Mary according to Scripture

[bcbsr]

Mary According to Scripture

While some make out Mary to be a sort of goddess, if we ignore the myths about Mary and stick to scripture what we find is not particularly impressive, outside of having the honor of bearing the Son of God.

In particular I note how Jesus spoke of her:

While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed." But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it." Luke 11:27,28

And while Mary was hailed as blessed, so were a whole lot of other people.

Of Mary:
Luke 1:41 "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!"
Luke 1:48 "From now on all generations will call me blessed."

Of Others:
Luke 6:20 Blessed are you poor
Luke 6:21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
Luke 6:21 Blessed are you who weep now
Luke 6:22 Blessed are you when men hate you
1Peter 1:14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you.

Most enlightening is perhaps the events of Mark 3.

"Then Jesus entered a house, and again a crowd gathered, so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, 'He is out of his mind.'" Mark 3:20,21 Then if we continue on to verse 31 when they actually arrived it says: Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, "Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you." "Who are my mother and my brothers?" he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother." Mark 3:31-35

So it appears at that point that Mary considered Jesus to be "out of his mind" and tried to take him away from his ministry. And that's confirmed by Jesus' response there, dissing his mother and brothers in favor of his disciples.

Who would Jesus say is his mother? Read Mark 3:34. It wasn't Mary. In fact Jesus never called Mary his mother. His real mother is found in Mark 3:34,35 In scripture he addressed Mary simply as "Woman".

Furthermore Mary is not mentioned in any of the New Testament Epistles. Though some claim that the unnamed woman of Rev 12 is Mary, actually it's referring to Israel. And the twelve stars are the twelve tribes of Israel mentioned by name in Rev 7. So there's that.

And much as some attempt to inflate the incident in John 2 where Mary brought up a concern of lack of wine at a wedding feast, given Jesus reply "Woman, what does that have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." seems Jesus was annoyed at her trying to usurp his ministry. Jesus knew what he was doing and didn't need some woman telling him what to do and when to do it. And the Mark 3 passage above further brings that out. But even to this day there are those who use this as proof that it was Mary and not Jesus who was in charge and so they pray to Mary rather than to Jesus. Not me!

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Yahweh, YES! , made all things simple (and for men, humble)....

men came up with many devices.... (mis-directions, disobediences, sins)

 

[bèlla]

The "woman" comment always struck me as odd. I can't think of another scripture where a child addresses their parent in that fashion. And I felt the "womb" remark was meant to direct attention away from her and back to the Father. He didn't want her venerated.

 

[concretecamper]

seems Jesus was annoyed at her trying to usurp his ministry. Jesus knew what he was doing and didn't need some woman telling him what to do and when to do it

seems like breaking the 4th commandment to me. I like what Fultin Sheen says

His Father’s bidding Him to His public death and His mother’s bidding Him to His public life. Obedience triumphed in both cases; at Cana, the water was changed into wine; at Calvary, the wine was changed into blood. He was telling His mother that she was virtually pronouncing a sentence of death over Him. Few are the mothers who send their sons to battlefields; but here was one who was actually hastening the hour of her Son’s mortal conflict with the forces of evil. If He agreed to her request, He would be beginning His hour of death and glorification. To the Cross He would go with double commission, one from His Father in heaven, the other from His mother on earth.

 

[concretecamper]

The "woman" comment always struck me as odd. I can't think of another scripture where a child addresses their parent in that fashion.

unless she is the woman in Genesis 3:15

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

seems like breaking the 4th commandment to me. I like what Fultin Sheen says

His Father’s bidding Him to His public death and His mother’s bidding Him to His public life. Obedience triumphed in both cases; at Cana, the water was changed into wine; at Calvary, the wine was changed into blood. He was telling His mother that she was virtually pronouncing a sentence of death over Him. Few are the mothers who send their sons to battlefields; but here was one who was actually hastening the hour of her Son’s mortal conflict with the forces of evil. If He agreed to her request, He would be beginning His hour of death and glorification. To the Cross He would go with double commission, one from His Father in heaven, the other from His mother on earth.

