If my name was Mary, just sixteen with
a Child…
In our liturgical
Christian tradition, the fourth Sunday in Advent is a time to reflect on Mary,
the mother of Jesus, particularly contemplating on how she waited and paved way
for the arrival of Jesus Christ into this world. Most times Mary is projected
as ‘mother of Christ’ and over the years in some popular Church traditions she
is celebrated as ‘Theotokos’ (mother
of God), in a way discounting her identity, self-worth and agency as a women
and mother. In the reading for this Sunday from Mathew 1: 18-25, we see the
explanation of birth of Messiah presented by Mathew all from the perspective of
Joseph with hardly anything to say from Mary’s perspective or position. This
passage has at least three Christological titles, Messiah, Son of David and
Emmanuel, for Mathew want to quickly introduce Jesus to his audience about his
Jewish roots and his fulfilments of the Old testament prophecies in Jesus right
at the start of his gospel in his birth narratives.
The prominent
Christological titles in the Scriptures have been Son of God, Son of Man, Son
of David, Messiah, Lord, King, Prophet, Priest, Lamb, Shepherd, Emmanuel etc.
have all evolved out a contextual demand in the early Christian Church, for
they only reflect the kind of patriarchal world during which the gospels have
been written and circulated. “Son of Mary” is one the most under-recognised or
even unrecognised and even less-explored Christological titles. It is time now
for us to recover this title, which is of immense relevance for our times today
in 21st century. Exploring the title ‘Son of Mary’ is a Biblical,
contextual and theological necessity, for it conveys profound theological
insights into our Christian faith journeys, which is to identify Jesus through
a woman, in this case his mother Mary.
1.
Problematizing
the title Son of Mary:
Only in two
instances is ‘Son of Mary’ mentioned, in Mark 6: 3 and in Mathew 13: 55, and is
one of the least mentioned Christological titles in the gospels. Is this title
a problematic one, or is there a problem in this title? In Mark 6:3, it is
written “Is not this the carpenter,
the son of Mary and
brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here
with us?” And they took offense at
him.” Several scholars have argued that this title ‘Son of Mary’ in this
Markan context is used to pick on the ‘illegitimate birth’ of Jesus, which is
only used to mock at Jesus and his birth outside of a marriage. This reveals
the kind of patriarchal dominance that was thriving those days, where Mary as a
woman, her image and identity was used & misused and even abused for the
gains of male arrogance.
The other problem with this title is demonstrated in Paul,
the major and early contributor of New Testament who conspicuously did not
refer to neither the name of Mary nor to her virgin birth in any of his
epistles. In Galatians 4: 4, he only says that “But when the fullness of time
had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” Such a
conscious non-referral of Mary raises a brow, for it only diminishes the worth and
agency of a mother called Mary, who bore and delivered a saviour baby Jesus.
This also reveals the kind of privilege male-centeredness was enjoying in the
mission and ministries of the early Church, for they did not think important to
affirm in the agency of a young woman Mary.
These incidents therefore call us to read this title
subversively, contesting and unwrapping all the patriarchal perspectives in the
title Son of Mary, for in such a title there is a deep encounter of divine with
human, in which we celebrate and affirm.
2.
Programming
the title Son of Mary:
Mary as a young
woman is a significant site where the divine and the mundane encounter,
delivering a saviour to be born in Jesus Christ. Bearing a son Jesus in her
womb signifies that in Mary’s vulnerability and fragility as a human, the
divine finds a favour and indwells with her and comes out as a fully divine and
fully human Jesus Christ. The Christological title S/O Mary for Jesus aptly
speaks of his calling, nature and purpose of his coming into this world. The title
S/O Mary happens to be nurturing space for both S/O God and S/O of Man to shoot
up and bloom in Jesus Christ. It here that the transcendent and the immanent
meet up to reveal to the world that out of the womb of Mothers like Mary,
divinity can be en-fleshed, be born and take on the flesh of humankind.
