Hail Mary!

As Christmas approaches, I engage in my yearly tradition of meditating on the Nativity narratives found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. For me, the compelling figure of Mary always jumps out of the text.

I was raised a Roman Catholic, a Christian tradition that uplifts the role of Mary to the point of idolatry. Some faithful Catholics argue that Mary is the "co-redemptrix." Utilizing what they call the Eve-Mary parallel, they argue that Mary's role in redemption is just as definitive as Eve's role in damnation. They draw the conclusion that Jesus and Mary participate together in effecting our salvation, that without Mary's crucial yes to God's will, we would have no Jesus and therefore no hope of salvation. With the help of allegorical exegesis, they also argue that Mary is now crowned Queen of Heaven, that she is worshipped along with the Trinity, and that sincere devotion to her is required of any faithful Catholic.

In my move towards Protestantism I shunned much of this dogma, but as I mature in my faith, I have come to realize that Protestants have an equally flawed view of Mary. If Catholics make too much of her, Protestants make far too little of her. They often see her as nothing more than a "vessel" through whom God worked, and they fail to uplift her as one of the greatest models of faith to emanate from the pages of Scripture.

I recently read an article by Scot McKnight, religion prof at North Park University. He examines Mary's wonderful prophetic hymn "The Magnificat" in Luke 1:46-55, and he asks the question: What kind of a woman would speak the words of The Magnificat when Herod the Great was on the throne?

It's an interesting observation: What kind of a woman would say that God will cast down corrupt, demonic rulers from their thrones like King Herod, and exalt a lowly peasant woman like herself? When the Roman empire oppressed the poor anawim (the lost and forgotten common people) with high taxes and struck fear into their hearts through terror, Mary had the boldness to assert that these proud rulers will be scattered by the strength of the almighty. When rich, pagan Greeks took control of their land and squandered the food and other resources, Mary knows that God will send them away empty while giving good things to those who are hungry. And while she is nothing but a teenaged girl, she has the chutzpah to believe that "all generations" will call her blessed.

Certainly Mary was not perfect and sinless, as some Catholics assert. She herself needed a Savior (see Lk 1:47). But Mary was a woman who understood that to be a follower of the one true God is to envision a radically different world, where service and humility are the marks of greatness rather than power and domination. She understood that God's will is not just that we accept His grace in our hearts and then wait patiently for the "sweet by and by," but that our calling is to activity in the world on behalf of the poor, oppressed, and marginalized people like Mary herself.

Even when told that she would be the mother of the Messiah, Mary did not merely sit back and contemplate her own blessing, but she immediately went out to be a blessing to someone else: her relative Elizabeth who was also pregnant. She understood that her calling was to live a life of radical discipleship, regardless of the cost to herself.

And in an age when many church leaders think that we must sell out to the culture in order to be "cool" and "popular," Mary understood that to be associated with Jesus is to endure shame and suffering (see, for example, Matthew 13:53-58), and to accept them as a part of one's earthly discipleship. Indeed, what shame and suffering must she she have endured to stand beneath the cross, witnessing her battered Son draw His final breaths, not for His own sins, but for ours! Much more shame and suffering than most of us would be willing to endure!

If you look at the whole span of Jesus' life, you see Mary at the beginning and at the end, and in both places she is faithful, courageous, and humble. If God truly rewards faithfulness and exalts those of low degree (Lk 1:52), then certainly Mary is exalted in Heaven, and we should exalt her on earth...not as a Savior, but as a model of everything that we should be in following her Son, Jesus Christ.