#also Mary consented to being pregnant with Jesus

[secretneongenesis]

Just saw a post that said they were “pretty sure” that “according to the Bible” Lucifer and the angels rebelled because they wanted genders and to have sex with humans.

Yeah. No. None of that is true.

If you’re “pretty sure” of something that sounds like Supernatural fanfic is in the Bible, maybe you should just check it again to be sure, mmmkay?

[riszellira]

Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Reflection: A Necessary Birth

In today’s birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we read about the genealogy of Jesus based on Matthew’s account. It traces all the people who comprise the bloodline of the Messiah. It seems to be a boring reading as it involves a lot of names, which are not only difficult to pronounce but also mostly unknown to many of us. The lineup is not perfect—not one you would expect to produce the Son of God. There is a murderer, prostitute, despot, and adulterer mixed with great rulers, wise men, mother, and a virgin. It sends the message that God can write with crooked lines. Further, salvation is inclusive. Tamar slept with her father-in-law, Judah, for a quasi-incest relation. 

Tamar did not bear a child from the children of Judah. To fulfill her womanhood, she deceived Judah by disguising as a prostitute so he would sleep with her. Rahab, a prostitute, helped some Israeli spies from being caught. She was made to be a part of their community. Bathsheba, the wife of David’s commander Uriah, had a child with David. To hide their adultery, David planned and succeeded in killing Uriah. Finally, we have Mary who was found pregnant with Jesus but without a husband yet. Joseph, who belongs to the bloodline of David where the Messiah would come as prophesied, was called by God through an angel to stand as the earthly father of Jesus. Mary was courageous enough to accept the responsibility of becoming the mother of Jesus. These events show that God’s ways are not man’s ways.

The birth of Mary was part of God’s plan. While she remained free, God formed her and gave her all the graces to maintain her purity and goodness to be worthy to be the mother of the Son of God. Thus, when it was time to announce her motherhood, the Angel Gabriel cited her being full of grace. On her own, she may not have consented to the offer. But because of God’s graces, she had the courage to face the consequences of conceiving even if “she knew no man.” We thank God for the gift of Mary. We also thank Mary for her willingness to take on the responsibility of being the mother of the Son of God. The celebration of her birth is also a celebration of our salvation.

~Fr. Benny Tuazon

Do you have a genealogy of your family? What is God’s message to you based on your genealogy?

My family tree is not perfect, but through Your grace, may we become a channel of Your salvation for all of us. Amen.

Prayer

… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the unborn.

… for the strength and healing of the sick.

… for the healing and peace of all families.

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers and for those who need our prayers the most.

GOD BLESS!

[hymnonlips]

God Favored Her: An Introduction + Three Photos Tag Game

Due to recent (and at the same time ancient) events, I’ve taken it upon myself to try to repurpose my frustration into something creative. 

Enter: God Favored Her

(details, moodboards, and playlists under the cut!)

*TW: Sexual Harassment & Assault, Abortion, Stalking, Conversion Therapy, Incest

God Favored Her is a collection of short stories about the lives of different modern day women inspired by the women from the bible. Currently, there are four planned installments:

Eve🗧

Synopsis: Eve navigates her desire to have sex with her boyfriend within a highly conservative environment. Ultimately, she decides to give into her desires, but is later punished harshly, now facing the future she never wanted to have.

Spotify Link: Here.

Note: In this interpretation, the apple is now a cherry, a representation of losing your virginity. The whole Fall of Man story is all about the loss of innocence, so I thought it would be interesting to take it in this direction.

Bathsheba🗧

Synopsis: Bathsheba, a woman who lives with her veteran husband (who is mostly away), discovers that naked photos of herself were taken without her consent when someone across the street begins stalking her. She feels ashamed of her forgetfulness to close her blinds and realizes that she can’t ask for help. Faced with his money and power, she feels pressured into giving into his advances. Ultimately, Bathsheba becomes pregnant with his child and she contemplates on living in a man’s world as a woman without a man.

Spotify Link: Here.

Note: I really hated how the bible passages never went into how Bathsheba felt about David watching her and impregnating her. Honest to god, it sounded like she enjoyed it because of her silence. (We’re not even getting into him murdering her husband.)

Mary Magdalene🗧

Synopsis:  A disciple at a conversion camp battles inner turmoil when she finds out her lover is soon to leave the camp. She contemplates her status of being the lowly sinner and her lover, the praised saint. She remembers how her love seems to be a completely different person around her—human, even—and wonders which side of her is real—if their love was ever real. Ultimately, when her lover leaves to go on the mission, she is left alone with her prayers to god, begging that he would change her.

Spotify Link: Here.

Note: Alexa, play I Don’t Know How To Love Him.

Honestly, this story is an outlier because this is the only one where she doesn’t get pregnant, which puts into perspective the role women play in the bible. Still, I wanted to tackle this because of the supposed rumor that Magdalene and Jesus had a secret romance (omg I sound so gossipy). I wondered what kind of dynamic would a sinner and a saint have and I realized that this would be worth exploring through a queer lens.

Virgin Mary🗧

Synopsis: A pregnant teenage girl reflects on the mystery of her pregnancy. She navigates family dynamics, trying to amend her innocent youth with the expectation to be as innocent after everything that’s happened. Now a mother, she tries to understand her responsibilities, realizing, as a sixteen-year-old, she’s not ready. Ultimately, with family and morals in mind, she takes it upon herself to have the baby—regardless of her fears and uncertainty surrounding her pregnancy.

Spotify Link: Here.

Notes: This one, I’d say, is the most controversial story as it paints Mary to be an unwilling mother. However, I must say, that Mary was sixteen when she said yes to God, and as a child listening to that story, I was terrified. I’d imagine that at that age, if a god were to ask me to bear his child, I can’t say no. And so, I wanna give a more humanistic lens into the youth of Mary and the expectation, as women, to remain innocent.

Also, Mary’s decision at the end shouldn’t be seen as her disregarding her feelings for the “greater good.” It should be seen as a complicated decision that Mary had to make.

Final Notes🗧

@loveimogen has previously tagged me in a three photos tag game where you  find three photos/images (they can be anything at all, memes, vintage photographs, quotes, anything) that you feel describe your wip. Coincidentally, I was working on this post when I was tagged, so I thought I’ll just put it under that. You can find xyr post here!

Also I’ll be tagging @the-writing-moon @thepixiediaries​ @the-orangeauthor​ and whoever else wants to join! :DD (No pressure to the ones I tagged tho!)

