NO GREATER LOVE: MARY’S QUESTION 

In the Infancy Narratives volume of Jesus of Nazareth, Pope Benedict puzzles over the question Mary asks of the angel Gabriel. Mary's second reaction is somewhat puzzling for us. After the thoughtful reflection with which she had received his initial greeting, the angel informs her that she has been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. Mary. replies with a short, incisive question: "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" (Lk 1:34).

Let us consider again the difference between this response and the reaction of Zechariah, who doubted the possibility of the task announced to him. Like Elizabeth, he was advanced in years: he could no longer hope for a son. Mary, on the other hand, does not doubt. She asks not whether, but how the promise is to be fulfilled as she cannot recognize any way it could happen: "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" (Lk 1:34). This question seems unintelligible to us, because Mary was betrothed, which meant that, according to Jewish law, she was already effectively a married woman, even if she did not yet live with her husband and they had not yet begun their conjugal life.

Since Saint Augustine, one explanation that has been put forward is that Mary had taken a vow of virginity and had entered into the betrothal simply in order to have a protector for her virginity. But this theory is quite foreign to the world of Judaism of Jesus’ time, and in that context it seems inconceivable. So how are we to understand the passage? A satisfying answer has yet to be found by modern exegesis. Some say that at this point, having not yet been taken into the marital home, Mary had had no dealings with men, yet she saw the task as immediately pressing. But this fails to convince, as the time when she would be taken into the marital home could not have been far off. Other exegetes have wanted to view the saying as a purely literary construction, designed to continue the dialogue between Mary and the angel. Yet this is no real explanation of the saying either. Another element to keep in mind is that according to Jewish custom, betrothal was unilaterally pronounced by the man, and the woman was not invited to express her consent. Yet this does not solve the problem either. 

So the riddle remains-or perhaps one should say the mystery-of this saying. Mary sees no way, for reasons that are beyond our grasp, that she could become mother of the Messiah through marital relations. The angel confirms that her motherhood will not come about in the normal way after she has been taken home by Joseph, but through "overshadowing, by the power of the Most High," by the coming of the Holy, Spirit, and he notes emphatically: "For with God nothing will be impossible" (Lk 1:37). 

Could there be another explanation of Mary’s question? There is a non-Biblical tradition that Mary was brought to the temple in Jerusalem at about the age of three. The Church celebrates this tradition on November 21 as the Presentation of Mary. According to tradition, she was also raised and educated in the temple. Her parents, Ann and Joachim, had given her to God. What did she learn in the temple? She certainly was educated in the Word of God, the Sacred Scriptures. She was certainly taught to anticipate the coming of the Messiah. After the birth of Jesus, when He was presented in the temple (Lk 2:22-38), two people encountered the Holy Family, Simeon and Anna. Both of them were quite old and probably knew Mary when she lived in the temple since Simeon was a devout Jerusalem resident (Lk 2:25) who certainly came to the temple often and Anna was eighty-four years old and lived in the temple while worshipping God with fasting and prayer (Lk 2:36-38). Both were looking for the “consolation of Israel” (Lk 2:25) and the “redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk 2:38). It is possible that Anna was one of Mary’s teachers. Both realized that the regime of temple worship was not the final word. More was coming.

Mary’s Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55) resembles the song of Hannah. (1 S 2:1-10) Hannah was the mother of the prophet Samuel who she left in Shiloh with the priest Eli to minister to God. (1 S 2:11) Like Mary, he as given to God. That Mary’s Magnificat should resemble the song of Hannah is not surprising for someone whose life was saturated with the Word of God. 

