Mary, mother of Jesus

Question: I want to do a word on Mary mother of Jesus for church, Mother’s Day can you help?

Answer: This article is taken from the book Intimate portraits of WOMEN in the BIBLE by Lee Roddy. The Scripture is quoted from the New American Standard Version of the Bible.

“Mary, the mother of Jesus, is undoubtedly the most significant woman of the New Testament. She has become so popular that a whole system of religious observance has grown up around her.

But the only authority for Mary’s life is the Gospels. Those writings show us this remarkable woman as God saw fit to have her recorded in His inspired Word.

The chronological order of the scriptural stories suggests we start with Luke, who gives us some background of the history and the times.

Luke is believed to be the only non-Jewish New Testament writer. As a Greek physician, and therefore a Gentile writing to another non-Jew, he carefully documented the historical scene prior to Mary’s entry into the story.

“Now it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus” (Luke 2:1) Caesar Augustus was on the throne as the first emperor of the entire Roman Empire. He ruled from 31 B.C. until A.D. 14. Augustus ordered a census, a Roman preliminary step to taxing the people. That included the land of the Jews, where Mary lived.

Luke, seeking to establish accuracy, declares this census was “first taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.” Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (also called Cyrenius) was consul in Rome by 12 B.C. In A.D. 6 he was sent to Syria as governor to assess taxes after counting the people. At the time, the Roman captive country of Judea and Galilee was governed from Syria to the northeast.

Although Matthew doesn’t make it clear in his narrative (since the point wasn’t crucial to what he had to say), Herod the king had been on the throne in Judea for many years. He had filled the land with Graeco-Roman structures. The magnificent temple in Jerusalem covered thirty-five acres. It was the Jewish center of worship, yet the white, polished, native-stone structure had been built by Herod along the pagan lines of architecture he so admired.

But Herod was equally famous for his violent, suspicious nature and determination that no one would usurp his throne. This applied to his own family. He had killed two sons by his favorite wife, and a third was waiting to die. Thousands of Jews had been executed, and so had many of Herod’s in-laws. Their crimes were usually only suspicions by Herod that they sought his throne.

This was the scene when Mary is introduced in the Scriptures. Her people, the Jews, had long been prisoners in their own land. At present, the Roman occupation forces were in command. Before that, there had been a short period of home rule under the Maccabees. They had thrown off the invaders’ successors who’d come after the Greek-speaking Macedonian, Alexander the Great. Greek could still be heard spoken in the village, along with Aramaic and some Hebrew.

And, going back still further, there had been deportation and exiling of Hebrews to Assyria and Babylonia. When some of them had returned, they had to struggle to find a place among those peoples who had moved into the Promised Land. But one good thing came out of all those centuries of exile, invasion, and foreign occupation forces: the Jews’ hopes for a Messiah had risen higher and higher. When the Christ (Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah, meaning “anointed”) came, He would deliver God’s people and set up a great kingdom.

Mary, like all Jews of her time, must have know that the prophets of old had prophesied repeatedly that this anointed one would come from King David’s line, among other things. So Mary grew up to young womanhood with the knowledge of the Messianic expectation, the knowledge that the Romans occupied her homeland by force of arms, and the knowledge that Herod had filled the country with foreign architecture and wasn’t going to yield his crown to anyone — including the expected Jewish Messiah.

Luke, having established the historical background, introduces readers to how John the Baptist was conceived and then turns to Mary. When Elizabeth was six months pregnant with her son, the angel Gabriel went to Mary with an announcement.

“Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you” (Luke 1:28). Mary was troubled at this greeting, but the angel assured her and said she’d found favor with God. “And behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.

“He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end” (Luke 1:29-33).

Mary asked a logical but extremely delicate question: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). The angel explained, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35)

Gabriel added that Mary’s relative, the aged Elizabeth, had conceived, for nothing is impossible with God. Mary accepted the angelic pronouncement by saying, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).

When the angel departed, Luke declares that Mary went to visit Zacharias and Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea. Matthew’s narrative adds some details about Joseph’s reactions. The Jewish marriage customs of that time had two steps. Mary and Joseph were engaged, a binding betrothal which required a bill of divorcement to end even though the couple had not slept together. That would come only after the second step in the marriage. But between the first and second steps, Joseph learned his virgin fiancée was pregnant.

Joseph, according to Matthew’s Gospel, was a righteous man who didn’t want to disgrace Mary, so he wanted to “put her away secretly” (Matthew 1:19). An angel appeared to Joseph in a dream and explained he was not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife. She had conceived of the Holy Spirit and would bear a Son who was to be called Jesus. This was fulfillment of the prophetic declaration, “Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translates as ‘God with us'” (Matthew 1:23).

