Mary, The Virgin
Mary, The Virgin
(See GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST.) Probably Matthan of Matthew is Matthat of Luke, and Jacob and Heli were brothers; and Heli’s son Joseph, and Jacob’s daughter Mary, were first cousins. Joseph, as male heir of his uncle Jacob who had one only child Mary, would marry her according to the law (Num 36:8). Thus the genealogy of the inheritance or succession to David’s throne (Matthew’s) and that of natural descent (Luke’s) would be primarily Joseph’s, then Mary’s also (Psa 132:11; Luk 1:32; Rom 1:3). She was sister or half-sister to Mary (Joh 19:25), and related to Elisabeth who was of the tribe of Levi (Luk 1:36). (See MARY OF CLEOPHAS; ELISABETH.) In 5 B.C. (Luk 1:24, etc.) Mary was living at Nazareth, by this time betrothed to Joseph, when the angel Gabriel came from God to her in the sixth month of Elisabeth’s pregnancy. (See GABRIEL.)
He came in no form of overwhelming majesty, but seemingly in human form, as is implied by the expression “he came in,” also by the fact that what she was “troubled at” was not his presence but “his saying” (compare Dan 10:18-19). “Hail thou that art highly favored” (kecharitomenee) cannot mean as Rome teaches in her prayer to the Virgin, “Hail Mary full of grace”; that would be pleerees charitos as in Joh 1:14; the passive of the verb implies, as usually in verbs in -oo, she was made the object of God’s grace, not a fountain from whence grace flows to others; as Joh 1:30 explains it, “thou hast found favor (charin) with God”; so Eph 1:6, echaritoosen, “He hath graciously accepted us.” “The Lord is (or, BE) with thee (Jdg 6:12), blessed art thou among women”; not among gods and goddesses.
As Jael (Jdg 5:24); “blessed” in “believing” (Luk 1:45), more than in conceiving Christ (Luk 8:19-21; Luk 11:27-28); compare her own practice, Luk 2:51; Mat 12:49-50. “Her relationship as mother would not at all have profited Mary if she had not borne Christ more happily in the heart than in the flesh” (Augustine, Tom. 4, De Sanct. Virg.). In Luk 11:27-28, during His last journey, a month before His crucifixion (A.D. 30), upon a woman of the company exclaiming, “blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps which Thou hast sucked,” He said, “yea, rather (menounge) blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it”; the blessedness even of Mary is not her motherhood towards Him, but her hearing and obeying Him.
The Spirit’s prescience of the abuse of the words Luk 1:28 appears in the precautions taken subsequently in the same Gospel to guard against such abuse. The Virgin’s words (Luk 1:48) “all generations shall call me blessed” mean not, shall call me by that name, “the Blessed Virgin,” but shall count me blessed, as in Jam 5:11 (the same Greek). The nations shall count JESUS, not the Virgin, the fountain of all blessedness (Psa 72:17). When in “fear she cast in her mind what might the meaning of the salutation be,” the angel reassured her by the promise, “behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus.
He shall be great (not merely as John Baptist ‘in the sight of the Lord,’ Luk 1:15, but as the Lord Himself), and shall be called (i.e. shall be really what the name means) the Son of the Highest, and the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David (not merely His throne in heaven whereon David never sat, but on Zion, Jer 3:17), and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shi all be no end.” She asked, not incredulously as Zacharias (Luk 1:18), but in the simplicity of faith which sought instruction, taking for granted it shall be, only asking as to the manner, “how shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”
The angel therefore explained, “the Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee (as with a cloud, denoting the mildest, gentlest operation of the divine power, coveting, quickening, but not consuming: Mar 9:7), therefore also that Holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (from whence our creed saith, “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit,” etc.; compare Gen 1:2. “As the world was not created by the Holy Spirit, but by the Son, so the Son was not begotten by the Holy Spirit, but by the Father, and that before the worlds, Christ was made of the substance of the Virgin, not of the substance of the Holy Spirit, whose essence cannot be made. No more is attributed to the Spirit than what was necessary to cause the Virgin to perform the actions of a mother. And because the Holy Spirit did not beget Him by any communication of His essence, He is not the Father of Him.” Pearson, Creed, 165-166.)
