We are mothers of Jesus!

Luke 1:26-38

In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth. He had a message for a young woman promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. Her name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!”

Mary was deeply troubled by the angel's message, and she wondered what his words meant. The angel said to her, “Don't be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was, and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!”

Mary said to the angel, “I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God's power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God.Remember your relative Elizabeth. It is said that she cannot have children, but she herself is now six months pregnant, even though she is very old. For there is nothing that God cannot do.”

“I am the Lord's servant,” said Mary; “may it happen to me as you have said.”And the angel left her.

Food for thought!

Yesterday, we had the same gospel reading as today. I suggest for our meditation to focus on something we didn't touch yesterday, that is, being the mother of Jesus!

First a short story. 

Some nursery school kids were preparing a Christmas play. Little Cynthia did not like the part she was assigned to play. She wanted to change parts with her friend Monica. When the teacher asked her why, she answered, "Because it is easier to be an angel than to be the mother of Christ." The little girl is certainly right. To be the mother of Christ is no light matter. 

The call of God is something that cannot be unnoticed or hidden. God will mark you. Just as Mary was marked by God: “The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!” In the natural, Mary did not have anything more than the rest of us have, but in the Spirit, she had something unique to her: a call from God to be mother of Jesus.

Yet difficult as it sounds, that is exactly what we are all called to be. In fact, we could say that even though Jesus was born in Bethlehem, his real desire is to be born in the hearts of believers, to be re-produced by believers. Mother of Christ is a title we usually reserve for Mary. 

But Mary is mother of Christ in two senses. She is mother of Christ in the physical sense that she carried Jesus in her womb and gave birth to him. This is an unrepeatable event and an honour that no other human being could share with her. But she is also mother of Christ in a spiritual sense. In a spiritual sense the role of being mother of Christ is available to all Christians. We all, men, women and children, can and should become mothers of Christ.

What is this spiritual motherhood of Christ and how does it happen? For the answer we need to go right back to Jesus himself.

Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."(Mark 3:31-35)

Three times Jesus mentions “mothers” to show us that (a) he expects his followers to be not only his brothers and sisters but his mothers as well, and (b) the way to be the mother of Jesus is by doing the will of God. Spiritual motherhood of Christ is attained by saying yes to God, just as Mary did. It means that to become mothers of Christ we need to make the prayer of Mary our own:

“I am the Lord's servant,” said Mary; “may it happen to me as you have said.”

This prayer of Mary has been known as the world's greatest prayer. It is the prayer that brought God down from heaven to dwell in the soul and body of a lowly young woman. It is the prayer that brought about the greatest event in human history, God becoming human in Jesus. It is a prayer that changed forever the course of human history some 2000 years ago. This prayer is so very different from what has been called the world's most common prayer, the prayer in which we try to get God to do our will. The world's most common prayer says, "My will be done," whereas the world greatest prayer says, "Thy will be done."

Yes, little Cynthia was right. It is not easy to be the mother of Christ. But in today's gospel Mary shows us how. It is in hearing God's word and saying yes to God even when God's will seems to go against all our plans and hopes for the future. As Christmas draws near, Mary reminds us that the best Christmas, in fact the only true Christmas, is that Christ be born not in the little town of Bethlehem but in the inner sanctuary of our hearts.