27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." 28He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

Here Jesus has the chance to seperate his mother from all other people. Here he could have set her aside and given her the praise you all say we should give. Why did he not do that?

I thought this was interesting

QUOTE CALLER: In Luke 1, an angel told Mary, the mother of Jesus, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee blessed art thou among women" (v. 28) and, "Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God" (v. 30). Later, when the mother of John the Baptist saw Mary, she said, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" (v. 42). Doesn't all this show that Mary is very special and deserves the special respect of all Christians?

HC: Surely, both the angel and Elisabeth gave Mary a beautiful salutation. But when we study those statements carefully, we find that they are not unique of Mary at all. Take the first phrase in verse 28, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured." The Greek for "highly favoured" there is the same word God uses in Ephesians 1:6, where it is translated "accepted." There we read, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

In Ephesians 1, God is talking about the salvation of all believers. Verse 5 says, for example, "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will." So, Ephesians 1:6 may very well be translated to read, "To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us highly favoured in the beloved."

You see, God is not a respecter of persons. He does not put Mary on a higher pedestal than any other believer. She is highly favored just as every other believer is highly favored. Indeed, all of us believers are highly favored because from all the sinners in the world God had chosen us to become saved by His grace.

The same holds true for the next statement the angels made to Mary, "The Lord is with thee." Isn't the Lord with every believer? Certainly. He promises, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Here again, Mary does not stand any differently than any other child of God.

Now, in verse 30 Mary is told that "Thou hast found favour with God" The word "favor" is a Greek word that is normally translated "grace." Again, it is not unique with Mary. In Genesis 6:8, we read, "But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord." Or we can go to Acts 7, where God, talking about David, says in verse 46, "Who found favor before God, and desired to find a tabernacle for the God of Jacob."

Actually, the phrase "thou has found favor with God" applies to every believer. We have found grace with God; we have been saved by the grace of God. So, in verse 30, the angel Gabriel is merely telling Mary that she is a child of God. And that's why he begins that sentence with the comforting remark, "Fear not, Mary."

Both the angel and Elizabeth say to Mary, "Blessed art thou among women." Does this statement imply that we Christians should look upon Mary with special favor? To the extent that Mary was singled out from among women to give birth to the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, she is special. That is a very signal blessing. Nevertheless, notice how the Lord Himself addresses this subject of Mary being His mother. We read in Luke 11:27, "And it came to pass, as he (Jesus) spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, ant said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." There, we have a woman who wants to eulogize Mary especially for the fact that she gave birth to Jesus and nursed Him. But listen to Christ's response in verse 28, "Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it."

What Christ does there is to politely direct people's attention away from Mary and put all believers on the same level. He doesn't want anyone to look upon Mary as a super Christian, even though she was chosen to give Christ His human nature. We are not to glory in any created being. We glory only in Jesus Christ.

What He wants is for us to submit to one another ant to listen and keep the word of God. Such are the people that are blessed.

There is another incident relating to this subject that is recorded in Luke 8. Beginning with verse 19, we read, "Then came to him (Jesus) his mother and his brethren, and could not come at him for the press (because of the pressing crowd). And it was told him by certain which said, Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee. Ant he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God, and do it."

Once again, you see, Jesus deliberately shifts the emphasis away from Mary and declares in effect, that as long as you have spiritual ears to hear the word of God and a heart that longs to do the will of God, you are a member of My family.

Please understand I am not trying to belittle Mary. Surely she was mightily used by God to carry Jesus in her womb, to give Him his human nature; and to nurse and bring Him up afterwards. And she is a beautiful example of what a believer of Christ ought to be. We can see her exemplary humility by looking at just the first three verses of her song of praise, or the "Magnificat." In verse 46 she starts, "My soul doth magnify the Lord."

That opening statement alone shows that she knows the Scripture well. It is effectively a condensed version of Psalm 34:2-3: "My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together." Now, notice the context of Psalm 34 in verse 4, "I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears." It has to do with salvation. In other words, Mary's soul is magnifying God for the salvation she has received.

We can see this even more clearly in her next statement. She says in verse 47, "And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."

You see, Mary realizes that she, like anyone else, is by nature a sinner and is therefore subject to eternal damnation. Now, she rejoices because, in the child she is given the privilege to bear, God has provided her with a Savior.

She continues in verse 48, "For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."

The Greek word for "handmaiden." there literally means "female slave." Describing herself as a slave of God, she is praising Him for the mercy of being mindful of her lowly condition and of granting her salvation. And for that reason, all generations shall call her blessed.

Summing up, let me say again that Mary is a beautiful example of what a believer of Christ ought to be. Even though she was given the great honor of bringing Jesus into this world, she realizes that by nature she is a lowly sinner under the wrath of God. Like every other believer, she has been saved by the grace of God.

Moreover, the Lord Jesus Himself goes out of His way twice to impress upon us that Mary is no different in God's eyes from any other obedient child of God and that she is not to be adulated. All honor and glory and praises must go to God alone.

Any comments on the above?

-- Pedro N. (Pedro@sfnoise.com), January 26, 2004

Answers

What's your point, Pedro?

Your article left out some very important facts.

"Full of grace" denotes "endued with grace." The word 'grace' in the original language is a kharitoos, a charisma. Mary was endued with the charisma of grace. This was NEVER spoken of any other biblical character.

She was "the most blessed of women," according to Elizabeth who was under the unction of the Holy Ghost. Elizabeth's baby leapt in her womb when she heard the VOICE of Mary. Again, no other woman received this kind of greeting --- EVER!