No. Jesus always did as ABBA YAHWEH directed Him, and had agreed and planned to obey His Father in everything in full before the world was created. Mary was always TORAH Observant, Faithfully, and always knew what she had to do according to TORAH , for her own sin, and always did as TORAH directed.

 

[bcbsr]

unless she is the woman in Genesis 3:15

Or not. Again could be referring to Israel. In any case it's speculative rather than factual. Mary isn't mention in any of the New Testament Epistles. If she's so important, why not? As I see it the practices of Catholicism aren't in balance with what we read in scripture of New Testament Christianity, the focus on Mary being an example.

 

[bèlla]

unless she is the woman in Genesis 3:15

I don't know about you but I doubt that most refer to their mother as woman. And I'm certain if they did they'd have some trouble.

We don't know why He addressed her that way.

 

[ewq1938]

In fact Jesus never called Mary his mother.

Yes but that is fully irrelevant since Mary was his actual mother.

Mat_1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.

Mat_2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I don't know about you but I doubt that most refer to their mother as woman. And I'm certain if they did they'd have some trouble.

We don't know why He addressed her that way.

Some do know why. Not many, but a few.

The lessons can be found online in some old sermons and old lessons in line with all Scripture. Not found in tradition though, nor in those who trust in tradition that opposes God's Purpose and Plan in Christ Jesus.

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

Yes but that is fully irrelevant since Mary was his actual mother.

Jesus made it irrelevant, not as men think, but as Yahweh directed Him:

WHO IS MY MOTHER and brother and sister ?

WHOEVER HEARS MY FATHER'S WORD, and DOES IT.

i.e. the biological aspect is not the spiritual aspect; the way men look at things is futile, earthly and opposed to the way Yahweh Looks at things, even family, and more particularly tradition opposed to His Word.

 

[Lost4words]

Yahweh, YES! , made all things simple (and for men, humble)....

men came up with many devices.... (mis-directions, disobediences, sins)

'Men' come up with their 'own' interpretations of scripture daily on this site. They look at scripture and truly believe that only what 'they' get from it is the one and only true interpretation of God's word.

 

[concretecamper]

We don't know why He addressed her that way

We do. It's just that the Catholic explanation goes against mainstream protestant thinking.

 

[tz620q]

Or not. Again could be referring to Israel. In any case it's speculative rather than factual. Mary isn't mention in any of the New Testament Epistles. If she's so important, why not? As I see it the practices of Catholicism aren't in balance with what we read in scripture of New Testament Christianity, the focus on Mary being an example.

So your supposition is that the seed in Genesis 3:15 is referring to a nation, a vine grown from Adam and Eve, through Noah, through Abraham and Sarah, through Moses, with the fulfillment being the Old Testament nation of Israel. If we did not have the Messiah, we would probably all see it that way today. But Jesus' birth changed everything heralding in a new kingdom and showing a new fulfillment of this promise from Genesis 3:15 with the seed being not a nation; but a singular man. So Mary can properly be said to be the woman referred to in Genesis 3:15 because her seed is the seed that fulfills the prophecy, not the nation of Israel.
This was driven home to me when I read Genesis 2:19 -
Out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name.

Along with Genesis 2:23
And Adam said:
“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

In Genesis chapter 3 we see both Adam and God refer to her as Woman. Then in Genesis 3:20, after the fall and God's prophecy of the future reversal of the fall, we have this
And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

So Eve, which might come from the word for living, is only used of the woman after death has come into the world. Jesus calling his mother woman was odd if you only look at it as a natural mother-son relationship. It would not seem odd to Jesus who looks at it in the supernatural sense in light of Genesis and the prophecy of the reversal of the fall. He is pointing back to the pre-fall name of woman and to a time when eternal life was the natural state.

 

[straykat]

Mary herself sang that all generations will call her blessed.

It has nothing to do with some "goddess cult", but someone who was literally blessed with bearing GOD himself and became his first disciple.

So even if some Marian traditions overdo it (and I think they do), you'd be just as wrong for downplaying it. Because then you'd be downplaying the Incarnation as well. Ho hum, right? This happens everyday. Virgin births and God in the flesh. All generations calling her blessed. Nothing to see here. Move along.