Mary, mother of Jesus

Mary is the first person in the story to receive Christ by faith. She appears at the annunciation, at the cross, and among the disciples before Pentecost, so the New Testament places her at the beginning, the cost, and the birth of the church. Later arguments about her titles were never only about Mary; they were ways of protecting claims about Jesus, especially that the one born of her is truly God and truly human. The Magnificat also gave the church one of its sharpest songs about mercy, power, and reversal.