It is necessary to exalt: Mary and the Son raised up

# Exaltation of the Son of Man## Scripture: John 3:14, Tuesday after the Second Sunday of Easter## Mariological Meditation based on the Readings for Tuesday after the Second Sunday of Easter (John 3:7-15)“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him may have eternal life.” (John 3:14-15) This passage from the dialogue with Nicodemus transports us from the theme of the exalted birth yesterday to the foundation of that birth: the Cross as the exalting of the Son of Man. And here is where mariology finds its most dramatic core: Mary at the foot of the Cross is the mother of those who look upon the lifted Christ and are healed.## Biblical TypologyThe biblical typology is rich: in Numbers 21,4-9, the Israelites were bitten by venomous snakes. God commanded Moses to make a bronze serpent and lift it up on a pole; whoever looked at it would live. The lifted serpent prefigures the crucified Christ. And within this typological framework, there is a place for the woman who stood at the foot of the pole, not as decoration but as a co-offeror.## I. The Typology of Lifting UpExegesis of John’s Gospel accurately identified the link between John 3:14 and John 12:32-34: “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all to Myself.” The “lifting up” (hypsōthēnai) is simultaneously the physical elevation on the Cross and the celestial glorification. John unites both senses: the Cross is already glorification. The necessity (“it is necessary”) points to a divine plan that cannot be avoided: salvation passes necessarily through the lifting up of the Son.In the typological framework of Numbers 21, the pole (nēs in Hebrew, sēmeîon in the LXX, “sign”) prefigures the Cross as a sign of salvation. Those who look at the bronze serpent are healed; those who gaze upon the crucified Christ receive eternal life. Contemplation of the Crucified is the fundamental salvific act.And Mary stands at the foot of the pole. John 19:25: “Among those standing near the cross of Jesus were his mother, Mary his sister, Mary Magdalene, and Martha the mother of James.” The Mother is the first to look upon the lifted Son, gazing with the faith that does not scandalize. The Directory on Popular Piety (2002, n. 153) states that “the association of the Mother with the crucified Son” is the model for every Christian participation in the Cross.## II. The “Stabat Mater” and Contemplation of the CrucifiedThe “Stabat Mater,” a hymn that meditates on Mary’s suffering at the foot of the Cross, encapsulates this dynamic:“At the cross her station keeping, Stands the Mother and looks down; Where her Son for sin is dying, She first saw him in sorrow crown’d.”**”Stabat Mater” and Marian Theology**The famous sequence by Jacopone da Todi (13th century), *”Stabat Mater,”* sung in the liturgy of Our Lady of Sorrows (September 15) and on Good Friday, describes Mary’s posture at the foot of the Cross: *stabat*, “she stood,” not fallen or fleeing, but standing in active contemplation of her Son raised.Mariology interprets Mary’s *stabat* as a *liturgical stance*, not merely a historical fact but a theological attitude. John’s Gospel grammar understands Mary’s *stabat* as participating in the definitive Liturgy: she offers her Son to the Father, uniting her suffering with Christ’s redemptive sacrifice, and receives in return the universal spiritual motherhood (*“Woman, behold your son”*, *John 19:26*).Mary’s *compassio* is co-suffering, not as maternal sentiment but as theological participation in Christ’s offering. She is not merely the mother suffering her Son’s death; she is the co-offerant who joins her will to her Son’s as he surrenders to the Father. This distinction is crucial: Marian theology does not affirm a formal co-redemption, but an *association of will* with Christ’s oblation (*Lumen Gentium* 58).**III. “That all who believe in Him might have eternal life”***”That all who believe in Him might have eternal life”* (*John 3:15*). The vision of the risen Son generates faith, and faith produces eternal life. Mary, who contemplated her risen Son with unwavering faith, is the first to receive this fruit. Her Assumption, dogmatically defined by Pius XII in *Munificentissimus Deus* (1950), is precisely this outcome: she who looked upon the risen Son without turning away received eternal life in its entirety, not waiting for the end of time.The link between the Cross (*John 3:14*) and Resurrection is condensed in Mary: she lived the *oportet exaltari* (it is necessary to be exalted) of her Son and received the fruit of his elevation before all others. The Assumption is God’s response to Mary’s *stabat* at the foot of the Cross, *”I will raise you with Me”*.*Lumen Gentium* 58 states that Mary “*proceeded in the pilgrimage of faith and maintained her faithful union with the Son until the Cross.” This fidelity in the *peregrinatio fidei* reaches its zenith and its darkest moment at the foot of the Cross, and from this fidelity arises the Assumption.**IV. “Just as Moses”**: The Typology that Mary Dwells InThe Assumption of Mary is also understood through biblical typology, with Moses serving as a significant example. Just as Moses ascended Mount Sinai to receive the law (Exodus 20), so too did Mary ascend to Heaven after her life on Earth, fulfilling her mission as the new Eve and the Mother of the New Adam (Christ).In the biblical typology that Jesus presents to Nicodemos, the patristic tradition interprets it with a Mariological perspective. Irenaeus of Lyon (2nd century) formulated the typology of Eve/Mary: as Eve participated in the fall at the foot of the tree of paradise, Mary participated in redemption at the foot of the Cross. The “staff” of Moses, the “tree” of paradise, and the “Cross” of Christ form a typological chain where women always play a decisive role.Mary is not the bronze serpent; she is the one who contemplates with perfect faith and, through her contemplation, makes it possible for all to look at the Son raised up. She is, in the language of the 3rd-century “Sub tuum praesidium” Dictionary (Sub tuum praesidium), the Theotokos who protects under her mantle those who look to the risen Son and need healing.We invite you to reflect on this Week of the Octave of Easter by contemplating Mary at the foot of the Son raised up—not Mary in passive suffering, but Mary in active “stabat,” gazing at the risen Son without ever looking away. May our Paschal faith be shaped by this silent and unyielding contemplation.Prof. Daniel AfonsoRome, April 14, 2026