At Christmas Time 2020: #6 Mary, the Mother of Jesus

I am very grateful for Mary, the earthly mother of our Savior. She is a special spirit daughter of our Heavenly Father and Mother. ("Thou art highly favored, the Lord is with thee.") This is a young teen-age girl, prepared in the preexistence, now accepting the responsibility of being the earthly mother of our Savior.

                                                             #6 Mary, the Mother of Jesus

Please first read: Luke 1:26-38

The Annunciation to Mary

Some six months have transpired since the angel’s visitation to Zacharias in the temple.   Elizabeth is with child. God the Father now sends the angel Gabriel to Mary in Nazareth, who is betrothed (engaged in the Jewish tradition) to marry Joseph.

Mary, like many young Jewish maidens of her time, would be aware of the prophecies regarding the coming of their Messiah. The one so chosen would be of the tribe of Judah and a descendant of David. Jesus would come through this the Royal Line which also happens to be the ancestry of both Mary and her husband-to-be Joseph. What incredible joy and excitement would the mother of the Christ experience when that great event occurred! What a blessing for the Jewish nation and all involved! How much longer must they suffer and wait for the Lord to come and restore the nation to its former grandeur?

And then,

“Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women,” the angel Gabriel greets the virgin.

Could this be? Mary knew of her lineage, her unmarried status and her virgin condition. Startled, and before she can respond, the angel continues:

“Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God. And behold thou shalt conceive in thy

womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.”

“Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

Mary’s response is almost child-like: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word,” and the angel departs as quietly as he had come. (Luke 1:28-38)

The time is at hand, the Savior is coming to the earth!

Mary was chosen and foreordained in the preexistence to be the earthly mother of our Lord. She was the greatest, or one of the greatest, spiritual daughters of our Father in Heaven. Just as God chose the greatest of His sons to be the Christ, it is reasonable to think that He would make a similar selection for the earthly mother of that Son. Mary was known to many Old Testament and Book of Mormon prophets. They prophesied her name would be “Mary,” she would be the earthly mother of the Savior, and Jesus would be the only begotten Son of God the Father on the earth.

In the 8th Century BC Isaiah wrote, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)

                                    

Nephi, in about 600 BC, stated “And I beheld the city of Nazareth; and in the city of Nazareth I beheld a virgin, and she was exceedingly fair and white” ...  And I looked and beheld the virgin again, bearing a child in her arms ...  And the angel said unto me: Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the Eternal Father.” (1 Nephi 11:13, 20, 21)

King Benjamin prophesied in 124 BC “And he shall be called Jesus Christ the Son of God, the Father of heaven and earth, the Creator of all things from the beginning; and his mother shall be called Mary.” (Mosiah 3:8)

Around 83 BC Alma wrote that Christ “shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem ... she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.” (Alma 7:10)

Christ's coming to the earth in a mortal body had been prophesied among the Jews for centuries. These prophecies were contained in their Old Testament scrolls and other inspired writings. They had revered and taught from them for ages. The prophesies were numerous, included the law of Moses, and at the time of Jesus' coming were considered authoritative in current Jewish worship. They knew that through the fall came death ... Satan and his followers were loosed on earth to oppose God and inflict man; to be the opposition to righteousness. They also knew from prophecy that good would eventually triumph over evil and death, but an atoning sacrifice by a Savior God would be necessary to bring this to pass. Of all our Fathers sons and daughters our Elder Brother, Jesus the Christ was the only one who met all the requirements.  He was a God in the preexistence before the creation of the worlds. He is the first-born spirit son and the only begotten of the Father in the flesh and is second only to the Father in power and authority. He alone has an immortal Father (God) and a mortal mother (Mary.) He alone was given the power to lay down His life and take it up again, which He did in atoning for our sins.

The Jewish nation had long hoped and prayed for God to hasten His coming. They expected Him to come in power and glory ... to vanquish their foes ... make them free again ... and restore them to power and glory. Much of their history was a record of oppression and enslavement, as it was at the time of Jesus' birth. Deep was their longing for God to come, vanquish their oppressors and restore them to power as in the days of David.

We may assume that Mary's parents would be righteous and faithful in keeping and observing the law of Moses and the other requirements of Jewish worship. She would grow up in a normal religious home of that day. The culture, traditions, and societal practices of that day would shape and guide her maturing. From her mother she would learn necessary homemaking and family skills and plan for the time when she would marry a proper Jewish husband. Her work would include the family field and orchard.

Her husband would be the head of the family and the responsibility of providing for them would fall to him. He would lead in the various practices and rituals for worship, prayer, service in the synagogue, and observance of holy days. She would see his faithful performance to God in the religious teaching of his children, and in his keeping the commandments and the law of Moses.

Mary and Joseph, her husband to be, were cousins. Although they were poor they were of royal descent. The lineage of both goes back to David and Abraham. That the Savior would be of the house of David had been widely prophesied. The ancestry of both Mary and Joseph fulfilled this requirement.

The Apostle Joseph E. Talmage:

“The consensus of historians is that Matthews' account is of the royal lineage, establishing the order of sequence among the legal successors to the throne of David; while the account given by Luke is a personal pedigree, demonstrating descent from David without adherence to the line of legal succession to the throne. The all-important fact to be remembered is that the Child promised by Gabriel to Mary would be born in the Royal Line.”

President Joseph Fielding Smith “Our Savior was a God before he was born into this world, and he brought with him that same status when he came here. He was as much a God when he was born into the world as he was before.” (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 1)

Glenn R. McGettigan 

December 2011; Revised September 2018

References:

“Our Lord of the Gospels.” Clark

“The Mortal Messiah.” McConkie

“Jesus the Christ.” Talmage

“Life and Teachings of Jesus and His Apostles.” CES NT Manual

“The Four Gospels.” Ludlow

“Doctrinal New Testament Commentary.” Volume 1. McConkie

“The Gospels.” Jackson-Millet

“Mormon Doctrine.” McConkie

“The Life and Teachings of Jesus Christ.” Volume 1. Holzapfel-Wayment

“The Life of Christ.” Farrar

“The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah.” Volume 1. Edersheim

“Doctrines of Salvation.” Volume 1. Joseph Fielding Smith