Gabriel instanced Elisabeth’s being six months advanced in pregnancy, who once was barren, to confirm the Virgin’s faith that “nothing is impossible with God” (Rom 4:17-21); she evinced her faith in the reply, “behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word,” Her expression of humble, believing acceptance of and concurrence in the divine will (Luk 1:38; Luk 1:45) was required, and may be with reverence supposed to be recorded to mark the date of our Lord’s conception. Mary then went in joyous haste to the hill country of Judah, to a city where Zacharias and Elisabeth lived, whether Jutta, (Jos 21:13-16) a priests’ city, or Hebron, S. of Jerusalem and much further S. of Nazareth in Galilee. On Mary’s saluting Elisabeth the latter hailed her as “mother of her Lord,” inasmuch as at her salutation “the babe leaped in her womb for joy,” adding, in contrast to Zacharias whose unbelief had brought its own punishment,” blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things told her from the Lord.”
Mary then under the Spirit uttered the hymn known as the “Magnificat,” based on Hannah’s hymn (1Sa 2:2). In it we see a spirit that drank deeply at the wells of Scripture, a humility that “magnified the Lord” not self, that “rejoiced” as a sinner in “her Savior” (disproving Rome’s dogma of the immaculate conception), a lively sense of gratitude at the mighty favor which the Mighty One conferred on one so low, a privilege which countless Jewish mothers had desired (Dan 11:37, “the desire of women”), and for which all generations should count (“call”) her happy (makariousin, compare Gen 30:13), and an exemplification of God’s eternal principle of abusing “the proud and exalting them of low degree,” and a realization of God’s faithfulness to His promises “to Abraham of mercy and help to Israel forever.” Mary stayed with her cousin three months, and just before John the Baptist’s birth returned to her own house at Nazareth.
Then followed Joseph’s discovery of the conception and his tender dealing with her, and reception of her by God’s command (Matthew 1), as being the virgin foretold who should bring forth Immanuel (Isa 7:14; Jer 31:22). (See JOSEPH.) Augustus’ decree (Luke 2) obliged them to go to Bethlehem, God thereby causing His prophecy (Mic 5:2) to be fulfilled, Mary there giving birth to the Savior. The shepherds’ account of the angels caused wonder to others, “but Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart”; so again Luk 2:51, not superficial, but reflective and thoughtfully devout. The law regarded her as unclean until the presentation 40 days after the birth (Leviticus 12). Then she was bound to offer a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or turtle dove for a sin offering, to make atonement for her poverty compelled her to substitute for the lamb a pigeon or turtle dove.
Simeon’s hymn followed, at the close of which he foretold, “a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed”; the anguish of her Son should pierce the mother’s heart, and be a testing probation of character to her as well as to all others (Joh 9:39; Joh 19:25; Psa 42:10); that she had misgivings and doubts is implied in her accompanying His brethren afterward, as if enthusiasm was carrying Him too far (Mat 12:46; Mar 3:21; Mar 3:31-35; Joh 7:5). The flight to Egypt followed; then the return, at first designed to be back to Bethlehem, but through fear of Archelaus to Nazareth of Galilee, their former home.
Then the visit to Jerusalem when Jesus was 12 years old. Had she remembered aright the divine Sonship of Jesus announced by Gabriel, she would have understood His lingering in the temple, and have forborne the complaint, “Son, why hast Thou thus dealt with us? Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing.” Still maternal solicitude and human love prompted her words, of which the only fault was her losing sight of His divine relations. She and Joseph (who is never after mentioned) “understood not Jesus’ sayings, but Mary kept them all in her heart.” Four times only does Mary come to view subsequently.
(1) At the marriage of Cana (John 2), in the three months between Christ’s baptism and the Passover of A.D. 27. As at the finding in the temple He disclaimed Joseph’s authority as His father in the highest sense, cf6 “wist ye not (thou Mary and Joseph) that I must be about My (divine) Father’s business”, so here He disclaims her right as human mother to dictate His divine acts, “they have no wine.” cf6 “Woman, what have I to do with thee?” (what is there (in common) to Me and thee?) a rebuke though a gentle one, as in Mat 8:29; Mar 1:24; 1Ki 17:18. Mary, when reproved, meekly” saith to the servants, Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it” (2Ch 25:9). The Christian’s allegiance is solely to Him, not to her also: a prescient forewarning of the Holy Spirit against mediaeval and modern Mariolatry.
