Someone once had that idea when she saw the Lord Jesus preaching. It was a woman, she got excited and exclaimed in the audience saying, “Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked” (Luke 11:27). But the Lord Jesus in answering attached no spiritual or religious value to the womb of Mary that bore him – “he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it” (Luke 11:28).

What about Mary herself, how did she regard her relationship with the Lord? Did she feel a little more important and deserving of special attention? Well, one day when there was a crowd, gathered in and around a home where the Lord was teaching, she and her other sons arrived desiring to see him. But they “could not  come at him for the press” (Luke 8:19). A word reached the Lord Jesus telling him, “Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, desiring to see thee” (v.20). Think of it: Were the people not supposed to have made a way for Mary to come into the house? And was Jesus’ family desiring to interrupt  preaching to have a little time with their now famous family member? Whatever it was, the Lord spoke what many (if you were his mother, brother or sister) would have felt offended – “And he answered and said unto them, My mother and my brethren are these which hear the Word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21).

There is nothing wrong with respecting anyone, but it should be clearly discernable when the word ‘respect’ has become a misused term for what actually happens – Worship! This is not about someone’s right intentions to please and honor God. A person can be sincerely wrong because sincerity does not define Truth. Remember Cain: he tried to offer a beautiful and best sacrifice of his farm-produce but it was rejected because it was not according to the Word!