FROM
THE SERVANT GENERAL
ON MARY
(Part 7)
MARY, MOTHER OF GOD
“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear
a son,
….. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy,
the Son of God.”
(Luke 1:31a,35b)
January
1, 2010
Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God
Mary is the mother of God.
Now
some Christians have a problem with that. They say Mary is
the mother of Jesus but not the mother of God. Well to me
it is simple logic. Mary is the mother of Jesus, Jesus is
God, and so Mary is the mother of God. A = B, B = C, ergo
A = C.
Some
say that Jesus had two natures, the human and the divine.
That’s right. But they say Mary is the mother of Jesus
in his human nature but not in his divine nature. That’s
wrong. One is a mother of a person, not of a person’s
nature. Jesus is one person, albeit with two natures. Jesus
was fully human and fully divine. He is true God and true
man. So Mary is the mother of Jesus, one who is fully divine.
And so she is the mother of God.
Paul affirms the divine sonship according to the divine plan.
“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his
Son, born of a woman” (Gal 4:4). God sent His Son! And
God caused His Son to be born of Mary. A child is born of
a mother. It just so happens that this child is the very Son
of God. This is a great mystery, something humanly impossible.
But nothing is impossible with God.
Isaiah
prophesied this birth, when God gave a sign to Ahaz: “the
virgin shall be with child, and bear a son, and shall name
him Immanuel.” (Is 7:14). To this Matthew added the
meaning of Emmanuel, and that is “God is with us.”
(Mt 1:23). The virgin Mary did bear a Son, and that Son is
God who is with us.
John
affirmed the birth of the Son. “And the Word became
flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father’s only Son, full of grace
and truth.” (Jn 1:14).
Elizabeth
also acknowledged her cousin Mary as the mother of God. When
Mary visited her, Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit (Lk
1:41), cried out in a loud voice, “And how does this
happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”
(Lk 1:43). The Spirit enabled her to know the truth being
revealed to her. Lord is Adonai, which translates to “Lord
God.”
And so Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is “Son of the
Most High” (Lk 1:32) and the “Son of God”
(Lk 1:35b). “Of her was born Jesus who is called the
Messiah.” (Mt 1:16b). Jesus is God, and so Mary, who
is the mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God.
(Note: This article is taken from the book “40 More
Days with Mary,” Day 3, pages 19-20. You are encouraged
to read or re-read this book.)
To
download file, click on icon |
| |
|
| |
| |
|
