The Most Famous Mother in History

The Most Famous Mother in History
By Rev. Robert P. Elkins
All Scripture verse taken from the NIV Bible unless otherwise noted

Who is the most famous mother in all of history? What mother changed the course of mankind’s history? I’ll give you a little hint. She’s the only mother who could say in all honesty “I was hand picked by the Great and Wonderful Almighty God to bear His one and only Son incarnate and thus through me all mankind may know salvation and redemption from sin by the shedding of His blood.”

Of course I’m talking about Mary … the mother of God! And I’m sure you knew the answer to the question because Mary truly is the most famous mom in all history.
Now don’t go getting your feathers all roughed up and start screaming heresy, heresy. He thinks he’s a Roman Catholic priest now. I’m not going to attempt to transform you to the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church in regards to Mary. Know full well that if I were to I talk about the Immaculate Conception I’d be talking about Jesus and Jesus only. I do not believe that Mary was conceived without the sin nature of Adam or what is commonly known as “Original Sin” as the Roman Catholic Church does. The Scriptures are quite clear about this, the Bible says that everyone without exception has a sin nature (Genesis 6:5) “ The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time.” And that everyone has sinned (Romans 3:23) “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”.

Mary was conceived and born just as each and every one of us was. Her father’s name was Joachim and her mother’s name was Anne. You won’t find her parents in the Bible but you will find them if you research some of the apocryphal writings such as the Gospel of James. Just in case, if you didn’t already know it, there are several other Gospels and various writings out there that were written in the time of Jesus, they are known as psuedpigraphal writings, their authorship is of question. Within the protestant faiths they are not recognized as “Cannon” or sacred writings like the Gospels of Matthew, Mark Luke and John. These other writings are to the protestant believers very much like the apocryphal writings, additional books added to the Bible and believed to be official Cannon by the Roman Catholic church and sacred. We protestant’s do not follow this belief, we find them to be just additional writings. But just because they are not sacred to us that doesn’t mean we toss them out or ignore them. We still cherish them for what they are and that’s a tremendous wealth of historical value. Although these writings don’t carry the weight as Divinely inspired words of God they do document times, dates and facts that are important to our understanding of Scripture.

I’m not going to tell you that Mary remained a virgin for her entire life. Scripture tells us that Jesus had siblings, they are mentioned several times in the Bible. It’s a documented and historical fact. This thought line of Mary remaining a virgin throughout her life is followed in the Roman Catholic faith but as with the apocryphal writings, this thought is not accepted in the protestant faiths. And since salvation comes through the blood of Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ only any further thoughts on this matter is really of little importance.

I am going to tell you that at the time she became pregnant Mary was a virgin, she had not had any sexual relations or intercourse with a man and that this in its self was prophetic. (Isaiah 7:14) says “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” I am going to tell you that it was by the power of the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit if you will that she conceived a living child in her womb without intercourse. (Matthew 1:18) “This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit”.

I’m not going to tell you that Mary was taken up into heaven alive and not experiencing death as the Roman Catholics believe, that her body ascended to the heavens like our Dear Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I’m not going to tell you that she was Divinely removed by God to take a place beside the very throne of the Living God of all Creation. But I am going to tell you about the Annunciation, that the Archangel Gabriel did come to her and that he did tell her of Gods delight in her and of God’s intervention to have her bear a child of divine nature. She may not have a seat next to God but if there is seating in heaven I’ll bet she has front row seats in the throne room.

I’m not going to tell you that we are to venerate Mary, pray to her or worship her. I’m not going to tell you that I believe she was sent back to earth several times to establish shrines or grottos unto herself to be places of worship and adoration. But I am going to tell you that she mothered our Lord Jesus. That she fed him the milk of her breast, she washed him when he was soiled, she kissed all the little scrapes and cuts and boo boos he got while growing up and learning to walk and run and play.

I am going to tell you that she assisted Jesus as he learned to talk and walk and while he learned pray, that she instructed him as he learned to use words and numbers and form sentences and project thoughts. That she instructed and guided Jesus as he worked alongside his earthly father, Joseph and as he developed the skills he needed to become a carpenter. And I’ll bet he was an excellent carpenter at that.