[servus-immaculatae]

Mary, Co-Redemptrix

St. Paul wrote: “Sin entered the world through one man, and through sin death, and thus death has spread through the whole human race because everyone has sinned ... Adam prefigured the One to come. The gift [of the Redemption] itself considerably outweighed the fall. If it is certain that through one man’s fall so many died, it is even more certain that divine grace, coming through the one man, Jesus Christ, came to so many as an abundant free gift. The results of the gift also outweigh the results of one man’s sin” (Rom. 5:5-12; 15-16). Given the fact that the truth of the contrast between the old Adam and the new Adam, Jesus Christ, was elucidated by St. Paul, it is natural to conclude that the Apostle was aware of a similar contrast between the old Eve and the new eve, Mary, the Mother of God. Indeed, sin entered the world as a result of choices based on the free wills of both the old Eve and the old Adam. So God arranged for the grace of Salvation to come into the world through the choices based on the free wills of the new Eve and the new Adam. No human’s wisdom can grasp the depth of Mary’s self-abandoning love of God, which caused her to show deep obedience to the Heavenly father as His handmaid, from the moment of the Annunciation to the moment of the Redemption by her son Jesus on the Cross. Her first public action as such a unique co-operator of the Redeemer which is recorded by the Scripture was her presentation of Baby Jesus to God in the temple, on the 40th day of the Redeemer’s birth, “according to the law of Moses” (Lk 2:22). Then, she offered Jesus to God by exercising her parental rights over her divine son. Then, the upright old prophet Simeon, foretold the mystery of her mission as the Co-Redemptrix to her: “You see this child, He is destined for the fall and for the rising of many in Israel, destined to be a sign that is rejected. And a sword will pierce your own soul, too” (Lk 2:34-35). How many tears the Holy Mother Mary shed when she witnessed Jesus suffering on the Cross! The intensity of her sufferings is beyond any human being’s ability to imagine. Her sufferings at the foot of the Cross were, in a mystical sense, the pains of childbearing, which she offered to become the mother of the Christians destined to be saved in accordance with the plan of God. Be it a natural human mother or our Heavenly Mother, the definition of a mother is the same: she is the one who suffered the pangs of childbirth in giving birth to a person. This definition applies to Mary perfectly, because her sufferings in giving full consent to the immolation of Jesus were the mystical pangs of childbearing for us Christians. First she conceived Jesus, the head of the Mystical Body, in her chaste womb, and then through the process of her Co-Redemption on Calvary, she began to give birth to the members of the Mystical Body of Christ. This profound mystery of Mary’s motherhood for Christians was prophetically indicated in the Scripture. “God told the Woman: I will multiply your pains of childbearing. You shall give birth to your children in pain”(Gen 3:16). These divine words do not primarily concern the pangs of childbirth of ordinary women. In this verse, that immediately follows the announcement of the Redeemer, God was prophesying the Holy Mother Mary’s sufferings at the foot of the Cross. And in the same way the Apocalypse says: “Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a Woman, adorned with the sun, standing on the moon, and with twelve stars on her head for a crown. She was pregnant, and in labour, crying aloud in the pangs of childbirth” (Apoc. 12:1-2). The Bible says: “Near the Cross of Jesus stood His Mother, and His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala”(Jn 19:25). This means that the two other women, also named Mary, were standing, while weeping at the sight of the crucified Jesus. But the tears of the women of Jerusalem (cf. Lk 23:27) and of the two other Marys were shed out of mere sympathy for Jesus’ sufferings, so there is no profound meaning in their tears. In sharp contrast, the tears of the Blessed Virgin were the tears which resulted from her spiritual pains when she gave full consent to the Sacrifice of her divine Son Jesus and offered Him up to the Heavenly Father as the mother of the Redeemer of mankind. The tears of the Holy Mother Mary were the tears of Co-Redemption. “As truly as she suffered and almost died with her suffering Son, so truly did she renounce her maternal right over that Son for the sake of our salvation, and immolate Him, as far as with her lay, to placate God’s justice. Hence it may justly be said that with Christ she redeemed the human race” (Pope Benedict XV).

[jackednephi]

Queering Christ: a post where I'm just rambling out some Thoughts

Jesus had two moms AND two dads. So we can look at this a couple of ways

Polyamorous family in which Mary had two husbands considering God got her pregnant. A mixed family like the case of divorce where kids have four parents is also a valid way to look at that. But honestly? The way the Holy Family is looked at by all of Christianity? That's totally a polyamorous relationship

Mary, like all good Jewish women, prepared from an early age to be worthy to carry the savior. From what I understand of the Jewish faith, good Jewish women still do this as they don't see (accept?) Jesus as the Christ. They live a specific way and pray to be worthy to receive the savior. Mary would have done this and, as we know from the scriptures available, this is exactly what she did. Therefore, the angelic visit of "hey you down to clown with god himself, lord over all creation?" was no surprise in that way. Pleasant, overwhelming and positive? Yes. Fearful screaming like with the shepherds? Not so much

I don't presume to understand how God himself allowed a virgin birth. We can say sex was involved but I'm just not going there. Instead, I propose something I learned of a few years ago when I was still a biology major: Christ's chromosomes were xx

So there's an actual recorded phenomenon wherein a woman can become pregnant, barring the usual method. She gives birth to a girl because of self fertilization. I forget the specific particulars but it is an actual thing that happens. It's rare and, from what I understand, will always produce someone xx rather than xy. Intersex and whatnot aside, this would mean that Christ was a trans man

We can talk about miracles all day long if we so please. Christ could have miracled himself whatever body he wanted. I'm not here to speculate on that. What I CAN speculate on is the fact that Mary was told she'd have a son. Meaning she would be told to raise him as a son. Children are pretty much interchangeable before puberty when it comes to telling gender at a glance. Hell, it used to be common practice to put all babies, regardless of gender, in little dresses

It would have been an easy thing for Mary and Joseph to raise Christ as a boy/man from a young age, teaching him carpentry. This would have likely also been safer socially because of how women were viewed in the past. Then, right around the time the couple could have explained to Jesus that no he was a girl, he would have been plenty old enough to protest and insist he was a boy. And anyway, look at those robes everyone wore

Or just look at paintings. Aside from color differences, hair covering was slightly different as well, these were pretty unisex robes. It would be no thing for him to dress as male. Not to mention, I honestly cannot see any bulge around this woman's chest. So long as Jesus didn't have an enormous chest, he wouldn't have to miracle anything away at all

Look, even if he wasn't trans during his life, he most certainly was in the Garden of Gethsemane considering the suffering he endured there. We know he bled for not just every sin but for every possible experience we could have ever had. The pain of being rejected by queerphobic family, friends, and society. Period cramps, child birth, the pain of being told you will never have children, losing children, losing spouse(s), and so on. In those moments, even if God had performed THE miracle and Jesus wasn't a trans man, Christ knew everything all of us would ever face. Meaning, during that time if nowhere else, he was just as trans and other forms of queer as the rest if us

But the scientist in me loves to think he went his whole life as a trans man due to the self fertilization that is a thing. God created the rules of reality and we know He plays within those rules. Why would he make Mary's pregnancy any different?