The prophet prophesied to her at the temple stating "that a sword would pierce her soul so that the thoughts of men would be revealed."

God exalted her by the very words of His holy angel, Gabriel, the words of the prophet and the words of Elizabeth.

She gave birth to the Christ-child. She was uniquely gifted for this accomplishment.

Name one other person who ever gave birth to a christ-child, and then I will stop seeing Mary as the uniquely gifted lady she was!

Gail

P.S. I have heard all of these arguments before. You probably got them from William Webster or James White. They make Mary sound like a nosy Jewish mama who was always chasing Jesus around trying to control His life. Hogwash! You cannot take Mary down without taking her son down with her, and that is what they (Webster and White) have succeeded in doing.

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), January 26, 2004.

27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." 28He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

Here Jesus has the chance to seperate his mother from all other people. Here he could have set her aside and given her the praise you all say we should give. Why did he not do that?

-- Pedro N. (Pedro@sfnoise.com), January 26, 2004.

As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." 28He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

Just a thought: The statement from the women in the crowd is in the third person, therefore did not relate to Christ's own mother.

Here Christ gives us a new insight into the commandments(honour thy father and thy mother), in the same way as when he said to love the lord your god and love your neighbour.

-- Hugh (hugh@inspired.com), January 27, 2004.

He did set her apart from the crowd, Pedro. She is blessed because she "believed and obeyed."

I guess you have no response to the matters I set forth in my earlier post. It means nothing to you that she is "blessed among women," that "a sword shall pierce your heart," that she is "endued with the gift of grace." Christ did His first miracle at Mary's request. One of Christ's final sayings was with regard to the care of his mother . . one of his dying breaths. Do you not believe she shared in His agony on the cross like no OTHER?

Christ honored his mother, Pedro. For it is written "Honor thy father and thy mother." We honor her, because HE honored her.

Why do you insist on divorcing Mary from her Son, and the Son from the mother?

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), January 27, 2004.

Gail,

Your presence in this forum is good. Your experience and conversion to Catholicism is edifying for us here.

-- Kit (Kit555@aol.com), January 27, 2004.

Thanks Kit!! I appreciate your kind words.

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), January 27, 2004.

Gail's doing a great job answering this post, but I thought I'd add a couple things.

The Greek in Luke 11:27-28 translated as rather is the word menou'n. This can mean contrary, indeed, or more than. Stick indeed or one of the other meanings in the verse and it can give the verse a different connotation:

As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." He replied, "Blessed indeed are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

Margaret E. Thrall, a Protestant scholar, in Greek Particles in the New Testament suggests the following interpretation of Luke 11:28 that better captures the meaning of the Greek.

"What you have said is true as far as it goes. But blessedness of Mary does not consist simply in the fact of her relationship towards myself, but (menou'n) in the fact that she shares in the blessedness of those who hear the word of God and keep it, and it is in this that true blessednness lies."

I think the message here is that Jesus wasn't saying his mother wasn't blessed, but that she isn't blessed just because she is his physical mother, but because she and all those who hear the word of God and obey it are blessed. This does not contradict what Luke writes in Chapter 1 about Mary being "full of grace" and "blessed among women."

-- Andy (aszmere@earthlink.net), January 27, 2004.

I gotta say I wholeheartedly agree with Pedro when he says that "... Mary is a beautiful example of what a believer of Christ ought to be."

-- Andy (aszmere@earthlink.net), January 27, 2004.

I read somewhere that rather than interpreting that passage as a rebuke of Mary, it emphasizes that attentiveness to God's word is more important than a biological relationship with Him.

-- Jacob R. (jacobrainey@hotmail.com), January 27, 2004.

Good points Andy! And, if Jesus were saying that Mary was NOT blessed, as Pedro suggests, then Christ would be disagreeing with the earlier prophetic statements made to Mary. And since those prophetic statements were made under the unction of the Holy Ghost, Christ (according to Pedro) would be refuting what the Holy Ghost had said! Not likely, Pedro! Jesus the God/Man does not bicker with the Holy Ghost. That is IMPOSSIBLE, for obvious reasons.

Gail

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), January 27, 2004.

Ha, those are the verses I used to say against the uniqeness of Mary Pedro, but I realized I was wrong. Mary was not blessed "just" because she bore the Lord in her womb, but because she walked with God and glorified God. This is what Jesus meant in Luke 8:19 and when Jesus said "rather blessed is those who "hear" the word of God and "obey" it." Which Mary did. Jesus said this so people would not focus upon Mary being so blessed just because she bore the Lord (even though that's still an enormous blessing).

-- William (Enchanted fire5@aol.com), January 28, 2004.

Mary is the way "ALL" christians without sin should be. The way Adam and Eve were before the fall. Mary....the second Eve!!!!:):)

-- Jason Baccaro (Enchanted fire5@aol.com), January 28, 2004.

27As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." 28He replied, "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

Here Jesus has the chance to seperate his mother from all other people. Here he could have set her aside and given her the praise you all say we should give. Why did he not do that?

Pedro,

Acctually, Our Lord indeed gave more praise to his Mother than the woman gave to Virgin Mary. How so, well, Our Lord said to this woman "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it."

Now Pedro, regarding our Blessed Mother Mary, who heared "the word of God and obeyed it More than his Mother! I tell you no one! Therefore our Lord praised his Mother more than the woman did. for our Lord will not be out done in his generosity especialy when it comes to his Mother and our Mother. Woman behold thy son, John behold thy Mother. Amen.

Pedro, if you call yourself brother of Christ, then indeed Mary is your Mother.

God Bless

Palatto

-- Lee S. (palatto1@aol.com), February 02, 2004.