Louisa Jonker .: day 5 - december 2001 People like to give Mary a special place in the whole Christmas thing. She's the only woman who gets much of a go in the story. In your typical nativity pageant, there aren't that many parts for the girls, you've either got to be Mary or an angel (which all seem to be men in the Bible anyway) or you get stuck being one of the farmyard animals. But is it a mistake to start seeing Mary as being someone special? Louisa Jonker investigates. I don't know what you think of when you think of Mary the mother of Jesus. I tend to think of a serene young woman wearing light blue, with soft brown hair being led around on a donkey. That first Christmas she had the amazing job of giving birth to the king of the world, its creator and judge. But since that time a great deal had been made about this woman, she has been called the 'Mother of God', the 'Queen of Heaven', the 'Mother of God's Creatures', 'Co-Redemptrix with Christ' and more recently 'Spouse of the Holy Spirit'. She's become such a big deal that she's even taken on many of the characteristics of Jesus in some people's minds. People think that she was conceived immaculately as Jesus was, that she never sinned and her body was taken up into heaven shortly after her death. These images of Mary have developed steadily from the fourth century until now, but they're not reflected in what the Bible says. So, although interesting, we'll leave them there and have a look at what we can really know about Mary, particularly by looking at the gospel of Luke. First, Luke focuses on the fact that she was a virgin (mentioned twice in Luke 1:27 and once in 1:34). Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph but Luke wants us to know that there hadn't been any fooling around Mary's pregnancy was truly the result of divine intervention. This is really important because it emphasises that although Jesus was truly a man he was also truly God. He may have been carried by a woman but he was truly divine. Second, Luke focuses on Mary's response to the child that's growing inside her. Pregnancy is an awesome enough process, but imagine giving birth to God in the flesh! You wonder how much he was like any other baby, whether she could feel him kicking in her tummy, or how much he cried and so on. We are not given any details about this stuff but we are told Mary's response to this news. She visits her cousin Elizabeth and bursts out in the following: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me-- holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers." (Luke 1:46-55). Mary knows that she hasn't deserved to be treated in this privileged way: God's usual pattern of operating in this world is to lift up the humble and humiliate the proud, and this case is no different. Many people think that Mary must have been perfect and that's why she was chosen to bear Jesus. But the way that Mary sees it, this is just part of God's long term plan which began with Abraham, being kind and merciful to the unimpressive, the hungry and the poor. In the end weÌre not told why God chose Mary specifically, but we do know it has to do with God's wisdom, rather than her saintliness. Indeed, later on in Jesus' life, one time when he cast an evil spirit out of a man (11:27-28), a woman from the crowd called out "Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you." To which Jesus replied "Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it." Jesus points out that the important thing is to hear his word and obey it. His mother didn't have any privileged position simply because she had given birth to him. Finally, Luke emphasises that even though Mary may not have understood everything that was going on, she 'treasured up all these things in her heart' (Luke 2:19, 51). The fact that she was his mother didn't mean she had the inside word on what was going on. I think that just like Jesus' other friends, the disciples, Mary probably didnÌt put it all together until after Jesus died and rose again. In LukeÌs account, it is only after looking back on all that had happened that people understood. So when the women who had followed Jesus from Galilee, found the tomb empty on the third day, the angels not only declared ÎHe is not here, he is risenÌ, but reminded the women that Jesus had warned them ahead of time of the things that would happen to him (24:1-12). People like to give Mary a special place in the whole Christmas thing. She's the only woman who gets much of a go in the story. In your typical nativity pageant, there aren't that many parts for the girls, you've either got to be Mary or an angel (which all seem to be men in the Bible anyway) or you get stuck being one of the farmyard animals. But it's a mistake to start seeing Mary as being someone special, someone worthy to give birth to Jesus, the Son of God. She doesn't have special access to her son. She played no part in our being saved. She is not a channel of grace. She is not the spouse of the Holy Spirit. She was a young girl, who was probably scared out of her wits, whom God used to bring his son into the world. Like us, she could do nothing to deserve a relationship with God, it was all his gracious initiative. She needed to respond in trust to her own Son, who is the way to know the Father and have life forever. There's something about Mary? Not really, but there's a lot about God. Louisa Jonker will try to play it down with her quick wit, but she's a real brain. Previously known as a physical chemist, she currently labours in theological studies, where she is affectionately known as a NT Greek Princess. She is passionate about teaching the bible to women and youth. 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