View from the Vicarage

There’s Something About Mary
March 25th  The Feast of the Annunciation

Mary– what do you think of her?  In some circles she is venerated as Queen of Heaven and in others played down, almost overlooked, just a humble young woman.  We can learn a lot from those traditions that stress Mary’s ordinariness and those that have an incredibly high view of her.  Can we hold the two perspectives in tension and see where they take us?

Let’s start with her ordinariness. Mary is described as an unmarried virgin. She is a young woman, probably in her second decade. She lives in Nazareth, well off the beaten track, something of a sleepy hollow. A young woman in an out of the way place. Perhaps when the Angel Gabriel visits, she is engaged in household chores – fetching water, cooking or cleaning. Ordinary tasks for an ordinary woman.

It matters that we ponder her insignificance. God sees what others miss. God calls surprising people to all kinds of roles.  Mary epitomizes this truth.  She is not a significant world leader or a person of obvious power or fame. She is just an unknown girl in an obscure town. However, God sees in her exactly the qualities of the woman who will mother the Messiah. In Mary we see a wise, faithful and courageous woman, with a desire to serve God. She remains with her son from the cradle to the cross, the grave and beyond.

Throughout her life, we see her reflective character and wisdom – a woman after God’s own heart, not immune to suffering and sorrow. The Hail Mary Prayer asks Mary to “pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”   Does leaning into Mary’s maternal heart take anything from the son she bore and raised?

Like John the Baptist, Mary points us away from herself to Jesus.  Remember her words to the servants at the wedding at Cana regarding her son, “Do whatever He tells you” (John 2.5) – Ponder her direction.  Low church traditions run the risk of downplaying Mary, but they remind us that God works among the ordinary, apparently insignificant – bringing his son to birth at the edges, in the unseen and overlooked places. High church traditions run the risk of over elevating the status of Mary, but they remind us of her great spiritual stature as the Mother of the Son of God – wise, brave and compassionate. Both traditions matter and their riches help us to appreciate the immense stature of this humble woman– a servant so full of grace. A woman who loves Jesus more than any of us ever can, as His mother.

Reverend Paul