© 2011 Yves Guillot-Goguet
© 2011 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
| Paul and the Eternal Feminine (2) | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 57 — Winter 2011 | Maxi Quiz n°8 The questions |
What a wonderful testimony she leaves us as a wife and as a mother! What courage to have been able to face and overcome many difficulties! In this, Mary deserves our admiration. Mary was not a being apart, endowed from birth with faculties beyond the ordinary mortals; she was part of humans with all their weaknesses, but also all their strengths.
The appearance of the angel Gabriel and especially his promises had a profound effect on Mary, who showed remarkable fidelity and constancy in her predictions concerning her eldest son. This strong and sustained conviction was also reinforced by the meeting with her cousin Elizabeth. What Mary especially remembered from Gabriel’s words was the word “liberator”, forgetting a little too quickly that the liberator in question would be situated on a “spiritual” plane. UB 122:2.3 Mary remained stubbornly attached to this crazy and insane hope that her son would impose himself as the “Liberator” UB 137:4.6 and that she herself would occupy the glorious place of “queen mother”. UB 137:3.7 This is how Mary spent so many years completely misunderstanding the vocation of Jesus and suffering that the direction taken by him was so far from the one she had so fiercely hoped for. It took the painful events of the Passion for Mary to finally begin to understand and for her “spiritual eyes” to end up opening.
Of all the couples living in Palestine at the time Michael prepared for his bestowal, Joseph and Mary formed the ideal combination of wide racial kinship and above-average personality endowments. (UB 122:1.3) Among Mary’s forebears were many of the most remarkable women in Urantia history. Although Mary was an ordinary woman of her day and generation, of fairly normal temperament, she numbered among her ancestors such illustrious women as Annon, Tamar (daughter of Judah, one of Jacob’s sons), Ruth (the Moabitess who married Boaz), Bathsheba (wife of David, mother of Solomon), Ansiah, Cloa, Eve, Anta, and Ratta. No Jewish woman of that time had a lineage of more illustrious ancestry or of more promising origins. (UB 122:1.2) The ancestors of Mary like those of Joseph were characterized by the predominance of vigorous but average level individuals, sporadically enhanced by numerous outstanding personalities, asserting themselves in the march of civilization and the progressive evolution of religion.
Mary’s characteristic was her cheerfulness: “she was very rarely dejected and always had a radiant disposition” (UB 122:5.2) It was not until Joseph’s death on September 25, 8 A.D. that Mary gave free rein to the extent of her pain and sorrow. But her optimistic and determined character had a positive impact on the personality of Jesus. Unlike Joseph, who was impeccably upright, Mary did not have the same scruples. Mary pressured Joseph to allow Jesus to model clay at home, provided he promised not to pursue any of these questionable activities at school. (UB 124:1.5) We remember Mary for her indisputable drive and her remarkable courage in facing the difficulties of life, in a word, her radiant personality, even if, unlike Joseph who “inclined more towards the spiritual concept of the expected Messiah” (UB 122:5.10), she remained locked in a vision shared by the majority of Jews: … the Messiah who would quickly be recognized as the just and legitimate sovereign of the entire world. (UB 135:5.4)
As was the Jewish custom, Joseph and Mary had to wait two years of engagement before they could finally live together; the marriage took place at the end of March of the year 8 BCE. (UB 122:2.2) From this love were born nine children (six sons — Jesus being the eldest — and three daughters). Their eighteen years of life together, interrupted by Joseph’s death, were marked by the exemplary quality of their love. Joseph and Mary experienced, through their marriage, “intimate understanding and effective cooperation, which are the best things for the happiness of parents, the well-being of children and social utility”. (UB 83:6.8) It was a “association for a whole life of self-denial, compromise, devotion and generous consecration to the culture of children” (UB 83:7.6)
By the words of the angel Gabriel, Mary saw herself invested with a grandiose mission: to give birth to “the child of destiny” who would inaugurate “the kingdom of heaven on earth and among men”… A very clear hierarchy was established between the annunciations of Gabriel to Elizabeth and Mary: Elizabeth’s son would be solely “the precursor” of Mary’s son, and his mission would be to “announce the coming of the healer of the souls of the Jewish people and the spiritual liberator of all humanity” (UB 122:2.3). It was Elizabeth - and not Mary - who showed the greatest faith in Gabriel’s words: Elizabeth contributed greatly to consolidating Mary’s confidence in Gabriel’s vision, so that Mary returned home more fully dedicated to the vocation of being the mother of the child of destiny. (UB 122:2.6)
