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Complete freedom that expresses
our humanity and dignity as children of God have long stirred Black
Christians in the Americas to faith in a liberating God. In the visits to
each of these places, the Spirit took us to a new place and experience full
of hope, joy and confidence that the day of fullness will come. This seems
to be the sense of freedom that one receives when one says Mary's prayer.
God blesses the lowly and fulfills the promise made to the ancestors.
Mary is a liberated woman. Women theologians
such as Elizabeth Johnson take this into account in reflecting on the
meaning of Mary's gender for Christian theology[11]. In this brief article I
can only mention the concern which seems similar to my interest. Mary's
social location is of interest for our reflection. Yes, she is a Jewish
woman in a particular time and place in human history. But when she is
visited by the angel, given a mission to mother of the Savior, proclaimed
blessed among all women, she takes on new significance. She becomes the
woman who freely brings her humanity, submits it to the will of God and in
her the union of the divinity and humanity, her Son, liberates the world. I
believe that as we pray and reflect upon Mary's prayer, the spirit of
freedom grows in our hearts and minds as it did in Mary and influences our
faith and actions.
Disciple of Reconciling Love
In the final section of this article I return to
a theme introduced above. Mary is not only Mother of Jesus and a proclaimer
of God's liberation, but she is a disciple of Jesus as well. Several
scriptures again provide us with this understanding. Texts from the gospel
of Luke and John help us to appreciate Mary as a disciple of Jesus and a
model for Christian life.
I begin with two Lucan passages Luke 8: 19-21
and 11: 27-28. In Chapter eight the concern is about Jesus' true relatives.
When told that his mother and brothers are here, Jesus responds, "My mother
and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it."[12] This
hearing and doing the word of God becomes the criteria of what makes a
disciple. We arrive at this conclusion when we consider that the context for
this statement is unique - the parable of the seed. "This contextual reading
then interprets Mary and Jesus' brothers as fulfilling in their lives what
the parables point out and call forth from the believer. Thus Mary and the
brothers are believing disciples in Luke."[13]
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