This also brings up the issue of Holy Consent. Mary consented enthusiastically to carry Christ. But what of The Mother? As someone in a polyamorous arrangement, I can confidently say that all parties must consent at all times to everything, with some wiggle room. If my wife were to want to remove their birth control, all of us would have to be consulted since everyone would be coparenting. When I removed mine, all three spouses and my then girlfriend were consulted for the off chance (read: miracle) of my own pregnancy

Before any of us most immediately affected adds a new partner, we consult the other partners. It isn't a Huge Ordeal so much as a quick text of "I'm going to start dating Josh" and usually it's "hey congratulations!" There have been instances of "you already have # partners. Will you be able to handle another?" or "I'm not really comfortable with Josh because of [behavior]" in which case, things are discussed further before a decision is made

Bottom line, consent is a conversation that happens between all affected parties. Otherwise it's not healthy or polyamory but just cheating. And we know God doesn't Cheat. Which means, at some point, there was a Conversation. And not only did our Mother consent, she did so for every instance of miraculous birth, a couple of which happen in the bible itself. I can't remember names but there was this one woman who gave her son to the temple? Because she'd had a miraculous birth? Look, I know it's in there I'm just fuzzy on the specifics because I focus on (sarcasm) important stuff (sarcasm end) like kosher laws and Laban's sword. And now this rambly mess of a post

That means that Christ was the child of a polyamorous relationship, however that relationship was structured. This isn't even diving into the kings etc before Christ who had multiple wives and concubines. I mean. The tribes of Israel were the product of a multiple woman, polyamorous situation

Anyway, there's no neat conclusion or anything but I've been sitting on these thoughts for a couple of years now. Feel free to discuss

[tiny-christian-queer]

What would Jesus do?

I’m writing this at the middle of the night, because honestly, I spent sabbath in a very dark place and then got drunk, sent people messages telling them how and why I loved them... because I was so broken and hurt and I wanted to just die because I’d watched my government condemn another disabled person to death by refusing to fix a simple door and provide a motorised wheelchair the court had already said they HAD to give the man. So me being completely rejected by the government agencies for help, having so much difficulty fitting in at church, losing my home again and just being so so lost... I took a bottle of vodka and drank a forth of it while playing The Pretty Reckless (yeah... possibly the furthest you can get from church hymns) and trying to find a way to want to live again. Eventually I got to a playlist I made specifically to pull me out of such meltdowns and being drunk at that point I just lost it in tears and feelings and realised I just needed to tell some people that I really loved them and the things I’ve been too scared to say sober. Today, I don’t want to drink. I tried. Alcohol doesn’t taste sweet or like hope tonight. It’s just a bad decision in a bottle not something I want to skull for an epiphany.

But... I have been thinking about Jesus. What does Jesus do. For me, Jesus is like a weird acronym for life, Justice, encouragement, sharing, unity and strength.

That is what God is. He is justice. He encourages us. He tells us to share everything. Reminds us in unity there is strength, with him there is strength.

With love there is strength.

Jesus loves like no one else. God loves like no one else.

No one else is there to comfort me when I’m crying on the couch at two am because I stupidly started having feelings for someone I probably shouldn’t and my best friend has feelings for them too and I don’t know how to navigate this. But God listens. He says to me ‘what do you feel is right? Do you really believe that pushing your feelings down will help or would you rather kindly and tactfully talk to people and find out where boundaries lay so you can deal with this healthily?’

God is there when I’m completely smashed and crying and worried sick and screaming to the void: ‘I’m scared this person I love so much is going to hurt themselves by holding onto this vengeful hatred in her heart, it’s starting to stop her from seeing how incredible and amazing she is! Help me help her please, I don’t know what to say!’ And God sits next to me, holds me tight and says ‘tell them the truth child. Remind them why you and others love them and that this vengeance they have lost themselves too won’t bring it back, but love will. Because they are so loved but have just forgotten it. *name* is not vengeful because they feel like they cant win, they are just scared that they could be alone and unloved now. Tell *name* the truth so they can see it.’

God also sits on my shoulder and tells me to go back and edit every ‘she’ to ‘they’ because fear of Christian Tumblr judgment doesn’t mean I ignore my friends pronouns it took him forever to give them the bravery for. Because God tends to give me that mental disappointmented look everytime I forget to see my friends as they are and as he made them to be.

But that’s now what this post is meant to be about.

Sometimes when I start getting scared, God starts saying to me ‘What did my son do? What did he face that you’re facing and what about his path do you need to adapt to do now?’

So when I see people say ‘God would be so ashamed of you for that!’ I hear ‘I’m angry at you and I feel hatred and I’m scared and I don’t like it so I’m going to use something that I don’t believe can be hurt to shame you.’

But God can be hurt. He hurts all the time. Look at Jesus, look at Noah, look at Daniel, look at Cain and Abel... God constantly has his heart broken. But he still holds peoples hands. When I’m scared, when I’m hurting, my prayer is always, always ‘please make it stop. Please make it stop. Please make it stop as soon as possible and give me the strength to make it through or kill me right now. Just let me die and be done with this pain or help me by giving me strength and resources to get out of here’

But we can’t say ‘what would God do.’ Because we don’t understand what or why God does most of the time because he sees more than us. He doesn’t have control over us till we let him. God is consent culture in a nutshell, he will come in and do what we’ve asked for only when we let him and ask him and then he will take a step back and wait.

And we see this through our prayers and communication, but also through Jesus.

Jesus was the perfect kindness. He was only angry when people hurt each other. He protected and loved.

Mary Magdalene was a woman of the night and I will not sugar coat what that means; she was a prostitute. She worked her butt off to please men for money to get food on the table and support her community. She was a naturally loving and sweet person with a good heart. She worked having sex with men for money and those same men would shame and disgrace and mock her and so would other women of jealousy for what men went to her to provide. She was alone and an outcast even on days when she felt strong, her only community that truely accepted her were others like her. And I can tell you that because I’ve been there with other sex workers behind the scenes and I wasn’t in SW as a prostitute, but I knew the girls and guys who were and it’s hard and isolating work.

When Jesus and the others met her, the followers of Christ dismissed her for her job, for the fact men used her and threw (knowing men, probably literally thew) money at her for it. Because she was not fortunate enough to be a loved wife. Jesus showed her a kindness and refused to let others disrespect her. That is how she saw and knew him as the Messiah. Because he was kind and respectful to everyone, every woman, worker, man and child, no matter who they were, he saw that they mattered. That is why Mary and the perfume was so much more important, she knew what was coming and wanted to thank him and show him love and respect as he had for her. He had seen her.

Jesus was kindness to everyone.

My favourite post was about the cake debate ‘I don’t want to date the gays a cake’ ‘would Jesus bake the cake? Yes, yes he would.’ And that’s not all, He would celebrate their love and make the best damn cake of their lives because they were people and he loves all.

Jesus wouldn’t stand the KKK and Nazis would with a peaceful violence, would go and tear them apart (by this I mean call them out publicly, take back the Christian temples they’ve turned into hell dens and curse them out for ruining the message of love he had taught them and how dare they use his father’s name to massacre.’

Jesus would hear the teenager down the road had become pregnant and homeless and find her a place to stay where she’s safe, deliver her groceries once a week and being the amazing carpenter he is, build her a beautiful cradle and bring cloth diapers and bottles for the babe because they’re more sustainable and can be used more often in a pinch.

Jesus would help lobby the government saying ‘help out disabled’ and find charities and organisations and donate whatever time or money he could to them.

Jesus would be there with his church asking what accessible venues they could use for events so more people could make it.

Jesus would find someone to sign for the Deaf community and make sure they could be included.

