One doubts whether Christ observes America’s great civic holiday for celebrating and thanking our mothers, but it’s surely a fitting day for American Christians to think of that lady, Mary.
Only three years ago, Evangelical and Catholics Together released the momentous statement, “Do Whatever He Tells You: The Blessed Virgin Mary in Christian Faith and Life,” which affirmed the shared evangelical Protestant and Catholic love for the mother of our Lord:
Since the sixteenth century, the subject of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been a primary point of differentiation, and even conflict, between Evangelicals and Catholics. While figures such as Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Ulrich Zwingli retained a special reverence for Mary, this dimension of their teaching and piety was largely lost by their followers in the course of growing animosity between Protestants and Catholics. On the Catholic side, the determination to draw a clear line against Protestantism sometimes led to exaggerations and distortions in Marian devotion.
In our time there is among Evangelicals a renewed interest in Mary, and among Catholics a determination to make clear that the greatness of Mary is in her faithfulness to Jesus Christ, her Lord and ours. In the words of the Second Vatican Council, “No creature could ever be counted as equal to the Incarnate Word and Redeemer. . . . The Church does not hesitate to profess the subordinate role of Mary” (Lumen Gentium 62). Whatever is said about Mary is ever and always in the service of what must be said about Christ.
The drafters of the statement offer some particularly appropriate thoughts for today:
Agreeing on the miracle of the virgin birth, we would also encourage a fuller reflection on the maternity of Mary. As the mother of Jesus, she was the first to learn of his nature and mission, and she was the first to give faith’s assent: “Let it be with me according to your word.” We picture her nursing him at her breast, teaching him his first words, kissing his bruises when he fell, introducing him to Israel’s understanding of the ways of the Lord—the mother who helped him memorize the psalms and say his prayers, even as he grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man (Luke 2:52).
What does it mean for a woman to be the Theotokos, the bearer and mother of God? This is the question at the root of Christians’ longstanding reflection on, and devotion to, the the woman we all confidently can call “mother.”
May 14th, 2012 | 8:59 am
Until the entire Western Church world returns the Cana Christ-Mary incident over the lack of wine to a word for word translation, Christ will look like He disrespected Mary thanks to virtually all our “sense for sense” translations…rooted as they are in Augustine’s negative take on that incident. Christ literally said to Mary after she mentioned the wine need….”what to me and to thee, woman”. Mary was worried that if she forced Christ into a first public miracle, He would be killed quickly by Jewish leaders and she remembered Simeon’s warning…”a sword thy own soul shall pierce”. Mary was worried that asking Christ to produce wine would get Him quickly killed. Christ saw the fear in her face as she mentioned the wine and He reassured her that He would not be killed that quickly…”what to me and to thee, woman…my hour has not yet come”.
Mary hears an immediate yes from Christ but every expert in the West heard coldness because they didn’t put Mary in context. Therefore all experts thought Christ was saying it was not His hour to do a miracle. No…Christ was assuring His mom that it was not yet the hour Simeon had predicted….that’s why Mary heard a yes and told the servants to follow Christ’s instructions. Now look at the sense for sense translation in your Bible….it is based on Augustine’s negative interpretation. Personally I think in the days prior to Cana, Mary and Christ had been discussing
Eliseus who uses that not often phrase…”what to me and to thee” when he encounters three kings
who need water for their armies. Eliseus instructs them to dig basins in a wadi and God will fill them with water…which water from a distance then looks like blood to the army of their enemy…the King of Edom. Water into blood at the wadi….water into wine (Christ’s blood in the future) at Cana. By saying to Mary….”what to me and to thee” Christ could have been clueing Mary to remember the water to blood incident of Eliseus that they had discussed. Use Young’s literal translation to check out the literal at Cana and in 2 Kings 3:13. Once you understand the real import of Christ’s words, you’ll laugh at the plethora of bad sense for sense translations…Catholic and Protestant….of Cana.
May 14th, 2012 | 12:16 pm
correction: King of Moab was the enemy of the three kings.
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