Mary Woman Of Grace

The Bible clearly says that Mary was highly favored of the Lord.

Obviously, she lived her life much like other people of the New Testament.

I never have understood why people have become as attached as they have with this woman, Mary. Nevertheless, we can learn about God’s Grace from the life story of Mary.

Apparently, Mary had other children. According to scriptures, Jesus had four brothers-- James, Joses, Judas, and Simon-- and a few unnamed sisters Mark 6:3>.

The Roman Catholic Church, however, claims that Mary remained a virgin and that these "brothers" and "sisters" were either Joseph’s children by an earlier marriage or were cousins of Jesus.

Historians tell us that legends about Mary began circulating as early as the fifth century, but there is no valid historical evidence for these legends.

In our day and time many thousands, if not millions of people are looking into the clouds and the sun for a vision of Mary. This is troubling.

Listen to what Mary says about herself in Luke 1:48,

For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant (Mary); for behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.

I trust there are at least a few of us here this morning who consider themselves to be blessed. I can tell you that I am blessed, and you can call me blessed. In turn, I will call you blessed, but that doesn’t mean I will ever worship you. Or look for a vision of you in the sunlight, or the clouds.

Mary was not the only woman in the Bible who was called blessed.

Judg 5:24

"Most blessed among women is Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; blessed is she among women..."

In this passage, Jael is recognized by a great woman of the Old Testament, Deborah, for killing an enemy by the name of Sisera. According to the Bible, Jael is considered the "Most blessed among women".

My point is many people have been considered by God to be blessed.

There was Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but we don’t find anyone wanting to worship these men.

Unfortunately in today’s world, there is a fixation with Mary. Mary is considered a saint in whom many pray to and believe in. Millions of people have made statues of her and have called her "Immaculate Mary".

What a disappointment and frustration this must be to Jesus. But we cannot allow this controversy to interfere (or distract us) with our learning more about the good things of God from the life of Mary .

We will see this morning that this person, Mary, was a willing and obedient vessel of the sovereign plan of God. As we all should be. But she was nothing more than just that. She was highly favored of God.

What we do know is that Mary was the mother of Jesus, as recorded many times in the New Testament.

What we don’t know is anything about Mary’s background other than that she was a peasant and a resident of Nazareth, a city in Galilee.

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It is thought that she must have been of the tribe of Judah, and that made her a direct descendant of David. This is recorded in verse 32 of our text.

We also know that Mary had a cousin named Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist.) Mary was just an average person, just like you and I.