A novena is an act of religious pious devotion originating in ancient Christianity, often consisting of private or public prayers repeated for nine successive days in belief of obtaining special intercessory graces. I was recently made aware of a religious tradition called, "The Novena of the Virgin Mary of Fatima." Apparently, one is to pray a "Hail Mary" and upon completion of this make a request. Now, I am well aware of making our requests to God, but have never heard of making requests to Mary. But, when one understands the words of the "Hail Mary," you can see why this is done. Within the words of the "Hail Mary" you will find these words; "Holy Mary, Mother of God." Yes, Mary is considered to be the Mother of God! Therefore, why wouldn't somebody who believes this make requests to her? However, anybody who understands the Bible knows that this idea that Mary is the mother of God is pure blasphemy. Of course, the argument would go, "Well, Jesus is God and Mary is His mother, hence she is the Mother of God." However, there are more than a few things wrong with this. First of all Mary was a regular human being just like the rest of us. In fact, it was Mary, herself, that recognized her need for a savior. "And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant (Luke 1:46-48)."" Mary says her spirit rejoiced in God her Savior! If she is the mother of God, then why does she need a savior? Next, she refers to herself as God's servant. If she is the "mother of God" wouldn't the roles be reversed; wouldn't God be her servant? In fact, she would be a god if she could give birth to one! However, scripture is clear; God has no beginning and no end. "Before the mountains were born or you brought forth the whole world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God (Psalm 90:2)." Also, "God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see (1 Timothy 6:15-16)." Everlasting means that which endures forever; either that which has no beginning and will have no end. Furthermore, to say something is immortal means that something is literally incorruptible. Therefore, something that has no beginning, no end, endures forever and is incorruptible can only be attributed to God and definitely does not need saving. Mary is neither God nor His mother.
The second Person of the Trinity, Jesus, did have a beginning to His earthly ministry when he was conceived in Mary’s womb and was born, but from eternity past He had always been the Son of God. So what happened when Jesus decided to leave heaven and become a man? "Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being (Philippians 2:6-7)." Some translations say that Jesus "became nothing" when he became a human being. This gives us more insight as to why Mary was humbled by the task God had blessed her with. We are nothing compared to God, yet He chose to become like one of us and used Mary as His earthly vessel. Mary was the mother of Jesus, not the mother of God. As one author puts it, "A mother by definition precedes her child and at some point is more powerful than her child. So to call Mary the “mother of God” gives the misleading implication that Mary preceded and at one time was more powerful than the Lord God Almighty." It is well within reason to believe that an almighty God could become a human and go through the process necessary to be born from a woman, enter this world as a baby and grow up in this world. His ability to do that does not make the woman He chooses to be His vessel for that process His mother much less someone to pray to in order to get our requests granted. It is interesting that God seems to have already answered the question about who we make our requests to; we make our requests known to Him and Him alone, not Mary or any other created being. "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6)." It is not biblical to say that Mary was the Mother of God or to make requests to her. The sad and scary part about all of this is the thought of what else does someone believe about God, Jesus, the Bible, salvation and the Christian life who thinks Mary is God's mother and someone to pray to? Are they even Christian? After all, this novena is a tradition and it was Jesus who said to the Pharisees, "Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that (Mark 7:13)." I believe it is safe to say that many of the Pharisees missed out on an eternity with God because they chose their traditions over their Messiah. Do not be guilty of the same eternal mistake just to hold on to your traditions.
No comments:
Post a Comment