Here are some terms associated with Mary, from a Catholic point of view. I’m not going to argue or disagree with these concepts. They are for information purposes as we study the Christmas story, focusing on Mary.

• Annunciation
• Mother of God, the Lord
• Immaculate Conception – 1854
• Virgin (Birth & Perpetual)
• Bodily Assumption – 1950

What does "Immaculate Conception" mean? It means that Mary was born without sin and lived a sinless life. The Immaculate Conception is about Mary, not Jesus. There are two aspects of "Virgin": the Virgin Birth and Perpetual virginity (that after she had Jesus, she never "knew" a man, including Joseph.) They believe she never had sexual intercourse with Joseph, never had any other children, and was a virgin her whole life. The "Bodily Assumption" means "taken bodily into Heaven," much like Enoch and Elijah. They believe her body was ‘taken up’ and never buried.

It’s interesting to note that the Immaculate Conception was not accepted as dogma until 1854 and the Bodily Assumption, not until 1950. Their belief/dogma/doctrine is accepted after "the infallible revelation from God through the tradition of the Church." Catholic literature states very clearly that there is no scriptural basis for these beliefs. There is some Scripture that may vaguely hint at some of this but it’s very implicit and not explicit. There is no scriptural support (Protestant Bible or Apocrypha), but when they look at the 1600-year-old "Church" as a whole, they say the traditions mean it must be an infallible revelation from God: the Immaculate Conception and the Bodily Assumption. It’s tradition because so many people over the years have accepted these beliefs. The Pope called a council. The council met and said, "OK, we declare these beliefs to be a part of our Catholic Church."

I mention these because we’re going to read the Christmas story and read about Mary. The focus is on Jesus Christ, the Son of God, but we’ll see some of these concepts of Mary pop up. Again, this is not a condemnation of the Catholic Church and what they believe. My point is that they have a very different view of Mary than do Protestants. I’ll say this to you: their view of Mary may be a little too high and lofty, but our view, as Protestants, is too low.

Mary really is "esteemed among women." That’s what the Bible says. My objective is not to put down their views but to hopefully raise your image or opinion of Mary a little higher (not to the level of the Catholic Church but higher than it is now). When we see the manger scene with baby Jesus, our focus should be on Christ. But if you can identify with Mary and what she went through during the birth, life, crucifixion, death, burial, and resurrection, then you’ll have an appreciation for what Mary represents to Protestants and telling others about Christ. I would put Mary on the level with John the Baptist, Paul, Abraham, Isaac, etc. That’s where she belongs in terms of study, respect, and reverence, in my opinion.

Let’s look at Scripture…Luke 1:26. This is the "Annunciation." I don’t think there’s any disagreement between Catholics and Protestants about the Annunciation, or announcement to Mary.

So there is a term there:

God highly favors Mary. We’ll see some other terms as we read.

When you look at the word "favor" in Greek, it’s an offshoot of the word "charis," meaning charismatic, charismata, or gifted. So, Mary was highly gifted or favored by God. Of course she had to be because God chose her among all women for the divine incarnation of God in Christ to be in the world.

I think we’ve studied this before, but I want to remind you. When words like these are said, don’t gloss over them or let your mind wander. There’s a significant tie into the Old Testament. One of the two major promises in the Old Testament (2^nd Samuel 7) was that a descendant of David would be on the throne forever. God made that promise. Here it is mentioned and fulfilled. Jesus is the One. "It’s going to be your Son, Mary, and His kingdom will never end." We know that’s our hope in the future. God, Christ, will return, take control, take care of Satan, death, and sin, and reign forever. Gabriel’s announcement is very significant.

This question has been asked before in the Bible. Do you remember some other miraculous births? Abraham & Sarah asked, "How can this be?" They didn’t believe at first. When God supernaturally intervenes, especially with birth, we humans ask, "How can this be?" because all the physical knowledge and science tell me that this can’t happen. It is physically impossible for me to do this. So Mary asked, "How can this be since I am a virgin?"

