Many Christians struggle with Marian teaching because they have never been shown how deeply biblical it is. When Catholics say Mary is our mother, they are not making an emotional claim or inventing a tradition. They are responding to something Jesus Himself deliberately established.
Understanding why Mary is our mother requires slowing down, opening Scripture, and trusting that Jesus knew exactly what He was doing, especially in His final moments on the Cross.
Mary is our mother because Jesus gave her to us
In John 19:26–27, as Jesus is hanging on the Cross, suffering unimaginable pain, struggling even to breathe, He deliberately speaks. Every word mattered. Every word cost Him something.
“When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, ‘Woman, behold, your son.’ Then he said to the disciple, ‘Behold, your mother.’”
With His dying breath, Jesus makes sure His mother is not left alone. That alone tells us something profound about the heart of Christ toward His mother.
Jesus does not simply ask John to take care of Mary. He gives Mother Mary to St. John, and St. John to Mother Mary, establishing a new relationship. This is not a private arrangement. It is a spiritual act with eternal consequences.
When Jesus says “Behold, your mother,” Mary is our mother because He declares her to be so.
This Was Not Just About John
The disciple John, the one whom Jesus loved, represents all who love Jesus and follow Him. John is intentionally unnamed, not because of the running joke that it’s because he was Jesus’ favourite, but that every disciple would see themselves in that place.
We are all the disciples that Jesus loves. Jesus gives His mother to His disciples, and His disciples to His mother.
God’s Word does not return empty.
Isaiah 55:11 tells us that when God speaks, His word accomplishes what He intends. If Jesus declares a relationship from the Cross, it is not symbolic. It is real. Therefore, Mary is our mother.
If Jesus wanted His disciples to receive His mother as their own, then that relationship did not end at Calvary. It began there.
Mary is our mother within God’s plan of salvation
Salvation is not only forgiveness. It is adoption.
Scripture tells us in Romans 8:15 that we receive the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” God does not save us into isolation. He saves us into a family.
If God is truly our Father, then Mary is our mother within the family Christ establishes. Jesus does not withhold parts of Himself. He gives us His Body, His Blood, His Spirit, and His family.
This is why the Church calls Mary the Mother of the Church. It is not a later invention. It flows naturally from the Gospel.
Catholics do not invent Mary’s motherhood. We receive it.
Jesus could have entrusted Mary to relatives. He did not. Jesus could have waited until after the Resurrection. He did not. He chose the Cross, the moment of redemption, the hour when He was pouring Himself out for the salvation of the world.
At the very moment He became the Savior of all humanity, He gave His mother to that same humanity.
This matters.
Mary is our mother because we belong to Christ’s Body
Saint Paul tells us plainly in 1 Corinthians 12:27,
“Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it.”
Mary is the mother of Jesus Christ, the Head of the Body. If we are members of that Body, then Mary is our mother not by biology, but by grace.
This is how God works. Grace builds on nature. The Incarnation did not erase family. It redeemed it.
Mary is our mother and the New Eve
The Bible presents Mary as the New Eve.
Through Eve’s disobedience, sin entered the world. Through Mary’s obedience, salvation entered the world in Jesus Christ.
Jesus calls Mary “Woman” both at Cana and at the Cross, echoing Genesis 3:15, the first promise of redemption.
Genesis 3:15 speaks of a woman whose offspring will crush the serpent. Revelation 12 fulfills this image, describing a woman whose children are those who keep God’s commandments and bear testimony to Jesus.
“Then the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring.” – Revelation 12:17
Her offspring are believers.
That is why Mary is our mother in a spiritual and biblical sense.
Mary Was Among the First Christians
Mary does not disappear after the Gospels.
In Acts 1:14, we see her praying with the apostles in the Upper Room, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
She is there as a disciple among disciples.
Mother Mary believed first. She followed first. She obeyed first.
From the Annunciation onward, Mother Mary models what it means to say yes to God completely.
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your word.” – Luke 1:38
She is not exalted apart from Christ. She is exalted because of her obedience to Him.
