Mary, mother of Jesus

One of the most overlooked aspects of Mary is despite her visit from the angel; despite her experience of giving birth as a virgin; despite having raised Jesus, even she had times of doubt as to his identity. We should take comfort in this. If her first hand experience left room for questions, we should apprciate the very human nature of questioning and probing our faith to see that it is in truth.

Reviewing what is known of Mary of Nazareth

Luke 1:28-38
28 And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
31 And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 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:
33 And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
36 And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
37 For with God nothing shall be impossible.
38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

From this description we can gather a few pieces of Mary's character. First of all we know that she was obedient. Obedience is much easier when you have direction. This is something we delve into in our meetings. For us to be obedient we must truly understand what God/Jesus did for us by choosing to be the sacrifice for our sin. It isn't a matter of self abasement to examine ourselves and agree that there are things in our lives that we wish we hadn't said, or hadn't done. Our bent toward things we know are not good for us, physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually. We cannot repay or earn God's redemption, but we owe a debt to die with Christ by letting these things die away.

Another characteristic is that she must have had courage. She knew due to the culture of her people that at minimum she would likely be ostracized by her community. If her betrothed chose to expose her she may have been stoned to death. This illustrates both obedience and courage, but in addition it illustrates a faith that is enviable. Without question she simply acquiesed to the Word of God.

Luke Chapter 2

Luke chapter 2 describes the travel to Bethleham, the visit of the angels to the wise men and the shepphards, the visit of those men to pay hommage to Jesus and the only instance discussed in the Bible of Jesus as a child.

What this tells us about Mary is despite her understanding that she was a virgin and her submission to the will of God she did not fully comprehend her son's purpose. This is not to be confused with rejection of his role so much as it was likely as years pass and the newness fades it is more likely she doubted herselt ("Could this really have happened to me?") than doubting God.

22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.
30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.
31 There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.
32 And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

Reading this we see Mary accompany her son's to try to reign in Jesus's teachings. One could take from this an agreement with her son's that her first born had lost his mind. In other words even Mary experienced doubt. So when you're not feeling strong in faith as she did we must return to The Word.

We know that Mary did return to her faith in Jesus. We know she was present at his crucifixion. This attests to another characteristic that I would like to highlight and that is loyalty. Any mother would have felt the need to flee the sight of the brutality inflicted upon her child. She could not protect him, but she stayed to provide him comfort. Once again she displays her courage and strength.