Sometimes I Write

During this season of Lent, we’re discussing the 7 phrases that Jesus spoke while he was on the cross. Today’s phrase was, “Woman, here is your son…”. I knew it would be difficult for me to get through this one without tears. And I didn’t. We talked about Mary and what kind of mother she was. The point was made that SOME Catholics have elevated her status to that of deity, and the harsh swing of the pendulum to the other side you find SOME protestants who will barely mention her name referring to her as the virgin mother, possibly fearing giving her too much status. I am somewhere in between these philosophies. She was so much more than just a virgin mother though I don’t think she was or is on equal plane with God.

So who was Mary? She was a girl who lovingly talked to her growing belly, promising her coming son that she would protect him from harm and love him through anything he could throw at her. She was a girl who was loved by a man that wanted her as a wife and who was patient enough to wait for sexual intimacy with her until after Jesus was born. (Matthew 2:25) Surely she yearned for him too. She was a girl who had to face her family and their questions about this unexpected pregnancy. She was a girl who faced the tremendous task of being the moral, physical, and spiritual compass for a boy who would one day save people from certain death in their sin. He was the guinea pig child – she had never been a mother before him. She taught him to share and have compassion and kissed his hurting body when he fell down and scraped his knees. She nursed him through sicknesses and disciplined him when he stumbled in his humanness. He was fully human while being fully God. I have to believe in that being fully human, he was a child like other children. Was there a girl that caught his eye, or did he always see everyone with equal love?

Did Mary ask him when he would make her a mother-in-law and a grandma? Or did she constantly remember who she had borne? Did she remember when he was twelve and she witnessed him sharing thoughts on deep issues with the religious teachers at the Temple? Scripture says she treasured up those things in her heart. We know she remembered at the wedding in Cana. It was Mary who requested Jesus turn the water to wine. She remembered again standing before him at the cross, watching him suffer in agony. As she stood there weeping, did she remember Simeon holding Jesus as a baby and prophesying that he would be rejected by many in Israel and that it would be their undoing. But he would be the greatest joy to many others. Here’s the verse that released my tears. Luke 2: 35, “Thus, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.” That had to be pretty close to how she felt watching her first-born son die. I cry along with my boys when they pinch fingers in doors and bleed from falling on the concrete. Maybe my tears don’t leave my eyes, but they are there. Could I withstand a sword piercing my very soul? Even if God had given her some special insight and told her exactly what the coming days would hold…how could she not feel like she herself was dying on that cross?

Gabriel had told her she would give birth to a king…”And the Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” (Luke 1:32-33) Surely it looked like Simeon was to be believed, but where was Gabriel and the other angels? When was God going to end this mess and get her son down off that cross? The thoughts that must have raced through poor Mary’s head! Oh friends, there is so much more to Mary than just being a virgin mother.