Mary, the Mother of Jesus
Most of what people picture when they think of Mary comes from paintings rather than the text. The Gospels give us someone poorer and considerably tougher.
Mary was a woman in Nazareth who answered the angel Gabriel with “I am the Lord’s servant; may it be to me according to your word.” Her song, the Magnificat, is one of the most radical passages in Scripture, and she stood at the cross to the end.
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. So the angel told her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.
Then Mary said: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For He has looked with favor on 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.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has exalted the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty.
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to His mother Mary: “Behold, this Child is appointed to cause the rise and fall 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 soul as well.”
When His parents saw Him, they were astonished. “Child, why have You done this to us?” His mother asked. “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for You.” “Why were you looking for Me?” He asked. “Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” But they did not understand the statement He was making to them.
His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever He tells you.”
When Jesus saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to His mother, “Woman, here is your son.” Then He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” So from that hour, this disciple took her into his home.
With one accord they all continued in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.
The annunciation, read closely
Gabriel arrives and Mary is “greatly troubled” — and the text says she wondered what kind of greeting this was. She asks a practical question: how will this be, since I am a virgin?
Zechariah asked a similar question a few verses earlier and was struck silent. Mary’s question is received. The difference seems to be that his asked for proof and hers asked how.
Then: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). She agrees to a pregnancy that could have cost her the marriage, her reputation, and under the strictest reading of the law, her life.
The Magnificat is not a lullaby
Her song in Luke 1:46-55 is often set to gentle music. Read the words. God has “brought down rulers from their thrones but has exalted the humble.” He “has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”
It is a woman of no social standing singing about the powerful being turned out of their seats — one of the most politically pointed passages in the New Testament, and the Gospels give it to her rather than to anyone with a title.
The parts that are hard
She does not understand everything. When Jesus is twelve and stays behind in the temple, she and Joseph search for three days, and his answer does not comfort her — the text says they did not understand what he was saying to them (Luke 2:50). Simeon had already told her a sword would pierce her own soul.
Later, his family comes to take him home because people are saying he is out of his mind (Mark 3:21). Mary’s faithfulness is not a smooth line of serene understanding. It is a mother staying present to a son whose life she cannot follow.
At the cross, and after
Almost everyone runs. John’s Gospel puts Mary at the foot of the cross, and records Jesus arranging her care with his last breaths (John 19:26-27).
Then Acts 1:14 has her in the upper room with the disciples, praying. She is there at the beginning and she is still there after the end.
What Scripture actually asks of us regarding her
Elizabeth calls her blessed among women, and Mary says all generations will call her blessed. Beyond that, the Gospels keep the focus where she keeps it herself. At the wedding in Cana she gives the only instruction she ever gives a crowd: “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2:5).