Motherhood: How God Saved the World

God could have saved us however He wanted. Really, God is God. Sometimes in Bible classes I get asked this question. Why did God have to be born a human, why suffer and die, why not just "up and forgive the world?"

The short answer is that God entered into the creation He was saving... what He used, what He entered into, He also redeemed. That includes how he was born of a woman. It includes with certain emphasis in the Scriptures from beginning to end, motherhood. 

After I sent out my earlier devotion today I received a heartfelt message from one of my readers wishing I'd written something about motherhood today. Honestly, I knew it was mother's day, but in my morning devotions I got side tracked, so I wrote the other message instead. She made a compelling case, though.

Mothers are not just important. They're essential. Not just so we can be born in this life, either. Also so that we might be born again. Motherhood is essential to God's economy of salvation. That's biblically true, too.

Have you ever considered how central motherhood is to God's salvation story?

The first glimmer of hope after humanity's fall appears in Genesis 3:15, historically recognized as the protoevangelium or "first gospel." This verse points to a coming deliverer who would emerge through the "seed of the woman."

 

"I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel" (Gen 3:15).

 

Even in pronouncing judgment, God established motherhood as the vehicle for salvation's entrance into our broken world. 

The theme of the "seed of the woman" is in some ways the narrative "key" to the Old Testament. It's why genealogies are so important. We see several mothers who play a major role as God's salvation, the promised seed of the women endures.

Consider Hannah, whose desperate longing for a child led to one of Scripture's most profound theological declarations. In her prayer of thanksgiving (1 Samuel 2:1-10), Hannah uses military imagery, proclaiming that her "mouth is opened wide over my enemies." This strong language, emerging from her maternal experience, anticipates themes that would later resonate in Mary's Magnificat.

Hannah's prayer culminates in a striking messianic reference: "He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed" (1 Samuel 2:10). This proclamation of God's anointed (מְשִׁיחוֹ, meshicho) comes from a woman rejoicing in motherhood, pointing forward to the Messiah. 

The genealogies of Jesus further emphasize this maternal dimension of salvation history. Matthew's account (Matthew 1:1-17) notably includes four women—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba—each with complicated stories. Their inclusion highlights God's pattern of working through motherhood in unexpected circumstances, underscoring that His grace is not bound by human perfection or societal norms, and preparing us for the extraordinary nature of the virgin birth.

When we reach the New Testament, Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1:46-55) is one of the richest tests in all of Scripture.

Her declaration, "My soul magnifies the Lord" uses a Greek verb meaning "to make great" or "to enlarge." Mary's very being becomes the means through which God's greatness is brought forth into the world.

She acknowledges this is because God "has looked on the humble estate of his servant" (Luke 1:48), using a word (tapeinōsis) that implies lowliness or insignificance.

God consistently chooses what the world considers insignificant to accomplish His greatest works.  

Mary's affirmation that "all generations will call me blessed" (Luke 1:48) indicates ongoing recognition throughout history. It's true, in fact. Mary is still highly regarded by Christians all around the world.

This is not self-aggrandizement but a prophecy of her pivotal role in God's plan. Her blessedness derives not from personal merit but from God's choice to work through her unique motherhood. 

In the Incarnation, motherhood reaches its theological zenith. The eternal Word became flesh not through divine decree alone (God didn't force Mary into this role) but through a woman's willing "Let it be to me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

The Creator enters creation through the created vessel of motherhood. The infinite is carried within the finite. The one who sustains all life was sustained by a mother's body. As Martin Luther observed in his commentary on the Magnificat, "No one can say of her nor announce to her greater things... It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God." 

Even at Calvary, motherhood maintained its significance. As Jesus was dying, He saw His mother and the disciple whom He loved. He said to His mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" and to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" (John 19:26-27).

In this act, Jesus not only provided for Mary's care but established a spiritual relationship. Mary, who physically mothered the incarnate Word, now extends a maternal role to "the disciple whom Jesus loved." In John's Gospel, he uses this term to refer to himself. Most scholars agree, it's not because he was trying to be humble, but because he wanted all believers, everyone Jesus loved (it's John who writes "God so loved the world" in 3:16) to see themselves in his place.

At the cross, John did literally take in Mary as his own mother. But he also represents all believers. Through adoption in the Spirit, we become children of God, and beautifully, we are also connected to His mother.

