Our Holy Mother Mary: A Pregnant Protestant’s Perspective

Photo by Sierra St John on Unsplash

There is something about being pregnant during Advent which causes me to reflect more deeply on the role and work of Jesus’ mother. Maybe it is finding myself in the same condition as Mary, expectant for the child growing within me; maybe it is the shared maternal role; maybe it is simply the recognition of God choosing to use me to bring new life into this world. Whatever the specific reason, I am drawn to Mary and her significance in the life of the Christian faith. This is my second time being pregnant during Advent, and it was during my first pregnancy a few years ago that I really began to explore where Mary fit into my faith life, even as a Methodist. 

As a child growing up in a Protestant denomination, my understanding of Mary was limited to her role as Jesus’ mother. She only really entered onto the scene during Advent and Christmas. I had few Catholic friends and remember being very firm in my position that Mary was Jesus’ mother, but she was not the Mother of God, a title that I thought was misplaced worship or even idolatrous. I had little understanding of much of the Christian world’s reverence for Mary, just as I had no place for her in my own personal spiritual life, outside of a Christmas nativity scene. 

When motherhood prompted me to look more closely at Mary, like any good Protestant I went to Scripture. In the first chapter of Luke, we are introduced to the virgin girl who was visited by the angel Gabriel and told that God has favored her and that she would conceive and give birth to the Son of God. Sometimes our familiarity with a text like this one keeps us from seeing just how significant it is. The angel calls Mary highly favored and says the Lord is with her. He describes her as one who has found favor with God and upon whom the Holy Spirit will come in power. She responds with humble obedience to this call. Later in this chapter, Mary’s relative Elizabeth calls her the mother of her Lord and says she is blessed because she believed in God’s promises. And in the Magnificat, Mary sings: “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name,” (Luke 1:46-49). In the incarnation, the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary in power. She conceives Jesus and becomes the mother of the Son of God. What Scripture teaches us is that Mary is holy, Mary is the mother of God, and Mary is our spiritual mother, too. 

Mary is highly favored, she is blessed, she is chosen for a unique purpose, she is set apart by God—Mary is holy. At the recent Holy Spirit Seminar at United Theological Seminary, I had the privilege to hear Rev. Carolyn Moore preach a powerful word on holiness. She repeated one phrase throughout her message which stuck with me: “Holiness is accomplished by proximity [to God] and not proficiency.” Rev. Moore reminded us that we are made holy because God is holy, and not because of who we are or what we do. This idea that holiness is about proximity to God came to my mind as I was once again studying Mary in Luke’s gospel. After all, I can’t think of a way to be more proximate to others than to carry them in your womb and give birth to them. Mary is holy because God is holy. His Holy Spirit came over her and she conceived Jesus. The incarnate Son of God was carried in her womb. It is because of Mary’s proximity to Jesus, her unique relationship with Jesus as his mother, that she is holy.

Mary’s position as the mother of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and therefore her proximity to God, certainly establishes her holy status. Yet my Protestant inclinations still bristle slightly at the reference to Mary as the “Mother of God.” I find myself more comfortable with the Greek term Theotokos or God-bearer, but Mary’s maternity is wrapped up in her conceiving and giving birth to the divine Son of God. So calling Mary the God-bearer is not really different than calling her the Mother of God. In the Armenian Orthodox hymnary of the fifth century Mary is revered by the church as the “throne of salvation,” “the dwelling-place of the Word of God” (Dasnabedian, 2008).  Carved into the stone at the entrance to the Basilica of the Annunciation in Nazareth are the words, “Verbum caro hic factum est.” Here the Word became flesh. It is at the annunciation, when the Holy Spirit came upon Mary, when Christ was conceived within Mary’s womb, that God became incarnate. The incarnation of the Son of God in Jesus Christ is central to the story of salvation, and it is accomplished through the humble obedience of his holy mother Mary. The reverence of Mary’s high position, even using the term Mother of God, is not meant to equate her with the divine; it is a recognition of the divinity of her Son while also highlighting the significance of her role in the gospel story.

Just as Mary is Christ’s mother, so, too, is she the spiritual mother of the church. That Mary conceived Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and gave birth to the Incarnate Son of God demonstrates that she is not merely the mother of Jesus in his humanity, but that, in fact, she is the mother of Jesus Christ, who is fully divine and fully human. Presenting the Catholic position, Schweiger states that “[Mary] conceived Christ in his entirety. Since we are a part of the Mystical Body of Christ, Mary can also be said to have given spiritual birth to each of us” (Schweiger, 1996). He goes on to offer a scriptural basis for this tradition, drawing from John 19. When Christ is on the cross, he addresses Mary saying, “Woman, behold your Son,” and then John, “Behold your mother” (John 19:26). Here Schweiger says that John is meant to symbolize the Church, and Christ is revealing the spiritual relationship the Church is to have with Mary. As Mary is Christ’s mother, so she is the spiritual mother of us, his body. 

Mary can also be understood as our spiritual mother by looking at her life as an example of faithful discipleship. As a good mother, she leads by example, teaching the Church to follow Jesus faithfully, from his birth in the manger to his death on Calvary. Mary models for us how to respond to God’s call on our life through her humble obedience. She shows us how we can be holy through our relationship with Jesus Christ and through welcoming the presence and work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. We can be holy because Christ who dwells within us is holy. Because Mary said yes to God’s call, we, too, can say yes in faithful obedience to God’s call on our own lives. 

I want to make a specific charge to women in the church, especially women called to ministry: may Mary be a model of the spiritual mother you are called to be in the church. May you have the courage to follow her example and say yes to God’s call on your life. I remember sitting in a systematic theology class with Jason Vickers in seminary during which he argued that in Mary we have a clear biblical and theological argument for women in ministry, for if Mary, a woman, can bear Christ for the world, shouldn’t a woman be able to bear the Bread and the Cup and offer the Eucharist? To extend this point, if Mary, a woman, can carry the Incarnate Word in her womb and birth him for the sake of humanity’s salvation, shouldn’t a woman be able to carry the Word and through preaching it offer new life to the world? If God has called you, answer as Mary did, “May it be with me as you say…” Mary said yes to God’s call on her life, carried the Incarnate Word in her womb, and gave birth to Jesus Christ for the sake of the world that he would redeem. As she joined God’s mission for salvation by bringing forth new life, may you bring new life by mothering spiritual sons and daughters in Christ’s kingdom. 

As I continue to journey through this Advent season, anticipating once again Christ’s birth and expectant for his coming kingdom, I am mindful of Mary’s important role as the Holy Theotokos, bearing Christ for our sake and modeling as a spiritual mother a life of faithfully following Jesus. Even as Protestants, we can honor our holy mother Mary by following her example of humble obedience and saying yes to the Holy Spirit’s working in our lives as we participate in God’s mission in the world. We honor our holy mother Mary as we also carry the Word within us, sharing Christ and offering new life to a world in need of his salvation. We honor our holy mother Mary as we follow her example of faithful discipleship by inviting her son Jesus to sit on the throne of our hearts and to rule within each of us, even as we anticipate his coming reign in the fullness of his kingdom. 

Rebekah R.S. Clapp is a PhD Candidate in Intercultural Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary and a member of the Firebrand Editorial Board. She is an ordained deacon in the United Methodist Church and resides in Dayton, OH, with her husband and daughter.