(2) Capernaum next was her home (Joh 2:12). Two Passovers had elapsed since the marriage in Cana, and He had twice made the circuit of Galilee. Crowds so thronged Him that lie had no time even “to eat bread.” Mary dud His brethren, anxious for His safety, and fearing He would destroy Himself with self denying zeal, stood outside of the crowds surrounding Him and “sought to speak with Him, and to lay hold on Him, for they said He is beside Himself” (Mar 3:21; Mar 3:31-35). Again He denies any authority of earthly relatives, or any privilege from relationship, cf6 “who is My mother or My brethren?” and looking round on those sitting about Him, cf6 “behold My mother and My brethren,” for” whosoever shall do the will of My Father which is in heaven the same is My brother, sister, and mother” (Mat 12:50).
(3) Shortly before three o’clock and His giving up the ghost, He once more recognizes His human relationship to her, which He had during His ministry put in the background, that His higher relationship might stand prominent; for “now that which she brought forth was dying” (Augustine). Commending her to John He said to her, cf6 “woman, behold thy son”, and to John cf6 “behold thy mother”. John (Joh 19:26-27) immediately “from that hour took her to his own home,” so that she was spared the pang of witnessing His death. “He needed no helper in redeeming all; He gave human affection to His mother, but sought no help of man” (Augustine).
(4) She is last mentioned Act 1:14, “Mary the mother of Jesus” (not “of God”) was one of the women who continued with one accord in prayer and supplication for the Holy Spirit before Pentecost. In all the epistles her name never once occurs. Plainly Scripture negatives the superhuman powers which Rome assigns her. In the ten recorded appearances of the risen Savior in the 40 days, not one was especially to Mary. John doubtless cherished her with the tender love which he preeminently could give and she most needed. It is remarkable how with prescient caution she never is put forward during Christ’s ministry or after His departure. Meek (Joh 2:5), and humble, making her model the holy women of old (Luk 1:46), yielding herself in implicit faith up to the divine will though ignorant how it was to be accomplished (Luk 1:38), energetic (Luk 1:39), thankful (Luk 1:48), and piously reflective (Luk 2:19; Luk 2:51), though not faultless, she was the most tender and lovable of women, yet a woman still.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Mary, The Virgin
MARY, THE VIRGIN.Historical data for the life of the mother of our Lord are astonishingly meagre. Legendary matter there is in abundance, with regard to her life both before the Annunciation and after the Ascension, but this art. will not touch on this except incidentally.
1. The Virgin Mary was born, we may suppose, at Nazareth. Tradition names Jerusalem (Cuinet, Syrie, Liban, et Palestine, p. 523), but this is quite untrustworthy. Her parents, according to a not improbable tradition, were Joachim and Anna (Protev. Jacob.). There is no reason to doubt that the Virgin, as well as Joseph, belonged to the tribe of Judah and to the family of David (Luk 1:32; Luk 1:69, Rom 1:3, 2Ti 2:8, Heb 7:14), although it is almost certain, on the other hand, that both Mt. and Lk. give, not her genealogy, but Josephs.
The statement of the Test. XII. Patr. (Simeon vii.), which makes Mary a woman of the tribe of Levi, is clearly an erroneous inference from the relationship between her and Elisabeth (cf. Plummer on Luk 1:27; Luk 1:36). Syr [Note: yr Syriac.] sin reads, Luk 2:5, because they were both of the house of David.
