From Merest Shadow to Queen of Heaven
Who?
Scripture may have very little to say about Jesus; it has even less to say about his supposed mother. For the earliest Christians
‘Mary Mother of Jesus’ almost did not exist: they were not interested in the nativity of their god-man – it was his
re-birth after death that mattered. Paul does not mention Mary (or Joseph) at all, and in the gospels, the shadowy figure of Mary, destined to become the most pre-eminent of all the saints and Queen of Heaven, at best, is a two-dimensional nonentity.
In the gospel pageant, ‘Mary’ appears in several scenes. In all of them she is a
passive character, habitually in the background and virtually without a voice (she speaks in total three times, twice in a single sentence). She is not described (but then, none of the gospel characters are!); nor do we know her age. She is a bit player, primarily with
‘witnessing’ parts.
We learn nothing of her origins, save for the family connection to cousin Elizabeth and as betrothed of Joseph. She appears first in the so-called
‘Annunciation’ (at the well ..?) when an angel maps out her career.
With little ado, she accepts the ‘blessed’ role revealed to her (Luke 1.38) and rushes off to spend three months in the mountains with the pregnant Elizabeth (she who will mother
John the Baptist).
In this, her biggest scene, Mary delivers her only set-piece speech (such articulation at this gob-smacking moment!) – the so-called
'Magnificat':
My soul doth magnify the Lord,
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden:
for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For he that is mighty hath done to me great things;
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
He hath shewed strength with his arm;
he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He hath put down the mighty from their seats,
He hath filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich he hath sent empty away.
He hath helpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
(Luke 1.46,55)
God only knows who was also in the room (or was it a cave? ) to record all this! Perhaps she wrote her memoirs.
(In truth, the piece is an obvious adaptation of the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2).
But after this soliloquy Mary has not a word to say for herself. She
witnesses visits of shepherds and wise men and
‘ponders’ (Luke 2.16); she is
taken to Egypt (Matthew 2.13.18) and
brought back to Galilee; she
puzzles at her twelve-year old’s claim to messiahship (Luke 2.48,52); she
witnesses the turning of water to wine (John 2.1,12); she is
rejected by her super-star off-spring (Luke 8. 19,21); she
witnesses his crucifixion (John 19.25,27); and she
waits for the holy spirit (Acts 1.14).
Her
ultimate fate is not revealed and she is credited with no role at all in the creation of the Christian Church.