If you’ve read the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:23-37, the book that portrays his human side, you will find only names of men, including Joseph, Mary’s husband; however, in the genealogy of Matthew 1, the gospel that portrays Jesus as a King, you will find in his lineage the names of 5 women who were very controversial: Tamar, who had twins from her father in law Judah, by disguising herself as a prostitute; Gen. 38 Rahab, the prostitute, Ruth, the Edomite, (The Edomites were not considered worthy of belonging to God’s congregation, Deut. 23:3) Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, who also had a son from King David, while her husband died fighting for King David, ordered by King David. And number 5 was Mary, the mother of Jesus, who got pregnant without being married, and although we know this happened by the Divine intervention of the Holy Spirit, in that time it became a very touchy issue . There is no coincidence that 5 is the number of Grace, All of these women found Grace to be mentioned in the genealogy of Jesus, this Gospel of the Kingdom; only the King has the right to declare “no imputation of sin’ and thanks to Jesus finished work in the Cross there is no imputation of sin for those who believe in His work. However, what sin could we impute to our woman # 5, Mary? Mary exemplifies all of those individuals that depend on the Grace of God for their righteousness and not on her own righteousness, even without having a sinful lifestyle or anything in her life that could make her “unworthy” (Like Ruth). She is the most beautiful example that we have of a woman of faith. We know that Mary was called by the Angel “Greatly Favored”, from the Greek “charitoō”, which was traduced into Spanish as “You are Full of Grace”, or “You have found Favor”. Grace means “Unmerited Favor”, that means that she didn’t earn it, otherwise, had she merited, it is no longer Favor (Rom. 4:16 and 11:6); however, in this same Chapter of Luke, we discover why she was “without sin” in front of God: Because of HER FAITH. This faith was proofed when she answered with all humbleness to the Angel Gabriel:
I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “ May your word to me be fulfilled?”
Luke 1:38 This is the obedience of the faith, and not of the Law, because by the Law, she would need to be stoned, because she was not married, reason why Joseph was thinking of leaving her. Besides the testimony of her faith in her own words, we have the testimony of the words of her cousin Elizabeth, who exclaimed, after being filled by the Holy Spirit, “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.” Luke 1:41 Now, let’s look at Mary’s answer recorded in the famous prayer “The Magnificat”, (the Magnificent) but the magnificent was not her, we know this because her words were giving all the glory to God for remembering Israel and sending the Messiah, just listen how she begins her discourse in Luke 1:46-55:
And (my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. “For He has had regard for the humble state of His bondslave; For behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed.
This divinely inspired Gospel of Luke shows us 4 things in only 2 verses 1. Mary believed, and because she believed, what God told her was fulfilled. Otherwise, had she not have faith, she could have said: “No”, “what is people going to think about me?”, or “Joseph is going to leave me!”, or “people are going to stone me!”, or had she be born in our generation, she would have said what many women say today: “I have the right to choose!”, but Mary believed God and it was accounted unto her as righteousness, just like God did with Abraham, since she was a daughter of Abraham. 2. Her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior. Had she been “conceived without sin”, why would she need a Savior? 3. She said that God regarded her “humble state of His bondservant”. (she never said, of “His Queen”, or His “Lordess”). The Greek Word used for “humble state” is tapeinōsis (G5014 from the Greek Lexicon) which was a metaphor to express “spiritual abasement, leading one to perceive and lament his/her (moral) littleness and guilt”. Thayer. We know that the Law produces guilt and Mary, being a Jew, lived under the Law of Moses, and we learned that the Law was given to show us our sin; she was aware that she did not deserve that Grace, even if she didn’t have a record of nutty deeds, but she received the Grace of God by believing in the UNMERITED favor of her Lord, as she herself called him, that is why she was FULL OF GRACE. She humbled herself by submitting herself to Grace and she was exalted, and everyone who believes with that simple faith like Mary’s, as soon as we are willing to admit our “lowness”, our “humble state”, and to receive the Grace of God, we will also be exalted and FULL OF GRACE”. Religion has attributed the same attributes of Jesus to Mary, and to many other gods, but the only reason why God did not find sin in Mary, was the same reason why He did not find sin in the other women in the Chronology of Luke, because of their faith in the God of Abraham, the God of Grace. These are not my words, nor Martin Luther’s, nor Joseph Prince’s, this is what the Holy Spirit says in this Chapter of Luke, and therefore it is the truth. If the Holy Spirit does not say it, as it is the case of the non-inspired books known as the Apocrypha, it means that God didn’t say it. I can assure you that this beautiful and blessed teenager, who deserves to be called “blessed among women”, would have never taken the glory that she knew belongs to Jesus; she herself gave this glory to her Lord with her faith in the obedience of Christ, and with her words and submission. This faith and actions produced by that faith exalted her above all women, but not to be worshipped as a goddess. She would have NEVER accepted to be called “The Queen of Heaven”, because being a Jew, she knew who the “queen of heaven” was in the story of the Jews : “Ashera” (Jer. 7, Jer. 44). If you are not familiar with the Bible, please read it in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_heaven_(antiquity) If Mary could listen to your prayers and talk to you, she would invite you to put your faith in her Lord Jesus Christ; she would tell you: “Do everything as He tells you”. In other words: “Believe in Him, put your trust in Him, have faith in Him and only in Him”. Our only intercessor today is Jesus because although He was fully God, He made himself in the form of human, conceived without sin, so he could offer his sinless blood as our Lamb without blemish, so those who believe in Him can stand in front of God as sinless. This is the only way that we can be worthy and without sin in front of God. He did not walk on earth as God, but as a man who was totally submitted to His Father by the Holy Spirit, so when He gave us His Spirit we could do the same. Before He died he said: “It Is Finished!” That is why today Jesus is our only intercessor, seated at the right hand of the Father interceding for us, because His work in the Cross was perfect and complete. He is the King of Kings and he will not share his glory with any image! The divinely inspired scripture confirms it in Is. 42:8. His glory is reserved ONLY for His children, not only for Mary, but for those who believe in Him as their only Savior. Jesus is no longer Mary’s son, after He died and resurrected and has been glorified as The Son of God, as God himself, and although she was the mother of Jesus “the Man”, she cannot be the Mother of God, because God is ETERNAL, without a beginning or end. God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and His bride is the Church, Mary included, and you and I and anyone who believes in Jesus as their righteousness. Shalom
