LK 2:16-21

The shepherds went in haste to Bethlehem and found Mary and Joseph,

and the infant lying in the manger.

When they saw this,

they made known the message

that had been told them about this child.

All who heard it were amazed

by what had been told them by the shepherds.

And Mary kept all these things,

reflecting on them in her heart.

Then the shepherds returned,

glorifying and praising God

for all they had heard and seen,

just as it had been told to them.

When eight days were completed for his circumcision,

he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel

before he was conceived in the womb.

Well Jesus is 8 days old, circumcised, named, and introduced to the world in the covenant between God and the Jewish people. Mary’s work was not done. Mary had the responsibility of raising this child, with all the fun stuff that most new mothers must deal with such as diapers, 2 am feedings, all the childhood illnesses, skinned knees, and bruises. Mary had an ongoing job of raising the son of God. Not much is known about the following years, but I can only assume that Mary cherished and protected Jesus just as any other mother would today or at any time in history. It is said that the bond between mother and child is one of the strongest in the world. There is no stronger bond on earth or in heaven.

The natural bonding which holds together a mother and her baby gives an obvious basis to this unity of Mary and Jesus. But here the unity is more profound. Here the Child is also Mary’s Creator and her Savior. His humanity has been assumed from the first moment of its conception by God the Word who is himself the self-expression of the Father, the Source of all. So, he is his Mother’s Creator. And it is by his gracious anticipation of his own redeeming work as man that Mary, at his birth as before it, is full of grace. So he is her Savior too.  

Just as Mary’s motherhood was a mystery to her from the beginning when an angel told her she, a virgin, would conceive, so her motherhood is again a mystery she can only ponder in faith. There is so much that Jesus has – the power to work miracles is but one – that does not come from her. When she asks him to provide wine at the wedding in Cana, he replies, ‘Woman, what have you to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’ Jesus performs the miracle at his mother’s request, but this event doesn’t fully reveal what the relationship is between Mary and Jesus, because his power to work miracles comes not from his mother but from his Father who is in heaven. 

But the words ‘My hour has not yet come’ point us forward to the hour of the cross when Jesus will say to Mary, ‘Behold, your Son.’ It is here that the importance of Mary’s motherhood is fully revealed to us. Her motherhood did not give Jesus the power to work miracles, but it did give him a body in which he could suffer and save us from our sins. The full meaning of the Mother of God is that Mary gave to an invulnerable God of miraculous power, the vulnerability of a body which could suffer, die, and save. And so, we honor her today, because it was she who gave us our Savior, the Mother of the Savior, the Mother of God.

At the human, biological level Mary is our precious link to the incarnate Son of God, Jesus Christ, whose birth some 2000 years ago we recall at Christmas. As Jesus did not have a biological father, did not have a wife to be one flesh with, did not have children, then Mary leads us uniquely and constantly to Christ’s incarnation, his taking on of flesh and blood. Far from being a distracting alternative to Christ, devotion to Mary attaches us more firmly to her Son. He is no alien visitor from outer space, disconnected from our humanity.

Let us pray
[in the name of Jesus,
born of a virgin and Son of God]
Father
source of light in every age,
the Virgin conceived
and bore your Son
who is called Wonderful God,
Prince of Peace.
May her prayer,
the gift of a mother’s love,
be your people’s joy through all ages.
May her response,
born of a humble heart
draw your Spirit to rest on your people.
Grant this through Christ our Lord. Amen