Jesus would spread love in every which way.

Jesus is the man outside Planned Parenthood shouting everything other the abortions provided at each clinic. He helps women get in and out safely.

Jesus is the man screaming ‘SAFE MEDICAL TREATMENT IS GODS WILL, LOVE AND KINDNESS BEFORE JUDGEMENT AND CONDEMNATION’ at the crowds, bringing others with him to safely make a wall and protect people.

Jesus was a man who after a mass shooting would donate blood and help fund counseling services and share loving messages to people.

Jesus would be helping clean the streets, literally, with groups of men and women, walking with scoopers and trash bags, cleaning the city on their morning and evening walks before going home, cleaning up and then meeting at the local soup kitchen to help feed the poor while others read to children in a library or went and visited someone who just needs a friend.

Jesus and God, they’re nothing but love and sometimes I see this side of Tumblr, sometimes even churches and pockets of the Christian community become so lost in blind hatred they forgot that they’re love first and foremost. God is love and only when we listen will her hear him. For God is kindness and heart and justice and empathy and affection and honesty and strength and grace and dignity and respect and patience and perseverance and protection and encouragement and help and trust and everything.

We need to remember who it really is we’re following because we need to follow in their footsteps and be so kind and loving we are the ones God calls upon when the pain becomes so great it begins to drown us. We get to be the ones he calls to fix the world with our love. Just like Noah. Just like Moses. Just like Daniel. Just like Jesus.

[daechwita345]

Listen, I understand that the other people reblogging this want to combat cruelty to women in our culture and I’m 100% with that, but there’s absolutely no evidence that Mary was a child. The Bible never mentions her age, and it’s implied that she had been putting off marriage for a long time, meaning that she would have been older than the standard marrying age of the time.

It’s shown in the story that God asked Mary whether she wanted to be the one to give birth to Jesus, and she made it clear that she wanted to do it. Only then did she become pregnant—she chose for herself that she wanted to become the co-savior of humanity before anything happened at all.

I understand that the idea of a literal deity asking someone to carry his child seems inherently consentless, because of his position of power. However, although I won’t deny that the Bible is sometimes all over the place and can contradict itself at times, God IS intended to be a kind deity that puts people at ease and cares about their well-being, so I would argue that it’s possible that God, in his infinite abilities, may have been able to make it clear to Mary that it’s okay for her to say no. He is meant to be a being that genuinely respects the free will of humanity, it’s why he gave us free will in the first place. I don’t believe that a being that is meant to represent ultimate goodness and kindness would define consent as “well she was terrified, but I got a yes out of her!” I know that the point of everyone’s arguments here is that they are doubting the kindness and good intentions of God BECAUSE of these actions, but the foundation of Christianity has always been built on the idea that God is a kind being who would not want to put people through that kind of suffering. He is, by very definition, not someone who would want to hurt Mary with a pregnancy she was not fully okay with, and I’d argue that his infinite power would be able to make sure Mary was in a position where she DID feel comfortable saying no and making the decision for herself. He would probably be able to communicate to her that she is safe and free to make whatever choice she wishes. I think that’s something that Christianity’s idea of God WOULD definitely care about. I know that there are definitely a lot of evil Christians who are serious misogynists and would not care about this stuff, but the heart of Christianity itself is not compatible with those types of people—cruel misogyny is not a part of Christianity when it’s being practiced correctly, no matter how many idiots you might see practicing it wrongly and cherry-picking their beliefs.

I also feel like it’s important to remember that God did NOT interact sexually with Mary, so the pregnancy wasn’t under the exact same situations as it is with other “gods impregnate women” stories. Of course a pregnancy is still a pregnancy, but it’s important to remember that she didn’t have to undergo that particular part of the process. Also, I feel like Mary’s virginity is often looked on as a misogynistic ideal, but the idea was that she wanted to dedicate her life and her heart to religion. It was more about centering her life around serving the greater good and not being distracted by marriage and a husband than it was about staying pure for a magical patriarch. I understand that virginity is almost always used as a horrible thing deeply rooted in the idea of misogynistic ownership, but in Mary’s case it is usually more of a matter of “look how dedicated this woman was to her beliefs!”

Also, God demonstrated a wish for Mary to be shielded from persecution and pain as much as possible. He encouraged Joseph to marry Mary (or rather to act as her beard, as it was a marriage without sex for the sake of public image) presumably so she would be protected from the cruelty often shown to single mothers. I believe I’ve heard versions of her story where it’s emphasized that God made sure the pregnancy itself was painless as well, which I’m very glad about since she had to give birth in a stable. Also, after she finished living out her life, it is believed that Mary ascended to heaven to join her son without having to endure the pain of dying—she was granted immortality and eternal happiness for what she did for humanity, and she essentially became a deity of her own.

I feel like it’s kind of a disservice to Mary herself to interpret her incredible act of literally saving the entire human race through creating Christ himself as her being in a disempowered, miserable state, when Mary was always portrayed as being happy and proud of giving birth to Jesus. Mary is considered by Catholics to be an incredibly strong and admirable person, a role model to all people (male and female alike) for her dedication to her religion and the bravery she showed as a technically single mother in an awful time to be a woman at all. She is loved for being a kind and compassionate parent (something that should never be looked down on!), and people are often encouraged to pray directly to her. She’s considered powerful and awesome for her contribution to everyone’s salvation, and Catholics celebrate her and love her as the Mother of God and the co-redeemer of all of humanity (without Mary, there would be no Christianity).

Basically, what I’m saying is that although it IS very important to re-examine long held beliefs to ensure we’re not supporting misogyny or violence against women, I don’t think Mary’s life is a good example of these things. Mary is arguably the most universally loved, respected, and admired woman in all of western culture (or at least in Catholicism, I’ll admit that other types of Christianity sometimes skip over her importance) and although the potential idea that she could be a survivor of violence or coercion does NOT make her any less of an awesome or admirable person, I would argue that this type of debate does kind of belittle her own actions by implying that she was helpless and forced against her will into doing the very heroic and amazing thing that we celebrate her for—it takes away her status as an active character in the foundational story of Christianity and fails to fully give her credit for her actions. Her motherhood was what made her so cool, and her brave choice to be the creator of the savior was really admirable and selfless (NOT because women exist to be baby incubators, but because creating life is an awesome and badass thing, and should not be considered so inherently disempowering). Mary is a MAJOR part of the religion, and she should get credit for her own personal actions and choices. Saying that she only did these things because God made her do them, as if she’s just a helpless pawn in the story of God and Jesus, takes away from the inherent badassery of the idea that Mary looked at the world around her, knew raising the savior was going to be hard, but despite that said an enthusiastic “hell yeah” to God’s offer, choosing to be the one amazing woman who would be responsible for the salvation of every human soul who has ever lived on this earth.

However, I’d again like to emphasize that even if she was a victim of violence or coercion, that wouldn’t make her any less of a cool or admirable person. What I mean is that the choice she made was really admirable and cool and heroic, and automatically assuming that choice was not her own at all kind of takes away from the heroism of her story. She’s always described as being proud to be the Mother of God, so there’s no need to doubt her desire to be the woman who saves all of us from our sins. It was an undeniably difficult but really awesome choice, and I don’t think it’s reasonable to assume that this amazing woman couldn’t have made that choice out of her own bravery.

