Mary in service to the kingdom

The Kingdom of God as Liberation: Galatians 5:13 and the Human Call to Overcome Oppression

The Kingdom of God restores to humanity the value of a word that sin has denied countless times: freedom. Freedom is a grand word that reveals the most sublime vocation of man: *“For you have been called to freedom, brothers”* (Galatians 5:13). God created man for freedom. However, sin introduced oppression into history, with strong men subjugating the weak, the poor oppressing the rich, and these power dynamics creating a growing divide between those who, by vocation, should live as equals and brothers. These conditions of inequality made communion impossible.The message of the Kingdom proclaims the sovereignty of God, the paternal love empire of God. It speaks of communion and reciprocal service, being a good news for the oppressed, an announcement of liberation. In the Advent of the Kingdom, the supreme norm of conduct is the will of the Father: “Be done your will, on earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10). The will of the Father is to save humanity (Jo 6:34-40). Not in a coercive or conditional manner, but liberatively. It is a will that seeks to reconcile and gather all the dispersed children of God. A will for communion among men and with God. Therefore, Jesus declares: “Whoever does the will of God, he is my brother, my sister, and my mother” (Mc 3:35). This divine will promotes the Advent of the Kingdom and the union of the dispersed brothers, building a new and definitive communion among men. The death of Jesus, as the supreme expression of the Kingdom, is redemptive: “Christ has set us free to stand; therefore, stand firm” (Gl 5:1). His redemptive death introduces into the world a community of freed men and women, the People of the Redeemed.The path Jesus took to achieve the liberation of the world is paradoxical, contrary to the serpent’s suggestion of easy disobedience. It is the painful path of obedience, humiliation, and the cross: “He humbled himself, becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Fl 2:8). Jesus introduces the Kingdom through obedience, through service in love until death. At the banquet of the Kingdom, He acts “as a servant” (Mt 20:28), as the deacon of fraternal communion. Thus, He offers freedom to the enslaved. From this perspective, we contemplate Mary as a servant, as a deacon of the Kingdom, through her obedience, availability, and faith. In this way, she participates in Christ’s sovereignty, in the free dignity of the children of God.Mary under Roman occupation (year 6 AD): political subjugation, female condition, and the anawim of Israel.Mary was part of a people subjugated and colonized by the Roman Empire: «In the year 6 AD, with the deposition of the ethnarch Archelaus, Judea lost its political independence, which it had (almost always in a royal, but sometimes only nominal sense) since the time of Judas Maccabeus (165-161 BC)». Mary belonged to a social stratum dependent on the rich and powerful of Israel, and to a gender subjugated by the antifeminism of the time: a wife was obliged to obey her husband as a lord. Women were equated to slaves (pagans) and children (minors), being in a position of inferiority to men, even in the religious aspect.Mary was not an autonomous woman, free to dispose of herself, project her life or her future. Like any other Jewish woman, she depended on her parents, her husband, and the prevailing religious, political, and economic authorities. It would not be an exaggeration to imagine her as a submissive woman, deprived of her fundamental rights. The Gospels portray Mary as an obedient woman, unaware of rebellion and without signs of claiming her rights. At no point is there any hint of disobedience in Mary. However, God’s preference for the weak and the Advent of the Kingdom of his love transformed her condition of obedient servant, making her a new woman.«Behold, the handmaid of the Lord» (Lk 1:38): Mary’s radical obedience and her insertion into the prophetic lineageThe Advent of the Kingdom elicited in Mary a response of absolute obedience and docility: «Behold, the handmaid of the Lord». Mary was marked by the Spirit to serve unconditionally for the cause of God, inserting herself into the lineage of the great servants of God, those from whom He can depend at any time and for any mission. Mary depended solely on her Lord God, and the fulfillment of divine will was her constant norm. For her, all other lords of the earth automatically lost their value. Mary did not struggle to gain human freedom spaces. She sought radical freedom, that liberation which profoundly transforms the small bondages to which human life is subject.Mary reserved her service and her heart exclusively for God, taking no interest in any other lord. “Only God,” “only His will” define the evangelical figure of Mary. In a sense, this seems to exclude direct service to men or their liberation, but this total surrender to God took place within the framework of His plan to save humanity from its multiple bondages. Mary was a servant of God in the sense of a liberator of humanity, serving the cause of the Kingdom in the world. Her obedience to the Father involved a total availability to renounce everything, as Jesus demanded of those who wished to follow Him. She was prepared to leave Joseph, if not for the intervention of the angel. She was ready to separate from her Son, not only when He was twelve years old, but later, when He became the Prophet of the Kingdom. This availability found its supreme expression in the death of Jesus.On the Cross, the figure of the Mother who sacrifices what is dearest to her, her own Son, evokes the figure of Abraham, who was willing to offer his only son. Mary submitted to the principle of the Kingdom, which consists in hearing and carrying out the Word, even when it involves something as painful as a sharp sword piercing the soul. Her obedience to the Father was nourished by a burning passion for God, a love capable