Expert: J.M.J. West - 10/25/2008

Question
You are a member of the Family of God via Christ, and all who do the will of the father are in his family. But I think you'll have a hard time convincing me (or yourself) that you're as holy as Mary, the virgin God himself chose to be the mother of his Son and raise him from infancy, teaching him and instructing him.<<you said this...it's frustrating to me that anyone can think of someone being "more" worthy of God than another when sin is imbedded in his/her history as a being of earth. marry...she sinned..point blank. and as it was written the wages of sin is death, no exception to anyone..none. as for me being as Holy as mary...no matter how "holy" she may have been she was still worthy of hell and nothing holy is worthy of that punishment. in other words without God's son, marry and i would be in a state of everlasting torment TOGETHER...her holiness would have been equal to her and my damnation. WHAT IS YOUR THOUGHT ON THIS COMMENT?

Answer
>>it's frustrating to me that anyone can think of someone being "more" worthy of God than another when sin is imbedded in his/her history as a being of earth. marry...she sinned..point blank.<<

In the first place, I wholly agree that all holiness comes from God and his Grace - but it is given freely to all and not all respond to the grace of God in the same way.  As the virgin mother of God, the Ark of the New Covenant and the New Eve from whom the New Adam was taken (a reversal of what happened in the OT, poetically!), she submitted to that grace more fully than anyone else in the history of the world.

Yes, she still needed a savior, and none of her holiness was simply of her own doing - for no holiness is ever of our own doing but only of our cooperating with the sanctifying Grace of God.

But her salvation came in a way unique to humanity - and this has been professed and believed since the first century through to the 18th plus century without waver or doubt.  Go read Luther, he agreed.  Calvin did too.

>> and as it was written the wages of sin is death, no exception to anyone..none. as for me being as Holy as mary...no matter how "holy" she may have been she was still worthy of hell and nothing holy is worthy of that punishment. in other words without God's son, marry and i would be in a state of everlasting torment TOGETHER...her holiness would have been equal to her and my damnation. WHAT IS YOUR THOUGHT ON THIS COMMENT?<<

Mary was saved in a way unique from that which we are saved - but without that salvation she would not have merited heaven (which is the same for us all).  But be careful, because "not meriting heaven" (i.e. not being in perfect communion with God by submitting to his grace, which our damaged human nature cannot do on it's own), is not the same as "deserves hell".  

God didn't die for creatures he made that simply "deserve hell", but rather he died for creatures that are utterly worth while, but are also near irreparably damaged.  The divine physician came to fix what was broken in our human nature that we might again know and love God as we were designed.  We could not have heaven without that, and in a sense we'd "deserve hell", but I think we sometimes get too hung up on this "deserving hell" notion to understand that though we cannot save our selves we have a savior because WE ARE WORTH SAVING!

Without that Divine Grace Mary could not be holy, nor could you or I or anyone else, precisely because holiness by definition IS that participation with the Grace of God.  God came that we might have his Grace and have it abundantly.  Nothing that I've said (or, more importantly, that the Church Teaches) contradicts that message.  We are saved by Grace only, and only that grace makes us holy - but it DOES make us holy insofar as we reflect the image of God (which is precisely what we are created to do).

But that does not prevent the fact that Mary was unique in the history of salvation, and not "merely an incubation chamber" for the Lord.

St. John the baptist said of Christ that he was not worthy to loosen the sandal of Christ, yet it was Mary who daily loosened Christ's sandals, and taught him to fasten them.  It was Mary who told Christ when to begin his ministry (the Wedding at Cana), even though Christ Himself did not think his time had come!  Meditate on that for a bit.  Mary is still a creature, and I'm not denying that (nor does the church).  She still needed a savior.  Nothing above denies that fact.

Hope that helps.

Pax Christi,

-J.M.J. West