Images of Mary, true and false

Over the past two millennia, Christians have presented different images of Mary, some of which are true and some false.

A very popular image of the Blessed Virgin is the Mary of European Renaissance art — a beautiful woman holding a baby. Mary is represented as a white woman, and most Catholic Christians will have this image  when they think of Mary. I believe Mary was a typical Semitic woman, more like a beautiful Arab-looking girl than a fair French or English girl.

Another image that readily comes to mind is the Mary of the side altar surrounded by burning candles. This is the Mary of traditional Catholic devotion. Some Protestants regard this as a heathen practice, saying it smacks of unbiblical goddess worship, with Mary being elevated above Jesus. There are times when this practice is disturbing even to a Catholic. For example, some Catholics will receive Holy Communion and then proceed straight to light a candle near the statue of Mary before they go back to their seats! Do they really receive Jesus and immediately turn their minds to Mary?

I have also read about a Protestant representation of Mary that horrified me. This particular Protestant individual is supposed to have compared Mary to an envelope. When you receive a letter in an envelope, you keep the letter and throw away the envelope. Similarly, he would argue, we Christians should concern ourselves with Jesus and not the woman who gave birth to him as she was just a vessel used to bring Jesus and his message to humanity. This is clearly blasphemous, and I do not think that Protestants who understand the place of Mary in the history of salvation would accept this disrespectful analogy.

Notwithstanding all the above, I would like to develop a short character sketch of Mary drawing from features that come straight from the Bible.

The first picture is that of Mary, the tough teenage girl and young mother. Mary was tough even with God’s messenger. When the Angel Gabriel told her she would bear a son, she did not just accept without seeking to understand: “How will this be”, Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” This was something of great importance to her in respect of her relationship with her future husband and her standing in society. Only after the angel had answered her question satisfactorily did she say: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.”

Having accepted the Lord’s message, it must have been difficult for her to convince Joseph and her relatives that she was a virtuous woman, but she faced that challenge as well as the flight into Egypt for fear of Herod.

Mary was a very caring person. As soon as she learned that her cousin Elizabeth was pregnant, she hurried to the latter’s home and stayed with her for three months, helping her. When Jesus remained in the Temple and she and Joseph found him after three days, she spoke like a caring mother: “Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” At Cana, Mary caused Jesus to perform a miracle before his time had come because she cared.

A picture of Mary that the Catholic Church has successfully portrayed is that of a humble and suffering woman. The Magnificat in Luke’s gospel is a song in praise of God and the humble. When Jesus was presented in the Temple, Simeon told her: “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Indeed, she was destined to suffer as she saw her son being tortured and dying a cruel death.

An important image of Mary portrayed in the Scriptures is that of a true and faithful disciple of Jesus. She was the first to believe Jesus had powers to perform miracles. This is why she told the servants at Cana: “Do whatever he tells you.” She often followed him with other women as he preached. She followed him on his way to Calvary and was there when he died on the cross.

And she was there with the apostles when the Church was born at Pentecost. Indeed, if Abraham is our Father in faith, Mary is our Mother in faith.