Mary is our mother and she always points to Jesus
At the Wedding at Cana, Mary speaks only once.
“Do whatever he tells you.” – John 2:5
This single sentence summarizes all authentic Marian devotion.
Mary does not draw attention to herself. She directs it to her Son.
Every authentic Marian devotion leads to deeper obedience to Christ, deeper repentance, deeper trust in God’s will.
Mary is our mother because she does what every good mother does. She leads her children to obedience, trust, and surrender to Christ.
Consider how her words at the Wedding Feast mirror the Father Almight at the Transfiguration:
“This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” – Matthew 17:5
From this we see both Mother Mary and God the Father both directing us to Jesus Chrsit.
Mary’s instruction mirrors the Father’s command. The fruit is the same. Obedience to Jesus.
“By their fruits you will know them.” Matthew 7:16
Mother Mary’s fruits are holiness, repentance, humility, and surrender to Christ.
Mary is our mother and she understands the cost of sin
Mary stood at the foot of the Cross.
She watched her Son suffer for the sins of the world. Simeon’s prophecy was fulfilled.
“A sword will pierce through your own soul also.” – Luke 2:35
Because Mary is our mother, she understands both the cost of sin and the depth of mercy. She knows what redemption required because she witnessed it.
This is why Marian devotion always includes repentance, conversion, and prayer for sinners. Scripture tells us that God desires repentance, not destruction.
Ezekiel 18:23 and 2 Peter 3:9 both reveal God’s patience and mercy.
“I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord God. Turn, and live.” – Ezekiel 18:23
“The Lord is patient with you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” – 2 Peter 3:9
Mary understands the gravity of sin because she saw what it did to her Son. She understands the cost of redemption because she was there. And as our mother too, Mary is grieved when we go astray.
She desires that we all be saved because humanly speaking why should what her son did be in vain, and spiritually speaking we are all her children so she wants our best just like God the Father does too and any good and loving parent.
“I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” – Luke 15:7
In every Marian apparition, Mother Mary’s concern has always been repentance, conversion, and returning to God. It’s not about her or putting her on level with God. It’s about looking to her and how she looks to Christ, in a way that helps us do the same.
Mother Mary’s heart is aligned with the Father’s will because she has always lived in surrender to it. So devotion to her can never lead us away from God.
Mary our mother intercedes for us
At Cana, Mary notices a need before anyone asks. She brings it to Jesus. She trusts Him completely.
Jesus responds.
This is why we as Catholics ask Mother Mary to pray for us. Not because she replaces Jesus, but because Mary is our mother who brings our needs to her Son.
Intercession does not compete with Christ’s mediation. It participates in it.
Devotion to Mother Mary is not idolatry
Catholics do not worship Mary.
We honor her because God honored her first. Luke 1:48 tells us that all generations will call her blessed.
When Christians fear Marian devotion, it is often because they misunderstand it. True devotion to Mary always increases love for Jesus, obedience to His commands, and trust in His mercy.
If a devotion leads away from Christ, it is not authentic. But authentic Marian devotion does the opposite.
Because Mary is our mother, she forms us into faithful disciples.
Why the Enemy Hates Marian Devotion
Mary threatens the enemy because she reveals what obedience looks like.
Mother Mary is full of grace. Mother Mary is the spouse of the Holy Spirit. She is the mother of the Redeemer.
She teaches us how to resist temptation by surrendering fully to God.
The enemy does not fear Mary because of who she is alone, but because of who she brings us to. Jesus Christ.
So it makes sense that confusion, fear, and resistance surround the idea of Mary as our Mother.
Those who receive her as their mother are simply fulfilling Christ’s final wish from the Cross and are drawn closer to Him because of it.
Is Mary really our mother according to the Bible?
Yes. Scripture explicitly presents Mary as the spiritual mother of believers through John 19:26–27 and Revelation 12:17.
Why not just go directly to Jesus?
