Why Mary Had to be Born Without Sin

The figure of Mary, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, continues to provoke controversy and confusion among many of our Christian communities.

In the commentary on Luke’s gospel of the Annunciation in the popular King James version of the Bible, one reads the surprising statement that “although Mary is honoured above all women, it is vital to remember that she was born in sin”.

The author goes on to justify his belief by quoting two biblical texts, namely “My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour (Luke 1:47) — indicating that Mary was a sinner and needed a saviour — and “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

However in the rest of the New Testament, this commentator clearly sees Jesus, the Son of Mary, as the sinless Messiah, the promised one, the Lamb of God who is to take away the sins of the world.

Surely, there is a contradiction. According to this author’s interpretation of the sacred scriptures, when God the Father wished to send his son as man to redeem the sins of the world, he would take his flesh and blood from a sinful creature. He is suggesting that the Son of God, himself equal in purity and power to the Father, should take his flesh and his precious blood from a tainted, sinful source.

But how is this even conceivable? How can sin conquer sin, or crush the curse of Satan on all mankind? Surely, if the Father willed his divine Son to take on a human nature — and still forever remaining divine — then that human mother had to be sinless. She had to be immaculately conceived. She had to be “full of grace”, as proclaimed by the Archangel Gabriel.

And here again, we find later translations reject that archangel’s greeting, “Hail, full of grace”, and translate it as “Hail, thou who art highly favoured”. Only highly favoured, not full of grace because you are a sinful creature.

But then the Holy Bible is packed with hundreds of heroes who were indeed “highly favoured” — Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Daniel, Joseph of Egypt, Elizabeth, Zachary, Peter and the apostles and the rest. Mary, however, was created with a unique purpose

From all eternity the Father had planned the redemption of all mankind by sending his own Son as our Redeemer. Mary indeed was redeemed and prepared for the tremendous privilege we call the Incarnation. She was chosen to be the mother of God’s own divine Son.

She had to be the immaculately conceived. That is how she identified herself to St Bernadette at Lourdes in 1958: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”

It is also interesting to recall that Eve, the wife of Adam, was also created without sin. She was immaculate, but she sinned by pride and disobedience, and therefore could never be a mother to the sinless One.

Mary stands on a highly privileged and majestic platform as the Immaculate Mother of God. And Catholics throughout the world honour her as such, and sing her Magnificat daily in the divine office: “Behold from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed, for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name…”