There are a few things I remember very clearly from my childhood. Images that bring back a flood of memories. When I was young our whole family on my Mother’s side would meet every Sunday at my Grandmother’s house for dinner. It was mandatory. No excuses. While there was inevitably family arguments (how could you avoid it with everyone under the same roof), they were also some of the best times of my youth.
One image was that of a certain item by Grandfather kept close at hand called the “Board” of Education. Now this board was actually a wooden paddle and it had a picture of a Dad holding his young son by the hand walking him towards a shed in the yard with the paddle hidden behind his back. The implication that a “lesson” was about to be learned due to some infraction committed by the child. And what infraction do you think was sure to draw out the infamous board? You guessed it. Speaking ill of your Mother.
In the 70s TV show, Welcome Back Kotter, the lead “Sweathog” (the name of the roughneck kids in Mr. Kotter’s classroom) was Vinnie Barbarino played by a young John Travolta. One of his signature lines was when someone spoke ill of his Mother. He would say, “That woman is completely holy”. And isn’t that how we are supposed to speak to our Mothers?
Then we come to today’s Gospel reading and it makes some question Jesus’ level of respect for His Mother.
While Jesus was speaking, a woman from the crowd called out and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breasts at which you nursed.”
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Sounds a bit dismissive of our Lord. Kind of like Him redirecting the praise meant for His Mother. Not giving to her her due. Then there is this line from Matthew 12:47-50:
Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.” He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”
But do we really think Jesus is being disrespectful of His Mother in these instances? To the person who Jesus looked down on from the cross and gave her into the care of John. His last moment spent in love for the woman who bore and raised Him? It would be hard to imagine the Lord speaking this way. So, what was he trying to say in these verses?
We know that Jesus and the Church from the apostles til this day hold up Mary as a model for us all. She is someone who is the example of grace and obedience. From the time Gabriel came to her and she said, “Yes”, to being there for her Son while He hung on the cross dying. She was unwavering. She heard God’s word and she observed it and acted on it. And THAT is precisely what Jesus was saying to the woman in today’s Gospel. Yes blessed is she for bearing Him but MORE than that. Blessed is she for hearing the word of God and observing it. That is the greater glory for His Mother. And blessed is anyone who follows her lead. He is telling us that we should all strive to be like her. Perfect in obedience to God’s word and to God’s will.
In the same way some argue that Jesus is being disrespectful to Mary when He calls her “Woman” at the wedding feast in Cana in John Chapter 2.
3 And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.4 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? mine hour is not yet come.
But he also refers to her as “Woman” from the cross when He turns her over to the care of John. He also uses the term when he refers to the woman with the hemorrhages. Or the Samaritan woman at the well. The term was used as a means of respect in Jesus’ time. It did not have the same connotation that it does now.
Also, remember we think of Mary as the New Eve. She said Yes to God where Eve said No when God told her to obey His command in the garden. And God said to the serpent in Genesis Chapter 3:
“Cursed are you above all livestock
and all wild animals!
You will crawl on your belly
and you will eat dust
all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.”
In a sense Jesus, by using the term Woman, He is connecting Mary with the figure God refers to in the Garden. It is Mary’s offspring, Jesus, that will crush the head of the serpent…Satan. And He does this on the cross. He is destroying Satan, destroying death, as he dies on the cross. The prophecy made in the Garden is fulfilled right there with “The Woman” who bore Him and was the vehicle for Him to save us all.
Now if I had just learned this lesson from Jesus about MY Mother when I was a kid I just may have avoided a few trips out back with the Board of Education.
