Mary: Her Son Is Her God
Could you imagine being Jesus’ parent? I know we all think we have the “perfect” kids, but Mary seriously did. Imagine her disciplining him and him saying back to her, “no, you’d better get in line, because I’m going to be your judge for eternity some day!”
God chose this seemingly random (most say) 14 year old teenage girl from a middle of nowhere town (Nazareth) to be the mother of the Son of God. The scriptures tell us that she was “highly favored” (Luke 1:28).
Just how favored was she? What did she do to deserve God’s favor? Did she earn it?
I think the answer to these questions are important for us to consider because it helps us identify how we think we can be made right with God.
We all want to go to heaven. We all want to be forgiven by God and have a right relationship with God. But how?
Maybe the woman God chose to bring him into the world as a human baby would have special privileges. Certainly, religious traditions have tried to figure this out. Some claim Mary was always a virgin, some say she was perfect, and others even say she ascended into heaven before she died.
While some of those ideas are outside the scope of this article, the scriptures tell us in Matthew 1:25, speaking of Joseph, that “But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave Him the name Jesus.” The word until is key here. The Scriptures go on to tell us about Jesus’ brothers and sisters and how, just like Mary, they all had their own journey of believing their brother or son was who He claimed to be.
Mary knew that just like any other person she needed a savior (Luke 1:47). Someone to come from outside of our human existence to deal with the problem no human being could solve (sin).
But at the same time, it must have been hard dealing with the aftermath of having a child before she was married and comprehending the news the angel told her about her baby.
How again do you parent the son of God?
Once, she told him to fix the problem of no wine at a wedding. She trusted he’d be able to figure it out.
Later in Jesus’ life she’s concerned for his health and tried to interrupt his ministry. Jesus uses that moment to distance himself from her (Mark 3:31-35). In this moment Jesus is teaching us, and teaching His mother something profound, that even His own mother would need to trust in Jesus to be saved.
In fact, Jesus would also say that 26 “If you want to be my disciple, you must, by comparison, hate everyone else—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple. 27 And if you do not carry your own cross and follow me, you cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:27-27)
Mary, the mother of Jesus, needed to be a disciple of her son. If she needed to follow Him, then we certainly do too.
Mary was present at the cross when her son died (John 19:25). Mary was also with the apostles on the day of Pentecost (Acts 1:14).
We have very good reason to believe that she believed that her son was the Messiah, the savior of the world. It started with a message from an angel and continued with her being a part of the early movement of believers following Jesus after his death and resurrection.
If the mother who gave birth to her son believed that her boy was the son of God and her savior, then I think you should too. If after watching your boy learn how to walk and talk and go through teenage years you still believe that He is God… there must have been something special happening. There most certainly was…
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