Mary Was Called

January 2007

Mary was called (Mary’s vocation what she lived to do, not what she did to live) by God to the huge responsibility of raising Jesus Christ. God, who called Mary, enabled her to do her vocation. Looking at Mary’s life and prayer, one gets the impression that she was a daring woman.

At the marriage in Cana, Mary seems to be daring when she asks Jesus to fix the problem of the shortage of wine (John 2). Another time she believed she should question Jesus about the way he was going about his ministry (Luke 6). But the most striking thing about Mary, to me, is her prayer (called the Magnificat from magnify) found in Luke 1:46-55.

Take a moment to read and reflect on this prayer. Now I ask you: What kind of a woman prays this daring prayer?

First, Mary and Joseph were pious poor folk. They were known as the awanim (see Scot McKnight’s The Jesus Creed). The evidence of Mari’s poverty is her offering of two turtle doves (Luke 2:22-24 compared with Leviticus 12:8). In spite of her poverty Mari had a strong faith in God that he who is conceived in her was the savior of the world. God is no respecter of persons. Poverty can be his instrument of liberation in hope as much as riches can be his instrument to aid in the liberation of the poor. Mary’s poverty was no hindrance to her faith.

Second, Mary was full of hope. In spite of her meager existence, in spite of the oppressive regime she was under, Mary’s prayer is marked by hope. Hope that justice will prevail in the Son she will bring into the world. She hopes the proud will be scattered, the rulers will be brought down, the humble lifted up, the hungry filled, and the rich emptied.

In her poverty, in the oppressive conditions of her life, Mary dared to trust that God will visit his people and will let justice flow in their midst. Injustice did not discourage Mary (The parents of the children in and around Bethlehem would strongly agree, see Matthew 2:16-18). Instead, in spite of Herod’s bestial cruelty, Mary dared to hope for justice.

Third, given the rejection that Mary probably experienced in her surroundings (sexual activity before marriage in those days was anathema), her willing surrender to the will of God in the face of shunning is remarkably daring. She accepted the favor of the Lord and her service to him against great odds of ridicule and humiliation.

Last, make no mistake about it, Mary was a remarkable woman. But the most remarkable quality about her was the way Mary passed on to Jesus her concern for the poor, a daring attitude of confrontation of the unjust rich, and the prideful powerful.

Mary nurtured Jesus, and taught him about the oppression of her people. She also raised the rest of the children “whose names tell the story of Israel’s liberation from slavery” (McKnight, The Jesus Creed).  The Hebrew names of her five boys are: Yakov, Yosef, Yehudah, Shimeon, and Yeshua).

History does not tell about their faith and whether they all walked with the Master, their brother. But like Mary, we must intentionally walk with the Master and nurture the future generation to do likewise. Jesus, Mary’s baby, learned to walk with God, to suffer injustice, to obey fully, to preach liberation to the poor, to confront unfair use of power, and to offer himself in humility in the service of God and each of us. A better mother he could not have. Let those who walk with the Master, her son, call her blessed!

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