The God-Bearer

What are we to say about Mary the mother of Jesus that has not already been said.
In a very real sense the problem is that too much has been said, often in a confused way, not only overstating the role of Mary but also making inappropriate claims

This Sunday 15th August is the Feast of Mary the Mother of Jesus and readings are:Isaiah 61:10-62:3, Luke 1:46-55, Galatians 4:4-7, Luke 2:1-7

There are a number of these exotic claims, (too many to go into in a short homily), and many of them were highlighted and discounted at the time of the Reformation.

She is not for example...the 4th member of the Trinity!

Nor is she the female aspect of the Godhead.

Mary only has a place by virtue of the fact that God chose her to bear the Son.

She is the means by which God connects directly to humanity!

The place where God and Humanity meet.

The Orthodox have traditionally used the expression...Theotokos...God bearer ...

sometimes crudely called by the Westrern Church....Mother of God...which tends to distort our thinking some what.

What is important about Mary is not how she tends to have been deified

but rather that her body is the meeting place of God with humanity.

She is fully human, anything less would make the central Christian truth

that The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us (John 1:14) into a crass fairy story.

Thus we see in Mary not a super-hero, but rather a human hero

who responds to God by saying "Yes, I will do what you ask me to do!"

She is not overwhelmed by God and forced to do something against her will

In words that many Christians make their own every day

Mary's response, rather, is to say to God a big YES!

"Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (Luke 1:38).

Also of interest

As we encounter Mary elsewhere in the Gospels we see a series of interesting encounters.

What seems to be interesting about these is their very ordinariness!

As with almost everything in the Bible we sometimes lose sight of the fact about just how ordinary some of the sotories are

The Loss of Jesus

Luke 2:41-52. Mary and Joseph lose Jesus when they take a trip to Jerusalem. Anyone who has lost a child know how awful this can be for all concerned, parents and children!

At a wedding

John:2-10. At a wedding Jesus's mother tries to get him to help her sort out a catering problem!

But who is my mother?

Mark 3:31-35, Mtw 12:46-50 Jesus brings her family to see Jesus and he rather dismisses them. Is she trying to warn him to be more cautious or he'll get his head chopped off

Her station keeping

In John's account of the Passion (and the tradition of the Church) Mary is placed at the Cross. No more awful image is there than Michelangelo's Pieta; the young woman holding her dead son.

It is perhaps the greatest human tragedy, that many parents have shared...having to be present at the funeral of their child

Pentecost Finally we see that Luke places Mary with the disciples and the early community of the believers (Acts 1:14, 2:1-42)

I draw all these to our attention because they show to us a very ordinary Mary and jesus relationship

The incarnation is worked out not in the heavens, but in the midst of life. It is a child getting lost, catering, thoughtless comments, human tragedy which are the groundswell of what God is doing.

Remember what the 'angels' say to the disciples as they stand gazing into the heaven after the Ascension (Acts 1:11)..."Why are you gazing into heaven?" or as they gaze into the empty tomb (Luke 24:5)..."Why do you look for the living among the dead?"

Mary's witness seems to be telling us that God will be worked out

in our human life.

The kingdom of God is amongst us.

This week

• What are we dealing with in our daily life at the moment?
• What might god be drawing out in me through my encounter in my ordinary day to day encounters with other people, with human issues and thereby with God?
• What is God's invitation to me today?
• Can I say "Here am I be it unto me according to your word!"

The icon pictured at the head of this entry is "The Miraculous Icon of Coromandel" it was painted by children of the parish under the guidance of local artist Jenny Poole. It displays the nativity of Jesus and we display it during Advent at St John's Church each year.