Audela

Mary

The mother of Jesus

Place in the genealogy

  • Matthew · name 42 · Abraham forward to JesusFrom the exile to Christ: the return'Of whom was born Jesus.' The only mother in the final link.

Where Scripture records this person

  • Gabriel's announcement, her question, and her answer: let it be to me according to your word.
  • Her song, made almost entirely of Old Testament words.
  • The birth, and she kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.
  • Simeon tells her a sword shall pierce through her own soul.
  • At Cana: whatever he says to you, do it.
  • At the cross, given into John's care.
  • Praying with the disciples after the ascension.

Who this person is in Scripture

Mary is a young woman in Nazareth, engaged to Joseph, when she is told she will bear a son by the . Her recorded reply is a question about how, followed by consent. Her song in shows a mind full of Scripture: it echoes Hannah's prayer and the promises to Abraham.

Scripture shows her at the birth, in , at Cana, at and in the upper room. It records that she pondered and kept things, that she did not always understand, and that Jesus committed her to a disciple's care as he was dying. makes her the point at which the genealogy changes shape: Jesus is born of her, not begotten of Joseph.

Family, as Scripture gives it

Spouses
Joseph
Children
Jesus, and the brothers and sisters named in

Scripture does not name Mary's parents. Elisabeth is called her cousin in .

What this teaches

  • Her song answers a personal blessing by talking almost entirely about God's character and his promises to Israel.

Questions the text can answer

Is Luke's genealogy Mary's line?

says Jesus was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli. Some readers understand Heli as Mary's father, making Luke's list her line; others read both lists as Joseph's, one by natural descent and one by legal succession.

Scripture does not state which is correct. It is honest to lay out the options and say the question is not settled in the text.

Read in the Bible

Back to the genealogy of Jesus