God handpicks His Mother
One of the prominent habits of we Catholics for which we are unapologetic is the love and devotion we ascribe to the Mother of our Saviour and Redeemer. We neither regret nor shy away from honouring that lowly maiden of Nazareth whom God had, from her conception, esteemed and honoured as his choice for a Mum. God himself had set the precedence and blazed the trail by exalting this humble handmaid. The angel Gabriel delighted in the privilege of being the carrier of so great a message and announcing the dignifying status to which God had reckoned her [cf. Luke 1:28], as being co-opted into the salvific agenda of the Blessed Trinity. She was handpicked as the favoured daughter of the Father, the loving Mother of the Son, and beloved Spouse of the Spirit. When the ripe age dawned, in order to live amidst us [Immanuel], God sent his Son, the Word through whom all things were created and instituted, into the womb of a woman [John 3:16, Gal 4:4]. He willed to condescend from eternity to grace humanity’s space and time. Immortality clothed itself in the robe of mortality in the uterine walls of Mary.
Virgin, Vessel and Vehicle
Unlike us, God chose his mother. By a rare singular privilege and an uncommon grace, Mary was preferred as the vessel and vehicle for the incarnation of the Second person of the Trinity. Her virgin womb was designated as the first tabernacle and carrier of the Word made flesh. Indeed, on account of this divine selection, Mary is reckoned as the New Testament Ark of the Covenant, of which the Old was only a type and a pre-figure. Whereas the Old contained The Word of God {Ten Commandments} written on the stone tablets, the New contained the living and eternal Word {God himself cf. John 1:1-14} in the human flesh. Whereas the Old contained The Manna/Bread from heaven, the New contained the true Bread of life {cf. John 6:48}. Whereas the Old carried the rod of Aaron which was the scepter of God’s rule and authority over his people Israel, the New was the carrier of the definitive Ruler of God’s new people.
This especial grace exalts Mary to the status of “Mater Dei” – Mother of God. She alone legitimately bears the title of “Theotokos” – Bearer/ Carrier of God. The created carries her Creator to term. Mary was not a mere dispensable instrument at God’s disposal. The Word of God did not merely pass through her. He took the substance of his humanity from her. He got robed in human flesh on account of her. He imbibed her, He sucked up her blood and became man from her and received her lineaments and her features as the appearance and character under which He should manifest Himself to the world. He was known and identified by His likeness to her, to be her Son [Matt 13:55]. For all of these, God considered it proper and fitting that this vessel be adequately prepared by some preeminent sanctification. Mary was called, chosen and commissioned to play an integral part in the drama of human salvation.
The Eva and the Ave: The Reversal God designed that, since it had taken the involvement of an Eve in the damaging of man’s original innocence, it would also require the involvement of an Ave in the repairing and restoring to man’s initial dignity. Since a woman played a role in defacing human nature, a woman would facilitate its remedial and curative project. On the one hand, Eve, the first virgin listened and hearkened to the voice of the deceptive messenger – the serpent – and conceived the devil’s word and her disobedience resulted in the poisoning of all her offspring [Gen 3: 1-24]. On the other hand, Mary, the second virgin, listened to the voice of the divine messenger – the angel – and conceived God’s Word and her obedience resulted in the salvation of all who receive adoption as children of God through Christ [cf. Luke 1: 26-56, Gal 4:4-5].
Eve’s prideful “No” to God resulted in the expulsion from the paradise, while Mary’s humble “Yes” and cooperation with God resulted in the readmission of man into God’s kingdom. The Ave’s selfless surrendering to God’s will [Luke 1:38] became the means of undoing and reversing the damage done by the Eva’s selfish curiosity. The knot which was tied by the first virgin’s unbelief was untied by the second’s belief. As the first was instrumental to mankind’s degeneration, the second was key to man’s regeneration. God who made all things from nothing without help sets out to have them remade but asks the help and cooperation of her whom He had made and immaculately preserved. The Father of the institution of all things created and chooses to have Mary as the mother of the restitution of all things recreated. Of the Father is begotten Him through whom all men were made, and of the Virgin is born Him through whom all men are saved.
The Inescapable Logic of Divine Motherhood
It is often mistaken by many to think that it detracts from God’s sovereignty when we affirm the truth about his human Mother. Our exaggerated filial love for her does not equate her as a goddess but is only a confession of her as the chosen Mother of her God. Contesting the creedal conclusion of the truth of Mary’s Divine Maternity fails the simple test of logical reasoning if the premise of Christ’s divinity is accepted unchallenged. Premise 1: Jesus is God Premise 2: Mary is the Mother of Jesus Conclusion: Mary is the Mother of God. It will be utterly laughable to claim, as some heretics have done in history, that Mary is the mother only of the human nature in Jesus and not the divine nature. As St Cyril of Alexandria and Pope Celestine 1 rightly noted, a mother does not give birth to a nature; rather she births a person. Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ, who was and is as much divine as He is human. Scott Hahn explains: “though Mary did not originate God, she most certainly bore Him. She mothered Him.
• Rev. Fr. Michael Osamor is the Assistant Priest-in-Charge, Catholic Church of The Presentation, Festac Town, Lagos.
