Mary and the Word of God, person and event

Mary and the Word, person and event. The sense of this approach asks us to avoid working out a theology of the Word and then applying it to Mary:

it is rather a matter of asking ourselves what the Word meant in the life and in the personality of this woman.

The simplest way to establish the relationship between Mary and the Word is to devote a few moments to clarifying both. Needless to say, Mary can be approached only through her history, through her life. In truth, we know very little about her in the biographical sense. 

Some authors have tried to gather in a historical way what can be said of Mary: by comparing the passages of Mk 3:31-35. 6:3. Gal 4:4. Lk 11:27-28. Jn 2:12. Acts 1:14, they arrived at some conclusions that can be easily summarized: Mary is a Hebrew woman presented in the Gospels together with Jesus and forming part of a family group, the brothers of Jesus, who had a role both in the pre-paschal period and in the post-paschal community, even though that role was relativized in the Gospels in favor of the twelve and of the disciples.

These conclusions are obvious. It is worth recalling the fundamental data of the Gospel that present Mary as the mother of Jesus. The sobriety of the biblical account derives from the midrashic form in which it was written; that is, the account often takes on a wealth of symbolisms intended to illuminate the event and to offer a first interpretation. These symbolisms can enrich our understanding of Mary, but they must not efface the concreteness of her history. Mary is not a myth or a symbol, but a specific person:

the mother of Jesus!

Midrash

It is a method of Jewish exegesis that developed after the return from the Babylonian exile. Its intention was to build associations and applications from a biblical text that went beyond its literal meaning. The Hebrews distinguished two types of midrash: the midrash Halakhah (Heb. way), which was concerned with the oral law, and the midrash Haggadah (Heb. narration), which tended to clarify the non-juridical sections of the Bible.

Having reached a conclusion regarding the historicity of the Mother of Jesus, we now turn to the Word. It may be said that it is an abstract term whose function is to refer to something concrete: the Word of God indicates God who speaks. The Hebrew word dabar, word, does not initially indicate a teaching or a doctrine, but an event. We can describe the Word of God as an act, as a language and as a mystery. As act, the Word is an act of God, that is, it is God who acts. The transcendence of the divine action guarantees that His Word, on entering history, remains divine and continues to be unique in its creative power. On the other hand, its submission to history means that, from the human standpoint, the immutable and eternal Word expands and manifests itself at different times: there is the creating Word, the revelation of Moses on Sinai, the prophetic Word, the Wisdom of the sages, the Word made flesh in Jesus, the Kerygma and the witness of the Church. And there is also the history of Mary.

As act of God, the Word is for all an event, an encounter, and it retains the power of a revelation. This is why Paul reminds the Corinthians, 1 Cor 2:4, that his language was not based on “my speech and my preaching did not consist in persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power”. Besides being act, the Word is also language and, as such, it expresses the intention of God and of His interior world: in the Word there is thus expressed that source of love from which the Trinitarian life and salvation will spring.

 Therefore, the Word of God cannot be reduced to a writing possibly inspired by God, because it is much more than that, for the Scriptures have a revealing and educative task, since, by illuminating hearts, like a two-edged sword, they separate what must be separated.

As mystery, the Word refers constantly to its divine origin and to the design that God intends to communicate. Nevertheless, there remains the fact of a certain hiddenness of the Word: it does not always appear in a transparent way, but often appears according to profane forms and communicates a wisdom of life or a religious or social choice with which one could also disagree. In this way, the Word conceals its provenance by showing both the case of the Nazarenes who were scandalized by their fellow townsman Jesus and that of Peter who does not intend to enter into the mystery of the cross. To overcome this merely human appearance and to grasp its divine origin is not always easy: the Word can be recognized in its truth only in faith. That is why Jesus will comment on Peter’s faith, reminding him that “neither flesh nor blood has revealed it, but my Father who is in heaven” (Mt 16:17).

To deepen your reflection on Mary and the Word of God, consult the encyclical Redemptoris Mater by John Paul II, which contemplates Mary as the one who received and incarnated the divine Word in a unique and perfect way.

Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian apparitions and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.