Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first. And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it. (Luke 11:26-28 KJV).The New Testament in Luke's Gospel provides us with the absolute blessing that God provides upon obedience to Him alone. We know about being loyally obedient to God because of His written Word. However, we see people searching for devotion, allegiance and obedience to the Virgin Mary. No one should ever enter Pope John Paul II's "school of Mary" but rather the "school of Jesus Christ." We see that the blessing of God comes upon those who observe the written Word about God. God's blessing of obedience does not come to God's people through exalting the Virgin Mary. This is clearly the intended meaning of our Savior's words. God's blessing of observing His written Word and God's commandments is more essential and important than blessing the Virgin Mary. It is simply better by God's divine grace through the changing power of His Word. I would like to ask you, what does a blessing consist of? What is a meaning of a blessing? Blessing is righteous favor and correct doctrine. Jesus said it is better to be obedient than to bless the Virgin Mary. I am not saying Jesus contradicts Luke's Gospel account of the angel that proclaimed to Mary about her blessedness among women. I think every son or daughter of Adam who believes unto obedience is blessed like Mary is blessed. I am trying to labor to say in my feeble attempts to make plain that this "blessing" that Jesus condemns and rejects by saying "on the contrary" or "rather" regarding having this "blessing" to Mary as something that takes away our obedience to God. I think honoring Mary is disobedience to God and His written Word. I think there was emerging in the time of Jesus a Marian cult like there is among the Papists these days. That means in the slightest sense if we exalt her in anyway about loyalty to Christ alone we have provoked a holy God. I suggest to you that this Marian woman in the crowd where Jesus spoke sought to exalt the Virgin Mary. That is, she venerated her like the Roman Papists and Orthodox people do nowadays. I would like to suggest to you that is better to be a blessing unto obedience than to bless the Virgin Mary by dogmas or doctrines about her to honor her. I would like to call the Roman Papists and Orthodox leadership to repentance though I am a nothing! Reformation by God's presence through His Holy Spirit can only happen through a change of mind! The primacy of importance is not honoring the Virgin Mary to get to Jesus as a gateway to Him but the blessing of obedience to His written Word alone. The blessing of God's people is not praying to Mary. Rather it is honoring His blessed Word and observing God's commandments. Furthermore, the blessing of God's people is not exalting Mary as the Queen of Heaven or Assumed into Heaven or Eternal Virgin or the Sinlessness of Mary. Rather the blessing is to those who keep the Word and obey the Word. Moreover, the blessing of God's people is not viewing Mary as our Helper, Advocate, Intercessor or Redeemer! Rather the blessing of God Almighty is for those who obey the written Word and the words of Jesus. It is better to have faith in Jesus than to honor Mary in prayer. If we seek to honor God, we will honor Jesus above any creature. Let us look very carefully at what Augustine said and ponder his thoughts on this very Scriptural passage:
"Mary was more blessed in accepting the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ. To someone who said, "Blessed is the womb that bore you," he replied, "Rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it." Finally, for his brothers, his relatives according to the flesh who did not believe in him, of what advantage was that relationship? Even her maternal relationship would have done Mary no good unless she had borne Christ more happily in her heart than in her flesh." (Just, Jr., Oben, ACCOS, NT II, Luke, pg. 195).I suggest to you that Augustine has a great point here. Mary would not go to heaven if she did not know Jesus in her heart. God needed to change Mary's heart just as much as Jesus' brothers. The only way to go to heaven is to know God in our hearts through a personal relationship with Him in faithful repentance according to the gospel of Jesus. Not even the "work" of the Virgin Mary in giving birth to Jesus Christ as His mother suffices to be enough to enter heaven's gates. I suggest to you that only the imputed unified merit of Jesus Christ is the sole grounds through faith alone to be right with God! I would like to respectfully point out with great boldness that the blessing of obedience is superior to the blessing of Mary in the manifestation of different dogmas about her through sacred history. I suggest to you that the different doctrines about Mary are because of the radically corrupt minds of men. The sinful flesh wants another refuge besides God. The sinful flesh wants something else besides the divine Word of God. If we do not go beyond the written Scriptures, we will never embrace any of the dogmas of the Papists. Blessed is the man who possesses Jesus' imputed unified righteousness alone by faith alone! Blessed is the man who has a changed heart unto obedience to God through repentance unto bearing fruits. May God help them see the divine truth of God in His written Word. It is better to be obedient than to honor Mary because we ought to honor God alone in our obedience. Amen.
My heart goes out to those people who have erred in taking the words of Scripture and the early fathers too far. My heart bleeds for the Roman Catholic and Orthodox people who have exalted Mary as an equal to Christ. Do you realize that Jesus found fault with a ceremony among the leadership of Jews that washed their hands as a "sacred tradition?" I am afraid the reaction of Jesus at the Day of Judgement will be far worse regarding exalting His mother. I keep praying for a reformation of dogma among the Papists so that they might know the unspeakable and eternal joys of heaven. I am only a man saved by grace alone, but I set forth the doctrines of divine Writ. I proclaim this day Jesus Christ alone and Him crucified. Will you honor your King and Master by rejecting exaltation of Mary? Think about what has been said and ask God to help you. Grace and peace!