Only one member of her immediate family is alluded to in the NT, viz. her sister (Joh 19:25). This sister of the Virgin was most probably Salome, wife of Zebedee, and mother of James and John. We know from the other Gospels (Mat 27:56, Mar 15:40) that Salome was present at the Crueilixion, and it is quite in accordance with St. Johns manner to allude thus to his own mother without mentioning her name. The other opinion, that this sister was Mary of Clopas, would (cf. Westcott, in loc., also Mayor, St. James, pp. xixxx) involve the most unlikely supposition that two sisters bore the same name. The family of the Virgin was connected in some way with Elisabeth ( , Luk 1:36), but what the degree of relationship was cannot be known. According to a theory brought forward in connexion with the harmonizing of the two genealogies of our Lord, Mary was a cousin of Joseph her husband (art. Genealogy of Jesus Christ in Smiths DB [Note: Dictionary of the Bible.] ), but such a theory has little to recommend it. That her family was but a humble one may be inferred from her betrothal to Joseph the carpenter, especially if there be any truth in the tradition as to the disparity of their ages.
2. Some time after their betrothal, which came generally among the Jews a year before the marriage, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to Nazareth to tell her of One who was to be born of her, and who should be called holy, the Son of God (Luk 1:35). The simplicity of the narrative bears on it the stamp of truth. Mary was troubled (), we are told, at the saying, yet she believed at once. Her words, How shall this be? ought not to be taken as an expression of doubt, like the words of Zacharias, Whereby shall I know this? They are rather to be regarded as an involuntary expression of amazement (Grot. non dubitantis sed admirantis). Equally impossible is it to suppose that she believed that the child promised would be the fruit of a future union with Joseph. The words of the angel forbid any such idea. Yet, on the other hand, we need not suppose that the full meaning of the angels words was at once grasped. There are evident signs in the narrative that this was not so, but nothing that we read mars the exquisite simplicity of her words of humble submission, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. Soon after (in these days, Luk 1:39) the departure of the angel, Mary set out to pay the visit to her kinswoman, which his words would naturally suggest to her. The supposition that her journey was due to the intention of Joseph to put her away is a baseless one. Rather, as it has been said, the first but the ever-deepening desire in the heart of Mary, when the angel left her, must have been to be away from Nazareth, and for the relief of opening her heart to a woman, in all things like-minded, who perhaps might speak blessed words to her (Edersheim, Life and Times, i. p. 152). She arose with haste and set out to seek that relief in the house of her kinswoman in the far-off hills of Judah.
What the city of her destination was we cannot know for certain. Whatever it was, it was distant from Nazareth by almost the whole length of the land. According to a tradition which may be correct (cf. ExpT [Note: xpT Expository Times.] xv. [1905] 245 f.), it was Ain Karim, a village an hour and a half west of Jerusalem.
The opinion held for so long that this city was Juttah is, according to Buhl (GAP [Note: AP Geographic des alten Palstina.] p. 163), quite worthless, having originated with Reland in the beginning of the 18th century.
When Mary reached her kinswomans house, a fresh surprise awaited her in the greeting of Elisabeth: Blessed art thou among women. No longer is Mary to Elisabeth simply kinswoman, she is the mother of my Lord. Doubtless what she had heard from Zacharias of the promises made in regard to their son would fill Elisabeth with hopes of a speedy appearance of the Messiah, and now, by inspiration (Luk 1:41), she knows that the mother of her Lord is before her. Her greeting is in reality a psalm, brief though it is and overshadowed by the still more wonderful hymn which it called forth in response. The Song of Mary is modelled on the OT psalms, especially the Song of Hannah (1Sa 2:1-10), but its superiority to the latter in moral and spiritual elevation is very manifest. That Mary should fall back on the familiar expressions of Jewish Scripture in this moment of intense exultation is very natural (cf. Plummer, St. Luke, p. 30).
Niceta, bp. of Remesiana, in his treatise de Psalmodiae Bono, names Elisabeth as the author of the Magnificat. This is supported by the Old Latin Manuscripts Vercellensis, Veronensis, Rhedigeranus, and by Irenaeus. Origen also knew of the reading, though he did not accept it. The evidence adduced, however, does not seem sufficient to override the verdict of all the rest of antiquity, that the Hymn is Marys and not Elisabeths. See, further, art. Magnificat.
