Mother of God, Feminist Icon

There is no doubt about it; modern Christianity definitely has a ‘woman problem’. Whether one considers the still unresolved issues in the Anglican Church around women bishops, or that of the 10,000 and counting Saints in the Roman Catholic Church the vast majority are male, or the fact that many of the new wave Pentecostal super-churches have reduced women to the unhelpful binary of ‘surrendered wife’ whose life work is subservience or ‘Jezebel Spirit’ who needs her own agency policed and judged at all times, it doesn’t really look particularly attractive being a believer and female. Whilst these contemporary battles continue to be fought, there is one obvious powerful woman we might be wise to return centre stage. And her name is Mary.

Today, if you are a practicing Catholic or a super High-Anglican one, chances are you will be celebrating the Feast of the Assumption. The orthodoxy goes, that Mary didn’t die and get buried but was assumed into heaven, where in her unique position as Mother of Jesus, she continues to intercede on our behalf.

I have been thinking a lot about Mary and feel that it is time for a new approach to her; whatever your denominational persuasion. After all it was through her body, that God chose to reveal himself in human form thus she was clearly remarkable. 

“Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” Luke 1:28

This was not just a case of ‘rent-a-womb’ for the Lord, but rather an extraordinary and unique instance of God inviting a person to participate in his manifestation. When we consider her proximity to Jesus; raising him, nursing him, probably seeing his first step, and certainly with him to the end as he took his last breath on the cross, we see a stellar example of love, loyalty, constancy and obedience.

Mary’s power as intercessor for us all is buttressed in the fact that she was entirely human, and yet in her being steadfast and obedient, received an eternal reward from God. Her veneration in the Catholic tradition is feminist because it allows for a space where a woman can both occupy her bodily natural role of mother and carer but also take her place of leadership as Queen of Heaven. And to think we believe we invented the notion of the woman who can ‘have it all’! 

Furthermore, it is no surprise that the growth of female religious orders in the mediaeval era and the scholastic tradition that was their foundation, came at a time when it was standard to curtsey to a statue of the Madonna and Child, where an Abbess was an authority figure and much respected and the works of the likes of Hildegard of Bingen and Heloise of Argenteuil were celebrated across Christendom. As it stood during these times, when the Church had only endured one schism, Mary was the main attraction after the Divine Trinity. Her appeal lay in the dualism of her character; meek yet strong, powerful yet obedient. 

The lesson we can all learn from her is that true power comes not from job-titles, legislation or even equal-pay campaigns but from tapping into what God has already deposited in us, and thus reflecting his magnificence the world.

“I am the Lord’s Servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.”  Luke 1:38

As I imagine her in the heavenly realms, her destiny fulfilled on this earth, I pray for myself and all believers to be just like Mary, embrace servitude to the Lord fully, that he might manifest fully in us. A final word to my fellow feminist believers, it doesn’t get more next level blessed and powerful than the Mother of God herself!