8.10.2005
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Brief thought on Mary
Yes, that Mary, Mother of You-Know-Who. While I believe that Jesus was both fully divine and fully human, I've a great difficulty in believing that a young woman, probably not more than 15 years old, became "the Mother of God." God just is; He always was, and always will be. He hasn't a mother.
Please don't mistake this for Mary-bashing. No; just the cult-of-Mary bashing. The lore that has sprung up around Mary has some profound truths, but let us never forget who was, and is, in charge.
Mary obeyed God's will to nurture Jesus. Free-will feminists might say that she is blessed among women (to coin a phrase..) because she agreed to accept the burden of being the human birth mother of our Lord. As a Calvinist-leaning Baptist, and given that it was God's will to incarnate Himself in the person of Jesus, I'm not sure how any other path was possible for her.
God will never give us a task that He knows, in advance, that we will fail at. Not that we don't fail at many things. We are, after all, human. But when God sets us out to do something that is His will to accomplish, it will be done. It's easy to be fatalistic on this, and assume that when we do fail at something, it was just God's will, also. Perhaps. Our problem is "simply" being able to discern that which is, and that which is not, in God's plan for us. Simply in scare quotes intentional; it's hardly a simple matter. It is simple only in the sense that it is the greatest single factor.
Getting back to Jesus' mom: There's a path started down when we preach or pray on anything but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we focus on anyone or anything else, is this really a good thing? I'd say, most emphatically, no. Even with the best of intentions, Marian devotion can quickly deflect our attention away from its only proper object -- God.
My advice is to acknowledge, and, yes, celebrate, all who walked with our Lord during His first incarnation. And to be especially thankful for the motherly virtues that Mary showed during Jesus' Passion, death, and resurrection. Virtues that today's women would be well served to emulate.
Just let's not ever forget Who is sovereign.
| technorati tag | Christianity|
Please don't mistake this for Mary-bashing. No; just the cult-of-Mary bashing. The lore that has sprung up around Mary has some profound truths, but let us never forget who was, and is, in charge.
Mary obeyed God's will to nurture Jesus. Free-will feminists might say that she is blessed among women (to coin a phrase..) because she agreed to accept the burden of being the human birth mother of our Lord. As a Calvinist-leaning Baptist, and given that it was God's will to incarnate Himself in the person of Jesus, I'm not sure how any other path was possible for her.
God will never give us a task that He knows, in advance, that we will fail at. Not that we don't fail at many things. We are, after all, human. But when God sets us out to do something that is His will to accomplish, it will be done. It's easy to be fatalistic on this, and assume that when we do fail at something, it was just God's will, also. Perhaps. Our problem is "simply" being able to discern that which is, and that which is not, in God's plan for us. Simply in scare quotes intentional; it's hardly a simple matter. It is simple only in the sense that it is the greatest single factor.
Getting back to Jesus' mom: There's a path started down when we preach or pray on anything but the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. When we focus on anyone or anything else, is this really a good thing? I'd say, most emphatically, no. Even with the best of intentions, Marian devotion can quickly deflect our attention away from its only proper object -- God.
My advice is to acknowledge, and, yes, celebrate, all who walked with our Lord during His first incarnation. And to be especially thankful for the motherly virtues that Mary showed during Jesus' Passion, death, and resurrection. Virtues that today's women would be well served to emulate.
Just let's not ever forget Who is sovereign.
| technorati tag | Christianity|
posted by John Luke at 6:36 AM
Welcome. My name is John Luke Rich, (very) struggling Christian. The focus here is Christianity in its many varieties,
its fussing and feuding, how it impacts our lives and our society, with detours to consider it with other faiths (or lack thereof).
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