I am going to tell you that she was instrumental in his religious education, that she carried him to temple, that she showed him the customs and practices of worship while in the temple and that she instructed him to do likewise in their home.

I am going to tell you that in every way Mary met and most likely exceeded the requirements of a mother to our Dear Lord and Savior when he was a small child. I am going to tell you that Mary remained the devoted and loving mother of our Lord throughout his entire life, from his conception to his death. The Bible does record that Mary was with Jesus throughout his entire life, when Jesus went to the temple at twelve years of age, Mary was there. When he started his earthly ministry and preformed his first miracle at the wedding feast at Cana Mary was there. And Mary was there at the moment of his death. This loving mother was there with her son no matter what, when others walked away from Jesus at various times Mary didn’t, she remained faithful to her son no matter what was happening.

I am going to tell you that she has earned the title “Mother of God” because she was indeed the earthly mother of our Dear Lord in his incarnate form as he walked and talked. As he grew and developed into the man who met every requirement needed to save all men from the curse of sin and the separation from their God as only God made man could do. And every woman who is reading this and is a mother can feel a sense of pride if you have done as Mary did in raising her child.

It is my belief that we as Protestants and in particular as Pentecostals have gone to the extreme in our attempts to distance ourselves from the Roman Catholic Church due to some of their beliefs and doctrine. And for the most part I agree with this decision, I was raised in the Roman Catholic Church and subsequently left that church for many of the same reasons as Martin Luther who posted his 95 points of disagreement on the doors of the Castle Church at Wittenberg Germany. But in regards to Mary and her being the most important mother in the history of all mankind with a positive interjection, I think that honor belongs to her without doubt. Through Mary we see Jesus Christ and through Jesus we have salvation, thus the positive, I guess you could look at Mary as the second Eve. Eve of course being the original mother of all mankind that brought us the negative action of sin and that negative action being equally shared with her husband, Adam. We as protestants have just about tossed Mary out of the Bible per say with the exception of her involvement in the Christmas story and I won’t be writing about that segment of Scripture today since everyone should know that story in it’s entirety. But Mary is going to be the centerpiece of this teaching today. Allow me now to pass along some of the thoughts I have been given by the Holy Spirit about Mary, the earthly mother of Our Lord, the mother of Jesus Christ incarnate.

Who was Mary? What do we really know about this young girl that God selected for this most important role in history? On the surface it appears that we know little about this young woman. But what appears to be and what actually is can often be very different when put under the microscope of scrutiny. When we look into the Scriptures with an inquisitive eye how much more can we see? How much more of the nature and character of this young girl does Scripture really tell us?

We first find Mary in the Scriptures as a young woman betrothed to Joseph, a man who worked with his hands as a carpenter and little else is recorded about her youth or her background. Essentially on the surface it looks like we don’t know a lot about her. As I mentioned earlier, Mary’s parents aren’t mentioned by name in the Gospel accounts although we know who they were from other sources. We know little of her background, her social status, her family history, or their role in the society of the day. We don’t know her age to any degree of certainty. It is supposed that she was between the age of 13 to 16 years old, that being the median age of young first time mothers or wives in the time frame of that era. It was the time when a young girl could become pregnant having started her flow of women-hood. We can assume that she didn’t come from wealth, we can assume that she was from a working class family, this is apparent from the choice of the man she was to marry. Joseph’s occupation is recorded as being a carpenter, and by being a carpenter we know he was of a working class family. The Bible does give us a little insight into the kind of family Mary comes from if we look at the Scriptures a little more closely.
Most of our gleaning will be done through the eyes of Luke and his Gospel but not all of it. We see that Mary has a cousin by the name of Elizabeth who has a husband by the name of Zechariah and Zechariah is a temple priest. We see inference that these two people must love God, not to be assumed by Zechariah’s occupation as a temple priest. We know from reading the accounts of the Bible that not all temple workers were of the highest quality or moral conviction. Not all of them wore white hats. But the conjecture we can draw here is that God regarded them highly because God looks at the heart of the person and when God looked at the heart of Zechariah and Elizabeth he saw that they were devoted to their God and upright in God’s sight. This much we do know about them because it is recorded in the Bible. (Luke 1:5-7) “In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly. But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.” In the Bible there is little more recorded about this couple other than that they were in their senior years and that they both were of the blood line of Aaron, this of course drawn from the passage we just looked at. We also know that God sent an angel to make the announcement to Zechariah that he and his wife were to be the parents of the one who would proclaim or make ready a path in the wilderness for the coming of Messiah. God would not have picked just any couple for this honor. This shows their moral fortitude and strength of faith. So Mary’s lineage holds devote believers, one key to her background.