Mary’s gift from God for being the only sinless person ever was a dangerous pregnancy out of wedlock

[thewahookid]

One of the greatest blessings we have as Catholics is the Mother of the Church, the Virgin Mary. If Jesus is your Lord and Savior, Mary is your spiritual mother, the queen of heaven and earth. While this is simple for many of us to understand, it can also be challenging for many Christians to grasp, both Catholics and Protestants. I want to use today’s post to shed some light on what the Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us about praying to the Virgin Mary, as well as what the Bible tells us about her.

Let’s clear the air before getting started for any of our Protestant brothers and sisters who might be reading along. No, Catholics do not worship the Virgin Mary. Just the idea of that is nonsense. We worship a triune God, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. That being said, we honor Mary, the mother of our Lord and Savior.

Many people honor people who are no longer living on this earth every day. We honor family members, military veterans, and many other people who have made a difference in the world we live in. We love them. They have a special place in our hearts. This is no different than how Catholics view Mary. Let’s look at what the CCC tells us in paragraph 2674.

“Mary gave her consent in faith at the Annunciation and maintained it without hesitation at the foot of the Cross. Ever since, her motherhood has extended to the brothers and sisters of her Son ‘who still journey on earth surrounded by dangers and difficulties.’ Jesus, the only mediator, is the way of our prayer; Mary, his mother and ours, is wholly transparent to him: she ‘shows the way,’ and is herself ‘the Sign’ of the way, according to the traditional iconography of East and West.”

We go on to read in paragraph 2679:

“Mary is the perfect Orans (pray-er), a figure of the Church. When we pray to her, we are adhering with her to the plan of the Father, who sends his Son to save all men. Like the beloved disciple we welcome Jesus’ mother into our homes, for she has become the mother of all the living. We can pray with and to her. The prayer of the Church is sustained by the prayer of Mary and united with it in hope.”

There is much more the CCC tells us about praying to the Virgin Mary in paragraphs 2673 – 2679. I encourage you to read them this week before my next post. I want to use the rest of what I am writing today to look at giving Mary a place in our hearts, following a biblical example, and following Mary’s lead. Let’s get started.

Giving the Virgin Mary a Place in our Hearts

I need to be very clear again. No, I am not telling anyone to worship Mary. That being said, the mother of God needs to have a special place in our hearts. She set an example of obedience each of us needs to follow. She was obedient to death, the death of her Son.

Because God is sovereign, I’m sure He would have figured something out if Mary wouldn’t have gone along. Still, God didn’t have to. The Virgin Mary took on whatever role God had for her to play. This would have been much more difficult than we realize. She was betrothed to be married. Becoming pregnant all of a sudden would have thrown a wrench in the bag.

Related: Feast of the Immaculate Conception and Mary’s “Yes”

She was younger than a lot of people realize. The majority of biblical scholars and commentators put her between the ages of 13 – 15 at the time of the Annunciation. Think about this for just a second. God used a young teenage girl to play a significant part in changing the history of the world. The Virgin Mary played a role in salvation for every one of us. Yes, she deserves a very special place in our hearts. Right next to her Son.

Not a place of worship, but one of great honor and love. The majority of grown men today couldn’t go through half of what she did before 30. Mary carried the Son of God, gave birth to Him, raised Jesus, and then watched Him be killed. Yes, this is someone we honor.

A Biblical Example

One of the many beliefs that Catholics and Protestants have in common is that we take the Bible as the written Word of God. Scripture is both a history to learn from and a knowledge to be growing towards. The Bible isn’t just a book or novel we read to our children. It is to be applied in our daily lives. Let’s look at what the Bible tells us about the Virgin Mary in the Gospel of Luke 1:46 – 49:

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”

Just for the record, that comes from the ESV, a Bible translation with both a Catholic and Protestant version. Just a heads up, the current generation is part of “all generations.” We are to call her blessed.

The majority of people who will tell you that Catholics make too much of the Virgin Mary will also tell you the Word of God is their final authority. I can’t think of too many other women in the Bible that Scripture tells us “all generations will call me blessed.” Yes, the mother of God deserves our honor and our love.

Following Mary’s Lead

One of my favorite New Testament verses will always be Luke 1:38.

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

As I mentioned earlier, the passage this verse comes from asked a lot of the Virgin Mary. Everything about her life was getting ready to change. Gabriel was informing her that she was going to be the mother of the Son of God. If it had been me in a similar situation, I would have had many questions, to say the least. God would have had to provide me with some answers before I was willing to get on board. But, as frightened as Mary might have been, she allowed her faith, trust, and obedience to affect her circumstances instead of letting her fear dictate her response. That’s a lesson each of us can learn from, especially us Christian men.

Related: 5 Facts about the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary

Many Christians, Catholics and Protestants alike, are quick to refer to Abraham as the father of our faith because of his faithfulness towards God. If we can be so quick to give him this label, why is it such a struggle for many to recognize the Virgin Mary as the mother of God?

I want anyone who displays the faithfulness Mary did to be a part of my prayers. Regardless if I’m praying with or to her, I want the mother of God to play a role while I’m praying. I’ll leave you with this. We know that Jesus created every single person since the start of time. I want to believe that there was something special involved when He was knitting the Virgin Mary in her mother’s womb. God would have known Mary’s role in the salvation of the world.

While each of us is created equally, with the same amount of God’s love, I want to believe something special went into creating her. So, yes, I pray to the mother of Jesus. Because He is a great Son, no, I don’t believe He takes that as me disrespecting Him. On the contrary, I think it means something to Jesus. I think it makes Him smile.

[eternalfaithinhislove]

Jesus will baptize you with the Holy Spirit

John the Baptist is a very special person in the Bible, he was Jesus’s relative who even recognized His Voice from inside the womb. Mary was pregnant with Jesus when she went to see Elizabeth who was pregnant with John. As soon as she heard Mary’s voice she says John leaped in response. How?! How is that even possible, they were both still pregnant so technically it wasn’t even Jesus’s own Voice….?! Well, with God everything’s possible! I love this story because it proves just that—that God has always done the “impossible!” It’s also heartwarming that John immediately recognizes the Lord our God, even from a womb away! I think we can all work at recognizing our Lord the moment we hear his voice no matter where we are, as John did. And what better time to do it than the Christmas season?!

“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (Luke 1:39-45)

John grew up being an upright man who remained obedient to God. He went before Jesus proclaiming His Name and telling the people about His greatness. He spoke about His coming and power—that He would baptize with The Holy Spirit and fire! He knew his purpose was to warn his people the Lord was coming and to turn from their sins.  

“There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. (John 1:6-8)

“I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Matthew 3:11)

John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, 'Make straight the way for the Lord.'" (John 1:23)

In all His Greatness and Glory, Jesus went to John to be baptized and John was shocked…

“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:13-17)

Jesus came down to earth to be our Savior. He walked this earth as a perfect, humble man. This was one of the moments where we see God’s Glory shine in a way undeniable to all who were there and to all who believe.