Matthew explains that Joseph obeyed the angelic visitor, keeping Mary as his wife but not sleeping with her until after the child was born. We can only surmise how Mary dealt with the problem which led to Joseph’s involvement. When she first told him, obviously he didn’t accept her explanation of her pregnancy. Luke dismisses the questions Joseph had and follows Mary to Elizabeth’s home. Both Gospels ignore Mary’s emotions and thoughts in this sensitive area of culture. But we wonder what Mary thought.

She told her betrothed what had happened, and he didn’t accept the truth until an angel confirmed Mary’s explanation. Nothing is said about what the neighbors said, but it was a time when a woman could have been stoned for becoming pregnant out of wedlock. One of Joseph’s own ancestors, Judah, had caused the pregnancy of Tamar, and she was almost stoned [and burned].

This cultural response may have been partially lessened when Mary left her hometown of Nazareth and went south to Judea to visit Elizabeth. This trip also gives us an intimate portrait of feminine reaction to pregnancy in a culture where a childless woman was considered to be unfulfilled.

The old woman and the young one, both stirring with life within their bodies, greeted each other with strongly emotional words. [We have all the Scripture on this in our Four in One Gospel Part Three.]

The older woman declared, “Blessed among women are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Luke 1:43)

Mary responded with what is called the Magnificat, beginning with, “My soul exalts the Lord, 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” Luke 1:46-48).

The hymn of praise continued, but there is a curious lack of any mention of the anticipated birth. Mary simply praised God.

After three months she returned to Nazareth in Galilee. The Gospels then pick up the story of Mary and Joseph in the little town of Bethlehem. It was there that her days were fulfilled and her baby was born.

Every Christmas for centuries, Mary’s story has been told and retold as Jesus’ story. But the questions which present themselves are how Mary felt, what she thought, and how she reacted to the very human emotions which must have assaulted her at that time.

She was a young woman, virginal, in a strange town, far from home, about to give birth to her first child, and there wasn’t any room for her in the inn. What would a modern woman in Mary’s situation think and feel and say and do?

Would she ask, “If God’s truly involved in this, why couldn’t He have arranged a decent place for the birth instead of this stable? Are they going to find a midwife in time? We’re poor; very poor — why couldn’t we have had a little money to tide us through this situation?”

There’s no indication Mary felt that way. The Bible simply says, “And she gave birth to her first-born son: and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn” (Luke 2:7).

The rest of the Christmas story is too well-known to dwell on here. In passing, however, some examination is necessary on the question of whether Mary had other children after Jesus was born.

Some people claim Mary remained forever a virgin. However, there is strong scriptural evidence that she bore other children. While some sources claim these children were Jesus’ cousins, [or Joseph’s from a former marriage, and his first wife had passed away] the Gospels are plain.

Matthew wrote of Mary that Joseph “kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son: and he called His name Jesus” (Matthew 1:25) Luke is less specific, but still plain enough: “And she gave birth to her first-born son” (Luke 2:7).

Matthew’s wording clearly suggests Joseph did not keep his wife virginal after Jesus was born.Josephus’s secular history has a brief reference to “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ, whose name was James,” who was ordered stoned by Albinus after the death of Festus. Josephus also refers to James as “the Just.”

We’ll return to further scriptural evidence that Mary bore other children later in this study. But now let’s consider Mary’s life in the chronology of the Gospel and the flight to Egypt.

This flight into Egypt took place after Jesus’ circumcision at the age of eight days. It might have been as long as two years since Herod the king killed boys up to that age in an effort to make sure the Jewish Messiah did not succeed to his throne.

Before the flight to Egypt, Mary was obedient to the ancient commands concerning purification after a birth. Mary and Joseph also had time to bring Jesus to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord, as required in the ancient writings (Luke 2:22-23).

As Mary and Joseph brought the Infant into the temple, they were approached by Simeon. This old, righteous, and devout man spoke prophetically as he held the Infant in his arms.

Both Joseph and Mary were amazed at Simeon’s comments about Jesus. But Simeon spoke directly to Mary His mother, declaring, “Behold this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed — and a sword will pierce even your own soul — to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).

These were further thoughts for Mary to ponder in her heart along with those she’d treasured since the shepherds visited the manger (Luke 2:19). Simeon’s comments were apparently followed at once by the approach of Anna. She was an eighty-four-year-old widow and prophetess.

Luke does not quote this woman directly, as with Simeon, but declares she began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Israel” (Luke 2:38).

