Angelicus of the church, said no, that Mary even here acknowledges her need for a Savior. And she says, my soul doth magnify the Lord, my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior. She describes the character of God in all of this, which is so beautiful.

Listen, for he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. It's like Mary is saying, how did you find me? I didn't even know that you knew I existed. She is rejoicing because she's saying, God has looked at me. God hasn't overlooked me. God has considered me. God has visited me.

God has blessed me in my low estate. For behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. Now remember that this song is not merely the composition of Mary from the depths of her own human insight, but it's a Holy Spirit-inspired song, and so it is prophetic in its scope. And she says here, under the influence of the Holy Spirit, all generations shall call me blessed.

Has that come to pass? We're talking about it right now. We're talking about how blessed Mary was. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name.

Memorize that prayer. His mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the imaginations of their heart. He hath put down the mighty from their seats and exalted them of woe degree. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to her fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed forever.

Do you hear what she's saying? God has kept his promise. This is what he said to Abraham centuries ago, and to Isaac, and to our fathers, and nobody pay any attention. And all of the accumulative power and strength of human institutions rose up to try to thwart the breaking through of the kingdom of God.

And kings like Caesar Augustus and Herod the Great sat in mighty places. They tried to destroy, as we will see later, the newborn children with the slaughter of the innocent. But God remembered his promise to Abraham, and he has scattered the proud with his arms, and he's pulled the mighty down from their seats and exalted those of woe degree. What a prayer. The whole history of salvation is condensed into this prayer. What a woman who can pray like this. But that's just the beginning.

What happens next? Next thing you know, we read that the days were fulfilled that she should deliver. And in her travail of labor, she has to take a journey because of the imposition of the state upon her. And Joseph could say, I'm not taking my wife anywhere.

Heck with Augustus. But he went, and she went, and she brought forth her firstborn son. And Luke tells us in the Nativity, angels appeared to shepherds in the fields. And the glory of God broke through the darkness of the night. Can you imagine where I get excited when I think about being there?

I've told this story before. I was over in Palestine, and I was there in Bethlehem. And I looked out at that field, and I saw all kinds of incredible things in Palestine. And I thought, oh, if I could have been near that night and see that effulgent glory of God just break through across that plain and have the angels singing.

Whew. And the one of the shepherds said, let us now go even unto Bethlehem. And they went in there in a hurry. And Mary, you know, she's having this baby. All of a sudden, all these shepherds are coming in. What are you doing here?

Oh, you can't. What are we doing here? How could we not be here? You know, the heavens just exploded like fireworks on the Fourth of July out there. Angels were singing.

The glory of God was shining. And it drove us here, and they're on their knees before this baby. And Mary's watching this. And pretty soon here comes these guys with gold and frankincense and myrrh with opulent gifts, which she in her poverty could never have imagined. And they're placing these things at the feet of her child. And what's her response? Here's what her response was.

Don't miss it. Verse 19 of chapter 2, but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart. I say many times that we live in the age of the sensuous Christian where our devotion and our obedience and our commitment is only as intense, it's only as strong as the vivacity of our memory of the last blessing we got from God. But when that memory fades, our commitment fades. The essence of apostasy in the Old Testament is forgetting. Hence the psalmist's prayer, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Jesus in the upper room says, do this in remembrance of me. Whatever else, guys, don't forget.

We forget. Mary didn't. Mary kept these things.

It's not that she's keeping the treasures. She kept these events and pondered them in her heart. Mary, the mother of God, had an ear for God and an eye for God. She was thoughtful. Do you ever ponder the things of God?

Is your thought life tuned in to the things of God? Mary was a godly woman. Her thoughts were on the things of God.

And she's obedient at every step. The next thing, of course, after the baby is born is to take the child to the temple for the presentation, circumcision, and you know the story of what happens when she goes to the temple, how she meets a couple of strange characters that are there, this prophetess, Anna, and this old man, Simeon, whom God had promised that he wouldn't die until he saw the Lord's Messiah. And just like he had a thousand times before, Simeon walks in, dutifully walks into the temple. What does he see?

He sees a peasant woman holding a baby. And Simeon goes nuts. There he is!

He's here! O Lord, let us now thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen the salvation of Israel. And then the prophecy is made over the baby and over Mary. Listen to the prophetic words that are uttered. And Simeon blessed them and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and the rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against. Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Do you think Mary pondered that? Yea, a sword shall pierce your soul. Swords can pierce muscles, organs, hearts.

How can a sword pierce a soul? That could only be speaking of one event. Mary was there on Good Friday. One of the seven last words of our Lord from the cross were addressed to his mother and to John, his beloved disciple. When Jesus is concerned about the well-being of his mother in his own death, and so he commends the care of his mother to John, and he says to his mother, Woman, behold thy son, son, behold thy mother.

And the centurion took the sword and drove it into the side of Christ, in front of his mother. When Mary saw that sword go in her son's side, I ask you this, did she feel it? Certainly she felt it. Any mother would feel it. Not in her hands, not in her legs.

Where does she feel it? In her soul. The mother of God watched as the father of God crucified the son of God.

Keep it. Mary, her life, her character, her personality, her prayer, and ponder it. She's a woman to live by.

That is Dr. R.C. Sproul helping us view Mary, the mother of Jesus, biblically. She is not to be venerated.

We do not pray to her, but we can and should see her as blessed uniquely by God. And there's so much we can learn from her godly example. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind on this Saturday as we continue Dr. R.C. Sproul's look at great men and women of the Bible. If you found today's study helpful, you may want to consider requesting Dr. Sproul's series, Dust to Glory. That's his 57-part overview of the Bible, and it covers everything from creation to Christ's return. And we'll send it to you for your donation of any amount to Ligetier Ministries. Ask for Dust to Glory on DVD when you call us at 800-435-4343.

You can also give your gift online at renewingyourmind.org. We hope you'll join us again next week as we continue this series on great men and women of the Bible. R.C. will profile the Apostle Paul. That's next Saturday here on Renewing Your Mind. .