An important question concerning the anticipated coming of the Messiah was how the Messiah was to come. Isaiah 7:14 tells us that the Messiah was to be born of a virgin. “The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.” It is important to understand the context of the prophesy. The date of Isaiah’s prophesy is 733 BC. This is known because of the political context of the prophesy. It was delivered to Ahaz, the king of Judah who reigned from 736 to 716 BC. The kings of Damascus and of the northern kingdom of Israel had formed an alliance to fight against the great power Assyria. These two kings tried to persuade Ahaz, the king of Judah, to join their alliance against Assyria, but Ahaz refused. They attacked Jerusalem to force Ahaz to join their alliance. Ahaz was afraid and instead concluded a treaty with Assyria to secure protection from Damascus and Israel. The Assyrian king did attack and conquer Damascus, which ended the attack of the anti-Assyrian alliance against Jerusalem. Soon after this the kingdom of Israel also was conquered by Assyria. There was a price for Ahaz’s treaty with Assyria. Ahaz sent the silver and gold from the Jerusalem temple to Assyria. (2 K 16:8) Ahaz offended the God of Israel. He set up idolatrous sacrifices in many places and even had a copy of a pagan altar in Damascus built in the Jerusalem temple.

Isaiah tried to persuade Ahaz to trust in God rather than in his political strategies and not conclude the treaty with Assyria. Indeed, Assyria did attack Ahaz’s son, Hezekiah in 701 BC but was repulsed by a plague from God. (2 K 19:35). Isaiah said to Hezekiah, “Ask Yahweh your God for a sign for yourself coming either from the depths of Sheol or the heights above.” (Is 7:11) Ahaz refused to ask for a sign (miracle) from God so Isaiah told Ahaz “The Lord himself, therefore, will give you a sign. It is this: the maiden is with child and will soon give birth to a son whom she will call Immanuel.” (Is 7:14) There is some ambiguity in this prophesy since in the original Hebrew language “maiden” could mean a young married woman or a virgin. In the middle of the second century BC a Jewish translation of the original Hebrew text of Isaiah and the rest of the Old Testament was made into Greek. This translation is called the Septuagint. The Septuagint translated the Hebrew word for maiden as “virgin”. This is reasonable since a “maiden” as a young married woman having a child is not a “sign” (miracle) but an everyday normal occurrence. However, if a virgin has a child, that is a real miracle. St. Matthew’s Gospel and the early Church accepted and quoted this Jewish translation of Isaiah. (Mt 1:22-23).

Pope Benedict, in the Infancy Narratives volume of Jesus of Nazareth, (pages 46-51) says: This prophecy of a “sign” was not meant for the immediate political situation. So what are we to say? The passage about the virgin who gives birth to Emmanuel, like the great Suffering Servant song in Is 53, is a word in waiting. There is nothing in its own historical context to correspond to it. So it remains an open question: it is addressed not merely to Ahaz. Nor is it addressed merely to Israel. It is addressed to humanity. The sign that God himself announces is given not for a specific political situation, but it concerns the whole history of humanity. While it is true that the prophesy of Is 7:14 was meant for everyone, perhaps it was meant first for Mary as the mother of all believers in Christ and through her to everyone else.

Through her education in the Jerusalem temple, Mary learned to anticipate the coming of the Messiah and also His being born of a virgin as revealed in Is 7:14. Yet all the questions are not answered. When we read that prophesy, we immediately think of Mary and Jesus. But what did people of that time and all the centuries before that time up to 733 BC think of it? Specifically, how does a virgin have a child? Possibly it had been revealed to Mary by God that she was to remain a virgin although in the Jewish culture of the time it would not have been prudent to reveal this to everyone. In Christianity, virginity is an acceptable and revered lifetime option. It was not that way in the environment Mary was in. When Mary learned from Gabriel that she was to be the Mother of the Messiah (Luke 1:30-33), the question of how a virgin can be a mother was a burning question. This would explain her question to Gabriel “How will this be since I do not know man?” (Lk 1:34) Gabriel answered that it would be by the Holy Spirit. (Lk 1:35) That was all she needed to know since she was already well prepared for the task which was given to her. “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” (Lk 1:38)

Mary was prepared for what God had in mind for her to do by immersing herself in the Word of God. Shouldn’t we also be prepared for His tasks for us by knowing the Lord through His Word? -- Jim Nugent, CFP