.What makes the Matthew account intriguing is the writer’s obvious knowledge about the successor to Herod the king. Josephus gives us details that most readers simply pass over in reading about Joseph, Mary, and Jesus’ return from Egypt.

We wonder what Mary thought when her husband announced that an angel had told him to return to “the land of Israel; for those who sought the child’s life are dead” (Matthew 2:20).

Joseph returned from Egypt to his homeland with Mary and the child. “But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And being warned by God in a dream, he departed for the regions of Galilee, and came and resided in a city called Nazareth, that what was spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, ‘He shall be called a Nazarene'” (Matthew 2:22-23).

Matthew has no further comment on Mary, Joseph, or Jesus until Jesus is grown. However, Luke brings Mary back for a significant event when her Son was twelve. That year, they took Jesus to Jerusalem for the first time, although “his parents used to go to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover” (Luke 2:41). [Jesus would have also gone to the synagogue every Sabbath from His infancy.]

This was required of able-bodied Jews who were to travel each spring (March-April) to commemorate the event under Moses when they had finally been freed from Pharaoh’s slavery in Egypt. The Hebrews had sprinkled blood on their doorposts. They had eaten a special meal that night when death “passed over” the doors with the blood sprinkled on them, but all the Egyptian first-born of man and cattle had died.

Nothing is said about the first Passover Jesus attended with Mary and Joseph, but on their way home, the parents discovered their Son had stayed behind in Jerusalem without their knowledge. They supposed He was in the caravan with relatives and friends.

We learn something more about Mary’s personality and human traits when she and Joseph returned to the capital city and found Jesus after three days. They were “astonished,” Luke says, when they found Jesus in the temple, listening and talking to the teachers. Mary, and not Joseph, admonished Jesus. [“So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, ‘Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.’ And He said to them, ‘Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?'” (NKJV) gently reminding Mary his mother that Joseph was not His father]

Jesus, however, obediently went back to Nazareth and “continued in subjection’ to them while “His mother treasured all these things in her heart” (Luke 2:51). Luke then drops all mention of Mary for a while.

Matthew brings Mary back momentarily in the early part of Jesus’ ministry where He preaches in His hometown. The people were astonished at His wisdom and miraculous powers. They said, “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and his brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” (Matthew 13:55). Mark uses the Greek, Joses, for Joseph (Mark 6:3).

Joseph’s [and Jesus’] occupation is revealed here, about thirty years after Jesus was born. Mary and Joseph have a nice family: four brothers [besides Jesus] who are named, plus at least two sisters. If they were other than brothers and sisters, it seems logical that would be stated as such.

.He [Jesus] attended a wedding in Cana of Galilee. Mary was there also (John 2:1). When the wine gave out, she told Jesus, “They have no wine.” [We have an article on Wine in the Bible that you might want read.]

Why did Mary say that? Obviously, she expected He could do something about it. But how did she know? What did Mary know that the Scriptures don’t tell us?…He replied, “Woman, what do I have to do with you? My hour has not yet come” (John 2:4)

Why did Jesus call her “Woman” instead of Mother? What must Mary have thought of a son who didn’t use the more familiar equivalent of Mother? .It is not until the final agony of the cross that Jesus’ compassion is demonstrated toward His mother.

At the Cana wedding feast, Jesus’ comment about His hour not yet being there didn’t phase Mary. She said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it” (John 2:5) The miracle of turning water into wine was the “beginning of His signs,” John’s Gospel asserts. His disciples believed in Him.

John’s Gospel immediately says Jesus went down to Capernaum, “He and His mother, and His brothers, and His disciples” (John 2:12). .[O]ther references strongly suggest that Mary was widowed during the early days of Jesus’ ministry. Joseph is omitted, pointedly it seems, from later references to Mary.

Something more of Mary’s human traits is revealed in a scriptural episode when Jesus’ ministry was flourishing. Multitudes were following Jesus. He was performing miracles, preaching and teaching. In fact, so many people crowded about that when “He came home,” Jesus “could not even eat a meal” (Mark 3:21).

The next verse doesn’t specifically mention Mary, but she is mentioned shortly thereafter, so she might have been among those whom Mark wrote about. “And when His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him, for they were saying, ‘He has lost his senses'” (Mark 3:21).

