The church has often had a difficulty knowing how to regard Mary. In some times and places, she has been exalted to a status approaching that of deity.
Mary’s memory is cherished in certain ways, especially around Christmas time. Many see her as a model of motherhood. Recently, she has been valued more generically as a woman. Mary the Virgin has known no man; she is her own person, unexploited; her identity is not given to her by any male, but is her own, a gift from God.
Looking at the Bible, we see another image. The evangelist Luke does not exalt Mary as mother or as a goddess, or even as a woman. Luke thinks she has a more important role, as the ideal Christian. In this Third Gospel, Mary becomes the model for Christian discipleship, the person who all people, men and women alike should emulate, especially if they wish to follow her son.
In Luke, Mary is the most Christ-like human being in the story. Her words to the angel are direct and a parallel to what Jesus later prays in the garden: “Let it be with me according to your word” (Luke 1:38) = “Not my will but yours be done” (Luke 22:42). In both cases, the ideal response to God is presented as a combination of humble trust and obedient service.
Many scholars have stated that the Luke story also follows the form of an Old Testament call narrative. All of the elements typical to that pattern may be found here: a greeting (1:28), a startled reaction (1:29), an exhortation not to fear (1:30), a divine commission (1:31-33), an objection (1:34), a reassurance (1:35), and the offer of a confirming sign (1:36-37). Similar patterns are found in the call narratives of Moses (Exodus 3:1-12) and Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1-13). Mary’s final response, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord” (Luke 1:38) may recall the words of Samuel (2 Samuel 3:4-9).
The focus of this passage is actually more on Mary than it is on Jesus. Mary is being called to a prophetic task; bearing and raising Jesus is that task. Some scholars believe that Luke presents Mary as a prophet and Jesus as her oracle. Mary is identified here as the “favored one” (Luke 1:28) and as one who has “found favor with God” (Luke 1:30). Later, in the verses that follow this text, she will be described as “blessed” among women (Luke 1:42).
Luke wants us to know why she is favored and blessed. Her kinswoman Elizabeth says, “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken by the Lord” (1:45). She is not blessed because she is going to be the physical mother of Jesus, but because she believed God’s word. We can share i the blessings of Mary because we believe God’s Word will be fulfilled It was important to Luke that he brings it up again — and again. In Luke 8:21, Jesus tells a crowd of people, “My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” His earthly family is to be complimented for their faithfulness to him, but all people may be members of his family if they trust the word of God as his mother and brothers do (there is no indication in this Gospel that Jesus’ family did not believe in him).
Finally, if you look at Luke 11:28-29. Here, Jesus is teaching a crowd or people when a woman calls out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that nursed you.” This is a colorful way of saying, “How blessed to be your mother.” This woman thinks it would be wonderful to be Jesus’ mother because Jesus is a great man and the worth of women is often determined by the quality of sons they produce. Jesus does not accept this sexist idea and says, “Blessed rather are those who hear God’s word and obey it!”
Jesus wants us to understand that “My mother is blessed, but not because her womb bore me or because her breasts nursed me! My mother is blessed because of her faithfulness and devotion to the Word of God.”
Mary is not only the mother of Jesus, but an ideal role model for all of us who follow Jesus, as servants of God who embody faith and faithfulness.
Join us online this Sunday as we examine this passage in “God Is Up To Something”.
“I don’t know how, but I know WHO!”
May The Joy of the Season Be Yours, Pastor Nelda
Reverend Dr. Nelda Barrett Murraine is Pastor at First United Methodist Kennedale 229 W 4th St. Kennedale, TX 76060
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