[becumsh]

Top 5 worst fics you ever read + Top 5 small pleasures you like the most in life

Top 5 (+1) small pleasures I like most in life

Perfectly brewed tea with the perfect milk totea ratio. A perfect cup of tea can save the day. The most important andfundamental little pleasure in my life.

Being atthe right time and at the right place. To me, it happened a couple of weeksago. I was on a terrible date, but the date and I sat on the bench. And fromour spot you could see a panorama of St. Petersburg across the river Neva. Thesun was warm, the weather was pleasant and a light breeze was soft on my skin.I felt grounded, calm and just happy, because I happened to be there, to see mybeautiful city at the exact time I was there.

Bedtimereading to my 3 years old cousin. He’s a pain in the back for the majority oftime, and I have no idea where he gets all the energy from for all the runningand screaming. He’s a handful but can be a great fun sometimes too.

Re-readinga favourite book. Feels like meeting a friend after a long time apart.

Earlymorning routine. Wake up early on my own accord. Drink a glass of water firstday in the morning, do a 10-15 minutes yoga session to stretch sleepy musclesand get the juices flowing. Do some household chores. Make either an avocadotoast or a tofu scramble for breakfast.

Pulling a productive all-nighter during the summer. I’m an ‘all-nighter’ sort of writer/vidder. But I don’t do it often because it disrupts my already screwed up sleeping pattern. But I love it. We have White Nights in St. Petersburg during the summer, the night is quiet and some really good ideas come to mind. This is when I get the majority of work done.

top 5 worstfics (bottom 5?)

I’ve readmy fair share of bad fanfiction, but I can’t really say that I remember them all.You know, the definition of ‘bad fanfiction’ is very loose. It’s either notyour kink, not your cup of tea, the fandom characterisation you don’t agreewith, or you just avoid it altogether because fics like these are very easy tospot. However, I do have a few fics that come to mind.

Out ofrespect to writers (because despite my poor opinion on their works, it doesn’tmean that I should point the fingers at) I am not going to name anytitles/usernames. If you have a hunch what this fic might be, pat yourself onthe back, but I’m not giving out any names.

Whouffaldi massive (90k-ish) fic, pre-s8. I think it was posted on ff.net?Basically, as far as I remember (I did read it quite a while back, late 2014 Ithink). The sole reason why I read it was because back then there were like… 5whouffaldi fics? And it was one of the biggest? I mean, I was desperate, okay. Iremember that the first 10 or so chapters were readable and I didn’t skip alot. It wasn’t especially entertaining but it wasn’t too bad and satisfied mycraving for whouffaldi content. But after that. Oh, man, AFTER THAT. Clara getsa screwdriver, okay, I concede. Clara gets pregnant because the fucking TARDIShas been feeding her something? I dare ask what exactly could she possibly feedClara with? Digestible sperm? And then, to top it off, Clara becomes a TimeLady? How. H O W. I mean, if it was explained and wrapped up into a near andentertaining plot, I could’ve lived with that, however crazy this shit mightbe. But the plot was boring, felt fake and the language was basic af. No. Ididn’t like it. I don’t think I even finished the last couple of chapters,because that’s where my sanity ran out.

Johnlock omega!verse. Ok, hear me out. I don’t like omega verse, but I do read it fromtime to time. I found it accidentally, on a general AO3 Johnlock tag and decidedto give it a go. It was Jane Eyre AU or something. And literally, all my senseswere screaming that this shit is W R O N G, but I can’t just drop a fic withoutreading it all, can I. Basically, Sherlock was a young male nanny to John’sson. John was that hunky, athletic, a child of all Hemsworth brothers and ChrisEvans, a generic wet dream. The writer literally RELISHED in describing John’sform and build. Sherlock was a shy, beautiful, fragile omega, literally, bringme the bin, I want to vomit. And so many things are so Wrong? Sherlock goesinto ‘heat’ and John and he have sex? Without, you know, actual sober consent?The fuck? Sherlock is a stand-in for a stereotypical swooning female with allthat descriptive language of a damsel in distress? Idk, each to their own, butI felt fucking icky after reading it.

The post-s4 Johnlock fic of one of the writers that I don’t like. They arewidely known, incredibly popular, but I don’t like their writing. I read theirworks from time to time because many people recommend their fics, but I justdon’t get the hype. The majority of their works are ‘post s3 fix-its’. Ialready have a very bad relationship with these ‘fix-its’ for a number ofreasons. But their works? I just don’t know. There’s a hefty number of them ( Imay not like their works, but jesus, I fucking worship the writer for suchprolific productivity). They are long. And they are all fucking same. They arepractically identical. Now back to the fic. I understand that the majority ofJohnlock shippers LOATHE Rosie/The Baby™ because it’s Mary’s spawn but… This isa little bit extreme for John to treat his own child like that? And it’s notonly Rosie, and I concede that I might be biased (I fucking love that child,okay), it’s the characterisation of both John and Sherlock. Taking fundamentalqualities of the characters and changing them just so the OTP would happen orfor narrative purposes or for the couple to be cute… it’s. I don’t know. Imean, fanfiction is meant to be indulgent, but changing the characters to thepoint I recognize them only because they call each other ‘John’ and ‘Sherlock’kind of erases the whole point of fanfiction. But the writer is super popular,so it’s just me and the author’s writing being not my cup of tea.

McCoy/Chekov Russian fanfiction. I don’t remember much of it, it was aboutspace pirates, I think. Chekov was the criminal mastermind and McCoy was heldhostage on his ship. Fic was boring but long McChekov fics in Russian are hardto come by. But uuugh. So pointless. So out of character. So boring. So messy,I have zero clue what the fuck is going on. After a lot of pointless dialogue,attempts at interesting plot, it all ends with Chekov being the space HarryPotter who has to sacrifice himself in order to save the world. Also, some sortof God or Jesus is the villain? I don’t mind epic plots in fanfiction as longas they are well written. This one though. I don’t actually know what’s thepoint of this fic. Characters were so out of it, I had to scroll back and checkthat I was still reading a Star Trek fanfiction with Chekov and McCoy.

I don’tactually know if it’s a fanfic or a series or completely different works. Butthere’s an omega!verse WIP in trevilieu tag on AO3 that keeps updating. And itannoys the fuck out of me. I understand it’s just a matter of my ownpreferences and my taste but I’m so fucking tired of checking my dear ol’trevilieu tag, seeing the fic/update, seeing ‘omega!verse’ slapped in the tagsand thinking ‘ugh, not again’. I remember that a while ago there was a veryhuge omega!verse fic that kept popping in the trevilieu tag becauseRichelieu/Treville was a secondary ship. And I read about 5-10 chapters of it.And man. I hated pretty much everything, but the world-building and plot andstorytelling were so fucking great! The plot was so interesting and I was actuallysurprised that I was so captivated by it. The one that keeps reappearing now,though… Has no redeeming qualities. I mean, now I’m just bitching aboutunimportant thing, but seriously though. I concede that each to their own,everyone has their own cup of tea and such and such. But I’m just peeved thattrevilieu is such an interesting relationship, such a complex one, but fuck no,let’s write about self-lubricating anuses. I swear to god, awhile backomega!verse fanfiction in trevilieu tag outnumbered any other category. Butagain, that’s just me and my preferences.

