Mary — The Noblest Woman of All

A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also (Luke 2:38).

   Mary richly deserves her high place of exaltation among women. Mary is called in the Bible, "The mother of our Lord." This does not entitle her to worship nor does it give sanction to all the legends about the person of Mary, but it should cause us to give her honor and praise and exaltation, which is her due. Because two branches of the Christian church have unduly exalted Mary to the position of deity, we who cling to the Bible teaching are not to go to the extreme of depreciating Mary. Some of the early fathers, such as Tertullian, Origen, and Chrysostom, did this very thing. Mary deserves an exceedingly high place, and we have no right to deny it to her. Certainly whatever could be attained to or exercised by any woman must have been Mary's status before she was graciously chosen by God to be overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and to become the mother of the Lord Jesus Christ.

   For many centuries the Roman Catholic Church believed that Mary's conception was also miraculous, but in 1854 it pronounced the dogma of the immaculate conception. This dogma states that Mary's person was not cursed by original sin and that she came into this world different from any other man or woman who bears the responsibility of original guilt and pollution. Mary was given a unique place in the human race. This dogma is based upon the text in Luke, "Blessed

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art thou among women." It is true that the Bible calls Mary "highly favored," "blessed among women," and designates her as an object of divine grace, but it never puts her in the unique category that is given to her by Roman Catholicism. The main fact that invalidates this teaching is that if it was possible for Mary to be born without sin and to remain sinless throughout her entire life because of a special enduement of the grace of God, then there would have been no necessity for the coming of a Saviour. The one and only Person who lived without sin was the Lord Jesus Christ. Roman Catholicism teaches that Mary was assumed into heaven or taken up into heaven without death. About this the Bible certainly has nothing to say, and the only evidence is that of a late tradition that arose because no one knows where Mary was buried, and because it was a revolting thought to men that the body of Mary, out of which was taken the body of the Lord Jesus Christ, should be subject unto corruption.

   There can be no doubt, however, that Mary was a special object of the grace of God. Her choice was an act of election on the part of the Lord. Mary was highly favored because she was the recipient of this divine selection and grace. She was to be the closest to the Son of God during His earthly life and was to share His filial affection during His years in the Nazareth home. Mary's reply to the angel, "Be it unto me according to thy word," reveals that she was a woman of faith. She accepted the announcement of God to her concerning this great wonder of a virgin birth and the coming of the Son of God. Hence, when Elisabeth greeted her, she said, "Blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord." We acknowledge that Mary's faith was a gift from almighty God and here was no merit in it, but from the very beginning, Mary believed.

   Many were the women from the beginning of creation, when Eve received the protoevangelium, who had hoped that they might be the mother of the Messiah. This was the hope of Sarah, again of Hannah, again of Elisabeth, and of others throughout the centuries, but God looked down on the human

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race and chose the one lone, demure Jewish maiden from the town of Nazareth, and we ask why. The answer can only be, if we exclude the sovereign grace of God, that God looks upon the heart. In looking upon the heart of Mary, what did He see? The record concerning her suggests to us that He saw first, A Pure Heart; second, He saw A Pondering, Meditative Heart; and third, He saw A Pierced Heart of Sympathetic Suffering.

I. THE PURE HEART OF THIS NOBLE WOMAN

   Sacred art traditionally depicts the angel of the annunciation presenting Mary with a branch of a lily as an emblem of her purity. Well may we consider her as such. Either one of two alternatives must be taken concerning Mary. She is the purest and the highest of women or else Mary must be considered a common harlot. Even to suggest the latter is to raise indignation in the heart of a true Christian, and yet that is the suggestion made by every preacher and every teacher who denies the Virgin Birth of our Lord. In the third century A.D., when Origen was refuting the charges brought by a heathen, Celcus, against the Christians, he spoke of the allegation by Celcus that Jesus was born of Mary and a Roman soldier, by name Penthera. This simple means that He was born out of wedlock and was illegitimate. It is a rather crass thing to make such a statement concerning one who has taken such a high place in the minds of millions of people throughout the world, but the same statement is made in a refined way whenever one teaches that Jesus was not born as the Bible says He was born. If the Lord Jesus Christ was not Joseph's son, and if he was born not of the unique, creative power of God, then He was an illegitimate son of Mary. Thus you see that you must either accept the Bible and Christian teaching about the noble life of Mary or you must repudiate both her and the Lord Jesus Christ.

