LIFE LESSONS
MARY, MOTHER OF OUR LORD
DR. JIM DIXON
LUKE 1:46-48
MAY 8, 2005
“Ave Maria.” “Hail Mary.” “Blessed be the mother of our Lord.” Perhaps you feel like those words venerate too highly Mary, the mother of Jesus. But those words are all biblical words. They’re all taken from the Bible. It was the angel Gabriel who greeted Mary with this salutation “chaire,” and that word means, “hail,” “Hail, Mary.” In Latin it is, “Ave Maria.” Of course, it was Elizabeth, anointed by the Holy Spirit, who called Mary “the Mother of our Lord.” And she personalized it. She said, “the Mother of my Lord.” It was Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, who said of Mary, “Blessed are you amongst women.” It was Mary herself in the “Song of Mary,” in the Magnificat, who said, “Henceforth behold, all nations, all generations, will call me blessed.” And so, we say, “Blessed be the Mother of our Lord.”
Now, perhaps you’re thinking, “Well, I’d like a little bit of what Mary has. I’d like God to bless me. I’d like God to bless me in my generation. I would like God to bless me for eternity itself. This morning as we look at Mary and her example, we discover how we can have the blessing of God. As we look at Mary, we have three life lessons and the first life lesson is this: If you would be blessed you must magnify the Lord.
The word “bless” in Hebrew is “barak.” In Greek it is “eulogeo” or “makarios.” These words have diverse meanings but when used in the Bible to describe the blessing of God upon men and women, the blessing of God upon people, the word “bless” means, “to prosper” or “to make happy.” If you want the Lord to prosper you, if you want the Lord to make you happy in your generation and for all eternity, then you must magnify. You must magnify the Lord as Mary did. In her Magnificat, Mary begins, “My soul magnifies the Lord.” That is “megaluno,” the Greek word meaning, “to make great.”
Of course, we live in a world where so many people are always trying to make themselves great and are always trying to magnify themselves. Mary shows us that the pathway to God’s blessing is to magnify the Lord, to glorify the Lord, to make great His name on the earth. The irony is that through the centuries so many people have tried to magnify Mary. And the tragedy is that the blessing of God does not come through the magnification of Mary but through the magnification of her Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
In the 2nd century, there was a pseudographical writing called “The Protoevangelium of John” and it declared the deity of Mary. This writing, this declaration, was rejected by the church universal and to this day the Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, and the Orthodox Church all reject the doctrine of the deity of Mary because it’s contrary to the clear teachings of the Bible. And yet the effort to magnify Mary continued. So, in the year 787, the Second Council of Nicaea, under the influence of Princess Elaine of the Byzantine Empire declared Mary an icon, and this meant that images of Mary and pictures of Mary could be used to facilitate the worship of God. But the problem was people began to worship Mary. So the church universal rejected Mariolatry, the worship of Mary. This remains true today. The Catholic Church, the Protestant Church, and the Orthodox Churches all reject Mariolatry, the worship of Mary. And yet the effort to magnify Mary has continued, particularly in the last 200 years.
On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX declared the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Of course, the Immaculate Conception is a document that relates not to the birth of Jesus but to the birth of Mary. The Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception declares that Mary was born in holiness, that she was born without sin, that she was born without the taint of sin. So in terms of holiness Mary is magnified to a level near to Jesus Christ Himself. Of course, it was also Pope Pius IX who declared the Doctrine of Papal Infallibility, a relatively recent doctrine.
Of course, even more recently, in 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the Doctrine of the Assumption of Mary—that Mary did not die, that she was assumed into heaven without tasting death, that she was assumed body, soul and spirit into heaven. Of course, this doctrine also magnifies Mary. The Doctrine of the Assumption of Mary and the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception are not found in the Bible. They are simply efforts to magnify Mary.
