A recent article I read at a popular
Catholic website has prompted me to
consider Mary, the mother of Jesus and
her position in the "Body of
Christ" today. The article I
mentioned eloquently described Mary's
position in the Body of Christ would be
most appropriately represented by the
"neck". The Catholic
author of this article justified his
description of Mary's place in the Body
of Christ being represented by the
"neck" by reasoning that as
Christ is the "Head" of the
Body… Mary (according to the Catholic
faith) is the medium through which God's
grace and blessings flow to the rest of
the Body.
Although I don't particularly agree with
the Catholic author of that article; nor
do I agree with the Catholic estimation
of Mary, I do believe Mary possesses a
very real and identifiable place in the
Body of Christ.
To identify Mary's place in the Body of
Christ, and the physical member of the
human body that her place would most
appropriately be identified by; I think
we should consider both her
"historical" place in the
Body… then her "current"
place in the Body which is a direct
result of her "historical"
position.
First, let us consider Mary's historical
position in the Body of Christ.
Mary, as we all well know, was the
physical human mother of the Christ
Child; she was chosen by God to be a
sort of "handmaid" of the Lord
(in her own words in Luke 1:38). This is
not to say that Mary is God's wife…
nor does this mean that Mary is a
"concubine"; but in the words
of Mary herself, she is a 'slave' to
God.
For Mary to call herself a slave to God
could only mean that Mary saw herself as
someone who was being used to carry out
the will of her Master, and as anyone
who has read the gospel account of Luke
would understand… Mary's job was to
give birth to Christ. This was not of
her own will or power, but was the will
of God, and Mary was only used to carry
out that will.
Mary's job as the handmaid of God didn't
end though with carrying the baby Christ
child to term, and giving birth to Him
in a manger in Bethlehem. Mary was
also charged with the enormous task of
caring for the Christ Child, and raising
Him for remainder of His adolescence
until He was able to care for
Himself. With this job of caring
for Jesus as an infant and a Child came
the responsibility of supplying His
needs. Now, let's not forget, we
know and Mary understood that she was
not the source, or provider of Jesus'
needs; she was only the one 'used' by
God to carry out His will… So, Mary
was the medium used by God to provide
Jesus with what He needed in adolescence
to survive. To illustrate this, I
would like to use an analogy; when you
turn on your faucet and water comes
out…the source of that water is not
the pipes, but the source of that water
is the well. The pipes are only the
medium for the water to reach it's final
destination.
While keeping in mind that Mary was
historically the medium that God used to
bring about the birth of Christ, and to
sustain Him in adolescence, let's try to
attribute a physical human body part
that would most appropriately represent
Mary's historical position in the Body
of Christ. By being charged with
the enormous responsibility of
transferring life sustaining elements to
Jesus such as food, clothing, teaching
and other things that a nurturing mother
in inclined to do, as she was given them
by God; Mary was acting as the
'umbilical chord' for the future
spiritual Body of Christ.
Now, with Mary's historical position in
the Body of Christ appropriately
referenced as the 'umbilical chord',
let's try to understand what physical
human body part would most appropriately
represent Mary in the 'current' Body of
Christ today.
Mary has obviously existed, and has
played a very prominent role in bringing
the Body of Christ into existence… but
Mary has died. She is no longer
with us on this Earth. Although I
have no doubt that Mary was a faithful
Christian after the death, burial and
resurrection of Christ… she is no
longer an active member in the Body of
Christ on earth, no matter how much some
people want to believe she is. But
there is absolutely evidence of her
historical place in the Body of
Christ.
As such a prominent figure in Biblical
history, and with such a prominent role
in the life of Christ and the early
Church, it is no wonder that Mary has
been the focus of so many myths.
Even Satan has attacked the Church in
such a way to shake the faith of many by
attempting to disprove the virgin
birth. No other person in early
Church history has been the focus of so
much controversy except for Christ
Himself; and it is this attention on the
historical role of Mary that identifies
the mark that her existence has left on
the current Body of Christ.
Mary's historical role in the Body of
Christ as the 'umbilical chord' has left
a mark on the current Body of Christ
which would be most appropriately
identified as the 'navel'. That's
right, the 'belly button'. The
navel is the part of the body that is
actually a scar left by the umbilical
chord when a child is born and the
umbilical chord is cut and tied
off. Mary played the role of the
umbilical chord in the birth and
childhood of Christ, and for the
spiritual Body of Christ; but, today
there is no Mary, there is only the
evidence of her historical role.
So, to point to a part of a physical
human body to identify with Mary today;
one could only point to their 'belly
button'.
A belly button or 'navel' serves no real
purpose to the human body, except to
identify that a person with a belly
button was once born of a woman. A
woman was also used to bring about the
Body of Christ, and like a 'navel'
serves no real practical purpose today,
it does serve as reminder that we as
Christians are members of a Body that
was once nurtured by God who chose to
use Mary as a medium for his provisions.
There are some disadvantages though that
occur with the presence of a navel;
infections sometimes take hold if the
navel is not routinely cleansed.
Likewise, the historical evidence of
Mary has given rise to many 'infectious'
heresies such as the
"assumption" of Mary, her
perpetual virginity, the "doctrines
of Mary", the
"intercession" of Mary, and
more recently the "Marion
apparitions" which are so prevalent
and sought after today. These
heresies are indicative of a lack of
regular cleansing and maintenance on the
navel area of the Body of Christ.
As members of the Body of Christ, we
should all take initiative in personal
hygiene to cleanse our 'spiritual navel'
to prevent these types of infectious
heresies from taking hold.
There is one other disadvantage of the
existence of a navel. This is the
accumulation of lint. Although lint
doesn't cause any adverse affects on the
body, it is an indication that routine
hygienic maintenance has not been
performed on the navel; and because of
this, the presence of lint is not very
attractive. Likewise, for the Body
of Christ, the observance of
"Lent" is not so much a
damaging act, but it is more of an
embarrassment as it is indicative of a
lack of routine maintenance. A
Christian who will engage in such
unessential and unproductive acts that
are required during "Lent" is
displaying their lack of regular
maintenance on spiritual matters.
We would do well to heed the words of
the Apostle Paul as he wrote to the
Church at Corinth… 2
Corinthians 13:5 "Examine
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith;
prove your own selves. Know ye not your
own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in
you, except ye be reprobates?"
John W. Hardin
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