Verse 31 declares, “And His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him, and called Him” (Mark 3:31).A multitude was sitting around Jesus when someone brought word. “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You” (Mark 3:32).[Then His mother and brothers came to Him, and could not approach Him because of the crowd. And it was told Him by some, who said, ‘Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, desiring to see You.’ But He answered and said to them, ‘My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.'” (Luke 8:19-21 NKJV)

What reaction did Mary have when these words were sent back to her? What feelings were aroused in her at such apparent public rebuke? Since it is known that Jesus’ brothers and sisters didn’t believe in Him, and they were with Mary, what did they say to her? Brothers and sisters are the same the world over, and their reaction must have stung Mary. Can’t you hear their remarks?

[Maybe they said things like:] “Who does He think He is? We’re family! You, Mother, gave Him life in a stable! You fled with Him to Egypt to protect His life! You nursed and fed and cared for Him, and what’s the thanks you get? Huh? I’ll tell you what thanks He gives you! He publicly refuses to see you or us, his own family!”

Mary must also have suffered from the, perhaps unspoken, attitude of doubt from her children. [“His brothers therefore said to Him, ‘Depart from here and go into Judea, that Your disciples also may see the works that You are doing. For no one does anything in secret while he himself seeks to be known openly. If You do these things, show Yourself to the world.’ For even His brothers did not believe in Him.” (John 7:3-5 NKJV)]

[Since] they didn’t believe in Jesus, as obviously they didn’t, then they had to have some doubts about their mother. How did Mary handle that? Had she told them about the angelic announcement of her first-born’s conception? Or had she kept her virgin birth experiences to herself, not even sharing them with her daughters?

If we knew the answers, we’d know more about the kind of emotions this tremendously important woman had in her life. We’d understand more how she felt and what she thought in those years when thousands flocked about her first-born, and she was rejected so that Jesus could make a point.

Mary’s name does not come up again in Scripture until Jesus was dying on the cross of Calvary. While Matthew, Mark, and Luke mention other women at the cross (some by name), John’s Gospel not only shows that Mary, Jesus’ mother, was at the cross, but perhaps indicates why the synoptics don’t include her among the women. She may have already gone.

John’s account lists Mary right after the early actions of the crucifixion following the incident in which the Roman soldiers cast lots for Jesus’ clothing. “Therefore the soldiers did these things. But there were standing by the cross of Jesus His mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene” (John 19:25).

Jesus saw His mother and “the disciple whom He loved [John in humility doesn’t refer to himself by “me,” but says “the disciple whom He loved.”] standing near the cross. Jesus said to Mary, “Woman, behold, your son!” (John 19:27). John’s Gospel declares, “And from that hour the disciple took her into his own household” (John 19:27)

Could this be why the other Gospel writers don’t list Mary, mother of Jesus, at the cross when He dies? Is it possible that John, knowing the end for Jesus was near, obeyed Jesus and immediately (from that hour) led her away from the cross to his home?

That could explain why the synoptic [Gospels] don’t mention Mary, Jesus’ mother, at the cross: He had known the end was near and had mercifully had her taken away so she could not see his final agony. Of course, it’s bad enough for any mother to see her child executed or murdered or otherwise killed, but it’s nice to think Jesus spared her the final tragic sight of His suffering..

We cannot imagine Mary’s grief until Sunday morning, unless we have also suffered the loss of a child.

However, her pain and anguish [possibly] doubts and fears can be visualized. An angel had appeared to her about thirty-four years before and announced the birth of this Son. Mary had accepted the angel’s words without doubt. She had weathered the thoughts Joseph had first had about quietly divorcing her. She had borne Jesus in a strange city, in a manger, and then fled for her life and the life of her Son.

She presented the Child in the temple at Jerusalem as required by ancient law and heard Simeon prophesy about the Infant. “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed — and a sword will pierce even your own soul — to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:35).

Did Mary remember those words all those years, and especially on the day her Son died on the cross? Since she treasured other words in her heart, as the Scriptures say, it seems logical she remembered Simeon’s prediction.

And what did Anna, the 84-year-old prophetess say to Mary right after Simeon spoke? Luke says only that Anna came up and began giving thanks to God, “and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).

Did that mean Anna said those things to other people? Or did she say something to Joseph and Mary, which Mary remembered but which the Gospel writer didn’t specifically tell us?

But no matter what she thought that day when her Son died on the cross, we know it was painful in the extreme, as it would be for any mother who’d lost a son. It would be more so for the woman who had known some marvelous and spiritual things we’re not told. Mary knew Jesus had special powers before the wedding feast at Cana, although we don’t know what she knew exactly.