[pamphletstoinspire]

Our Universal Mother - Part 4 - 3

Mary’s Espousal to Saint Joseph and Her Wedding Ring - Part 3

Here is the description Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich gives of the Blessed Virgin Mary's wedding ring: "I saw the Blessed Virgin’s wedding-ring; it is neither of silver nor of gold, nor of any other metal; it is dark in color and iridescent; it is not a thin narrow ring, but rather thick and at least a finger broad. I saw it smooth and yet as if covered with little regular triangles in which were letters. On the inside was a flat surface. The ring is engraved with something. I saw it kept behind many locks in a beautiful church. Devout people about to be married take their wedding-rings to touch it. "

The online newspaper Umbria (www.tuttoggi.info/articolo/24465) has an account of the yearly festival that transpires celebrating the ceremony of the Holy Ring exposition. ... As reported by Geraldine Rindinella. ... Every year on July 29th and 30th in Perugia, Italy the right of exposition of the Holy Ring takes place. The ring is housed at the Cathedral of San Lorenzo and its exposition symbolically renews the strong ties it has with the public. The ring arrived in Perugia on July 29, 1473. It is a ring of chalcedony (various gemstones) that the ancient tradition revered as a pledge of the marriage of St. Joseph with Mary of Nazareth. The nuptual ring is the memorial of an event of great importance. Every year both civil and ecclesiastical authorities who hold the 14 keys needed to access The Relic kept in a chest, converge into the Cathedral of San Lorenzo. Taken from the town of Chiusi, Italy, the wedding ring was repaired in the Chapel of the Plazzo dei Priori, waiting for the completion of the extension work at the Cathedral where it was transferred on July 31, 1488. The online newspaper article relates many more interesting facts surrounding the Holy Ring dating back to the Emperor Aurelian and the famous “War of the Ring” which prompted Perugia to keep possession of the ring from neighboring Italian states in the fourteen hundreds. Also you can read about the Brotherhood of the Ring, an aggregation of citizens dedicated to the persistence of veneration of the ring.

Question: What does the Gospel mean when it refers to Mary as the "espoused wife" of Joseph?

Answer: An "espousal" or "betrothal" is a formal agreement to marry. In modern American terms it would be something more than an engagement, yet less than a marriage.

In the Jewish culture of New Testament times, a young woman became marriageable at age twelve and a half. At a ceremony of betrothal, the bride and groom would exchange marital consent, but normally the bride would remain in the house of her father for somewhere between three months to a year. Marriage had the aspect of a man acquiring title to his bride, and only later did he acquire actual possession.

We know that Mary and Joseph had completed the contract of betrothal from the testimony given by St. Matthew (1: 18) and St. Luke (2: 5). What causes some confusion, though is Luke’s reference to “Mary his espoused wife” when Mary and Joseph were already in Bethlehem, seeking a place to give birth to our Infant Lord. For them to be in Jerusalem together, Joseph had obviously taken Mary from her father's house, and it seems clear that their betrothal had already been converted into a marriage. As he was aware of the circumstances of our Lord's conception by the Holy Ghost, Luke was probably following the custom of referring to a non-consummated marriage as an "espousal."

The Scriptures do not record exactly when Mary and Joseph were married, but the first chapter of St. Matthew's Gospel describes the circumstances. Verse 18 speaks of them being "betrothed ... before they came together." Joseph, on learning that she is pregnant with the child Jesus considers what he ought to do in verses 19-20, the situation is explained to him by an angel in verses 20-23, and in verse 24 we are told that he "did as the angel commanded him, and took unto him his wife." Presumably, this took place in Nazareth, as he would not have brought her to Bethlehem if she was still a member of her father's household. It (obviously) has to have followed the Annunciation (Luke 1: 26-38), and very likely followed the three months Mary spent with Elizabeth.

Note: This is an image of the actual wedding ring which Joseph placed on the hand of Mary. This story was first brought to the attention of PTI by Tom Zimmerman-former editor of the Blue Pieta Book-who explained this story to us at the Holy House of Loreto. R.I.P.-Tom.

[firstumcschenectady]

“A (Very) Young Mother To Be” based on  Luke 1:26-45

The Christmas stories function as gospels in miniature: establishing themes, offering foreshadowing, and even telling parts of the story in smaller but parallel ways.1 One of the little connections I first noticed this year is that in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus travels several times between the seat of his ministry in Galilee and the seat of Jewish power in Judea. This text has his mother Mary traveling from Galilee, to Judea, back to Galilee, and then BACK to Judea all while pregnant!

Luke's themes – in both the Gospel as a whole and in the Christmas story - include a value of women, a focus on the marginalized, and attention to the Holy Spirit. Luke chapter 1 spends a lot of time on Zechariah, Elizabeth, and John the Baptist. Luke is the only gospel to claim that Elizabeth and Mary are kin, as well as the only one to focus on the experiences of Elizabeth and Mary. Scholars have pointed out that Luke is intentionality setting up a rather enormous proposition.

Namely, Elizabeth's pregnancy story sounds like a common Hebrew Bible story. According to Genesis none of the patriarchs and matriarchs were about to procreate without an exceptionally long wait and Divine intervention. Elizabeth and Zechariah are an older couple, without children, who have gone past childbearing age. Elizabeth and Zechariah's story sounds most like Abraham and Sarah's, although it also connotes the birth of Samuel. God intervenes, and the VERY unexpected happen, or at least it would be VERY unexpected if it weren't so common in the Bible.

Mary's pregnancy story, on the other hand, is novel in the Bible. ��It hasn't been told before. The ancient Greeks and Romans may have hand virgin birth stories as commonly as we have superhero movies, but this wasn't part of the Jewish tradition.

Elizabeth is an old woman, thought to be barren, who has a child because of Divine intervention. Her story resounds with Hebrew Bible echoes. Mary is a young woman, thought to be pre-pubescent, who is ALSO said to have a child because of Divine intervention. Her story has an entirely new tune and tone.

Scholars think that Luke is intending for Elizabeth's son, John the Baptist, to represent the end of an age; while Mary's son, Jesus, represents the beginning of another age.2 In that case, having the two pregnant mothers residing in the same home in the Judean hills for three months, having Mary present for Elizabeth's birth, having Elizabeth's pregnancy function as proof for Mary's experience, and having the women related to each other and spending time sharing their experiences, is potent with meaning.

Now, it does turn out that the idea of one age ending and another beginning with the births (and deaths) of those men does have some truth to it. After all, a miscalculation of the date of the Birth of Christ was the original premise of our Western Calendar. Time has been calculated since that moment. And, since Luke was writing about 60 years after the death of Jesus3, but the time these stories were written down, the sense of an era ending another beginning was presumably felt deeply. Setting up these two main characters as the icons of change indicates how important the early Christian community thought their lives were.