   If we accept the purity of Mary, then we have the great Christian doctrine of a Virgin Birth. When it became known to Joseph that Mary was with child, he contemplated putting

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her away, not publicly, but privately. We may be well assured that there must have been a very heartbreaking scene between these two lowly lovers of Nazareth, Joseph kindly but firmly making an accusation and wrongfully deciding that he could never have Mary as his wife, hurt though this terrible fact did. We may assume that it was on account of this that Mary took her trip to Elisabeth in the hill country of Judah. With what a heavy heart and a fearful soul she must have traversed those hills and vales on the long road leading down through Samaria, past the well of Sychar, through Jerusalem, over the Mount of Olives and on to Bethlehem, and then into the mountains of Judah. Her heart was heavy because of Joseph's action. Her fears were keen because of the shame which would come to her in the world, and yet there was always the reassuring message of the angel that had been given to her and the confidence of her faith that the God who now was fulfilling His prophecies would care also for her. This gives some conception of what it must have meant to Mary to have these days of fellowship, of communion, and of personal comfort in the presence of her cousin Elisabeth, who also had received a message from the angel, which message confirmed that which was given to Mary, the ever present evidence of which was the dumb Zacharias sitting under his fig tree or going about the house.

   The Virgin Birth as taught in the Bible will ever remain a fundamental doctrine of the church. This is not only because it is a sign but because it is essential to the being of the Saviour. Eight centuries before, the prophet had said, "This shall be a sign unto you. A virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel" (Isa, 7:14). This prophecy to the Davidic house and to the women of Israel accounts for the immediate acceptance by Mary of the angelic announcement and also by Joseph of the angel's command. The expectation of a Virgin Birth was in the Hebrew Scriptures. When it actually occurred it was inscripturated as a fact in the narratives of Matthew and of Luke. There is no possible way by which the Virgin Birth may be deleted from these narratives. The Virgin Birth was early accepted by the church, and it has always been

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accepted. The Apostolic Fathers, the Apologists, and the Fathers of the church all believed in the Virgin Birth, as their own statements testify.

   It is true that as early as the time of Justin Martyr, namely, 150 A.D., it was spoken against, but Simeon had said that this Child should be a sign spoken against (Luke 2:34), and of all the doctrines in the Bible probably this one has been singled out for more ridicule and more opposition than any other. It has been said that it was derived from paganism and that because Jesus was a great personality, men decided that He must have been descended from a god, as Persis and Plato or Alexander were declared to be descended from heathen deities. Men have pointed out the differences in the genealogies, and that both of them claim that Jesus was descended from Joseph rather than Mary. They have argued the impossibility of a Virgin Birth and also have declared that since the rest of the Bible is silent upon this subject, it could not have taken place, but all such arguments overlook the fact that the Virgin Birth was an absolute essential to the Person of Christ as the Son of God. Without this teaching we have a human Jesus, we have a sinful Mary, and we have a fallible Bible. With this doctrine as the basis of our faith, we have a Christ who is Immanuel, that is, "God with us."

   The meaning of the Virgin Birth is that God is with us, that the Incarnation has taken place, and that once in time the eternal Deity became flesh and dwelt among us, that He suffered as we suffer, that He died and rose again. Quite truly we may see that this Child of Mary was God. The whole composite picture proves this — the picture of His miracles, of His sinlessness, of His teaching, of His death upon the cross, and of His resurrection from the dead. He likewise claimed to be God. He claimed to have the authority to speak for God, and He declared that He was equal with the Father. Had Jesus been born of any earthly father, there is no sense in which He could actually have been what He claimed to be and what His life declared Him to be. On the other hand, Jesus was as truly a man as He was God. He received Mary's flesh and blood,

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and He was subject to temptations and trials and sorrows just as any other man. In fact, He was the perfect representative of all mankind.