What did she think about the ugly rumors that had persisted among unbelieving Jews and Romans from the very first days of Jesus’ ministry? Those stories were recorded in other non-biblical literature and persist to this day. [“Then they said to Him, ‘We were not born of fornication; we have one Father-God.'” (John 8:41) The indication from the false religious leaders of Jesus day, is that, they believed Jesus was born of fornication.] Basically, they say Jesus was the illegitimate son of Mary and a Roman soldier. Surely she must have heard those stories in her lifetime. How did she feel about such terrible words? Did these rumors add to her grief so that she was prostrate the morning after the Sabbath?

.Jesus is said to have first appeared to Mary Magdalene. Although Mary was joyous over the news that her Son had risen from the dead, might she have wondered, “Why couldn’t He have first appeared to me and eased my grief sooner?” [But we don’t see any of this in her.]

Did Jesus appear to her privately, we may wonder, but if so it is in an event that was recorded, however, it is not recorded as to all the people He appeared to after His resurrection.

It is hard for us not to see the risen Jesus promptly reassuring and comforting His mother, personally, instead of through words spoken by others, some of whom doubted Jesus had risen from the dead. But for whatever reason, the Scriptures are silent about Mary from the final words of Jesus to her and John the disciple on the cross until the book of Acts.

Mary is mentioned for the final time following the ascension. This event is set by Luke in Acts 1:3 after Jesus had repeatedly presented Himself alive “over a period of forty days.”

In Acts, Jesus gathered “them” together (probably meaning the disciples but allowing room for others) and issued final instructions. We’re not told if Mary was there then.  Jesus commanded them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait “for what the Father had promised.”

Jesus referred to the Holy Spirit, with which “you shall be baptized not many days from now.” “You shall receive power,” Jesus promised, “when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).

After Jesus said this, “He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight” (Acts 1:9). [Mary] is listed as among those who were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem after Jesus’ ascension. It is noteworthy who’s listed ahead of the Lord’s mother:

“Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” (Acts 1:13-14) [Now after the resurrection of Christ, His brothers and sisters believe in Him].”

Everyone, it seems, has precedence over Mary at this point, except His brothers. Even the women, not otherwise identified, lead Mary and Jesus’ brothers in Luke’s listing. Peter, as usual, leads the list of apostles, with James and John next. These three were Jesus’ closest confidantes during His ministry. It is totally logical that they should head this list, for they had been vital to Jesus’ earthly work, and now they were to carry out the Great Commission, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

It is important to notice that something had happened to Jesus’ brothers. Before, they had tried to reach Him because they seemed to fear for His emotional or mental well-being. They had been denied admission with their mother in a public event which probably had hurt and stunned them. Yet now, after the ascension, they are with their mother and the disciples and the unnamed women, “all with one mind” and “continually devoting themselves to prayer.”

Peter, at this upper room meeting, stands up in the midst of about a hundred and twenty persons, including Mary, and assumes leadership.

Later, when Peter moves on to the Gentiles, James, the Lord’s brother, leads the Jerusalem believers. We know from Josephus that Mary then had a least two sons who gave their lives for the new faith: Jesus, then James.

If we ask ourselves seriously about Mary’s final appearance in Scripture, several logical answers come to mind.

Mary, like John the Baptist, was to decrease so that Jesus would be magnified. Mary, like many a mother of a well-know Christian, had given birth and early nourishment to someone especially chosen of the Lord.

Mary, like other mothers, seems to have been very special in God’s eyes to have been entrusted with such a responsibility.

Mary herself had said, “From this time on all generations will count me blessed. For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name” (Luke 1:48-49).

She was correct, for she has been counted as blessed during nearly two thousand year. But she was blessed, by her own confession, because God had done great things for her.

She was, like all who hear God’s message and obey, blessed because of what God had done for her. She is not special because of who she was, but because of what God did for her. And that’s true of the faithful today. [“And it happened, as He (Jesus) spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, ‘Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!’ But He said, ‘More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!'” Luke 11:27-27)]

Mary played a vital part in God’s plan. She was chosen above all women for this unique ministry of becoming the Lord’s mother. But in the end, she was consigned to the position of joining others in prayer.

And that’s the lesson of relevance, it seems. God chooses to call some, usually quite unexpectedly as far as the called one is concerned, to have a special mission in life. If that person accepts in faith and obedience, as did Mary, the mother of Jesus, then God does great things, but the glory and the credit belong to Him.

Mary is counted as blessed by all generations, but she gave God the glory, and the Scriptures finally place her in proper perspective when her work is done. She could join the other saints in prayer, but she was not exalted above them. It’s hard to remember, but it’s a fact from the Scriptures. No matter who we are, the glory belongs only to God.”

Taken from Intimate portraits of WOMEN in the BIBLE by Lee Roddy

I hope this helps,

Gary T. Panell

For more information email: [email protected]