When you see a miracle of God, know that that’s God’s plan. There is a purpose for that to happen. He doesn’t just say, "Wow. Look at this miracle I worked." He works a miracle and says, "That was part of my plan." We should rejoice with that.

This is awesome!

Mary is impregnated by the Holy Spirit. She is:

Her womb now contains the beginnings of a baby, just like a woman who becomes pregnant today. That is what’s happening here. Mary will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit. Mary is the human side. The Holy Spirit is the divine side.

Mary is the human side. The Holy Spirit (not Joseph) is the spiritual, divine side. This is why we say that when Jesus was born, Jesus was both all man and all God. He is "God-man." There is nothing lacking on either side. You need to understand that. God impregnated Mary, a human, with the Spirit. That’s the divinity of Christ. He is the "Son of Man" and the "Son of God."

Nothing is impossible with God. This was God’s plan, that a Savior would be born (seen in Old Testament prophecy). We’re seeing it happen here.

Verse 38 begins Mary’s reaction to this. This is why Mary should be held in esteem by us.

We would call that:

She was told something that was impossible and she said, "May it be so." She was obedient. Because she was obedient, she conceived the boy, Jesus Christ.

This is a story told in the first part of Luke 1. We didn’t read it.

So Elizabeth is now filled with the Holy Spirit—but not in the same way as we just talked about with Mary.

We talked about the Annunciation. This is where the "Mother of God" comes in. It’s in Elizabeth’s response. It says, "the mother of my Lord." There are two Greek words here: "theotokos", meaning "given birth to God," and the other is "christokos", meaning "mother of Christ." So we have a question before us. When Catholics say, "Mother of God," they’re really not saying that she is the mother above God. That’s how we sometimes react to it because God is supreme and God is One. God was, is, and will be forever. There can’t be someone before Him. What they’re talking about is the honor that Elizabeth gave Mary at this time by calling her, "the mother of my Lord." They take it a step further and say, "the Lord is God so Mary is the Mother of God." They’re really saying "Mary, mother of Christ."

We would have to agree with that. John 1:1 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." John 1:14 says, "The Word became flesh." So God became flesh. Mary was the mother. So you could say that Mary was the mother of God. Sometimes we hear it to the point where we say, "Well, they can’t say that. That’s not true." It is true, as long as we’re talking about Christ.

We can’t ignore it. We can’t say, "Don’t use that terminology. It’s too inflammatory." Then you have to ask, "What am I doing to do with Christ?" If Christ is not God then we’re lowering our esteem of Jesus. So there’s a little paradox. Mary is the mother of God, the flesh, but not the mother of God, from the beginning.

Well, if you’re talking about the possible embarrassment of being pregnant without having married Joseph, the original, Jewish wedding consisted of two parts. The first part is an engagement (unlike our engagement) where you’re liable already. You’re not living together, but you’re committed and as good as married. That’s what Mary and Joseph had been through. They had not completed the second part, involving living together. That’s why Joseph thought he would "divorce her quietly," but the angel visited him and said, "Take Mary. Everything’s fine. The Holy Spirit has done this, not another man."

So Mary:

She was obedient and she believed. Don’t underestimate that. We saw all throughout the Old Testament where those who believed through faith were the ones counted as righteous before God. God did it again. He said, "OK, Mary, you believe. You are the one."

This is called the "Magnificat." You may have heard it sung at Christmastime. This is the prayer of Mary to God.

She knows that people will call her:

The blessed mother of Jesus, Mary. As Protestants, we don’t use or think of those terms a lot. But that’s what’s written in the Bible.

So that’s the "Magnificat."

Let’s skip to Luke 2. We’re also going to change translations. You can read it out of any translation you want to. When I read the Christmas story in Luke 2, I prefer the King James Version. I’m going to read the story and not make any comments.