of overcoming the contradictions of existence and the incomprehensible actions of the Lord.At certain moments, Mary, like any faithful soul, may have experienced the feeling of being completely overwhelmed by God, who disrupts her mental schemes and expectations. The divine pedagogy is realized in her, as it was in Jesus: “He learned obedience through suffering” (Heb 5:8). God the Father revealed Himself to Mary as a “different” God, who did not conform to human projections, but surprised and challenged her. On several occasions in her life, Mary could have echoed Job’s words: “Oh that I knew where to find him! If I could reach his throne! … But if I advance, he is not there. If I turn, I do not perceive him. To the left I seek, but I do not find him. I turn to the right, and I do not see him. Yet he knows my way. He tries me, and I come forth as pure gold! … He will accomplish what I purpose, and he will bring to pass what he has planned. For this I fear him, and tremble before him. … I am not lost because of the darkness, nor does the darkness cover my face” (Job 23:3-8, 10-14, 17).Mary bowed down with loving and passionate devotion before a God who hid Himself and she waited in hope against all hope. Her obedience in extreme circumstances was founded on the conviction that the Father exalts, liberates, forgives, and offers the poor a radiant horizon of hope (Magnificat!). She believed that God was capable of overcoming and crushing the supreme danger: death. Like Abraham, Mary believed in the God who gives life to the dead and calls into existence what does not exist, sustaining hope against all hope (Rom 4:17-18). Her obedience was not passive or apathetic. It was a passionate obedience, a cry, an invocation, a burning quest for the face of God. It was an infinite love for God and His will, lived under the sign of passion.Mary, the New Eve (Irenaeus of Lyon): obedience as a liberating act and the typological inversion of Gen 3It seems paradoxical to assert that the path of obedience can be liberating. At first glance, it appears to be the very opposite. It is not easy to understand how Mary’s unconditional obedience to God, her lack of rebellion against her condition of oppression, could be an act of liberation. When I was teaching mariology at the Theological Studio of Curitiba, Brazil, in 1984, a seminarian committed to the struggle for the liberation of his people, after hearing my explanations about Mary in the Gospel of Luke, commented: *”If Mary were living in our historical moment, I imagine she would be at the forefront of any liberation manifestation, with the courage and audacity that stem from nonviolent love and evangelical denunciation.”* Certainly, Mary did not act in this way in her time. However, can those who understand that their faith demands such commitment find inspiration in Mary?Mary never declared herself autonomous or independent. Her fundamental choice was, in all circumstances, to be *”the servant of the Lord”*. She chose this path because she gradually understood God’s desire to communicate with humanity. She realized she was in a decisive moment, being the first to open her heart and life to divine reception. Through Mary, God reached us immaculately. In her, the heart of humanity opened to the God of Life, and God remains with us. Mary did not retain God for herself, but offered Him, accepting the Father’s plan for the emancipation of His Son. That is why the early Fathers of the Church saw Mary as the woman who participated in the most decisive moment in history, the woman who became the Source of Life, the Mother of the Living, the New Eve.Saint Justin Martyr (died around 165 AD) wrote: *”We know that He became man through the Virgin, so that by the same path on which sin, caused by the serpent, had its beginning, it was also destroyed. Eve, who was virgin and uncorrupted, upon hearing the word of the serpent, generated sin and death. The Virgin Mary, on the contrary, full of faith and joy, when the angel brought her the news that the Spirit of the Lord would descend upon her and the power of the Most High would cover her with His shadow, she conceived life.”*In the same way, Saint Irenaeus of Lyon (died around 202 AD) stated: *”The Virgin Mary was found obedient when she said: ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; do to me according to your word’. Eve, on the contrary, was disobedient when she was still a virgin. Both were naked in Paradise and did not shame, for they had just been created and had not yet thought of begetting children, they were to grow before multiplying. By her disobedience, Eve became the cause of death for herself and for all humanity. Similarly, Mary, promised to a man but still a virgin, became, by her obedience, the cause of salvation for herself and for all humanity. What the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through her faith.”*Mary’s obedience fits her into the economy of salvation, conferring upon her a soteriological, salvific, and liberative dimension. Mary was not merely a passive “instrument” in the preparation of the Redeemer’s body. She actively contributed, representing humanity in responding to God’s call and participating in the repair of the original sin. Her obedience stands in contrast to Eve’s disobedience, which sought to be “like God” and ended in bondage. Mary, instead, by humbling herself and obeying, participated in her own liberation and that of all humanity.Mary did not seek her own freedom nor defend it. Rather, she was concerned with the freedom of others: *”They have no more wine…”* *”Behold your mother”* *”Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.”* This is Mary’s mission: to serve and intercede for the liberation of her children. Thus, Mary is poor with the poor, discriminated with the discriminated, crucified with the crucified. All this is for an effective love, because only love liberates: *”Freedom is not guaranteed by crowns, absolutes, or dictators, whoever may claim these powers, but by the gift of oneself, by solidarity with the weak, by the dignity of the poor. In short, by love.”