Gabriel’s announcement to Mary was made the day after Jesus was conceived, and it was the only supernatural event connected with Mary’s entire experience of bearing and giving birth to the child of promise. (UB 122:3.4) Mary was a fearless and energetic character; she did not want the impending birth of her child to take place in the absence of her husband. She prevailed upon Joseph to accompany her… The Urantia Book provides many examples of Mary’s love for Jesus. No mother was ever more devoted to her child. (UB 123:0.2) In Alexandria, “Mary was tempted to keep Jesus by her side. She feared that something would happen to him if Jesus were allowed to play in the garden with the other children.” (UB 123:0.2) It took all of Joseph’s insistence, with the support of his relatives, to convince Mary that this course of action would deprive Jesus of the precious experience of learning to adapt to children his own age. Only a loving mother can know the weight that Mary had to carry in her heart for the safety of her son during these years of his infancy and early childhood. (UB 123:0.2)
Mary was gifted with great practicality and remarkable skills in the performance of everyday tasks; she was “above average in most of the domestic arts of the time.” (UB 122:5.7) It was from his mother and from an early age that Jesus learned all the knowledge and skills of farm work (gardening, plants and flowers); he quickly learned “how to milk the family cow and take care of the other animals” (UB 123:5.15); he learned to make cheese and weave, for “Mary was an expert weaver.” (UB 122:5.7) It was Mary who first accompanied Jesus in his school training; she even helped him to “speak fluently the Galilean dialect of the Aramaic language.” (UB 123:3.1) It was a trying experience for Joseph and Mary to raise a child with this unprecedented combination of divinity and humanity. We must recognize their great merits for having accomplished their duty as parents with such fidelity and success._ (UB 124:4.4)
For Mary, Joseph’s death was all the more unbearable and painful because he “had been an exceptional husband and father and was missed by everyone.” (UB 126:2.8) The quality of Joseph and Mary’s love had been remarkable; they had been united by very tender bonds and a communion of hearts, unfortunately too rare among humans. Moreover,
Mary had been pregnant for two months with her last child, who would be a girl named Ruth.
“Rebekah, the eldest daughter of Ezra, a wealthy merchant and trader of Nazareth, discovered that she was slowly falling in love with this son of Joseph”. (UB 127:5.1) … Mary decided to do everything possible to dissuade Rebecca from marrying Jesus. These were reasons of personal interest, certainly taking into account the material and financial needs provided by Jesus, but absolutely not taking into consideration his position. If Jesus committed himself through marriage to Rebecca, what would then be the means of subsistence? Without informing Jesus, Mary, accompanied by Miriam, went “directly to Rebecca to inform her honestly of their belief that Jesus was a son of destiny and that he was going to become a great religious leader, perhaps the Messiah.” (UB 127:5.1)
To Mary, the spectacular success of John the Baptist was confirmation that Gabriel’s announcements to Elizabeth and to herself were about to come to pass. That is why, when Jesus returned from his encounter with the Baptist, Mary was convinced that her Son’s hour had come. Mary was thrilled with hope. She believed that Gabriel’s promise was about to be fulfilled. She expected that soon all Palestine would be seized and astonished by the miraculous revelation of her Son as the supernatural King of the Jews. (UB 137:3.5) Mary had not been so joyful in years. She went to Cana in the frame of mind of a queen mother going to witness the coronation of her son. (UB 137:3.7) On the wedding day, Mary was deeply disappointed to learn that Jesus would not grant her request. She said to James, “I cannot understand it. What is all this?” Will there be no end to his strange conduct? James and Jude tried to console their mother. (UB 137:4.5) In the days that followed, nothing happened as Mary had hoped: the temporal kingdom of glory for her son as she had so hoped did not correspond to what Jesus had decided. Her faith, which had risen to such heights at Cana, now sank into a new depression. She always returned to her oft-repeated exclamation: “I cannot understand it. I cannot explain to myself what all this means.” (UB 137:7.1) Mary went through moments of foolish hope in believing that Jesus would affirm himself in the eyes of all as the Messiah and through moments of deep discouragement. “But James’ wife did much to sustain Mary’s courage” (UB 137:7.1)