I want to read some other things that are not from Scripture but things that I found this week.

Of course, he’s talking about Mary.

Here’s another one, more recent, written by Luci Shaw. She calls it "Mary’s Song", what Mary must have been feeling that night as she held Jesus.

In Leviticus 12, God is speaking to the people of Israel out in the desert. The whole chapter talks about purification after childbirth. God was giving the Law back then, primarily for spiritual growth, to show them that they could not live up to the Law, and for hygiene/health concerns. We know that because scientists and doctors today have said, "Yeah, these are good things to do.

This is what was happening in Luke 2:21-24. We’re reading about the circumcision on the eighth day and the time of her purification (33 days later). Mary and Joseph were Orthodox, Israelite, Jews, Hebrews. They were doing what the Law of Moses called for: a sin offering. The sin offering was to make atonement for the mother, the one who gave birth. That’s why I have a problem with the Immaculate Conception. Here’s Mary, presenting an offering for her atonement according to the Law of Moses. The Immaculate Conception says that she was born without sin. They believe that because they want everything surrounding Christ’s birth to be perfect, so Mary had to be perfect.

But these verses tell me that Mary felt unclean, impure, needed atonement, and brought the dove to sacrifice for her sin offering. Other people can believe the Immaculate Conception, first accepted in 1854. I cannot accept it.

The "consolation of Israel" means "the Messiah," someone to help Israel. Notice the Holy Spirit, moving. That’s what we want today. We’ll see that through the rest of the New Testament. You want the Holy Spirit actively working in your life. You’ll do things, say things, confess things, and think things that you never normally would have because the Holy Spirit is moving in you, not you, yourself.

Meaning, the Messiah.

See! Moved by the Spirit… Shown by the Spirit… Led by the Spirit…

Notice "to the Gentiles," as well as the Jews.

Christ did.

He was.

I think that’s the human mother, Mary, watching Jesus being crucified on the cross.

We’ve talked about the "Virgin Birth." That’s pretty clear. We accept that. Let’s look at the "Perpetual Virginity" in Luke 8.

There are a couple of other places that refer to Jesus’ brothers (in Acts and in Paul’s letters). How can there be brothers of Jesus unless Mary had sexual relations with Joseph? If you want to accept "Perpetual Virginity", I say, "Fine. But I don’t because I read this and Scripture says He had other brothers."

The Catholic Church reconciles this by saying (and I agree) that the word used here for "brothers" could also mean "kinfolk," like cousins. Another slant is that Joseph was married before and had children and that these were just Jesus’ stepbrothers.

So there are other ways to interpret this, but I read it as Jesus had brothers (Mary’s other sons). James (who wrote the Book of James) is one of them.

They look at the word "until." "Until" doesn’t mean that he would have; it means he couldn’t before then. If I say, "You can’t open your presents until Christmas," does that mean that you’re going to open your presents at Christmas?

The "Bodily Assumption" is not scripturally founded. She’s last mentioned in Acts 1:14. The Catholics accept this because of "God’s infallible revelation through the tradition of the Church."

I have one more. We celebrate the birth of Christ at Christmas and celebrate His death, burial, and resurrection at Easter. In this passage, Mary is standing at the cross.

By the way, there are five "Mary"s in the New Testament. A great Bible study would be to track them down.

Remember that all the things Jesus said on the cross were profoundly eternal: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do", "Father, I commend my spirit to you", "It is finished", etc. Realize that the human, Jesus, took the time on the cross to look at his mother and to speak to his mother. It goes all the way back to the manger. There was something about Jesus’ relationship with His mother. Jesus treated her with respect and honor. Even on the cross, He took the time and thought it was very important to say, " John, take care of her. She is your mother now."

That’s why I hope that your understanding and esteem of Mary is a little greater than an hour ago. She is not to be worshipped. She is not an intercessor between us and God. But she is someone that we should not ignore. Mary is a key player in the New Testament. God found favor with her.