Mary of The Christmas Story:                                   The Feast Day of The Immaculate Conception

Excerpt from my sermon series on “The People of The Christmas Story”

Mary is depicted as a young girl from the Galilee region of Israel, probably between the ages of 12 to 16. We have no clear or accurate description of her, but it is a safe bet that she was dark skinned, with black hair and brown eyes. She had been betrothed to an older man, Joseph, a carpenter from Nazareth and in the lineage of the House of David, who is approximately 40 years old. We can speculate that this was to be an arranged marriage for economic reasons.

It is a time when and where a poor young girl, who was considered to be a family liability, was safely given in marriage to an older, secure yet humble older man who would care and adequately provide for her. This was a common practice in the Ancient Middle East, one that survives in some measure in agrarian societies around the world today.

Historically and theologically, Mary has come to represent the finest qualities in women. She has been given an elevated status by the virtue of her being Jesus’ mother. In all of Christianity, and among the older, Catholic and Orthodox churches, there is a doctrine of her Immaculate Conception and her bodily Assumption into heaven that confer to her a minor deity status.

In those “high church” traditions, especially in Irish, Latin, and Hispanic Roman Catholic traditions, there is the practice of veneration of the Madonna; the recitation of the rosary, and the belief in her efficacious intercession witnessed in the prayer of the Hail Mary.  (recitation) 

The Doctrine of Mary set at Chalcedon (Theotokas vs.Christotokas)

These practices can be both inspirational and problematic. Carl Jung, the famous psychoanalyst, saw these devotions and teachings to be the only place in all of Western Judeo-Christian beliefs and practices where a woman received any elevated or special attention; thereby balancing out the psyche with anima or the yin awareness; A feminine ideal that supports a more “right brain” quality for both prayer and devotion. He often stated that the problem with Protestants and liberals was that they “had no Mary, and had no saints!”

The problematic side relates directly to the shadow side or the denial of sexuality in the Western Church traditions. The duality that a woman was either a Mary Magdalene or the Virgin Mary, a whore, or a Madonna, created much needless suffering and anxiety among Christian women for many generations. The belief that the legitimacy of a woman and her sole purpose was to be found in childbirth, or that there was no responsible and clear expression of sexuality outside martial procreation. This attitude, and religious outlook, has only recently has abated. However, lately it shows signs of a pernicious revival!                

Mary as a symbolic ideal for womankind still holds value, even when the ancient and illogical doctrines about her purity and majesty are discarded. As the continuing or Christian representative of Wisdom/Sophia, she carries on the Hebraic notion of the feminine as the attractive element in spiritual advancement. She teaches us about doubt and faith, about familial inclusion and exclusion, and probably most of all, about gentility, anguish, and the nobility of a holding fast to an unselfish, compassionate, truly selfless love.

And let us always recall the prophetic dimension of her words of wisdom, power, and feminine intelligence. Mary’s prayer or the “Magnificat” has within it some striking and severe criticisms of society, money, and power! In that sense, it is a call of faith, and a fervent appeal to justice as Cornel West calls it,  “Justice is love in action.”

“The Magnificat” from The Gospel of Luke 1:39-55

And Mary said,” My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior

His mercy is for those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant, Israel, in remembrance of his mercy according to the promise made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”