This title in its
literal sense conveys that Jesus is the son of Mary, and tell me which child
does not want to be called after their moms, particularly when she is a woman
of courage, singing songs of revolution, teaching her child to ‘overthrow the
powers.’ Mary’s song, the Magnificat,
(Luke 1: 46-55) reveals her role as a mother. When most mothers sing lullaby to
their children, Mary has a very revolutionary song that she had to sing when
she was pregnant with Jesus. There were several available songs for Mary in
Nazareth those days, for she could have chosen a hymn from Psalmody or from their
hymnal, but she chose to compose a contemporary song of justice, her own
yearning for her society, and sang it for her son Jesus. Her situation and
context of oppression and discrimination, demanded mother Mary to sing this
radical song of justice. This song reveals her mothering quality, her dream for
her son, and raised Jesus with those values and ethos and he eventually lived
up for all those that her mother aspired and raised him with. This song could
have been the song that Jesus heard her sing daily, and learnt it as an anthem
of justice for his mission in his life. Eventually,
with that kind of radical nurture from her mother Mary, there is no surprise
that Jesus became a revolutionary of his times critiquing and contesting all
forms of injustice of temple and empire. Jesus lived up to all the dreams of
her mother Mary, and became a proud son of Mary.
S/O Mary is the
most fitting title for Jesus, for out of Mother came an Emmanuel, came a
Saviour, came a Messiah, came a king, came a prophet etc. To put it other way,
S/O Mary is the mother of all Christological titles of Jesus, and by
understanding this title, we get to grips with the rest of the titles of Jesus.
3.
Pragmatizing
the title Son of Mary:
This title is
important to Jesus because, S/O Mary is a critique against all dominant forces
of patriarchy which has not allowed to celebrate womanity as an agency of
delivering divine in human form. This title
is important for the Church today because, S/O Mary challenges the Church to
affirm woman as agents of divine grace and calls on the Church to confront all
forms of violence meted against women and all genders of vulnerability. This is
a confessing title of the Church for our times, where the divine is willingly
partaking to co-in habitat in the human. S/O Mary is a liberating affirmation for all
those parents and children who are struggling in life with broken parental
relationships. This title is the most public theologically relevant title of Jesus,
for Jesus is situated in the context of human motherhood, who is relatable to
all human beings without any dogmatic assertions.
The title S/O
Mary has been used more prominently as Isa
ibn Mariyam (Jesus, Son of Mary) in
Arabic of the Muslim faith tradition, for they believe in the virgin birth of
Jesus and as a prophet.
Let me also
remind you that today the 18th December is observed as International
Migrant Day, where we as churches are called to participate in addressing the concerns
of the people who are crossing the borders and seas as migrants. As I think of mother
Mary today, as a young woman of Nazareth in Galilee, she was forced to take on
the hazardous journey to Bethlehem with Joseph, just because she was betrothed
to him, and for he is of the lineage of David to be registered in his home town
and so had to go with him as a pregnant. And after the delivery of Jesus, she
again with the baby in her arms nursing him, had to flee with Joseph to Egypt
as a migrant to save their lives from the wrath of Herod. Mother Mary along
with baby Jesus took on a risky travel as a refugee family with some insufficient
documents or no documents which reveal some grey areas on the forms like the
status of their marital relationship, their permanent address etc. Yet she faced
all those hardships with courage and faith in God, and did all she could in
raising a child for God to be the child of God and to be child God.
Till today they
say about 7000 people died in 2016 alone in crossing the borders as migrants,
and there would have been many more whose lives are lost as they are undocumented
and unrecorded. They say one in every seven people in the world is a migrant,
which is one-seventh of the globe today form the migrant community, and the call
of the Church is to join along this community for there are several Mary, Jesus
and Joseph among them, and for the Church happens among them only.
It is high time
that we are called to recover this very significant and relevant Christological
title Son of Mary, for it provides an important gender, political, spiritual
& public twist in the kaleidoscope of Christology.
(A picture of Mother Mary and Jesus from African tradition as found in the Church of Annunciation at Nazareth)
Allow me to
conclude with the lyric that was penned by John Bell in 2015 in response to the
growing migrant crisis, as an commitment to the call of gospel.
If my name was Mary
(Just sixteen with a child)
Forced to flee my country
(failing state turning wild)
Would you find a place for me?
If the town I came
from
once had been occupied
By your nations soldiers
At whose hands my dad died
Would you find a place for me?
If your nations air
force
Dropped their bombs on my street
On the wrong presumption
That was where rebels meet
Would you find a place for me?
If I'd learned that
your country
Saw and heard our plight
But remained persuaded
We were wrong, you were right
Would you find a place for me?
If the boat I paid
for
Was unfit to set sail
And that seeking refuge
was now certain to fail
would you find a place for me
Would you find a place for me?
If my name was Mary
(Just sixteen with a child)
If his name was Jesus...
Rajbharat Patta,
18th December
2016
(Sermon Preached at St.
Peter’s Church and Chaplaincy, Manchester)