Christians do go directly to Jesus. Asking Mary to pray for us is the same as asking another believer to pray for us, except she is uniquely close to Christ by God’s design.
Because Mary is our mother, she prays for her children.
“Mary is dead. She can’t hear us.“
This objection assumes something Scripture does not teach.
The Bible is very clear that those who die in Christ are not dead in the way we mean it.
Jesus Himself says:
“He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” Matthew 22:32
Those who are in heaven are alive in God, not unconscious, not inactive, and not cut off from the Church on earth.
Scripture shows us that the saints in heaven are aware of what happens on earth and present our prayers to God.
In Revelation 5:8, we read:
“The twenty-four elders fell before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.”
The prayers of God’s people are being offered in heaven.
Hebrews 12:1 tells us we are surrounded by a “great cloud of witnesses.” This is not poetic language about memories. It is a spiritual reality about the communion between heaven and earth.
Mary is not “dead” in the sense of being absent or powerless. She is fully alive in Christ, sharing in His resurrection. If ordinary saints can present prayers before God, it is not unreasonable, nor unbiblical, to believe that the Mother of Jesus can pray for the Body of her Son.
God is not limited by time, distance, or death. If He can hear millions of prayers at once, He can allow His saints to hear the prayers entrusted to them.
“I don’t want to talk to ‘my mum.’ I’ll just go straight to Jesus. Even Jesus didn’t want to see Mary and His siblings.”
This objection mixes two different issues and both need clarity.
First, Catholics fully agree that you can and should go directly to Jesus.
No Catholic teaching says you must go through Mary to reach Christ. Jesus is the one Mediator between God and man, as Scripture teaches in 1 Timothy 2:5.
Asking Mary to pray for you does not replace going to Jesus. It is the same principle as asking a friend, a pastor, or a prayer group to pray for you.
Intercession does not block access to Christ. It participates in the communion He established.
Second, the claim that Jesus “didn’t want to see Mary and His siblings” misunderstands the passage.
In Matthew 12:46–50, when Jesus is told His mother and brothers are outside, He responds:
“Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
This is not a rejection of Mary.
It is a redefinition of family.
Jesus is not saying Mary is unimportant. He is explaining why she is important.
Mary is His mother precisely because she did the will of the Father more perfectly than anyone else. She said yes at the Annunciation, followed Him throughout His ministry, and stood at the Cross.
Jesus is teaching that closeness to Him is based on obedience, not blood alone. Mary fulfills that teaching completely.
Far from distancing Himself from her, Jesus honors her publicly at the Cross by giving her to His disciples and entrusting His disciples to her.
If Jesus truly wanted distance from Mary, He would not have made her the Mother of His Church at the moment of redemption.
Choosing not to ask Mary for prayer is a personal choice. It is not a sin. But rejecting the idea of spiritual motherhood because it feels uncomfortable is different from what Scripture actually teaches.
Jesus did not save us into isolation. He saved us into a family.
And in that family, He chose to give us His mother.
Growing closer to Jesus with Mary
If this teaching stirs something in your heart, you are not meant to stop at understanding. You are meant to draw near.
This is why I created the Draw Near devotional, a prayerful journey designed to help you deepen your relationship with Jesus through Scripture, reflection, and daily acts of faith. The devotional gently incorporates the role of Mary without fear or confusion, always pointing you back to Christ.
If you desire a faith that is rooted, obedient, and intimate, Draw Near was created for you.
Conclusion
Understanding why Mary is our mother helps us understand the heart of Jesus Himself. He did not leave us orphaned. He gave us a family.
Because Mary is our mum too, we are invited to trust more deeply, repent more sincerely, and follow Christ more faithfully.
And we can be confident of this.
She will always say the same thing.
Do whatever He tells you.
May our Mother Mary always bring our petitions before her Son and remind Him when your wine runs out.
May you grow in knowledge and love of the Lord Almighty.
And may the grace of obedience increase in your life.
May everything you do bring glory to the Father, through the Son, by the power of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus’ precious, holy, and mighty name,
Amen.
