The Faith of Mary

“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Luke 1:30-33

I must be honest; I have had mixed feelings over the years about Mary, the mother of Jesus. I grew up attending Catholic school and in addition to Sunday mass, almost every week we had a class or all school mass. In the Catholic religion, Mary was given an extremely important status. I felt like Mary was just below the Trinity in importance and was greater than any of the “saints.” I was taught to pray to Mary and that she would be another mediator to God. Although the Catholic church does not teach the worship of Mary, there is a veneration of Mary and an elevated importance that felt very similar to worship. I learned about a doctrine called the “Immaculate Conception” which taught that from her conception Mary was free of original sin and that she remained a virgin throughout her entire life.

When I became a Christian and began to read the Bible, I learned that Mary was a sinner just like everyone else who had ever been born except for Jesus who was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In Mary’s song she rejoices in “God my Savior” acknowledging that she was a sinner in need of rescue. The Bible also teaches that after the birth of Jesus Mary and Joseph began a family and Jesus had four half-brothers including James and Judas (often called Jude) as well as at least two sisters (Matt 13:55-56). Mary is mentioned several times in the gospels trying to understand the ministry of Jesus and following his resurrection she is counted among those who were in the upper room with the Apostles and fellow disciples (Acts 1:14).

In reaction to the distortions and false information I learned as a child about Mary I moved to the opposite extreme of ignoring and downplaying the role of Mary in the birth story. It was by God’s grace that she was selected to be the earthly mother of Jesus. This does not mean we need to ignore her faith or the example of a godly life. We study the life of Paul and Peter, we examine the role Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob played in the unfolding of God’s plan. We see the strengths and weaknesses of David whom the Bible called a man after God’s own heart. We examine the foolishness of Solomon later in life when he married foreign women, and his heart was led astray after earlier being elevated for his wisdom. We learn about Daniel who was carried into Babylon and was among the eunuchs but remained faithful to God despite persecution.

We don’t do this to venerate these people or ignore their sins and shortcomings. We recognize that they were fallen, flawed, sinful human beings who needed a Savior. Yet we can look at their lives, see their example, and emulate their faith as well as reject their sinful tendencies (Hebrews 13:7; 1 Cor 10:6). In the same way we can look at the life and faith of Mary and see a humble servant who yielded herself to God and was used as a part of God’s redemption story. She is another saved sinner just like you and me. She was also a godly woman who was chosen by God to give birth and raise Jesus. She remained faithful throughout her life as a part of the early church. “For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name” (Luke 1 48b-49). We can look at the life of Mary and see God’s hand in her life and allow her testimony of God’s grace to be an encouragement in our lives.