In (Luke 1:5-7) we see God sending an angel to announce to these two members of Mary’s family that they are to have a child and that child is going to be a prophet of God proclaiming the coming of the Messiah. This of course is what we just talked of in the last paragraph. Then the Bible leaps forward six months and we see another angel coming from God to deliver another announcement. This time the angel isn’t just any old angel, this time it’s one of God’s special angels, God’s Archangel Gabriel, and this time his message is for the young girl, Mary. Notice his words as found in (Luke 1:28). “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: Blessed art thou among women.” (KJV) Can you imagine the shock Mary felt upon seeing the physical manifestation of an angel and in hearing his audible voice in telling her that she was highly favored by God! What does this tell you about the character of Mary? The Lord God almighty sends an angel, and not just any angel mind you but an Archangel, one of the big guys in angel-dom. The Lord sends Gabriel to make a person to person house call on Mary. The young girl we sometimes feel we know little about but we can see that in the eye of God she was a very special person and she was “highly favored” by God. That would look good on anyone’s resume.
I think it’s safe to say that God loves all people, but Mary was special to be sure. I love this next verse in the NIV. (Luke 1:29)“Mary was greatly troubles at his words and wondered what kind of greetings this might be.” She was greatly troubled! I don’t know about you but if I were in the house and an angel, any kind of an angel, it wouldn’t have to be one of the big guys! If any kind of an angel came to me with a message from God do you know what I’d be like? I’d be running around the house hollering “Oh Lord, Oh Lord, did I just see an angel? Help me Jesus cause I’m seeing things that I don’t ever see, tell me it just my wife’s cooking, oh yea, it’s just gas, where’s the Alka-Seltzer”. But the Mary of our story, well she remained pretty cool about the whole thing. And the angel went on to tell her that she’s going to have a son and his name is going to be Jesus and he is from the house of David. Another key to Mary’s history, she is from the house of David as well. And thus another prophecy is fulfilled, the Messiah will come and he will be from the house of David.

Another key to Mary’s character is revealed here. She asked, “How will this be since I am a virgin?” From this simple little statement we see that Mary loved her Lord enough to follow his laws in regards to sexual relations and marriage. She elected to remain pure or to be a virgin until after she wed. Let this verse minister to all the young ladies in the church who are not yet married. If you don’t want to hear those dreaded words “Your pregnant” until after you’re married the only sure fired way to avoid this is to not have sexual relations with anyone until you’ve got the ring on your finger and the Lords blessing on the marriage. They aren’t going to tell you this in school but abstinence is the only 100% totally safe form of birth control, anything else is like playing Russian Roulette with a loaded gun. But that’s a sermon for another day.
I don’t know about you but I always wondered how Jesus was born sin free when he came from a woman if we all carry the original sin of Adam. Actually it’s quite simple. The sin comes from the father; it’s a guy thing. Adam was the male and the sin is passed on from the male. It doesn’t start with the woman but she gets it through and from her father, the woman isn’t exempt from sin but she doesn’t pass it along either. As I said, it’s a guy thing. And since everyone has a father… everyone has the sin of Adam. All that is except Jesus. He had no earthly father; thus he had no Adamic sin. God knew what he was doing. I had often wondered why God didn’t just make another man, name him Jesus and send him to earth. But to be a real man, 100% human, this man had to come from the body of a woman and to meet the requirement of being 100% free from any sin the seed of life was not placed in the woman by a man but that seed of life was placed in the woman by the Holy Spirit. And so, Jesus was born fully from a woman, fully man and fully free from sin. In Gods perfect design for the start of life, the seed of man is implanted with the egg of woman to develop life. But God needed something special here, God created seed that came not from another human man and thus tainted with the Adamic sin but from a new source. He created seed that had nothing to do with the lineage of Adam and thus life created in the woman, a human child, was totally sin free. Isn’t God good? He’s always got a plan and God’s plan always works. Give him a praise offering.

