If you look at the Roman Catholic Latin translation of the Bible, called the Latin Vulgate, it says God founded the earth “super maria,” which means, “upon Mary.”

The King James Bible says God founded the earth “upon the seas.” (Psalm 24:2)

The Catholic Church calls Mary the “Mother of God,” but the truth is she’s the mother of Jesus Christ’s humanity.

By looking at the Four Gospels, we know Mary was a sinner who had her faults just like everybody else and, in fact, she doubted her Son through much of His ministry!

“After raising Christ and being with Him all those years, when He began His public ministry and began teaching, Mary, and those (other family members) who were closest to Him, failed to believe on Him until Acts 1,” says my pastor, Richard Jordan (Shorewood Bible Church, Rolling Meadows, Ill.), in a study I have on tape. “While Mary was willing to be the mother of the King, she didn't want to be the disciple of this despised Nazarene from Galilee, and she didn't want to stand with Him in that. She's an example of her nation.”

As Jordan points out, every time Mary appears in the Bible—in her personal life, in her attributes and in the things she does—she represents not just herself individually, but is a picture of the nation Israel. “She's a personification of what God is doing with the nation at large,” he says.

In Luke 1 and 2, Mary is shown as more than willing to be the mother of the Messiah, but in Christ’s ministry she stands among those who thought He was insane, deranged and off His rocker!

This is made clear, in part, in Mark 3 where it’s explained that when Jesus Christ was out teaching to some Believers, Mary and Christ’s half-brothers were among those, who when they heard His words, thought he was “beside himself,” or crazed mad in the head.

“They don't believe in Him; they're not believing what He's saying,” says Jordan. “That’s why He says, ‘Hey, the people who are my kinfolk are the people who believe me.’ ”

The passage in Mark 3: 31:35 reads, “There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling him.

“And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.

“And he answered them, saying, Who is my mother, or my brethren?

“And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my brethren!

“For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.”

Another unmistakable rebuke by Christ surrounding His mother’s unbelief is found in Luke 11: 27-28:

“And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.

“But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.”

“Now there's a verse that somebody should ask anybody who wants to worship Mary about!” says Jordan. “This woman sees Christ and she says, ‘Man, your momma is a wonderfully blessed lady,’ and Jesus says, ‘No, no, no, really the one who's blessed is the one who believes on me.’ ”

It’s not until Acts 1:14, when the “little flock” of Believers is gathering in the upper room after the ascension of Christ, and before the Holy Spirit comes on the day of Pentecost, that Mary and the brothers come around.

“They do come around, but it's just fascinating that it takes so long,” reasons Jordan. “In Mary’s life and those of ‘his brethren,’ they get this great start, then they fall away, but then they come back and get it in the end. . . Mary's life, and the life of His brothers, demonstrates that life of Israel—there's some sorrow coming for the nation, but for those who believe, in the end there's going to be this great glorious fulfillment of God's purpose.”