If you have attended this church for any length of time, you know that I am not anti-Catholic. I thank God for my Catholic brothers and sisters. I thank God for Archbishop Chaput, who is the Archbishop of Denver. He is a great man, a servant of Christ. He has stood strongly for Judeo-Christian values in a world where Judeo-Christian values are eroding. I thank God for Cardinal Stafford, who was the prior Archbishop of Denver. He, too, is a great man of God, a great servant of Jesus Christ who has taken a courageous stand on Judeo-Christian values. I feel the same with regard to Pope John Paul II. What a great Pope he was, and he has entered into his heavenly reward. There’s every reason to think, every reason to expect, that Pope Benedict XVI will be a great servant of Jesus Christ. I have taught in Catholic churches. I have served alongside of Catholic leaders. I plan to continue to do that in the years ahead. I thank God for the Catholic Church, but it does no good to magnify Mary. That’s not the pathway to blessing. That’s not how you receive the blessing of God. That will not lead God to prospering you or making you happy. The key is doing what Mary herself did, and that’s magnifying Jesus.
In the Catholic Church there are three levels of veneration. There is “dulia,” which is the veneration accorded the saints. There is “hyperdulia,” the veneration given to Mary, which is special, special honors. And then there is “latria,” which is the true worship rendered only to God—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I do not mind giving high honor to Mary, “Ave Maria, Hail Mary, blessed be the mother of our Lord.” But understand that blessing comes through magnifying Jesus. If you want to be blessed, if you want to be prospered in ways God alone knows, if you want to be made happy, then honor the Son of God and the Son of Mary, our Lord Jesus Christ.
There’s a second life lesson from Mary. The second life lesson is this: If you would be blessed, you must have a servant’s heart. If we would be blessed, we must have a servant’s heart. In her Magnificat, Mary says that God has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden. Again, in response to the Angel Gabriel, Mary says, “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord. Be it done to me in accordance with your will.”
The word handmaiden in the Greek is the word “douli,” and it comes from the Greek word doulos, which means, “slave or bondservant.” It’s the most humble word for servant or for servanthood. Mary chooses this word to describe herself. Surely Mary was servant hearted. The Bible consistently tells us that God blesses those who are servant hearted. God blesses them. Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, “He who would be greatest among you must be the servant of all.” So, if you want the blessing of God, you must be servant hearted. How are you doing? How servant hearted are you? How servant hearted am I?
I love the story of Mary Braemore. Mary Braemore lived in New England. She had a fiancé whom she loved very much. This was shortly before the Civil War broke out. Mary Braemore’s fiancé was conscripted into the armies of the North, and he became a Union soldier. Ten months after the Battle of Gettysburg there was the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia, and it was a horrible battle. The Battle of the Wilderness was a battle where the Northern forces were led by Grant and the Southern forces were led by Lee. There was no clear winner. The wilderness consisted of forest. Artillery was useless. The Cavalry was useless. Many lives were lost in that horrible battle. Eleven thousand Confederate soldiers were casualties, and 17,700 Union soldiers were casualties. A great loss. Many died and many were wounded. One of those who suffered wounds was Mary Braemore’s fiancé. He would live but he lost both of his arms. So he had a friend write a letter to Mary. I want to read part of it to you.
“There’s been a terrible battle. It is difficult for me to tell you this. I lost both of my arms. A friend is writing this letter for me. I love you more than ever, too much to saddle you with half a man. I release you from the obligation of our engagement. God bless you, Mary, always.” Mary never answered the letter. She didn’t answer the letter. She got on a train and took that long journey to the region where the makeshift Union hospital was. She went up and down the lines of wounded, the tears in her eyes just flooding her face. As she saw all the wounded, she was looking for her fiancé and finally she found him. She ran to him and she threw her arms around him, something that obviously he could no longer do. When he heard her say the words “I love you,” he knew he was going to be okay. She did love him, and she was servant hearted. They were married and through the years Mary Braemore was servant hearted toward her husband. She fed him, for he could not feed himself. She clothed him, as he could not clothe himself. She took care of his hygiene and she took care of his correspondence. She did everything for him. At the end of her life, Mary Braemore said, “I am the happiest woman in the world.”
How could that be? How could she be the happiest woman in the world? The answer is God. God blesses the servant hearted. He prospers them. He makes them happy. He really does. This is the simple truth of scripture rejected by the world. God blesses the servant hearted. He prospers them. He makes them happy. The overwhelming majority of moms are servant hearted. They’re servant hearted, of course, towards their children. Surely Mary was towards Jesus. Of course, we don’t really know all that exchanged between Mary and Jesus. The Bible gives us very few glimpses, but surely she was servant hearted towards Him.