*From her experience of obedience, Mary becomes an advocate for those who “weep in this valley of tears” and inspires hope in those who feel disappointed by the promises of politicians. Her evangelical figure reveals the presence of the liberating Spirit in the world. She proclaimed this by saying: “He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted the humble.” Mary does not offer immediate solutions, but her testimony of evangelical freedom is capable of transforming the human heart and the roots of humanity.For the Fathers of the Church, obedience and faith are inseparable realities in Mary, the New Eve. To believe and obey God means to receive everything as a divine gift and to place oneself entirely at the service of the Lord. This obedience is not resignation, but a passionate sacrifice and a supreme form of testimony. Through her obedience, Mary became a living and effective instrument of the presence and establishment of the Kingdom of God, being a prototype of the Church as virgin and mother. As the Second Vatican Council expresses: “The Virgin Mary presented, in an eminent and unique way, the model of virgin and mother, because, believing and obeying, she generated on earth the very Son of the Father. Unknowingly to a man, covered by the shadow of the Holy Spirit, as a New Eve, she gave faith to the announcement of God, without being corrupted by doubt as was the first Eve.” (Lumen Gentium 63).Mary’s obedience to historical mediations: fidelity in the darkness (Lk 2:51) and the model of spiritual discernmentChristian obedience is not simply a clear and bright response to God’s Word heard in an unmistakable way. It is often an obedience that remains immersed in the darkness of night, in the experience of the soul’s annihilation, in the proximity of doubt and anguish. As it is said, “God’s will is made manifest in what does not seem divine, in what is not immediately recognizable as coming from God.” The Lord uses everything to make every reality a sacrament of His will.Mary discovered God’s will not through extraordinary revelations or celestial privileges, but by attentively observing the common facts of life, “meditating them in her heart”. She sought in these events the divine mystery and transparency, for “the essential is invisible to the eyes”. Above all, Mary discerned the Father’s will by listening to the Word proclaimed by her Son, who prophetically pointed out God’s ways to Israel.Mary did not reject human mediations through which God’s will was revealed to her. She accepted the word of the angel, Joseph’s guidance, Elizabeth’s greeting, the testimonies of the shepherds and the magi, Simeon and Anna’s words, Jesus’ actions in the Temple, and later, Christ’s preaching in his public life. She also submitted herself to the beloved disciple and the community gathered around Peter and the twelve. Thus, by serving others, she became the great Servant of the Kingdom.This indicates that faith is not solely lived as a personal dialogue between “my God” and “my self”. Faith takes place in a communal and ecclesial context, requiring from the beginning the mediations of the Word, the Sacraments, and the Community. The personal and intimate relationship with God also embraces the world and the community, integrating all reality into a full experience of faith. As St. Francis said: “God and all my things”.In this service to others, obedience becomes service to God. To obey is to take the last place, not for self-destruction, but to serve and love. Perhaps that’s why Mary did not wield any power, even in the ecclesial sphere. She chose to remain in the last place, where those who serve are found, both God and their fellow travelers at the banquet of the Kingdom.Mary is the Servant of the Lord, the Servant of the Kingdom’s Banquet, Mother of faith, and perfect imitator of her Son, the Servant of the Kingdom. She teaches that obedience is an act of service and love, a path of full conformity with God’s will, and a complete surrender to the mission of building God’s Kingdom.Recommended Reading: *Redemptoris Mater* (John Paul II), an encyclical on the Mother of the Redeemer.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian Theology, Marian Apparitions, and a Postgraduate degree in Mariology.

Mary, Model of the Kingdom According to Lumen Gentium 36: Radical Obedience, Loving Service, and Denunciation of Structures of Bondage

The Kingdom of God, by restoring the value of human freedom, challenges the worldly logic of oppression and inequality. In this context, Mary, with her radical obedience and loving service, presents herself as a perfect model of loyalty to the Kingdom. Her path of faith not only reveals the fullness of a life lived for God but also denounces the structures of bondage that keep men from their divine vocation.Mary did not seek prominence or power. Rather, she found true freedom in humility and complete surrender to the Father. As the New Eve, her obedience was not an act of passive submission but a conscious choice to collaborate in God’s salvific plan. Her life demonstrates that service to the Kingdom involves the ability to listen, receive, and mediate God’s will in the small and great realities of existence.Thus, Mary becomes the great Servant of the Lord and of the Banquet of the Kingdom, interceding for the needy and inspiring hope in the disheartened. Through her obedience, Mary not only gave birth to the Savior but also manifested the transformative power of the Kingdom of God. In her person, we behold the universal call to freedom and service, foundations of a communion that reflects the very essence of God’s love. May Mary, Mother of the Redeemer, continue to be a beacon and model for all who desire to live fully under the sign of the Kingdom.—The Locus Mariologicus Institute is the world’s academic reference in Mariology. Explore our resources on Theology Mariana, Marian Apparitions, and our Master’s Program in Mariology.