   In Christ, thus, there were two natures in one Person, the nature of God and the nature of man. Well has this been pointed out by one Bible teacher in reference to the first promise concerning the Messiah. It says in Genesis that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent. Now it is obvious to all that a woman does not have seed, but is like the earth.  She receives the seed, which when planted grows and bears fruit in life. Thus in the very first promise given in the garden of Eden, we have the implication of a Virgin Birth, for it does not say the seed of the man, but the seed of a woman, which would be absurd and a manifest impossibility were it not by the direct creative power of God. This God-man is Immanuel, or "God with us," the Saviour. He is the fleshly representative of true humanity, and He is a real representative of true Deity through the Holy Ghost, such a Being that God could place upon Him the tremendous value which he did in order to bring about the atonement and the satisfaction of divine law for the human race. Thus we say that the Incarnation was the only way. Accept the purity of Mary, and you must go on to the great doctrine of the Incarnation. Or, if you accept the doctrine of the coming of God into the world in the form of the human Jesus, then you must accept the doctrine of Mary's purity and of the Virgin Birth.

 II. THE PONDERING HEART OF THIS NOBLE WOMAN

   If there is any clue to the reason Mary was chosen by God to become the mother of the Lord, it would be contained in the statement, "She pondered all these things in her heart" (Luke 2:19). Such pondering followed the salutation of the angel, the prophecy of Simeon, and the sayings of the boy Jesus. It reveals a meditative, devout, modest, reticent, worshipful, Jewish maiden, who was the example of all that is best in woman. We hold that Mary symbolizes all that is good and pure and beautiful in motherhood.

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   Perhaps Mary had more about which to ponder in connection with the birth of her Son than other mothers have in connection with the birth of their children, but there is sufficient of the mysterious, the supernatural, and the wonderful in the life of any child to cause a mother's heart to ponder over whence the life came, where it would go, and what it would be while it was here upon earth. How often as we look into the life of a little child being presented for Christian baptism, we wonder what will be the future for that life. Will it be hardship and shame or will it be honor and fame?

   Thus it was no doubt that Mary presented her Child in the Temple and looked into the dim future to ascertain the meaning of the angelic annunciation concerning this life. The wondrous light which had appeared unto her and out of which came the angel Gabriel while she had prayed and read her Scriptures, lingered long over her life. In response to her question, "How shall this be?" those words, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee: therefore also that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God...for with God nothing is impossible," contained such a depth of meaning that, ponder as she would, Mary could not ascertain the fulness thereof. Who has done more than that today concerning the doctrine of the kenosis or the emptying of Himself and taking upon Himself of human flesh by Christ? We cannot criticize this Jewish maiden for lack of understanding.

   Mary must also have pondered in her heart the salutation of Elisabeth when she said, "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Here again were words that designated her Child as the Messiah. How Mary must have pondered when the shepherds came to the Bethlehem manger and related that they had seen angels and heard an annunciation, saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will among men." Again, when the wise men came presenting their gold and their frankincense and myrrh, saying that they had seen a star in the east

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which signified, according to their knowledge, that the Christ, the King of the Jews, was born. Then, finally, how she must have pondered as she presented this wonderful Babe in the Temple and heard Simeon say, "Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou has prepared before the face of all people." Again and again throughout Mary's life she pondered and repondered these events which had come to her, that, like the prophets, she might know how the Spirit which was in her did signify that these things should come to pass.

   Mary's was a high state of faith, for she believed, due to her meditations upon the Lord Jesus Christ. She believed what the angel said about Him and thus was convinced that this was to be a Virgin Birth and her Son was to be the Son of God. She did not declare this unto others, but kept it in her own heart, quietly meditating upon its meaning. Moreover, Mary believed from the very beginning in the Messiahship of her Son, with all that the Scriptures promised to be fulfilled through Him. She may have wondered why the kingdom was not established, why all the Old Testament prophecies about that kingdom were not fulfilled if her Son were the King, and yet, in spite of it all, she commanded the servants of the house at Cana of Galilee, saying, "Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it" (John 2:5). Mary knew that when Jesus undertook to solve a problem, it was always solved. There the lack of wine was corrected by His turning the water into wine, an act of omnipotence. Yes, Mary believed in her own Son because she had pondered much upon Him.