Luther understood this, stating, "Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us... and his mother is also our mother."

This maternal imagery culminates in the apocalyptic vision of Revelation 12, where a woman, clothed with the sun and crowned with stars, gives birth to a male child who is to rule the nations. This woman carries multi-layered symbolism, representing Israel, the Church, and typologically Mary, who literally bore the Messiah. The Greek term for "child" (teknon) emphasizes the maternal bond, and the description of the child ruling with "a rod of iron" directly quotes a messianic psalm.

The honor bestowed upon the mother of the King speaks to the exalted place of the one who bore the Messiah. Throughout history, in ancient kingdoms, the Queen Mother held a position of significant esteem, often interceding with the king on behalf of the people.

This ancient understanding helps illuminate the deep reverence shown to Mary in the earliest Christian communities, a devotion rooted in apostolic connections and a recognition of her unique role in God's plan.

This vision of a cosmic battle also highlights that motherhood has eschatological significance – the birth pangs of redemption begun in Eden find culmination in the Messiah's birth and the life of His people.

The earliest Church Fathers recognized this profound reality. They honored Mary with the title "Theotokos," (God-bearer) acknowledging that the child she bore was truly God. It was more a statement about Jesus' divinity than Mary, of course. The title doesn't suggest that Mary gave birth to God in eternity, but it affirms that the child she bore in Bethlehem was truly God, the savior of the world.

St. Cyril of Alexandria powerfully stated, "For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, how should the Holy Virgin who bore him not be the Mother of God?"

This ancient understanding, connected to the apostolic age, reflects a deep reverence for Mary's unique place in salvation history.

It is vital to understand that this honor is not worship, which belongs to God alone. Sadly, the history of the church has seen both excessive devotion and, in reaction in some protestant circles, a regrettable tendency among some to largely ignore Mary as though her role in the economy of salvation was nothing but historical means. They forget that even Mary recognized that all generations would call her blessed.

Her significant place in Scripture and the piety of figures like Martin Luther remind us of her unique and blessed role. As Luther wisely guided, "One should honor Mary as she herself wished and as she expressed it in the Magnificat. She praised God for his deeds... Mary does not wish that we come to her, but through her to God."  

Again, while some Christians have a very deep Marian piety, rightly understood it's not about praying to Mary. Using the imagery of Revelation and the ancient understanding of the Queen Mother, though, it's not wrong to believe that Mary likely prays and intercedes for us. Not as a mediator (there's only one of those, that's Jesus) but as a fellow believer, a blessed saint, and a mother who's been entrusted to us by Jesus Himself, who as the Queen Mother surely intercedes for us as Queen mothers do, that we might know that His birth into the world is now paradigmatic of our re-birth.

Her blessedness points us always to the God who chose her. It reminds us that through that choice, through motherhood, God has chosen us, too.

God, the all-powerful, all-creative God, could have chosen any means to save humanity. But from the very beginning, He chose to work through motherhood.

This means that motherhood is sacred.  

Yes men, even in a way that's different than fatherhood (which is also important, but theologically, for different reasons).

Every mother who nurtures life, who sacrifices, who loves unconditionally, participates in a reflection of God's own life-giving nature.

The intimate union between husband and wife, which the Apostle Paul likens to the profound mystery of Christ and the Church (Ephesians 5), is designed to be fruitful, to bring forth new life – children. In this way, every child is a testament to God's ongoing creative power and His decision to work through the beautiful, challenging, and sacred journey of motherhood.

This Mother's Day, celebrate the incredible gift of mothers. Let us marvel at God's wisdom in choosing motherhood as His path to redemption.

It also gives us hope. In this world, in our earthly relationships, sometimes there are factures and there's brokenness. Some of us have lost our mothers too soon. Some mothers and children have (for whatever reason) grown apart. If that's you, take hold of the truth of motherhood in Scripture. With Jesus, we always have a mother. We are all children of God, born not from eternity, but on account of our unity with the Son of God, the child of Mary, and the savior of the world. It also testifies to us that when all is broken (the entire universe was broken after the fall in Genesis 3) that God has a plan...

... and mothers are always at the heart of God's plan.

Your role, mothers, is not merely biological; it is deeply theological, echoing God's own redemptive heart and woven into the very fabric of His plan to save the world. 

 

Happy Mothers' Day,

Judah