Nurturing the Word

  At the beginning of the New Testament there is another conception. Matthew and Luke open their Gospels celebrating the birth of Jesus. A young Jewish girl called Mary is chosen to be the mother of the Son of God. There is no suggestion that Mary - is longing and praying for a child of her own; there is no suggestion that Mary, like Sarah, is old or infertile. Mary is a young virgin; but just as old age and infertility are not barriers to the plan of God, neither is youth or virginity. For nothing is impossible with God. 

In the Gospel Mary’s virginity is important because it points to the truth of who her child is, ‘’so the child will be holy and will be called Son of God’’ (Luke 1:35). Having a child is not Mary’s idea; it is God’s. As John puts it eloquently in his Gospel, Jesus is born not out of human stock or urge of the flesh or will of man but of God himself. (John 1:13) 

Being the mother of Jesus is not something Mary can arrange for herself; it is something arranged by God. The child Jesus does not come as an answer to her longing and prayer but comes as the new creation of God. Mary’s ‘’yes’’ to being the mother of Jesus, the mother of God. 

In being the mother of Jesus, Mary does the same as any mother – nurturing within her womb the great process of a little one taking shape. Another human being is formed in the mother’s body, but the mother can never keep the child within her. Motherhood means not only having a baby but letting go of the baby. Birth is not possessive: it is letting another life take its rightful place in the world. Birth is the act of painful separation; when the mother must let her child go for the first time. 

 And as every mother knows, giving birth is only the first of many times when mothers have to let go. Parents cannot ‘’have’’ their children all the time, for the time comes when they must not only foster their presence but foster their going. Trust them to make their own lives in their own way. 

That is something which Mary has to do – not only to nurture Jesus in his growing, but eventually to let him go his way to make his appointed future. Jesus is Mary’s son. He is her own, but not her own. He belongs to her, but also to many. Mary has to do what the Father did – let go of his beloved Son. And that is what Mary does: she does not anxiously clutch Jesus to herself but gives him to us. She asks us to do what she does: share Jesus with everyone. Give him as life to others.