Advent 2022: Virgin Mary

Matthew, unlike Luke, does not recount the annunciation to Mary. Matthew sees through Joseph’s eyes. When the angel comes in a dream to Joseph and explains it all to him, then Mary is safe. Matthew does not record her encounter with an angel or her feelings, so readers can only conjecture. What is obvious is that Mary was in real danger. A Jewish betrothal was seen as binding as a marriage. Joseph would have been within his rights to have Mary tried publicly and, if she were found guilty, she may have been stoned for adultery.

No gospel writer records how she felt in that time between her meeting with the angel and Joseph changing his mind because of the dream. No gospel writer records whether she told Joseph of the encounter with Gabriel that is described by Luke. If she had done, it looks very much as though he did not believe her. Was she clinging on to that promise which she had already heard, that the child would ‘save his people from their sins’? Was she thinking, ‘I know I’m not supposed to be afraid, but actually this is scary!’? God asked Mary to go through some tough experiences.

This story is messy and unpleasant: things look bad for Mary. Everyone, even her fiancé before his dream, thinks the worst. Even after Joseph accepted her as his wife and brought up the child Jesus as his own, the neighbours would still remember the gossip about a child conceived out of wedlock. To his neighbours he would always be the child with a question mark over him: who was his father?  

When Jesus came to earth to be human, he did not come to be a special human, somehow insulated from the complications, muddles, indignities and problems of normal people. Nor do I think Mary somehow sailed along all serene and untouched by anxiety and sorrow. Right from the start mother and child had to face suspicion and prejudice. It is not such an issue in the 21^st century, but in previous generations, it was no fun being illegitimate. To this day the term ‘bastard’ is an insult, indicating society’s tendency in the past to punish the child for the sins of the parents. Joseph, Mary and Jesus had to live with their neighbours and hear the whispers and sneers.

Mary, as a woman at that time, was so insignificant that no-one believed her, and her life was expendable. Society could punish her for the crime of carrying an illegitimate child, regardless of the circumstances of its conception. She was powerless to do anything in her own defence.

God chooses the powerless because they know they need to depend on him. God asks us to be in the world but not of it. He asks us not to be afraid because ultimately, he will make it right. Jesus told us not to be afraid, and then said he came to bring a sword. It is scary. If we don’t feel a bit scared, then we haven’t understood. People will judge us unfairly. People will misunderstand us, scorn us and laugh at us. Society will regard us as odd and ‘other’. We’ll have to face problems that have no easy solutions. It certainly won’t be fair, and no-one promised that it would be straightforward.

We know that Mary believed that God is in control because she said the Magnificat.  She saw the big picture of God saving both his chosen people and the Gentiles. In spite of all the accusations levelled against her, in spite of her own apparent powerlessness, and in spite of all the challenges she had to face, she knew that God is in control. He raises up the humble and powerless and gives them amazing jobs to do for him. I think that Mary was often confused and sometimes, quite justifiably, afraid. However, she’s a great example to us all: she said ‘Yes’ to God and put her hand in his.

Mary believed that God is in control.
She is a great example to us all:
She said ‘Yes’ to God and put her hand in his.

Published 18 December 2022