She may have had other children. In Mark’s Gospel, the 6th chapter, the 3rd verse, the Bible tells us that Jesus had brothers and sisters and his brothers were said to be four. Their names were James, Joseph, Simeon, and Jude. We’re not told the number of sisters, nor are we given their names but it’s possible that Mary had at least seven children. It is possible. Of course, there is the Hieronymian view named after the early church father, Hieronymus. By that view, the brothers of Jesus were actually cousins. We looked at this when we looked at James, the brother of Jesus, a few weeks ago. It’s unlikely that the brothers of Jesus were actually cousins because the normal word for cousin in the Greek is “anespios.” There is even another word for cousin, “suggenes.” These two Greek words are never used in the Bible to describe the four brothers of Jesus. The word that is used, the word “adelphoi,” which almost always means, “sibling.” So the likelihood is that these brothers and sisters were brothers and sisters.
There is the Epiphanian view, named after the early church father Epiphanius. The Epiphanian view is that they were step-brothers to Jesus, born to Joseph in a prior marriage. That’s possible but there’s nothing in the Bible to indicate that so the normal view is the Helvidian view. The Helvidian view is that these were born to Mary. These brothers and sisters of Jesus were born to Mary after the birth of Jesus. She was a virgin when she gave birth to Jesus and then she had other children. According to the Helvidian view, Joseph, the father, died early and Jesus waited until he was 30 years old to enter into His public ministry so He could support the family. We don’t know for sure, but we do know this: Surely Mary was servant hearted to her children, however many there were. She was servant hearted and she was blessed. All nations will call her blessed. The Bible says in Proverbs, chapter 31, that “a godly mother will have her children rise up and call her blessed.”
I know that our children, Drew and Heather, call Barbara “blessed” today. And Chris, too, I think, calls his mother-in-law “blessed.” I know my brothers, Greg and Gary, and I as well call our mom “blessed.” This is the plan of God, that children would rise up and call their servant hearted mothers “blessed” and that God would prosper them and God would make them happy. But understand this: Servant heartedness is not simply directed towards our families. If we really want to be blessed by God, we must be servant hearted towards the world and particularly servant hearted towards the church. Jesus calls upon His people to serve His church.
Jesus came into the world, in part, to start His church. Jesus said, “I will build My church and the powers of hell will not prevail against it.” I’m sure Jesus would say, “Love Me, Love My church. Love Me, love My Bride.” For the Church, with all of its flaws, is the Bride of Christ. Jesus would say, “Love Me, love My wife.” Serve the church.
Oprah Winfrey was here in Denver a week ago Saturday. Five thousand women went to see her and hear her. It was $185 a ticket. Some paid $500 for a ticket. Some could not get a ticket and they cried, they wept. For some people it was like a Messianic appearance. And, of course, Oprah Winfrey herself would not want to be viewed like that. I’m sure that Oprah Winfrey has had some touch of Jesus in her life. There is some part of her heart, I think, that loves Jesus. To those 5,000 women, Oprah Winfrey saying, “I Surrender All”—that old hymn, “All to Thee, my precious Savior, I surrender all. All to Jesus, I surrender,” she’s saying. She talks about Jesus oftentimes.
But, of course, Oprah Winfrey is a pluralist. She is a syncretist. And contrary to the Bible, Oprah Winfrey believes that there are many paths to God and there’s really no need to take the gospel to the nations. Oprah Winfrey said something to these 5,000 women that kind of disturbs me. I think it would probably disturb most pastors. She told people they don’t need to go to church. She told people, “You don’t need to go to church.” Isn’t that the popular view? But understand that the church is the Bride of Jesus Christ. Understand it was Jesus who said, “I will build My church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.”