Now, there is a reasonably high level of certainty that Jesus was a disciple of John the Baptist AND that there were people who had wondered if John the Baptist was the Messiah. This means that the followers of Jesus – both during his life and after his death – had to explain why they thought THEIR guy was THE guy, and the OTHER guy wasn't. I suspect some of the reason for the story we read today is to clarify that stance. It also serves acknowledge how closely tied their lives were and how closely tied their message were. Today, I think it functions well to remind us that the “end of an era” and the “beginning of an era” still operated in continuity – with a shared understanding of God and of God's vision for the world.

Luke 1 is a chapter of waiting. It runs for 80 verses, and yet it isn't until chapter 2 that Jesus arrives. Luke 1 is a little bit of Advent and of Christmas Eve – the waiting and the not-yet. Luke 1 gets us ready and hungry, and anticipating the arrival of the Christ-child. It makes us wait from the annunciation, through travels and songs of praise, through John the Baptist's birth and circumcision, through the faith struggles of his father, and even through the start of John the Baptist's ministry before the chapter ends and we get to turn to the birth of Jesus.

It feels a bit like we are waiting with Mary, aware of the changes that are about to happen, seeing the changes in her body, wondering about the impact (she's said to ponder a lot), but without yet holding the baby nor forming him in his faith. Luke sets up Mary to be the sort of woman you can believe could raise a son like Jesus. She is named for Miriam, a wise and faithful leader, the sister of Moses.

(Mary is the Greek-i-fied version of the Hebrew Miriam. It isn't clear to me if she would have been called Miriam, but it was written down in Greek as Mary or if the Greek influence was strong enough that she lived in that tension of being named for a Hebrew heroine, but with the itself Greek-i-fied. By the way, the word for that is “grecized” but I didn't think we all knew that. Or, rather, I didn't previously know that.)

Mary is also BRAVE and FIERCE. If you remember a later story of Jesus, the one with the woman who had been accused on adultery, the one they wanted to stone – because that was the prescribed punishment for such an act – then you may note why an engaged woman agreeing to a pregnancy from not-her-fiance was so brave!! An engaged woman was seen as fully the “property” of her husband, and adultery was defined as someone sleeping with someone else's property, and a pregnancy when the couple hadn't engaged in procreative activities would generally serve as good proof of adultery. Yet, in Luke, this isn't a problem!!! For Luke, Mary speaks and is believed, and there isn't any issue at all. I like Luke. He trusts women, and he gives them voice!

In many ways this presentation of Mary becoming pregnant by God reflects the Greek and Roman influence over that region as much as her name does. This was a fairly common story in Greek and Roman myths, although, I gotta give it to Luke, this is the only story in which the woman is asked for CONSENT before getting pregnant.

Mary DOES give consent. She knows what it could cost, but she is willing. As the story goes on, she sings God's praises for being willing to lift her up by giving her this task (#tomorrowsSermon)

Now, much later in the Gospel, Jesus will be put to death because of his faithfulness to God's message and the building of God's kindom. However, in this very early passage in Luke 1, we see that his mother was also willing to take those risks in order to serve God and build the kindom. She was likely very young (on the cusp of puberty), very poor, and rather profoundly disempowered, but she is given a choice about her life and she chooses to take a risk for God's sake.

Elizabeth is also named for a Hebrew heroine, Aaron's wife (Aaron was brother to Moses and Miriam), whose Hebrew name has been translated into Greek. I choose to interpret from this story that Elizabeth was a mentor figure to Mary, a safe place Mary could go and ponder. It has already been said in Luke 1 that John the Baptist was going to be gifted with the Holy Spirit, and in this scene it is clear that the gift is so strong as to move his mother too! Elizabeth is presented as speaking a truth that much of the world will never see, and it is presented as if God's own wisdom is able to move through her.

Elizabeth praises Mary BOTH for the wonder of having Jesus in her womb AND for faithfulness in believing God when she was told what would happen. I appreciate that this praise comes in two parts, too much of Christianity has only praised Mary for being the mother of Jesus, and missed that the story presents her as one of his teachers and mentors as well. Elizabeth expresses shock that she could receive the gift of a visit from such an important woman, and that the baby in her womb recognized the wonder of what was happening.

Luke 1 reminds us why the birth itself even matters! Luke 1 sets us up to notice that when God is up to something, God doesn't tend to pick the already powerful and noteworthy figures to do the work! Luke notes that God works with and through women, and the marginalized, through that unable to be controlled Holy Spirit. Luke sets us up to notice that something BIG is about to happen and it will change the world.

Which perhaps leaves us with a very important question: how has the birth of Christ changed the world FOR US, and how are our lives and actions different because of it? The era we live in has been formed by these stories, and they are ours to ponder. Are we ready, like Mary, to answer the call for radical change with “let it be with me according to your word.”? May we be. Amen

1John Dominic Crossan and Marcus Borg point this out in The First Christmas: What the Gospels Really Teach about Jesus' Birth (USA: HarperOne, 2007)

2Fred B. Craddock, Luke in the series Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1990) p. 29. This is one of several times this theory has been written, but he said it in a particularly accessible way.

3I'm taking this from the estimate that Luke was written in about 85 CE, while Jesus was born in about 5 BCE, and lived about 31 years. The “mid eighties” guess comes from R. Alan Culpepper, “Luke” in Leadner Keck, ed. , The New Interpreter's Bible (Nashville: Abingdon Press: 1995) p. 8.

--

Rev. Sara E. Baron

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305

Pronouns: she/her/hers

http://fumcschenectady.org/

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

[lesbian-radfem-witch]

Abrahamic religions as a whole treat women like 💩. I can't talk about African and Asian religions, but I can talk about abrahamic religions and let me tell you, from an insider's POV, all put women in a subordinate role to men, a commodity to men, a property.

In the Bible, women are never important for who they are as people, but rather they are defined by their relationships with men: Eve (she was literally made as an afterthought to please a man, and is solely blamed for being expelled from Eden when Adam was a grown ass man and could've said something instead of just going along), Mary (literally the only reason she's worshipped is that she was pregnant supposedly by the holy ghost and gave birth - with dubious consent - to Jesus, that's all we know about her), then there's the very controversial Mary M. (which has been called a prostitute by men in the church for centuries and still is to this day. literally the only thing that seems to matter to people is wherter or not she boned JC and if they had kids or not), there's Lilith too - who is often forgotten - (she was - supposedly - the 1st wife of Adam but yeeted his ass bc she decided that she wouldn't live as man's shadow/servant, and has been demonized in the Bible since. In fact, most people that know of her know her only as a demon).

According to the Q'ran, Mohamed (a fucking grown man) married his 1st wife Aisha when she was a child (she was 9, I think) and consummated said marriage before she even reached puberty. Idk about ya'll, but that's a clear cut case of pedophilia by my book. Also, women in Islam are separated from men during cult, must cover themselves before they reach legal adulthood aka 18 (to not "provoke" men), can't own property, and the husband always get full custody if she has kids and divorces him.

instead of saying “let people hate religion” say “let people hate christianity” because i promise you that the first one sets off big sirens in every jewish and muslim person’s head.