Recovering “S/O Mary” as the Relevant Christological Title Today

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 21^st 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 18^th 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,

18^th December 2016

(Sermon Preached at St. Peter’s Church and Chaplaincy, Manchester)