{"id":7374,"date":"2015-12-03T19:13:34","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T23:13:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/?p=7374"},"modified":"2015-12-04T10:49:00","modified_gmt":"2015-12-04T14:49:00","slug":"no-more-lying-about-mary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/no-more-lying-about-mary\/","title":{"rendered":"No More Lying About Mary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"Advent<\/a>It\u2019s Advent, and the same old lies about Mary are slipping over pulpits and out of parish letters, Christmas cards, public prayers, TV holiday movies, and late night comics\u2019 jokes.<\/p>\n

The subjugation of Mary, the maligning of her as meek, mild, and mindless, has been harmful to millions\"Annunication of women over many centuries.<\/p>\n

Hiding within the wonder of Christmas are a thousand years of doctrinal female subjugation, doctrines that, like tinsel, are dripped all over the season of Christmas. In the midst of the celebration of Wonderful Life, these malicious ideas keep women from feeling empowered, invited to be strong, and urged by God to imagine new ways t live, as Mary of Nazareth did, who mothered God\u2019s redemption of the human world.<\/p>\n

Luke\u2019s is the only gospel in which Mary\u2019s story appears, and in his account there is nothing submissive nor immature about her.\u00a0 According to Luke, the Angel approached her with words of great honor:\u00a0 Hail Mary, full of grace.<\/em> Many artists paint the angel kneeling, in recognition of the honor given to her. The angel is explicit; the honor is for the grace that is distinctly hers. This is a courtship scene. the angel is wooing her, on bended knee, a suitor \u2013 not a constable bringing a decree.<\/p>\n

It is Mary\u2019s grace that has attracted God\u2019s attention. And what is this grace? It is what Luke shows us in her conversation and her actions \u2013 courage, boldness, grit, ringing convictions about justice. Not submissive meekness.\u00a0 Grace is not submission.\u00a0 And the power of God is never meek.<\/p>\n

Yes, she is startled by the presence of the angel.\u00a0 So were Gideon, Jacob, Jonah, and the shepherds of Bethlehem, to name a few, they who, like Mary, questioned the angel in wonder, doubt, and even resistance.\u00a0 They are noted for their reluctance.\u00a0 Why not she?\u00a0 What sort of greeting is this?<\/em> she asked. And the angel obliged her with an explanation. Later, she challenged the angel: How shall this happen to me, when I have no husband? <\/em>God chose a spunky woman.<\/p>\n

\"advent<\/a>Many women in biblical stories appear in domestic settings.\u00a0 Sarah is in her tent, baking cakes.\u00a0 Rachel is drawing water at the well.\u00a0 Bathsheba is taking a bath.\u00a0 Martha is fussing around in the kitchen.\u00a0 The woman who lost a coin is sweeping the house.\u00a0 But with Mary, there is no evidence of any domestic work on her part.\u00a0 We never find her cooking, cleaning, washing up. \u00a0The evidence offered us is her love of adventure. \u00a0What we find her doing, over and over, is traveling, in journeys that involve risks and an element of danger.<\/p>\n

Her recitation of the Magnificat is a political manifesto, delivered fairly publicly, in the home of an official temple priest, who is married to her cousin Elizabeth, who is also pregnant, with John the Baptist. In Mary\u2019s manifesto there is evidence of deep thought, strong conviction, and a good deal of political savvy.<\/p>\n

None of this gibes with the idea that she is a young teenage girl.\u00a0 The Greek word Luke uses for virgin is an unusual one, a very specific word that means she has not yet born a child.\u00a0 Its precise meaning does not indicate \u00a0sexual innocence. So let\u2019s be clear:\u00a0 the focus is on her uterus.\u00a0 The state of her hymen is not at issue here.\"Christmas<\/a><\/p>\n

Luke does not assign her a specific age. And to insist she is under sixteen is to ascribe to God a pedophilic attraction to underage women. Such details \u00a0twist Mary\u2019s story and burden Christian women with a sense of selfishness if they postpone childbearing, a psychic demand to put childbearing first in their hearts, for God who seems to want nothing from them but pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Mary is unmarried when the angel comes. The angel\u2019s invitation and her independent decision tell us Mary does not need permission of clergy \u2013 or her parents \u2013 to become pregnant. \u00a0God knows Mary owns her own body. \u00a0And there is no shame in her decision. Mary is good news for unwed mothers everywhere.<\/p>\n

Mary, wanted by God, according to the angel, for her bold, independent, adventuresome spirit, decides to bear a holy child \u2013 for a bold agenda: to bring the mighty down from their thrones; to scatter the proud in the imagination of their hearts, to fill the hungry with good things and send the rich empty away.\u00a0 This is Mary: well-spoken, wise, gritty.<\/p>\n

\"Christmas<\/a>Traveling alone, like every prophet before her, she sets out on her first journey, to her cousin Elizabeth\u2019s house, to declare her agenda.\u00a0 There will be more journeys: to Bethlehem; to Egypt and back; to Jerusalem when Jesus is twelve; to Jerusalem when he is crucified.<\/p>\n

She gives birth in a barn, lies down animals, and welcomes weathered shepherds in the middle of the night. She is determined, not domestic; free, not foolish; holy, not helpless; strong, not submissive. She beckons women everywhere to speak out for God\u2019s justice, which is waiting to be born into this world.<\/p>\n

We are all called to be mothers of God \u2013 for God is always waiting to be born.<\/em> \u2013 Meister Eckart, 13th<\/sup> c. German mystic.
\n_________________________________________________________________________________________
\nIllustrations:<\/strong><\/em>
\n1. Annuciation.<\/strong><\/em> by Fra Angelico.<\/strong><\/em> Detail. Vanderbilt Divinity School Library, Art in the Christian Tradition.
\n2. Annunciation,<\/strong> <\/em>by Dante Gabriel Rosetti. \u00a0Vanderbilt Divinity school Library, Art in the Christian Tradition.
\n3. Angel<\/strong><\/em>, by Edward Burne-Jones.\u00a0Vanderbilt Divinity school Library, Art in the Christian Tradition.
\n4. \u00a0Nativity<\/strong><\/em>, by Brian Kershisnik. \u00a0Utah Museum of Fine Arts. \u00a0Note: \u00a0The stable is crowded with sheep\/angels, who surround Mary and her child.
\n5. Nativity<\/strong><\/em>, by Taddeo Gaddi, 1325, Florence, Italy. Vanderbilt Divinity School Library, Art in the Christian Tradition.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s Advent, and the same old lies about Mary are slipping over pulpits and out of parish letters, Christmas cards, public prayers, TV holiday movies, and late night comics\u2019 jokes. The subjugation of Mary, the maligning of her as meek, mild, and mindless, has been harmful to millions of women over many centuries. Hiding within […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2483,"featured_media":7375,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nNo More Lying About Mary<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"It\u2019s Advent, and the same old lies about Mary are slipping over pulpits and out of parish letters, Christmas cards, public prayers, TV holiday movies, and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/biteintheapple\/no-more-lying-about-mary\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No 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