So Gabriel in his announcement tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will come upon her and she will conceive a child. He tells her that the power of God is going to do this and how does she react? Her character of faith appears even in the face of looking at the impossible. Remember what Jesus said; “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible,” Mary’s response sets the tone of her entire nature throughout the Bible. “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.” She acknowledges that she is the servant of the Lord God, that what is directed from God is what she will do and that she is at total peace with it in spite of what it looks like on the surface or what it looks like to the world. At this point Mary has to be working on pure faith because what is happening in her life has never happened before. She’s never heard of this happening to anyone she knows of. There is no recorded event like this in Torah and yet in pure blind faith she accepts what the angel has said and she believes.

Did you notice the similarities in the words of Mary and of Jesus? Mary said; “may it be as you have said.” And Jesus in the garden says “Father if you are willing take this cup from me, yet not my will but yours be done.” Both are clearly the words of the faithful servant. Totally faithful, totally trusting, another part of our puzzle uncovering the character and nature of Mary.

Now moving further along in our story. Mary’s relative has had an appearance from an angel, Mary has had pretty much the same thing only her angel carries a little more clout and so Mary goes to see her cousin Elizabeth to tell her of the wonderful thing that is about to happen. When the two ladies meet the child in Elizabeth’s stomach jumps and what does she say about this strange occurrence? “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear”. The (KJV) says “Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit or thy womb”. Again I must admonish you that we as Protestants don’t have to reject all that the Roman Catholic Church holds so dear. Is their prayer entitled the “Hail Mary” so far from the truth? Or isn’t its foundation found right here in Scripture? At least the first half, “Hail Mary full of grace the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit or thy womb, Jesus”. And for shear beauty have you ever heard the wonderful song “Ave Maria”, that’s “Hail Mary “ in Latin. This part of the prayer is as true as truth can be; it’s grounded in Scripture. My friend we need a discerning ear and seek the wisdom of the Lord in matters of this. I’m not in any way endorsing praying to Mary, I’m just saying that the wording is found in Scripture. We need to accept what is right and discard what’s wrong and have the wisdom to know the difference between the two.

Now we come to what is known as the “Magnificat”or “Mary’s Song”. (Luke1: 46-55) “And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."

I want you to notice four (4) things found in this reading.
1st) Mary’s state of worship and adoration. “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior”. Her words show her worship of the Lord God and she is praising Him, she is worshipping her God.
2nd) Mary’s humility. “For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant”. Mary acknowledges that she is but a servant of the Lord God Almighty.
3rd) Her reward. “All generations will call me blessed”. It doesn’t say the next ten generations or the next one hundred generations, it says all generations will call her blessed, it’s a story that is to be repeated and turned over from generation to generation until our Lord returns. This is a proud moment for the mothers of today because this young woman is the forerunner to the mothers of today and each of you can share her glory as a mother.
4th) The poetic tie to her ancestor David. Mary like David used poetry to convey their thoughts. Remember there was no earthly father connected to the birth of Jesus, but for prophecy to be correct there had to be a connection of the Messiah’s bloodline back to King David, Mary is that connection.

I’m going to skip over the birth of Jesus, the Christmas Story. I’m sure everyone knows it in its entirety. Other than to say that in that account it does say that Mary “treasured all these things and pondered them in her heart”. Isn’t that another sign of a mother? How many moms have stored little treasures of your child’s “growing up years” in their heart and every once in a while those little treasured memories come to the surface again and cause you to reflect on what your child did or went through and it brings up a tear every so often.

We now leave the first chapter of Luke and go to the second chapter. (Luke 2:22-35) “When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"), and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons." Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too”.”

In this part of the Jesus story we see Joseph and Mary with the child in the temple. Again Scripture reveals a part of Mary that isn’t always noticed. Remember that I said it was doubtful that Mary came from wealth? Here we will see how I came to that conclusion. When we see the young couple in the temple making the prescribed offering for the dedication of the child we see them offering two doves. For those of wealth the offering was a lamb and a dove … for those who could afford it. Joseph and Mary are offering two doves; obliviously they couldn’t afford this costlier type of offering and had to use the offering for the person or poorer status.

