Mother of Jesus

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Mary is not the mother of God the Father, 

nor the mother of Christ, 

nor of the Holy Spirit. 

She is the mother of Jesus.

And Jesus is GOD.

 

Luke 1:31-35 [31] Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. [32] He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. [33] And of his kingdom there shall be no end. [34] And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? [35] And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
 

She is the mother of Jesus.

Where did these teachings come from? What is the meaning of these teachings?

We need to know all these for it has something to do with our spiritual life which also has something to do with Jesus Christ.

The history says the early Christians already knew Mary as the Mother of God. This is manifested in their prayers.
"Sub tuum praesidium confugimus, Sancta Dei Genetrix. Nostras deprecationes ne despicias in necessitatibus nostris, sed a periculis cunctis libera nos semper, Virgo gloriosa et benedicta"

which means

"Beneath your compassion, We take refuge, O Mother of God: do not despise our petitions in time of trouble: but rescue us from dangers, only pure, only blessed one."

So The Mother of Jesus, the Christ the Redeemer of the world  Isaiah 54:5  is not really nothing new that the Vatican has promulgated just during her time. The early Christians already have this belief even before it became a Catholic Dogma. And only when there are doubts and questions that the church confirms the belief and therefore it becomes a Dogma.

A dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true, e.g. “the Christian dogma of the Trinity”. It is a belief, tenet, maxim, canon or article of faith.

One of the early church fathers, Nestorius studied and found out that there are two persons in Jesus, the human Jesus and the Jesus who is the Christ and God. He pointed out that Mary could not be the Mother of God for she gave birth only to the human Jesus and not to the Divine Jesus Christ. So it came out there are now two Jesus Christ. So is this then acceptable?

Nestorius (/ˌnɛsˈtɔriəs/; in Greek: Νεστόριος; c. 386 – 450) was Archbishop of Constantinople from 10 April 428 until August 431, when the emperor Theodosius II confirmed his condemnation by the Council of Ephesus on 22 June. His teachings included a rejection of the long-used title of Theotokos, "Mother of God", for the Virgin Mary, and were understood by many to imply that he did not believe that Christ was truly God. This brought him into conflict with other prominent churchmen of the time, most notably Cyril of Alexandria, whom he accused of heresy.

Nestorius sought to defend himself at the First Council of Ephesus in 431, but instead he found himself formally condemned for heresy by a majority of the bishops and subsequently removed from his see. On his own request he retired to his former monastery in or near Antioch. In 435 Theodosius II sent him into exile in Upper Egypt, where he lived on till 450, strenuously defending his orthodoxy.

His last major defender within the Roman Empire, Theodoret of Cyrrhus, finally agreed to anathematize him during the Council of Chalcedon 451; from then on he had no defenders within the empire. But the Church of the East never accepted his condemnation. Nestorius was then formally excommunicated from the Catholic Church of the West.

This led later to western Christians giving the name Nestorian Church to the Church of the East, even though it never regarded him as an authoritative teacher. The discovery and publication of his Book of Heraclides at the beginning of the 20th century led to a reassessment of his theology in western scholarship.

It is now generally agreed that his ideas were not far from those that eventually emerged as orthodox, but the orthodoxy of his formulation of the doctrine of Christ is still controversial. This is due to the fact that the Second Council of Constantinople of AD 553 confirmed the validity of the condemnation of Nestorius, refuting the letter of Iba that affirms that Nestorius was condemned without the due inquiry.

Because of Nestorius, there came about a wrong teaching that instead that there is one in Jesus Christ there became two persons in Jesus Christ. And because of these there are churches who do not accept the Divinity of Jesus.


Mary the Mother of Jesus  


The  First Council of Ephesus in 431 proclaimed that Mary is actually the Mother of God which was ratified by the Council of Chalcedon 451. The Council of Chalcedon strengthened the dogma of “Mother of God”. This Theotokos, "Mother of God" title for the Virgin Mary became the “Touchstone of Orthodoxy. Orthodoxy means authorized or generally accepted theory, doctrine or practice which is not a false dogma or heretic belief.


It was unanimously approved and ratified during the two councils of early church fathers which proved that there is only one person in Jesus who is the Only Begotten Son of the Father who became flesh. Therefore, the Nestorius ‘ study that the there are two persons in Jesus is notoriously erroneous. Therefore Jesus was the Word of God. 
  The Divinity and Incarnation of Christ – John bears witness of Him. John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we saw his glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

Jesus is one person with two natures – the true God and the true man. His father is God the Father and if the Father is God, therefore the Son is also God. But because Jesus’ mother is human, therefore Jesus is also human. So how many is Jesus is there? Jesus is only one person, the WORD in the beginning that was made flesh that dwelt among us.

