Wednesday Bible Study: Ladies night part 1

 

Since I had a little fun in titling the last series, "All The Kings, Men", I am inspired to be only fair and give the ladies- 12 specific ladies- their turn.  With the men, we found the overarching theme became, "Run the race in such a way as to win the prize (1 Cor 9:24)"- a feat almost all of them failed at.  I'm hoping the theme for these posts will be just as surprising and helpful.  I wasn't going to start with her at first, but with Christmas hard on our heels, let's start with Mary.

*****************************************************

I heard David Jeremiah say politely something along the lines of, "Even though Mary isn't as important as SOME churches think..." , and this is a problem if you were born Catholic.  There are a lot of things that Mary was NOT, that we have to set aside to be a Bible-based Christian:

She is NOT the 'Queen of Heaven'.  The only place that title is brought up is in Jeremiah 7 and 44, and not in a complimentary way.  The Catholic Church- once it became Roman- became a master of adopting and cleaning up pagan practices, including adapting the feast day of the 'Queen of Heaven'- known as Astarte, or (Biblically) Asheroth- into "Easter".

She was not 'assumed bodily' into heaven.  As far as I could learn, this was loosely based on a story in a gnostic 'gospel' that even they don't consider inspired.

She is NOT the go-between from us to Jesus.  Jesus Himself made it clear He was the only way to the Father (John 14:6)- and He named NO intermediaries.

She was Not 'immaculately conceived.'  She expressed her sinful nature in the fact that she needed God as her Savior (Luke 1:47).

She was not "Ever-Virgin". Matthew 1:25 clears that up with the little word, "until"...

Mat 1:24  When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife,
Mat 1:25  but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus. 

 

Not to mention he had brothers- all named in the Bible- as well as sisters.   One brother led the Church in Jerusalem after Peter had to flee, two of them wrote books of the New Testament.

So, what was she? She was a poor girl, betrothed to a poor man.  We know this because of the gift they brought at her purification...

Luk 2:22  And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord
Luk 2:23  (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord")
Luk 2:24  and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."

Which matches with the Law:

Lev 12:8  And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.'" 

 

She accepted Joseph, as she should have, as the head of the household- it was Joseph that had the dreams that allowed them to flee to Egypt and come back.  After Joseph died, she became subject to Jesus as the head of the family, which we see not only at the Cana wedding, but what came right after:

Joh 2:12  After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days. 

The Gospels tell us that He based His ministry out of Capernaum- and he wouldn't need a base had He not a family he looked after.  And He couldn't quite trust in His brothers...

Joh 7:3  So his brothers said to him, "Leave here and go to Judea, that your disciples also may see the works you are doing.
Joh 7:4  For no one works in secret if he seeks to be known openly. If you do these things, show yourself to the world."
Joh 7:5  For not even his brothers believed in him.

But Mary did- she had seen the prophecies of Simeon and Anna.  That she remained a humble servant of God- and not a 'queen'- is born out by Jesus passing responsibility for her care to John at the Cross.

Joh 19:26  When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!"
Joh 19:27  Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

 I asked myself, "Why John?  Why not Peter?" Because John had a family structure to fall back on- his mother was still living, and probably dad Zebedee, since he is not only mentioned by name many times, but someone had to keep the fishing company going, otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to go fishing after the Resurrection (John 21).  Peter had a wife, and was caring for a mother-in-law- so his father was likely dead.

The Resurrection changed a lot of things- but not for Mary:

Act 1:13  And when they had entered, they went up to the upper room, where they were staying, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot and Judas the son of James.
Act 1:14  All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. 

 

And this, Dr Jeremiah points out, is the LAST time Mary is mentioned.  If all the things the Catholic Fathers came up with were true, how is it that her story ends right here?  That disposes of the 'she is not's, but what about the 'what she is's? There are two places to go to really learn about her- the prayer in front of the announcing angel, and the song she sang in front of Cousin Anna.

She had 'found favor with God; literally, God was happy with her (Luke 1, v 30)

She was smart enough to grasp what was going on, else she'd have never questioned the angel about the 'mechanics' of it (vv34-5)

She was humble (v48)

She put praising God first (vv46-55)

She knew the Scriptures well (v55)

But the most important thing about her was also pointed out by Dr Jeremiah in his devotional this week- "She had already passed from obligation to willingness":

Luk 1:38  And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.

 And this was no easy willingness:  She knew Joseph would question the pregnancy; and if he did, so would the neighbors, since this was known as a dumpy Roman garrison town, and rumors spread that she was pregnant- willingly or not- by a Roman soldier; the rumors even gave him a name (Panthera). There was every chance that all hands would be against her; but she had faith in God, and the angel sent her to the one place where someone was guaranteed to understand- Cousin Anna, who was six months ahead of her with her own miraculous pregnancy.

This is not to say she didn't struggle; losing Jesus after the Temple trip showed she was first and foremost a mother:

Luk 2:48  And when his parents saw him, they were astonished. And his mother said to him, "Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress."
Luk 2:49  And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?"
Luk 2:50  And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them.
Luk 2:51  And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. 

Or when she found herself secondary to Jesus's ministry:

Mat 12:46  While he was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him.
Mat 12:47  [Someone told him, "Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, asking to speak to you."]
Mat 12:48  But he replied to the man who told him, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?"
Mat 12:49  And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers!
Mat 12:50  For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother." 

But she hung tight, and she was there at the end- and the new beginning.  She wasn't only willing to do God's will- she was willing to have it DONE TO her;  and that's where a lot of us can't match her stride.