A Reflection for Saturday, December 21, 2024 by Susan Schaefer
Lectionary reading for 12/21/2024: Psalm 80:1-7; Isaiah 66:7-11; Luke 13:31-35
Selected passage for reflection: Isaiah 66:7-11
Read
Isaiah 66:7-11
“Before she was in labor she gave birth: before her pain came up, she delivered a son. Who has heard of such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? Shall a nation be delivered in one moment? Yet as soon as Zion was in labor she delivered her children. Shall I open the womb and not deliver? says the LORD; shall I, the one who delivers, shut the womb? says your God.
Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice with her in joy, all you who mourn over her- that you may nurse and be satisfied from her consoling breast; that you may drink deeply with delight from her glorious bosom.
(In Isaiah, Zion is both a name for God and a name for Jerusalem.)
Reflect
Contextually, this passage prophesies the restoration of Jerusalem. It is a vision of hope. Just as Mary waited for the birth of Jesus, the Hebrew people, who were exiled in Babylon, waited for the (re)birth of their nation.
More broadly, this passage reflects one aspect of God’s Being- the feminine. Zion/God has a metaphorical womb. She delivers Jerusalem and her children. Once Jerusalem is restored, the Hebrew people may drink from her glorious bosom.
How delightful it is to imagine God as the ideal Mother!
Mary was the ideal mother for Jesus. She was a very young woman with great courage. According to the Gospel of Luke, Mary didn’t flee when approached by Gabriel, who must have been terrifying. (“Do not be afraid.”) She accepted her call to be the mother of the Son of God despite its physical impossibility. (“Here am I.”) She, no doubt, endured the judgment of others, including Joseph, prior to his own angelic visit. As she neared the end of her pregnancy, she traveled to Bethlehem, where she gave birth to Jesus, not with her mother and sisters at home, but with Joseph away from home. When Jesus was not yet two, the three of them escaped to Egypt. She raised a confident son who, as a young boy, remained in Jerusalem in the Temple after his parents journeyed towards home. Mary was accepting of Jesus’ dangerous mission, and was present at his torturous death. Mary’s faith sustained her, but it was her courage that made her Jesus’ ideal mother.
It takes courage to re-imagine our image of God. Because the Bible reflects a patriarchal society, its portrayal of God is predominantly male. Classical Western writings and paintings (i.e. Michelangelo’s painting on the vault of the Sistine Chapel) reinforce God’s masculinity. Yet all of humankind was created in the image of God. The feminine stories and metaphors for God in the Bible, when combined with the masculine stories and metaphors, paradoxically remind us that God has no gender.
Respond
Experiment with language:
Begin the Lord’s Prayer with “Our Father and Mother.”
Use God as a pronoun, repeating it more than once.
Use feminine pronouns for God- She, Her, Hers.
Be even more bold- Use They, Them, Theirs (The Trinity)
We anthropomorphize God by imagining God as the ideal Father. Is it helpful to re-imagine God as the ideal Mother? Or are there ways to imagine God that go, not only beyond gender, but beyond humanity?
Rest
“After Annunciation” by Madeleine L’Engle
This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d have been no room for the child.
About the Author
Susan Schaefer, DMin (she, her), is ordained by LaSalle Street Church to a Ministry of Philanthropy and Service. Endorsed by the Federation of Christian Ministries, she enjoys being the go-to minister for her friends’ kids’ weddings. She’s a good-enough mother to her amazing son (he, his) and loveable labradoodle (they, them).
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