Nature is the basic or inherent features of something, especially when seen as characteristic of it. And Jesus has the inherent and characteristic of God.   
The Nature of Jesus as Man
 
As a human being Jesus experienced the life of a real person. When His best friend Lazarus died He wept like a normal human being. He also experiences all the emotions that humans do. John 11:34-35 [34] And said: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see. [35] And Jesus wept.

During the agony in the garden, Jesus experienced fear as well. He feared what was coming and He even begged His Father to let the cup pass him by. Luke 22:40-46
[40] And when he was come to the place, he said to them: Pray, lest ye enter into temptation. [41] And he was withdrawn away from them a stone' s cast; and kneeling down, he prayed, [42] Saying: Father, if thou wilt, remove this chalice from me: but yet not my will, but thine be done. [43] And there appeared to him an angel from heaven, strengthening him. And being in an agony, he prayed the longer. [44] And his sweat became as drops of blood, trickling down upon the ground. [45] And when he rose up from prayer, and was come to his disciples, he found them sleeping for sorrow [46] And he said to them: Why sleep you? arise, pray, lest you enter into temptation.

During his crucifixion, He suffered so much, died and was buried as a normal human being.

John 19:16-42
[16] Then therefore he delivered him to them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him forth. [17] And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew Golgotha. [18] Where they crucified him, and with him two others, one on each side, and Jesus in the midst. [19] And Pilate wrote a title also, and he put it upon the cross. And the writing was: JESUS OF NAZARETH, THE KING OF THE JEWS. [20] This title therefore many of the Jews did read: because the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, in Greek, and in Latin.
[21] Then the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate: Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am the King of the Jews. [22] Pilate answered: What I have written, I have written. [23] The soldiers therefore, when they had crucified him, took his garments, (and they made four parts, to every soldier a part,) and also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. [24] They said then one to another: Let us not cut it, but let us cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the scripture might be fulfilled, saying: They have parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture they have cast lots. And the soldiers indeed did these things. [25] Now there stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother' s sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.

[26] When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son. [27] After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own. [28] Afterwards, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, said: I thirst. [29] Now there was a vessel set there full of vinegar. And they, putting a sponge full of vinegar and hyssop, put it to his mouth. [30] Jesus therefore, when he had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated. And bowing his head, he gave up the ghost.

[31] Then the Jews, (because it was the parasceve,) that the bodies might not remain on the cross on the sabbath day, (for that was a great sabbath day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. [32] The soldiers therefore came; and they broke the legs of the first, and of the other that was crucified with him. [33] But after they were come to Jesus, when they saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. [34] But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water. [35] And he that saw it, hath given testimony, and his testimony is true. And he knoweth that he saith true; that you also may believe.

[36] For these things were done, that the scripture might be fulfilled: You shall not break a bone of him. [37] And again another scripture saith: They shall look on him whom they pierced. [38] And after these things, Joseph of Arimathea (because he was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews) besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. And Pilate gave leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. [39] And Nicodemus also came, (he who at the first came to Jesus by night,) bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. [40] They took therefore the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths, with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury. [41] Now there was in the place where he was crucified, a garden; and in the garden a new sepulchre, wherein no man yet had been laid. [42] There, therefore, because of the parasceve of the Jews, they laid Jesus, because the sepulchre was nigh at hand.
     The Nature of Jesus as God
 
Jesus walks in water
 
Because Jesus has the nature of God he was able to perform no man can ever do, a miracle only a God can do. In the very eyes of His apostles, they saw Him walk towards them in the middle of the sea to join them in the boat.John 6:19 [16] And when evening was come, his disciples went down to the sea. [17] And when they had gone up into a ship, they went over the sea to Capharnaum; and it was now dark, and Jesus was not come unto them. [18] And the sea arose, by reason of a great wind that blew. [19] When they had rowed therefore about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking upon the sea, and drawing nigh to the ship, and they were afraid. [20] But he saith to them: It is I; be not afraid.

