Inseparable!
- Gary Fritsch
- Apr 7
- 2 min read
Today's reading is one that lends great credence to the dogma of the Theotokos. The God bearer - the Mother of God. Lots of people struggle with this concept. How can a human woman, no matter how good or holy be the Mother of the God who created her? That's a great question. One whose answer is wreathed in mystery.
You see the title Mother of God is actually less about Mary and more about Jesus (shocker, I know). John's Gospel is all about the divine identity of Jesus. The other Gospels, Matthew, Mark and Luke (called the 'synoptic Gospels' because they take the 'same view') focus on the human life and actions of Jesus, which certainly point to His divinity, but John's Gospel stresses the importance of people recognizing Jesus' eternal identity. One of the ways that he brings this to light is by highlighting Jesus' I AM statements. "If you do not believe that I AM, you will die in your sins." This statement seems oddly worded. We might ask: 'believe that I AM what?' What He is saying is believe that I AM WHO AM - in other words, believe that I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses. Not just 'I know Him' or 'I am related to Him', but I AM HIM. As Jesus says elsewhere - The Father and I are ONE. (note: this is also wreathed in mystery).
So, if Jesus and the Father are never separated, then when He is in the womb, He is Jesus, the man and I AM. We cannot say that Mary is just the mother of the human Jesus, because there is no such person as 'just the human Jesus'. So, as incredible as it seems, as impossible and even impractical as it might appear to our senses, calling Mary anything less than the Mother of God is to deny who Jesus really is, it is to "not believe that I AM." So as it goes with many things in the life of Our Lord: I don't really understand how, but I know that it is because He said it, and because the one who sent Him is TRUE.
Allowing ourselves to marinate in the mystery of Jesus' hypostatic union (fully God, fully human) and all of the implications can leave us in awe. It can also leave us confounded - many throughout history have been. When I come to the end of my human understanding, I add things to my list of questions to ask when I get to heaven. I know they are true, I can't wait to understand how. Until then, Mary, Mother of God - pray for us!
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