To one woman out of all history was reserved the honour that of her was to be born the child who was to be called Jesus. That this was a signal honour is clear from the salutation of the angel: “Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” It is clear also from Mary’s own assertion: “From henceforth all nations shall call me blessed.” That Mary had no thought of self-glorification in this is very evident. Her eye was upon the One who was to be “the Child born” and “the Son given.” “My soul,” she had to say, “doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.” Elizabeth, too, recognised the great privilege conferred on Mary when, filled with the Holy Ghost, she said with a loud voice: “Blessed are thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” She had further to declare concerning the child, John the Baptist, not yet born to her: “For, lo, as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy.”
It was necessary that the Saviour of men should be truly man as well as truly God. This was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ who laid hold of our nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee,” Mary was told, “and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also this holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” God was to perform a miracle. God was to do a great thing in the earth. Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. But what is impossible with men is possible with God. And so it was to be in this case. Though the Saviour was to lay hold of our nature in the womb of the Virgin, yet He was not to lay hold of the defilement of that nature as fallen. This was to be done, not as the Romanists aver by immaculate conception through which Mary was purified from all defilement, but by God preserving the human nature of the divine Redeemer from all taint of sin in conception and even while in the womb.
Because of the honour conferred on Mary, the Roman Catholic Church has progressively developed a doctrine about her until she has been exalted to a position of Mediatrix, and virtually Queen of Heaven. Mariolatry, or the worship of Mary, has assumed great proportions in the Church of Rome. If men would approach unto Christ, then they must do it through Mary. Consequently, the higher Mary is exalted in this way, the greater the dishonour which is done to Christ.
If we turn to what is recorded of Mary this should show us whether such worship of Mary as exists in the Roman Catholic Church is warranted. It is clear that Mary had to learn much concerning the One who was born of her. When the shepherds who had heard the angels’ song came to Bethlehem and told what things they had seen and heard, we read that “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.” Again when Mary and Joseph sought for the child Jesus when he had, unknown to them, remained in Jerusalem, Mary said to Him, “Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.” But Jesus had to rebuke her, saying, “How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business.” At the wedding in Cana of Galilee she said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus answered her, “Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.” The Saviour Himself was teaching her. She was learning submission to His will in everything. Is this not clear from her words to the servants? She said to them: “Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.” What vicissitudes of soul she had to pass through from the first intimation of the blessing conferred on her until that time when, as she stood with the women at a distance from the Cross, there was fulfilled the prophecy uttered over thirty-three years before: “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.” That final trial was not, however, before she had heard the comforting utterance from the lips of Him who spake as never man spake, “Woman, behold thy son!” and to the beloved disciple John, “Behold thy mother.”
Where, then, is there ground in all this for the blatant Mariolatry of the Roman Catholic Church? Wherever warrant is found for it, it is not to be found in the Word of God or in the words or actions of Mary. The Romanist Church elevates Mary into a Mediatrix through whom Christ may be approached. If so, she never assumed it, neither has God required it. Vain man would be wise, yet his wisdom is arrant folly. The Roman Catholic Church would make her immaculate on earth. The Scriptures make her immaculate in heaven as a redeemed sinner saved by Christ, washed in His precious blood, and an eternal debtor to His grace.
Yes, be like Mary. Follow her as she followed Christ but do not regard her in the way that Romish superstition has misrepresented her. Be like her in exalting Christ, in owning Him as your only Saviour, and in having your all in Him for time and for eternity.