When they had rowed therefore about five and twenty or thirty furlongs, they see Jesus walking upon the sea, and drawing nigh to the ship, and they were afraid. Also in (Matthew 4:16-20).
   Christ raises Lazarus to life
 
When Lazarus of Bethania who is His friend whom He love died. He came after three days. Lazarus was already entombed dead for four days and the body is already expected to have started decaying.John 11:32-45
[32] When Mary therefore was come where Jesus was, seeing him, she fell down at his feet, and saith to him: Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. [33] Jesus, therefore, when he saw her weeping, and the Jews that were come with her, weeping, groaned in the spirit, and troubled himself, [34] And said: Where have you laid him? They say to him: Lord, come and see. [35] And Jesus wept.

[36] The Jews therefore said: Behold how he loved him. [37] But some of them said: Could not he that opened the eyes of the man born blind, have caused that this man should not die? [38] Jesus therefore again groaning in himself, cometh to the sepulchre. Now it was a cave; and a stone was laid over it. [39] Jesus saith: Take away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith to him: Lord, by this time he stinketh, for he is now of four days. [40] Jesus saith to her: Did not I say to thee, that if thou believe, thou shalt see the glory of God?

[41] They took therefore the stone away. And Jesus lifting up his eyes said: Father, I give thee thanks that thou hast heard me. [42] And I knew that thou hearest me always; but because of the people who stand about have I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. [43] When he had said these things, he cried with a loud voice: Lazarus, come forth. [44] And presently he that had been dead came forth, bound feet and hands with winding bands; and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus said to them: Loose him, and let him go. [45] Many therefore of the Jews, who were come to Mary and Martha, and had seen the things that Jesus did, believed in him.

Other prophets, apostles and saints were able to performed miracles because they were given the power by God to do so.
 
Saints Who Raised The Dead

The book "Saints Who Raised The Dead" by Father Albert J. Hebert documents true stories of 400 resurrection miracles in the lives of the Saints. Jesus says to His apostles in the Gospel of John: "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it." (John 14:12-13) And again He commanded His apostles: "Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons. Without cost you have received; without cost you are to give."Mathew 10:8

And following Jesus command, we have in the Acts of the Apostles Peter raising Tabitha from the dead (Acts 9:40), and later Paul raising Eutychus from the dead (Acts 20:12). And after the Apostles we have the Saints continuing the mission and the mandate of Jesus to "Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, drive out demons" and to "evangelise unto the ends of the earth." In the book, "Saints who raised the dead" there are dozens of Saints listed along with an explanation of the resurrection miracles that they performed. Some of the many listed are St Ignatius of Loyola, ST Paul of the Cross, St Catherine of Siena, St Hyacinth, St Martin of Tours, St Ambrose and many others. But probably one of the greatest evangeliser and missionary Saints was St Francis Xavier. The focus of this article will be the many persons that St Francis brought back to life through the grace of God. - See more at: http://www.miraclesofthechurch.com/2010/10/raised-from-dead-saints-who-brought.html#sthash.iiLlxAfn.dpuf

Whenever Jesus is asked He always says “I” as a single person. He never says “we”. Mary gave birth to a human son because she is human. She did not give birth to a divine Jesus. Jesus is already divine even before He was born of the Virgin Mary.

But Jesus was divine when He is still in Mary’s womb. He was divine when He was born.Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

Jesus then is the second person of the Blessed Trinity.

SYLLOGISM

Jesus is God.
Mary is the Mother of Jesus.
Therefore, Mary is the Mother of God.

So where can we find that Mary was called the Mother of God? When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, at the instant Elizabeth saw Mary she asked Mary, who am I that the mother of our Lord should come to me? Upon Elizabeth hearing Mary’s voice, her infant in her womb leaped with joy. Earlier, when Mary upon hearing that her cousin Elizabeth who is old enough to have a child was pregnant, she left her parents to visit her. But Elizabeth did not know that Mary is visiting her and that Mary is likewise pregnant with baby Jesus. Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth knew right away and felt so humble that the Mother of God had visited her.
 Luke 1:40-50
[40] And she entered into the house of Zachary, and saluted Elizabeth.

[41] And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: [42] And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. [43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord.

[46] And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. [47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. [48] Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. [49] Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. [50] And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.

Words of Wisdom: “Little learning is a dangerous thing.” Faith is equally the same measure by the way a person reads the bible. If one does it literally then faith is shallow but if one discern and fathom the depth of the spiritual meaning of the verses in the bible, then faith is deeper.

In Jewish culture and tradition, when a Jew says the word “Lord”, they are referring to God. Elizabeth, a Jew, filled with the Holy Spirit, realizes that the child in Mary’s womb is not just human Messiah but her Lord God.