The man Simeon appears in the temple and we notice that it is Mary who plays an important role here. Although Simeon blesses both Joseph and Mary, Scripture makes it very clear that the prophecy given to Simeon is for Mary. The Scriptures tell us that Simeon took the child, blessed the parents and then spoke directly to the mother. He tells Mary of the great things her child will do, of the way he will reach many hearts in Israel and then he says to her, “And a sword will pierce your own soul too”. I believe Simeon was prophetically telling Mary that a time was coming when she would no longer have a husband, that she would follow her son through the streets of the city and the country side and that she would see him die on the cross. Every mother who has ever had to bury a child or a husband has had a sword pierce her soul. Luke goes on to tell us the story of when Jesus was left behind in the temple, how his parents worried about him and again how Mary “pondered these things also in her heart”.

For a time Mary drops out of the Gospel story for a while, and rightfully so since as we have already established the Gospel is the story of Jesus. It is he that is the central figure of the entire Bible and all of the other people listed are there for a purpose of understanding the history and the story of the Bible but they are never the central purpose.

Now we fast-forward to the wedding feast at Cana, this account we find in the Gospel of (John 2:1-11). Here we see Jesus and his mother have been invited to a wedding and Jesus {now a grown man} and his twelve disciples are all present. If we look at the wording of the Gospel I think it’s safe to infer that Mary is more than just an invited guest but possibly a very close friend of the wedding parents or even a relative. Someone must have told her that they were out of wine and were she not a close friend or family member that would have been an embarrassment to the family and something that would not have been done. But Mary did know about the wine running out and being the good Jewish Mother that she was, she said, “not to worry, my son can fix this’. (John 2:1-5) “On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus' mother was there, and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine was gone, Jesus' mother said to him, "They have no more wine." "Dear woman, why do you involve me?" Jesus replied, "My time has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you."

Although Jesus’ reply to his mother’s request may sound like a slight chastisement, she remains a woman of faith and trust. There was no snippy retort, no rebuke to her son. No “I’m your mama and you do as I say”. She simply says to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you”. Her simple statement of faith exhibits 3 principles we can all learn from.
1st when you talk to Jesus know that he hears you. God hears our prayers.
2nd know that God answers prayers
3rd get ready for the blessing
There’s power in prayer and when we pray it’s not a bad idea to prepare ourselves for the blessing so that when it comes we’re ready. Now looking at Mary, how did she respond to the situation at the wedding at Canaan? She spoke to her son and her faith told her that he would listen. After she spoke to him she knew that he would do as she requested, and she prepared for the blessing. And what a blessing this was. Six jars of water, 30 gallons per jar, that’s 180 gallons of wine. And people today say that Jesus didn’t know how to have a good time and laugh a bit. I’ve got to tell you friend, I really feel in my spirit that my Jesus knew how to have a good time. I can see him singing and dancing and just enjoying himself at this wedding feast, and if our Jesus can enjoy life so can we. I think we are to go about life enjoying everything the Lord has given us, not with a long face but with a face of joy that will make the unsaved wonder what we’re so happy about. You know so often we will hear someone say; “I’ve got Jesus in my heart”. Well if that’s so let you face know about it once in a while! Smiling is good for the soul.

After the wedding Jesus, his mother, his brothers, and his disciples went to Capernaum for a few days. (John 2:12) “After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother and brothers and his disciples. There they stayed for a few days.” I think it’s safe to say that Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father had passed on by now since he is no longer mentioned in the list of people or followers of Jesus. We see that Mary is traveling with her son now and other than one small account in the Scriptures or Gospels Mary isn’t mentioned again until the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior.
If you’ve ever spent any time studying the accounts of the crucifixion story as recorded in the Gospels you’ve had to notice that throughout the entire litany Mary was always the faithful mother always present in her Sons life. She re-appears at the foot of the cross in the Gospel of John in the 19th chapter. Jesus has been nailed to the cross; the soldiers are casting lots for his garments and the narrative states; (John 19:25-27) “Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.”

