Mary, a Feminine Face of God
Father Richard recognizes in Mary a feminine symbol or archetype for the divine presence in creation:
Although Jesus was a man, the Christ is beyond gender, so it should be expected that Christian Tradition would have found feminine ways, consciously or unconsciously, to symbolize the full divine incarnation and to give God a more feminine character—as the Bible itself often does.
Why did Christianity, in both the East and West, fall head over heels in love with this seemingly ordinary woman Mary, who is a minor figure in the New Testament? We gave her names like Theotokos, Mother of God, Queen of Heaven, Notre Dame, the Virgin of this or that, Nuestra Señora, Our Mother of Sorrows, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, and Our Lady of just about every village or shrine in Europe. We are clearly dealing not just with a single woman here but a foundational symbol—or, to borrow the language of Carl Jung, an “archetype”—an image that constellates a whole host of meanings that cannot be communicated logically but is grounded in our collective unconscious.
In the mythic imagination, I think Mary intuitively symbolizes the first incarnation—or Mother Earth, if you will allow me. (I am not saying that Mary is the first incarnation, only that she became the natural archetype and symbol for it, particularly in art.) I believe that Mary is the major femininearchetype for the Christ mystery. This archetype had already shown herself as Sophia or Holy Wisdom (see Proverbs 8:1–3; Wisdom 7:7–14), and again in the Book of Revelation (12:1–17) in the cosmic symbol of “a woman clothed with the sun and standing on the moon.” Neither Sophia nor the woman of Revelation is precisely Mary of Nazareth, yet in so many ways, both are—and each broadens our understanding of the divine feminine.
Jung believed that humans produce in art the inner images the soul needs in order to see itself and to allow its own transformation. Try to count how many paintings in art museums, churches, and homes show a wonderfully dressed woman offering for your admiration—and hers—an often-naked baby boy. What is the very ubiquity of this image saying on the soul level? I think it looks something like this:
The first incarnation (creation) is symbolized by Sophia-Incarnate, a beautiful, feminine, multicolored, graceful Mary.
She is invariably offering us Jesus, God incarnated into vulnerability and nakedness.
Mary became the symbol of the first universal incarnation.
She then hands the second incarnation on to us, while remaining in the background; the focus is always on the child.
Earth Mother presenting Spiritual Son, the two first stages of the incarnation.
Feminine Receptivity, handing on the fruit of her yes.
And inviting us to offer our own yes.
Faith Makes the Effort
These themes occur over and over in the gospels. Blind Bartimaeus, Zaccheus the tax collector, the Canaanite woman, and many others take significant risks to experience the goodness of Jesus. In all of these stories, Jesus affirms their faith. He blesses those who show tenacity and persistence; those who believe so deeply in his power, authority, and mercy that they will go to extraordinary lengths to encounter him. And that’s precisely what we discover in the story of the paralyzed man in Mark 2. Before healing him, Jesus praises the faith of his companions who were undeterred by the crowds and instead lowered the man in front of Jesus through the roof. Their bold faith led to both the man’s physical healing and the forgiveness of his sins (see Mark 2:5).
All of these stories, however, challenge a commonly held assumption about faith. Many of us have been taught that being blessed, healed, or forgiven by God is purely a matter of grace, and that grace is above all a passive thing because if grace involves any effort on our part, it means we’re trusting in our works rather than faith alone. Unfortunately, this anemic understanding of grace and faith as inactive qualities has kept too many Christians in a state of both immaturity and unreceptiveness to God’s blessings.We see in the gospels and what Jesus affirms are people whose faith motivated them to act. Faith is what caused the bleeding woman to risk punishment and touch Jesus’ robe. Faith is why the Roman Centurion risked humiliation by asking a Jewish rabbi to heal his servant. Faith is why Zacchaeus climbed the tree, why Bartimaeus shouted when the crowds told him to shut up, and why the Canaanite woman asked for crumbs from Jesus’ table. This is what we so often get wrong.
As Dallas Willard said, “Grace is not opposed to effort. It is opposed to earning. Effort is action. Earning is attitude. You have never seen people more active than those who have been set on fire by the grace of God.”None of the people Jesus touched earned their healing. Nor did they deserve to have their sins forgiven. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Indeed, Jesus freely healed and forgave the paralyzed man. He did not earn this grace; it came through faith. Faith in the power of Jesus is why those men put a hole in the roof and lowered their friend through it. Their hard work was not a betrayal of faith, but the evidence of it.
DAILY SCRIPTURE
MARK 2:1-12
JAMES 2:14-26
WEEKLY PRAYER. From Martin Luther (1483 – 1546)
Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent that my love may go out to my neighbor. I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you.
Amen.
