JANUARY 1, 2023
THE SOLEMNITY OF MARY THE MOTHER OF GOD
FIRST READING: NUMBERS 6:22-27
SECOND READING: GALATIANS 4: 4-7
GOSPEL: LUKE 2: 16-21
In the first reading today, we read these beautiful words of blessing, “The Lord bless you and keep you! The Lord let His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you! The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!” The Church invites us on the first day of the year to pray especially for peace and justice in the world. On the first Christmas evening, the angels proclaimed, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, Peace among men with whom He is pleased!” Jesus is the prince of peace and we cannot get tired of presenting Him to our world as the only path to true peace.
The second reading today from the letter of St. Paul to the Galatians is thematically chosen. It speaks directly about the theme of the day. Paul who never mentions Mary by name or talk about her, on this one key occasion tells us, “When the time had fully come, God sent forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who are under the law….” It seems a fleeting reference but is nonetheless important. Here we see the mystery both of his divinity and his humanity. He is the son of God not by adoption but in essence and therefore is God, and he is the son of a woman which makes him the son of man. This is the truth that had to be fought over in the early centuries of the church. This led to the council of Ephesus which in 431 AD defined that Mary is not just the mother of the Messiah or the Christ, she is the mother of God. The council defined Mary as the Theotekos – God-bearer or mother of God. She is the mother of a person who has two natures: divine and man. This definition helped to safeguard the mystery of the Incarnation and affirm the truth that Jesus was divine from the first moment of his conception.
Calling Mary, the mother of God is actually rooted in scripture. In Luke 1: 43, Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit addressed Mary as “Mother of my Lord.” The Greek word, “Kurios” which translates as “Lord,” used by Elizabeth was a title that throughout scriptures was reserved for God alone. So, when we call Mary the mother of God, we profess that the son born of Mary in the order of the flesh is truly God.
Many non-Catholics object to the idea of Mary as the mother of God. They assume we mean that Mary is greater than God or is preexistent. Mary is only a creature. She is not preexistent and she is not divine. She is the mother of the second person of the Holy Trinity. She is the mother of a person who is God and man.
The Gospel narrates how the shepherds after receiving the good news of the birth of the saviour messiah, filled with joy and propelled by the sign they had received, went with haste to Bethlehem the city of David. The sign they were given is this; “you will find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” They found it exactly as the angel had told them. They found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in a manger. These shepherds are the first witnesses of the birth of the Messiah. They were not content in believing the glorious event that the angel announced to them and which full of wonder, they saw for a fact, they manifested their joy by proclaiming it to everyone. All who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.
So, what is the significance of this shepherd event that we are presenting today? Firstly, these simple shepherds could not have invented something they had not heard. There was a divine annunciation. Secondly, the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, the city of David was a very important messianic credential. Micah 5: 2 says, “But you Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. This prophecy not only points to Bethlehem as his birthplace but also reveals his pre-existence, a quality that is reserved for God alone.
In Luke 1:32, the angel said to Mary, “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great and shall be called the son of the Most High. Jesus is the son of God. Psalm 2: 7 attests that the royal son of David shall be God’s son. But he is also human. Aside from his passion, death and burial, the surest indicator of Jesus’s humanity is his birth. On the night of his nativity, Mary bears a truly human child who needed to be swaddled. He is the Lord with no human father, swaddled and on a manger. This is the mystery of the Incarnation, and this is why Mary is rightly called the mother of God.
Happy New Year!
Fr Chidi Onwuka m.ss.cc.