3. Mary remained with her kinswoman in Judah about three months, probably waiting (cf. Luk 1:56 with v. 36) till after the birth of John the Baptist, and then returned to Nazareth. It is probably at this point that we ought to put the commencement of the narrative in Mt., which records Josephs intention to put Mary away privily when her condition became known to him, and speaks of his subsequent marriage with her in obedience to the angelic messages. The marriage would afford not only outward but moral protection both to the mother and to the unborn Babe. That the Virgin is still spoken of as in Luk 2:5 is not to be taken as necessarily indicating that the marriage had not yet taken place. Had she not been Josephs wife, Jewish custom would have forbidden her making the journey along with him. When Joseph went up to Bethlehem to get himself enrolled, Mary went also, not because it was necessary, but because she would be anxious at all risks not to be separated from Joseph (Plummer, in loc.). At Bethlehem, perhaps in the cave where now is the Church of the Nativity, she brought forth her firstborn Son, and there, too, she received the visit of the shepherds, whose words as to the sign given them from heaven she kept, pondering them in her heart.
4. There is no need to linger on the next events,the Circumcision, the Presentation and Purification in the Temple, the visit of the Magi, the Flight into and Return from Egypt,for these all belong rather to the life of Christ than to that of Mary. Before leaving this part of her history, it may be well to emphasize how much of what we know of the Birth, Infancy, and Childhood of our Lord we owe to accounts given by His mother. That St. Lukes source in the first two chapters of his Gospel was one connected with the Virgin is generally admitted. Whether he received his information directly from her, as Ramsay supposes (Was Christ born at Bethlehem? p. 85 ff.), or whether the information came to him indirectly through another (perhaps, as Sanday conjectures, Joanna), may not be determinable. At least we can say that St. Luke believed that he wrote what he wrote on her authority.
He does not, writes Ramsay (ib. p. 74), leave it doubtful whose authority he believed himself to have. His mother kept all these sayings hid in her heart; Mary kept all these sayings, pondering them in her heart; those two sentences would be sufficient.
5. The Return from Egypt was followed by a life in retirement at Nazareth. Very little do we know of those years. Two verses in Lk. (Luk 2:40-41), which tell us of the growth of the Child and the custom of His parents to go every year to Jerusalem at the Feast of the Passover, are all we have in the way of direct statement. Here in Nazareth it was that those brothers and sisters of the Lord, of whom we read in the course of the Gospel narrative, were born to Mary and Joseph (for other views see art. Brethren of the Lord). Four brothers are named (Mat 13:55, Mar 6:3), but the sisters are mentioned only once (Mar 6:3), without any mention of their names.
The silence of the life at Nazareth is broken but once before the commencement of the Ministry. The scene in the Temple (Luk 2:42-50) would claim a fuller consideration in the Life of Jesus Christ. As regards its relation to His mother, we have to notice only two points which emerge from St. Lukes narrative. Mary did not yet understand all the meaning of the angels words to her regarding the Child that was to be born. The Childs own words would be a reminder to her of His true nature. He must be about his Fathers business (or in his Fathers house). Then again we see from the passage the lasting impression which the scene left on Marys mind. His mother kept () all these sayings in her heart. The tense of the verb covers a long period, up to, and even during, the Ministry. Yet of the Virgins life during the interval between our Lords twelfth year and His Baptism we know nothing but what is contained in these words and those which immediately precede, as to her Sons subjection to her and Joseph. It is, however, an easily drawn inference from the absence of any mention of Joseph in the later Gospel narrative, that he died during this interval. Beyond this it is useless to conjecture. The Arabic Historia Josephi (cc. 14, 15) places his death in our Lords eighteenth year, when Joseph had reached the age of 111 (Swete on Mar 6:3).