Of course, I have to laugh when people say, “Hey, I don’t have to go to church. Wherever I go, there the church is. When I’m in the woods, that’s the church. When I’m at a ball game, that’s the church.” But this is a misunderstanding of the Greek language and a misunderstanding of the Bible. The word church is “ecclesia,” and it means, “the assembly,” or, “to assemble together.” The Bible says, “Forsake not the assembling of yourselves together.” You want to be blessed. You want to be prospered. You want God to make you happy. Not only attend church, but serve the church. When you teach Sunday school and when you sing in the choir and when you help in the parking lot and when you lead a small group… when you serve the church, you’re inviting the blessing of God. When you give your time, when you give your talent and ability, when you give your financial resources, you’re inviting the blessing of God, that He might open up the windows of heaven for you and pour down upon you an overflowing blessing. When you serve the needs of the atrium and the chapel and when you give to Manna Ministries (our outreach to the poor), and when you give to the ministry budget of the church (part of which goes all over the world to the mission fields), you’re inviting and invoking the blessings of God.
We know from early church literature that after the death of Jesus, Mary, entrusted to the beloved John, went to live in Ephesus. And there in Ephesus Mary served the church. She taught. She prayed for people. She tended the sick. She served the church, and we have this example.
Well, there is one last life lesson from Mary. If we would be blessed, we must rejoice in God’s grace. God loves it when we rejoice in His grace.
The angel Gabriel said to Mary, “Hail, O favored one.” The word “hail” is the word “chaire,” which is related to “charis,” which means “grace.” The expression “O favored one” is also built on the Greek word “charis” which means “grace,” so it’s like the angel Gabriel said to Mary, “Grace to you, you graced one.” Then later the angel Gabriel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” But again the Greek word is charis, which means grace. “You have found grace with God.” Mary rejoiced in God’s grace. In her Magnificat and the Song of Mary she said, “My spirit rejoices in God, my Savior.” She rejoiced in the grace of God.
How about you? If you’re a Christian, you’ve come into God’s grace and you’ve responded to His grace and mercy. Does that give you joy? Do you have joy that your sins are forgiven? Do you have joy that you’re bound for heaven? Do you rejoice? If you do, it pleases God. The Bible says, “Rejoice always.” The Bible says, “Give thanks in all circumstances. This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
I saw where, in 1947, Harry Truman, just on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving Day, did a strange thing. President Truman did a weird thing. On that Wednesday before Thanksgiving he had a turkey brought into the White House Rose Garden and he had a ceremony where he invited the press and he pardoned the turkey. Then the turkey was sent by Harry Truman to a Virginia farm where it was declared that it would be fed lavishly all the days of its life. It would never be carved. It would never be slain. It would be protected. A pardoned turkey. Strangely enough, every president for almost 60 years now has done the same thing every year. Every year the President of the United States, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, brings a turkey into the White House Rose Garden and pardons the turkey. It’s sent to a Virginia farm where it’s fed and protected.
It’s a strange custom, and yet I think as Christians we would all agree we’re kind of turkeys saved by grace. And yet we’re not turkeys because we’re the crown of God’s creation, the imago Dei, created in the image and the likeness of God. We have abilities that turkeys never dreamed of. Of course, turkeys cannot rejoice in their pardon. That turkey doesn’t rejoice the moment the president pardons it. It’s not rejoicing on its way to the Virginia farm. It doesn’t even have a clue as to what’s happened. Ornithologists tell us that even amongst birds turkeys are particularly dumb. They can drown in their own drinking water. They just forget to pull their head out. But God has given you an amazing mind and you have the power to choose to rejoice. You can choose to rejoice. Every day we can make this choice to rejoice in the grace of God. When we rejoice in the grace of God, we invite the blessings of God anew and afresh in our lives. Of course, when we rejoice in the grace of God, we’re really expressing faith in the promises of God, the promise of His forgiveness, the promise of heaven. When we rejoice in grace we are expressing faith in His promises. Elizabeth said to Mary, “Blessed is she who has believed in what God has promised.” Mary did.
So, we have these life lessons from Mary. Every nation, every generation, will call her blessed. If you want to be blessed, then magnify the Lord. Glorify His name on earth. It’s not easy in the world in which we live. If you would be blessed, be servant hearted toward people, toward your families and toward the church of Jesus Christ. If you would be blessed, choose joy. Choose to rejoice in the grace of Christ every day. Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.