Mary's Knowledge of Jesus

[zgraf]

I was thinking this morning about Mary’s knowledge of who Jesus is. Was she initially aware that her son was the Christ? Probably not…

In Scripture, when Jesus is twelve years old and is found in the temple, we hear him asking:

“Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

Interestingly the next sentence is:

“But they did not understand what he said to them.” [Lk 2: 49, 50].

At this point Mary clearly does not have a full understanding of who her son is – or she would have understood why he needed to be “in his Father’s house”. Joseph, too, at this point evidently has no clue.

However, a number of years later at Cana, Mary seems to have come to a knowledge of who Jesus is and what his mission is for:

When the wine ran short, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” (And) Jesus said to her, “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” [Jn 2:3-5].

Here Mary must have some understanding of who Jesus is, or she would not have tried to persuade him (and the servers) to act in the way she did…

Perhaps by observing her son over the years and “pondering all those things in her heart” she came to this gradual, more complete revelation of the truth…

Thoughts?

 

[w_stewart]

Luke Chapter 1

26 And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, 27 To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. 29 Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. 30 And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.

31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a son; and thou shalt call his name Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High; and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father; and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. 33 And of his kingdom there shall be no end. 34 And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? 35 And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

 

[joseph_virgen]

sometimes we disremember that the most Holy was but a helpless infant, devoid of untold power and intellect. in essence, a child in the wilderness. his mother, our spiritual mother, stood courageously between him and all manner of harm.

divine or not, Mary, on occasions, reacted to her son as all loving mothers react at a child’s disappearance. not doubt, she even reprimanded the Nazarene.

Mary also knew that her son’s public acknowledgement of that divinity meant the culmination of his incarnation.

knowingly, we must remember that it was God, himself, who created his mother. she, born without sin, the immaculate Concepcion. she, Mary, a perfect being, the perfect mother.

 

[zgraf]

The message of Gabriel spoken prior to Jesus’ birth does indeed identify his divinity – and fully discloses his identity (“Son of the most High”).

But perhaps, practically speaking, it took time (a period of years) for Mary to absorb the full impact of this message.

As Joseph V. says, God created Mary as “the perfect mother”, but that does not remove her humanity. In spite of the seeming incongruities, let us recall the final words of the angel Gabriel in Lk 2:

“For nothing is impossible with God”.

 

[warriorofpeace]

all i have to say is the spiritual words who sais what who sais why who sais where who sais when who sais how - dont say i didnt help mom