   One's belief and one's thoughts always lead to one's actions. Thus it was that obedience marked the life of Mary. She obeyed the Holy Spirit in the annunciation by the angel, saying, "Be it unto me according to thy word." She obeyed the Lord Jesus Christ when He commanded her to now be subject unto John, His beloved disciple. Mary also was very understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even in the days when she did not know what it meant when He said, "Wist ye not that I

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must be about My Father's business?" she did not seem to question deeper but waited until he should tell her more. She also persevered in her faith. Even during the time of the wandering of Jesus' popularity, during His trial, His scourging, and His  crucifixion, she remained with Him to the end. When others called Him a malefactor and ridiculed Him, Mary stood at His cross, blessing Him and weeping for Him. Mary was even true to her Son and to His disciples after His death, for she remained with them in the Upper Room, praying for ten days for the coming of the Holy Ghost. She was the recipient along with the apostles of this great blessing. It is true that Mary is not given any prominent place thereafter in the whole of the Scriptures, nor is she even referred to in the Acts or in the Epistles, except at this time at Pentecost, but we may be sure that as Mary's life wore on she did not lose the attribute of pondering over events that had occurred to her earlier.

 III. THE PIERCED HEART OF THIS NOBLE WOMAN

   Simeon had said to her, when she presented the Lord in the Temple, "A sword shall pierce through thine own soul also" (Luke 2:35). On the cross, we read, "One of the soldiers with a spear pierced His side, and forthwith there came out blood and water." We know that the heart of Christ was truly pierced by a spear. Was Mary's also pierced, and if so, how? Is it not strange that whoever comes near to Jesus Christ has always to drink some cup of sorrow or to have a pierced heart? Think of how Mary's heart was pierced and of how Joseph's soul was pierced by a sword. Each of the disciples was also made to drink the cup of woe, and that cup of suffering exists for believers unto this day.

   We may be sure that when Jesus' heart was pierced, Mary's was also, because of her complete identification with Him in life. Hers was the parent-child relationship, that which is blood of my blood, bone of my bone, the closest possible in life. Mary had suffered in the birth of Christ. She had suffered during His life, and she suffered in His death. Mary so believed in Christ that she was one of His disciples, doing the

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things He was bidding His followers. Mary, as she stood by the cross of Christ suffering with Him, is an example of all who are crucified with Christ by faith, those who take up their cross and follow Him. Paul said that He made up in his body the sufferings that were lacking in the body of Christ, and there is a real sense in which that must be done by us all. This suffering is not one of pity, but it is a lifting of the world's load of sin and trouble. The unity of one with another, the bearing of one another's burdens is brought about by our suffering with Christ.

   It is true that Christ suffered directly in the stead of many and of us. He died outside the gates that He might sanctify the people with His own blood. Sin pierced His heart, and by the shedding of that blood, He made an atonement for our sins. Atonement in the Bible is always by blood, which represents the life of man poured out in satisfaction for guilt, and it is atonement alone that reconciles the sinner to God. True, those sufferings were substitutionary. He was the lonely Sufferer, the One suffering for the many. It was a sufficient atonement. It was one suffering for all, universal in kind. It was efficacious. He will save those for whom He died. It is the appeal of this suffering of Jesus unto us which says, "Let us therefore go forth unto Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach." This sympathy for the lonely sufferer involves our bearing His reproach, knowing that He did His great work for us. We do not share in His atoning suffering but we suffer with Him in this world that we might be glorified with Him hereafter.

   On the cross, we behold also a Christ who is sympathetically suffering for His own mother. There He succored her as well as substituted for her. If the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering, suffering must be a part of life. We conceive of life as a trial. Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. Suffering must add something to life and character, here and hereafter, and it is only the cross of Christ that gives the explanation of all this vicarious suffering in the world. Like as Christ succored His own mother from the cross, so all who will turn to Him can be succored in the

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time of their suffering and their need. With this perfect knowledge and sympathy for what we pass through, He can provide for our need. Thus His invitation is given to us to come boldly to the throne of grace and to ask for mercy and grace to help in time of need. It is true that Jesus empowers us to endure a pierced heart. No suffering for the believer can be too much, for all suffering is transformed into glory. Thus we endure these light afflictions, which are for the moment, because they work out a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Mary's experience of a pierced heart tells us that she was compelled to suffer along with her Son and with others who are in need but that she was able to endure that affliction of heart in triumph because of the grace given to her by Christ, her Son and Lord.

   Here, then, we see the noblest woman of all, the woman whose life fulfilled all that God promised to the women of the Old Testament who were good and precious and noble and true. Her Son was her own Saviour and Lord, just as He may be yours and He may be mine.

Chapter Sixteen  ||  Table of Contents