“The Ground Is Level”

The coming of the Holy Spirit not only made all places and persons equal, but canceled out all distinctions based on blood or special privilege. Acts 1:14 says that among those who devoted themselves to prayer were “Mary the mother of Jesus, and His brothers.” How easy it would have been to have established a privileged line through those who were closely related to the Lord. If the Holy Spirit had set these people aside in a certain way and had come to them and them alone, then Christianity would have merely followed the family line for all succeeding generations. However, Mary, blessed though she was, waited together with the others for the coming of the Holy Spirit. And when she received Him, she received Him on the same basis as the others—by faith in Christ as Savior and Lord. At the great moment of the Holy Spirit’s coming, no one was singled out for special favor, no distinctions were made based on blood, and no one was identified as being superior or inferior. All were equal.

“At the foot of the cross,” said Dr. Abernathy, when a judge and a Chinese laundryman stood before him to be received into the membership of his church, “the ground is level.” In Islam, the descendants of the prophet Mohammed are greatly honored. In Christianity, no such hierarchy was ever attempted. Why? Because it was canceled out by the coming of the Spirit. A new hierarchy came into being. The blood of God’s Son has made it possible for us all to become sons of God.

Further Study

Lk 1:38-55; 2:51; Jn 2:3-5, 19-25

List some of the characteristics of Jesus’ mother.

Does she have a special place within the church?