The Honouring of Mary
Now it occurred that as He was speaking these things, a certain woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, blessed (happy and to be envied) is the womb that bore you and the breasts that you sucked! But He said, blessed (happy and to be envied) rather are those who hear the word of God and obey and practice it! (Luke 11:27, 28,AMP)
Right from the time Jesus was on earth, people had always admired Mary and wanted to honour her. They wanted to start the worship of Mary right from Jesus’ lifetime on the earth.
Jesus was speaking on ‘the return of an evil spirit’ when suddenly a woman spoke up from the crowd and said to him, “Happy is the woman who gave birth to you and the breast that fed you.”
What was the woman doing? calling for the admiration and honour of Mary at a point when Jesus was teaching the crowd on why they must not return to their sinful ways after receiving a miracle.
Many people must have been deeply touched by Jesus’ teaching – The woman concentrated on how to honour Mary, what a misplaced priority! Instead of giving honour to God that sent Jesus to earth, she was concerned about how to honour the woman that gave birth to Jesus.
What the woman was actually saying is ‘if not for Mary, Jesus would not have come to the earth let alone do all the great exploits he was doing.’ Could it be that she was inspired by the spirit of God or a mere carnal desire?
Before the woman made the statement, she must have thought about it over and over again. She must have tbought ‘why not me?, why Mary?, had it been I am the mother of Jesus, everybody would have known me. I would have become famous. Everyone would have been respecting me.’ To me, her motive was questionable!
But Jesus quickly corrected her statement, before the worshipping and honouring of Mary would be institutionalized. Jesus said the people that should be honoured are the people who listen to the word of God, who obey and practice it! not Mary. So why are people still honouring Mary today? Jesus spoke plainly against it before His ascension.
What is the word of God? One of the words of God is found in the book of Exodus 20:4(GNB) : “do not make for yourself images of ANYTHING in HEAVEN or on EARTH or in the water under the earth.”
God was the one speaking here, God said ‘ANYTHING’, meaning that the image of Mary or of Jesus, or of any angel is not acceptable by God. But some churches still chose to be honouring and worshipping Mary, thereby going against the word of God.
This woman who wanted to draw attention to Mary must have regretted the idea because it wasn’t welcome by Jesus. So why will you still continue to worship or honour Mary when Jesus already said that that was uncalled for? If you are not obeying God or His words, then certainly you are obeying the devil.
My friend, don’t wait till the end of days before you know that you have lived your entire life disobeying God. It might be too late by then.
Hope you are aware that the race to heaven is a personal race. There will be no excuse that it was your family religion to worship Mary. That your parents practised the worshipping of Mary doesn’t mean you have to do the same. You should rather obey the word of God than follow men’s tradition.
There are also millions of people who are neither worshipping nor honouring the physical Mary but they have the Mary they are worshipping and honouring. Some people’s Mary are; football, television, social media, beauty, wisdom, car, house, wife, husband, pastor, certificates, idol, witches, stomach, fame and so on.
They love those things more than God. They can decide to pray a short prayer because of the things mentioned above. They give more time to those things than to God. They esteem those things above God. They always think about them. This always makes them excited. It constitutes their greatest joy.
What or who is your Mary? It is ANYTHING or ANYONE, you exalt, fear, honour, worship, respect or love above God or things of God.
Are you ready to give God His place in your heart? If yes, I pray, receive the grace to love God with the whole of your heart in Jesus name.
Also Read: Restoration of Glory (Part 6)
Rotimi Israel is a writer and a teacher of God’s word. He attended the Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Bible School. He is also currently training as a pastor with a Pentecostal denomination. He loves reading the Bible and preaching.