6. The remaining allusions to the Virgin in the Gospels may be briefly recorded. She was present at the marriage feast at Cana (Joh 2:1), after which she went down to Capernaum (Joh 2:12) with Jesus and His brethren and His disciples. She would seem to have been among his friends ( ) at Capernaum, who went out to lay hold on him (Mar 3:21), for the next paragraph tells us of the coming of His mother and His brethren (Mar 3:31). She is mentioned by the unknown woman out of the multitude (Luk 11:27), Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts that thou didst suck. She was present at the Crucifixion, whence the loved disciple, into whose care she had been committed, took her to his own home (Joh 19:25 ff.). It is not a little remarkable, in view of later developments, that no fewer than three of these allusions seem to guard against an undue feeling of veneration for the mother of our Lord, In the story of the feast at Cana, His words, though not wanting in respect, show that the actions of the Son of God, now that He has entered on His Divine work, are no longer dependent in any way on the suggestion of a woman, even though that woman be His mother. The time of silent discipline and obedience is over (Westcott, in loc.). In the scene at Capernaum the lesson is much the same, though the interference of Mary and our Lords brethren on this occasion seems to have arisen from a different motive. They are seeking to oppose His work. Before they reach Him He understands their purpose, and declares that the true kinship to the Son of God consists in obedience to the will of God, and not in mere earthly ties. It is, of course, as Swete observes (St. Mark, p. 70), a relative attitude only, and is perfectly consistent with tender care for kinsmen, as the saying on the cross shows. These two scenes at Cana and Capernaum belong to the beginning of the Ministry, and similarly, almost at its close, we have Christs words, during the last journey from Galilee to Jerusalem, in answer to the saying of the woman above mentioned, Yea, rather (), blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it (Luk 11:28). This adds to and corrects the womans words. There is no denial of the Virgins blessedness, only a declaration of that wherein her blessedness consists, a blessedness which may be shared by all who, like her, hear the word of God and keep it.
Why it was that the Virgin was committed by our Lord on the cross to John can be only a matter of conjecture. It may be, as Mayor suggests (St. James, p. xxvii), that her sons, as married men (1Co 9:5), were already dispersed in their several homes, while John her nephew was unmarried, and so could more readily accept such a charge. All we know is that from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home (Joh 19:27).
7. After this the only glimpse we get of Mary is in Act 1:14, where she is mentioned as continuing steadfastly in prayer with the other women and the brethren and Apostles of the Lord, after the Ascension. Whether she lived the rest of her life in Palestine, or accompanied St. John to Ephesus, cannot be known. Traditions there are, but they vary. According to one, found in Nicephorus Callistus (Historia Ecclesiastica ii. 3), she continued to live with St. John in Jerusalem, and died there in her fifty-ninth year. Another tradition, found in the Synodical Letter of the Council of Ephesus (a.d. 431), makes her accompany St. John to Ephesus, and speaks of her as having been buried in that city.
J. M. Harden.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Mary, The Virgin
Ma’ry, The Virgin. Mary, the Virgin, the mother of our Lord. There is no person perhaps in sacred or profane history around whom so many legends have been grouped as the Virgin Mary; and there are few whose authentic history is more concise. She was, like Joseph, of the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David. Psa 132:11; Luk 1:32; Rom 1:3.
She had a sister, named, like herself, Joh 19:25, and she was connected by marriage, Luk 1:36, with Elizabeth, who was of the tribe of Levi and of the lineage of Aaron. This is all that we know of her antecedents. She was betrothed to Joseph of Nazareth; but before her marriage, she became with child by the Holy Ghost, and became the mother of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world.
Her history at this time, her residence at Bethlehem, flight to Egypt, and return to her early home at Nazareth, are well known. Four times only, does she appear after the commencement of Christ’s ministry. These four occasions are —
1. The marriage at Cana in Galilee took place in the three months which intervened between the baptism of Christ and the Passover of the year 27. Mary was present, and witnessed the first miracle performed by Christ, when he turned the water into wine. She had probably become a widow before this time.
2. Capernaum, Joh 2:12, and Nazareth, Mat 4:13; Mat 13:54; Mar 6:1, appear to have been the residence of Mary for a considerable period. The next time that she is brought before us, we find her at Capernaum, where she, with other relatives, had gone to inquire about the strange stories they had heard of her son Jesus.
They sought an audience with our Lord, which was not granted, as he refused to admit any authority on the part of his relatives, or any privilege on account of their relationship.
3. The next scene in Mary’s life brings us to the foot of the cross. With almost his last words, Christ commended his mother to the care of him who had borne the name of the disciple whom Jesus loved: “Woman, behold thy son.”
And from that hour, St. John assures us that he took her to his own abode. So far as Mary is portrayed to us in Scripture, she is, as we should have expected the most tender, the most faithful humble, patient and loving of women, but a woman still.
4. In the days succeeding the ascension of Christ, Mary met with the disciples in the upper room, Act 1:14, waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit with power.