Learning to Love Mary Again: A Journey Through Scripture
Do we as protestants purposely disregard Mary? I actually think we reduce Mary to an afterthought (to our detriment) because we dare not agree with the Catholic view. But I do believe we should honor her more than we do while ensuring we do not venerate her. These two views are compatible.
Come, let’s open the pages of Scripture together and simply listen.
In Luke 1:26–38 we meet a young girl in a nowhere town. An angel appears and says, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you… You will conceive and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”
Everything about that moment is breathtaking. The eternal Son of God, who spoke galaxies into being, chooses to enter His own creation through the body of this teenager. He waits for her answer. And Mary replies, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” From that “yes,” the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
A few verses later (Luke 1:41–45), Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and cries out with a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
Notice who is speaking: the Holy Spirit Himself, through Elizabeth, bestows the highest honor any human receives in the New Testament. He calls her “blessed among women” and “the mother of my Lord.”
Then Mary sings (Luke 1:46–55). The Magnificat is not pride; it is prophecy. She declares, “My soul magnifies the Lord… for behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
The Holy Spirit inspired her to say that every generation, including ours, would call her blessed because of what God did in and through her.
She treasured these things and pondered them in her heart (Luke 2:19, 51).
She stood beneath the cross when almost everyone else had run away (John 19:25–27). She was in the upper room praying with the apostles after the resurrection (Acts 1:14).
Scripture never tells us to worship Mary or pray to her. But it does show us a woman God highly favored, a woman full of grace, a woman whose humble “yes” made room for the Savior of the world.
This Christmas, perhaps we can take one small, biblical step:
- When we read the nativity story, let us pause and do exactly what the Holy Spirit said we would do, call her blessed.
- Let us thank God for her faith and courage.
- Let us marvel that the Mighty One looked upon the humble estate of His servant and, through her, brought Light into our darkness.
Honoring the mother never diminishes the Son. It simply lets us see more clearly how great His mercy is.
“My soul magnifies the Lord…for He has looked on the humble estate of His servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.” May our generation be faithful to that word. And may Jesus, her Son and our Savior, be glorified forever.