The Pharisees had gone to great lengths to convince Mary that Jesus was a great risk of dishonor and disgrace to the whole family; therefore, every effort had to be made to get Jesus to abandon the mission he had undertaken. Mary said, “I know I can influence my son if he will only come home and listen to me.” (UB 154:6.2) When Mary arrived at Zebedee’s house, Jesus was in the middle of a speech and it was not possible to enter. Mary did not realize the importance of Jesus’ message of separation to his disciples, nor did she know that her son could be arrested at any moment. She truly believed that Jesus would stop talking and come to greet them as soon as he was made aware of their presence. (UB 154:6.4) So she was so devastated that she fainted when she heard, among other things, these words of Jesus: “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?.. I have no mother, I have no brothers… Whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven is my mother, my brother and my sister”. (UB 154:6.5) And, to a woman who was praising Mary: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and blessed are the breasts that nursed you” Jesus was to answer: “No, rather blessed is he who hears the word of God and dares to obey him.” (UB 154:6.7) Mary and Jesus’ brothers believed that he did not understand them and that he had lost interest in them; they did not realize that it was they who failed to understand Him. It was not Jesus who abandoned his earthly family members to do his Father’s work—it was they who abandoned him. (UB 154:6.8-9)
Mary cannot be blamed for not believing the words of the angel Gabriel: “Your son will inaugurate the kingdom of heaven on earth and among men” (UB 122:3.1) for, all her life long, she clung to this promise, but she did not understand its meaning at all. That is why she tried in vain to convince Jesus to join the group of zealots who came from Jerusalem to Nazareth to recruit new adherents. It was a confrontation with Jesus, Mary going so far as to indicate to him that his refusal to espouse the nationalist cause, as she ordered him to do, was insubordination. Throughout the Master’s ministry, Mary was unable in the least to grasp that Jesus was called to promote a work and an action which had nothing to do with the foolish hopes of earthly glory and power shared by the majority of the Jewish people. It was only after the tragic events of the Passion and the appearance of the resurrected Jesus to his family that Mary finally began to understand. The Master made himself visible to the members of his earthly family and their friends, twenty people in all. He said to them: “Peace be upon you. Greetings to those who were close to me in the flesh and fellowship for my brothers and sisters in the kingdom of heaven. How could you doubt? Why did you wait so long before choosing to follow the light of truth with all your heart?” (UB 190:2.6) Despite all of Jesus’ efforts to convince his mother that his mission was of a spiritual nature and not of temporal glory, the Master failed. Mary and her family, and especially her father, held to the idea of the Messiah as a temporal liberator and political leader. (UB 122:5.10)
At Golgotha, Jesus charged John with a vital mission: “Go to my mother and bring her back so that she may see me before I die.” (UB 186:0.1) No one can realize how much Mary’s heart bled when she saw her eldest son whose suffering on the cross became more and more unbearable.
The fourth apparition of the resurrected Jesus must have greatly rejoiced Mary’s heart: The Master made himself visible to the members of his earthly family and to their friends. (UB 190:2.6) This time Mary could finally become aware of what her son’s true vocation had been, a vocation that she had so poorly understood until then.
After Passover, Mary returned to Bethsaida where she lived with John for the rest of her earthly life. (UB 187:4.7)
According to Jesus’ instructions on the cross, Mary was to end her life at the home of John, the faithful and devoted friend of Jesus. No one other than this apostle could so well reveal all the richness of Jesus’ mission to this woman who had so misunderstood her son. No one other than him could convince Mary that Jesus had always had a very strong filial love for her, when she had often doubted it. But Mary was not to prolong her life too long in John’s home, because “she barely survived a year after the death of Jesus” (UB 187:4.7) There is no doubt that she lived the last moments of her life in peace, assisted by the devoted presence of John.
Yves Guillot-Goguet
| Paul and the Eternal Feminine (2) | Le Lien Urantien — Issue 57 — Winter 2011 | Maxi Quiz n°8 The questions |