Mary was there through her son’s pain and humiliation, she was there sharing his pain, feeling her heart break for her child as any mother would for her child in a like wise situation. She witnessed his blood shed, his moments of anguish, his thirst and his sorrow. She was there when Jesus spoke to John instructing him to take care of his mother, this woman who had given him birth through her body by the power of the Holy Spirit. This woman who had nursed Jesus on her breast when he was but a small and helpless infant, cared for him as a child while he was growing to manhood, kissed his boo boos when he fell and scraped a knee, talked to him about the Scriptures as he developed, encouraged him as he learned the trade of a carpenter from Joseph. My friend this woman was there for his first miracle and most likely witnessed many more as she followed him through his years in ministry.

She was there as his time on this earth was coming to an end, when his time was to be closed by the death, even death on the cross. She was there when his body was taken from the cross. She was there to wipe off the blood and cover the wounds our Lord had received from the beatings he received for our sake prior to his crucifixion and death. She was there as our Lord was wrapped in a cloth and carried to the grave. She was there as he was placed in the tomb and the stone was rolled in place. And beloved this powerful woman of God, this mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ was there when those women of faith first returned to the grave where she had last seen her son. (Luke 24:1) “On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb.” Friend Mary was there to anoint her son; she was there to minister to him again as she had in his childhood. But little did Mary know that she was there to be one of the firsts to see that he was no longer in the ground. That death didn’t have a grasp on him any longer … that he had risen from the dead as he promised he would through the power of God. And now the power of Satan was broken and the power of sin is defeated by one perfect sacrifice and the shedding of blood from one who was sinless. A sacrifice to last for all eternity to bring salvation to every man, woman and child on the face of the earth if they will but call upon his name and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and his kingdom will last forever. Amen, amen and amen!

And so friend you can see why I’ve picked Mary as this special woman to be the mom of moms on this special day we’ve set aside but once a year to honor the women that have given us birth. I wanted to pick this humble servant, this woman of faith, this woman of worship and adoration, this woman of love and caring. On this special day I wanted to pick this woman of women, this mom of moms, this role model for all generations, this woman that was special enough for her to be picked by God to bear His Son and fulfill His perfect plan of salvation for all mankind.

But you know friend the story of this little girl who became the most famous mother doesn’t end just yet! You see we haven’t gone full circle, we haven’t seen her entire story because she hasn’t faded from Scripture yet, and Mary still plays one more important role in God’s word.

When first we met Mary, when first she entered the Gospels it was by the presentation of the Holy Spirit that she gained her place in history. The Spirit had come upon her, filled her womb with a divine child and the course of history was changed forever. But to go full circle we have to visit with Mary one more time and again it’s with the presentation of the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 1: 10-14) “They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." Then they returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day's walk from the city. When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James. They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

Mary was important enough to be listed among the believers in the book of Acts in the upper room. She was there with the Apostles and her new son John and I have no doubt that she was there when God sent his Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And again the Spirit filled her, this time with the same anointing he gives to every one of us today. And now we have gone full circle. After this reading Mary is not seen in the Scriptures again. This wonderful woman of God isn’t talked of again because as before stated, the Scriptures are the story of Jesus Christ, but that is not to say that Mary wasn’t one of the most important people to be mentioned there in Jesus’ story because she was. Could God have used another woman if he so desired? Sure, but he didn’t, God had already looked at the heart of Mary, just as he had already looked at the heart of her cousin and her cousin’s husband. God knew what he was doing, he always does, and Mary was hand selected by God for the task he wanted to accomplish. And for that she has earned her place in history, for that she has earned her recognition as the greatest mother of all time. But it was her faithfulness to Jesus as her Lord and not as her son that earned her a place in heaven because like everyone else including Mary, there is only one way to gain entrance to the kingdom of God in heaven. And that is by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior. There is only one belief that will open the gates of heaven and it isn’t in anyone other than Jesus. (Acts16: 30-31) “The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas. He then brought them out and asked, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" They replied, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household."

And in closing I’ll leave you with this final thought about salvation and how it comes about, there truly is but one way and one way only. (Romans10: 8-13) “But what does it say? "The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart," that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming: That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. As the Scripture says, "Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame." For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Friend I think I’ve shown and proved my point that Mary deserves to honored and blessed by all generations. No, she doesn’t need to be prayed to. And no, she shouldn’t be worshipped. But as a woman of faith and as the mother of our Lord Jesus she deserves to be looked upon with a higher standard than most. And she deserved to be look upon as one who was highly favored by God! And that my friend is good enough for me.
Grace & peace