Chapter One
The Gospel and the
World of Jesus:
Wives and Mothers Two contrasting figures appear at
the opening of the Christian era: an
old man and a young girl. In separate
narratives, Luke's literary artistry
draws attention first to one and then
to the other.
He is Zechariah, resident of Jerusalem,
the centuries-old religious center
of Judaism. A priest whose knowledge
of divine things has been seasoned
with the years, Zechariah is
astounded by an angel's proclamation
that he and Elizabeth would give
birth to a son.
She is Mary, resident of Nazareth, a
small village removed both in distance
and in spirit from Jerusalem. A
young teenager whose knowledge of
God has been fostered by deep insight
into the Scriptures, Mary is
astounded by the angel's greeting.
Yet she listens intently to his annunciation
that she, a virgin, would bear
God's Son.
Zechariah doubted, but Mary believed.
Perhaps the symbolism is
unintentional on Luke's part, but it is
there nevertheless: the old era, long
past with the close of the Old Testament,
receives its final reprise with
the incredulity of a man. The new
era, about to be proclaimed in the
gospel of Jesus Christ, begins with
the faith of a woman.
Mary, the Mother of Jesus
It would be too much to say that
ancient Near-Eastern patriarchalism,
which embraced even the people of
God, ended with Zechariah, or that
Mary symbolized the new woman in
ministry. The Old Testament did
contain positive teachings and examples
regarding women, and Mary and
other women of her times would
therefore have had outstanding
models of faithful women of God.
Perhaps Mary's poetic nature responded
to the invitation of Miriam,
Moses' sister, to the Hebrew women
to "sing to the Lord" in celebration of
the Exodus from Egypt (Exod.
15:20-21). Miriam, described in that
passage as a prophetess, appears in
what seems to be a leadership role in
Micah 6:4, where God says, "I sent
Moses to lead you, also Aaron and
Miriam."
Deborah was likewise called a prophetess.
Even before she led the
Israelite troops to a significant victory
and before Barak refused to assume
leadership, Deborah "was leading Israel"
(Judg. 4:4).
Another prophetess, Huldah, was
chosen above her contemporaries
Jeremiah and Zephaniah to declare
God's will for the people when the
law was rediscovered in the temple
(2 Kings 22:8-20; 2 Chron. 34:14-28).
Mary's biblical models probably
also included Esther, who risked her
life for her people at a time when God
seemed to be silent (the name of God
does not even appear in the Book of
Esther). King Xerxes' favorite, Vashti,
had been discharged because she
would not let him use her by having
her display her beauty in public. The
king also decreed that all women in
his realm should respect their husbands.
He then found Esther, and she
became Vashti's successor. The narrative
goes on to trace the various
ways in which Esther skillfully used
her official and personal relationships
with the king to bring good
both to her cousin and guardian,
Mordecai, and to her people Israel.
Surely, as Mary listened to readings
from Genesis, she reflected on the
figure of Sarah, that good woman
who was a victim of ancient Near
Eastern customs, and on Ruth, celebrated
for her devotion and faithfulness.
There were dark figures of
women in the Old Testatament as
well. Their stories need not be recounted
here, but even in the lives of
some of them Mary could find encouraging
evidence of the grace of
God. One need think only of the
prostitute Rahab, who chose to facilitate
the invasion of Joshua and his
forces against her own pagan city
(Josh. 2:1-21; 6:22-25).
The noble wife of Proverbs 31 certainly
was an exemplary figure for
Mary. In addition to running the
household and caring for her family,
as one might have expected from a
woman of her generation, she involved
herself in various profitable
commercial ventures. She had
"strength and dignity," spoke with
wisdom, and gave "faithful instruction"
(Prov. 31:25-26).
If there is any doubt about Mary's
acquaintance with the Old Testament,
that should be dispelled by a
study of her song, the Magnificat. It
catches not only the spirit but also
the vocabulary of Hannah's prayer at
the dedication of Samuel. The parallels
are obvious as each of these
women, though in very different circumstances,
celebrated God's gift of a
son.
The intertestamental period must
have had its heroes for Mary also-women
as well as men. The towering
figures of this era, especially the
Maccabeans, who revolted against
foreign pagan oppression, have become
more honored with the passing
of the years. But certainly in Mary's
time there were many traditions-some
were factual, some legendary-about
the brave people who resisted
violence and moral evil. It would be
surprising if Mary had not known of
these. The story about the outstanding
woman of the times, Judith, is an
example. It features Judith as a beautiful
and devout widow. When her
city was under attack, she won her
way into enemy headquarters and
next to Holofernes, the leader. She
killed him and brought his head back
to her people. Would Mary not have
learned stories like this-even those
that were pious legends? Judith
seems to be an expression of ideals
drawn, at least in part, from the
outstanding Old Testament women
mentioned above, with additional
dashes of heroics that remind us of
such characters as the redoubtable
Jael and the woman who dropped a
millstone on the head of Abimelech
in the rowdy days of the judges
(Judg. 4:21; 9:52-53).
While the book of Judith specifically
intends to show how God
worked through weak vessels, nevertheless,
Judith is portrayed as a
woman of great strength. This applies
also to her faith. She sought to live in
accordance with laws of ritual purity,
and she was faithful in prayer. She is
also a model of wisdom. In spite of
her questionable use of her beauty
and deceitful shrewdness, her story
obviously commended itself to the
writer's contemporaries and their descendants.
As a result, the figure of
Judith stands as a model that was
greatly admired. She is
consistently depicted as superior to
the men with whom she is associated
The author may be saying
that God's power is operative through
the weakest of human agents. Nonetheless,
Judith is no weakling. Her courage,
her trust in God, and her wisdom-all
lacking in her male counterparts-save
the day for Israel.
Another woman celebrated in the
apocryphal writings and perhaps
known to Mary was Susanna. The
story of her faithful obedience to God
is preserved in one of the additons to
the Book of Daniel. In yet another
apocryphal work, named after the
pious Jewish figure Tobit, Mary
would have found a rather different
citation of a model. In one of Tobit's
frequent expressions of praise to
God, he lauds God's gift of Eve to
Adam as his helper and support. He
apparently attributed to Eve a certain
amount of moral strength that Adam
needed.
Mary would therefore have had
several models of faithful women
both in Scripture and in the intertestamental
stories. The Magnificat
shows that as a young woman she
had a firm grasp on the nature of God
and his work in history and in her
own life. Mary speaks there of God's
greatness, holiness, mercy, deeds in
history, and faithfulness to his covenant.
Her reference to the needed
reversal of the fate of rich and poor
shows her sense of social justice.
Mary has been the object of both
excessive adulation and unnecessary
belittling. But the portrait in Luke's
birth narratives and the further unfolding
of her experiences in the
Gospels reveal a woman who both
loved God and needed to grow in
faith.
Mary's Growth as a Woman of God
Mary's growth was of a most unusual
nature: she had to come to
terms with the unique nature of her
Son. She had to recognize that his
apparent brusqueness (e.g., "Didn't
you know ." [Luke 2:49] and the
address "Woman, ." [John 2:4 and
19:26 KJV]) communicated, not disrespect
or insubordination in his relationship
to her, but rather the difference
in their ultimate relationship. In
that respect they were not so much
mother and son, but woman and
divine Savior.
(Continues.)
