(Audio)
Jesus, we learned in yesterday's Gospel, was the one stronger than the devil, able to set free those held captive under his power, to plunder those over whom he once held claim. His house, his Kingdom was undivided. It was entirely good, capable of withstanding any onslaught of the enemy without collapse. It was entirely built on the solid rock of obedience to the will of the Father. The presence of Jesus truly made manifest the power of the finger of God in the midst of humankind.
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.”
This woman from the crowd had every reason to be enthusiastic, to be swept up in the excitement about Jesus, witnessing the mighty deeds he performed and observing the wisdom with which he disarmed the arguments of his opponents. Yet, as is often the case with enthusiasm, it was in need of a more precise direction, a more intelligent orientation.
He replied, “Rather, blessed are those
who hear the word of God and observe it.”
Thinking in the narrow terms of kinship would have reserved the blessings of Jesus only for the few, and without any inherent divine logic behind it. If this was the main basis on which Mary was blessed it could have only been viewed as arbitrary.
There was a sense in which God seemed to make arbitrary choices, choices based primarily on genetic decent and blood relations. Israel was elected, and not the Gentiles. And within Israel Isaac was chosen, and then Jacob, and so on. But election of this sort only paved the way for blessings, or kept the door open for the progress of the divine plan. All throughout this history those who were truly blessed were those who lived by faith, those who would look forward to a time when the promise to Abraham would finally be fulfilled. In this sense Mary was elected as well. But unlike everyone elected before her, tainted by sin, she herself was so perfectly transparent to the will of God, so unwavering in her faith in the promise is it took unique shape in her own life, that she herself was blessed and partook fully of the fruit of the promise to Abraham, the fruit that was in fact her own son.
Before faith came, we were held in custody under law,
confined for the faith that was to be revealed.
Before the coming of Christ, the object of our faith, came into the world, the law could only demonstrate to us our need for a savior. The repeated sacrifices it required demonstrated the ongoing problem of sin, while the rigid wall of separation imposed between different groups of people implied the weakness and indeed the helplessness of people's hearts against sin. External barriers were strictly necessary to protect hearts unable to make meaningful change.
But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a disciplinarian.
Now that Jesus has come into the world we no longer need the ceremonial and sacrificial works of the old law, nor the barriers between peoples and nations. We have been elevated by the power of the Spirit, united as sons and daughters of the Father in the person of Christ Jesus himself. This one person perfectly fulfilled the law. And, to the degree that we are united to him, the righteous requirements of the law are fulfilled in us (see Romans 8:4) who by faith have access to this grace in which we stand (see Romans 5:2). Mary's blood relation to Jesus was infinitely inferior to this union with him that she had by faith. It was precisely this faith that she embraced with her fiat. Her fiat was hearing the word of God and observing it par excellence.
The Lord remembers his covenant for ever.
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