A Picture Is Worth...

... what? If you're anything like me, you finished the phrase in your head. Whether we agree with the statement or not, we know it and the words evoke the understanding that what we see, we take in. And what we take in, we think on and start to form ways of seeing ourselves, others, and the world. I wonder what you think when you see a picture like the ones below, found in a church in Manzanillo, Mexico. Even if you're not a faithful person, feel free to think what these images evoke in you.

What emotions, words, thoughts, or images do these pictures bring up?

Do you think of family, colors, or smells from your past?

How would you explain these images to another?

When my wife and I walked up the stairs into this church's sanctuary, our first thought was that we had unwittingly stumbled into a funeral that was about to begin. There were several people standing just outside the sanctuary talking, a few others kneeling, or seated, to pray in the pews. We dared to venture in a little and, only then, noticed that the glass coffin contained a life-sized (clay, ceramic?) figurine (dare I say 'doll') of Jesus. The likewise life-size figure of Mary standing above the casket was seen clearly first. But once I saw the contents of the casket the image of Mary took on new meaning to me.

Heart of the Matter
I thought numerous thoughts as I looked at this display, and they pushed up against each other and gave me a very heavy feeling as they crowded in for attention: "Why would a church have a display of a dead Jesus in their sanctuary? Why do fresh flowers draw my attention to this casket where my Savior lies dead? Why is Mary portrayed as alive and Jesus as dead in this church? What message is this church giving, intentionally or unintentionally, to their congregation and to visitors? Do they focus more on the death of Jesus than on the power of His resurrection? Why does Mary look like a nun?"

I know that imagery and perception is more art than objective truth, so any renderings of Jesus or Mary - as well as ways of understanding their roles and how they are portrayed - are not to be judged solely by what we see, or confined to our subjective opinions. We can be wrong. We can imbue a message into a work of art just as easily as we breathe. I am aware that my question about Mary looking like a nun comes from equal parts upbringing, tradition, perspective, and scripture, and is not altogether pure. But I don't intend to bash this church or anyone who goes there. But what I feel I must do is ask questions that, like my faith, come from a place and have developed out of my own life of faith. We need to be willing to ask questions of our own beliefs and the ways we see our faith (whatever that faith or belief might be) if we are ever to grow in that faith and belief.

So, the question that the images I've included above invoke in me are these: Where do we place Mary in our economy of God's mercy? Where does Mary stand in relation to Jesus in your heart, mind, and soul? And lastly, what does scripture say when we ask these questions of Him/it? We need to start with the last and work our way through to the first - starting with the Bible and working our way forward from the foundation to a proper understanding of those people we read of in the Bible. In the interest of time, we'll only look at passages that contain reference to both Jesus and Mary. Read the following passages and see what there is to learn about Jesus and Mary from them:

^{Matthew 1:18-25 - 18} Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁹ And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. ²⁰ But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. ²¹ She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” ²² Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: ²³ “BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,” which translated means, “GOD WITH US.” ²⁴ And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, ²⁵ but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. 

^{Mark 3:31-35 - 31} Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called Him. ³² A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are outside looking for You.” ³³ Answering them, He said,“Who are My mother and My brothers?” ³⁴ Looking about at those who were sitting around Him, He said, “Behold My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God, he is My brother and sister and mother.” 

^{Luke 1:26-38 - 26} Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee calledNazareth, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸ And coming in, he said to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹ But she was very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. ³¹ And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; ³³ and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” ³⁴ Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God. ³⁶ And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month. ³⁷ For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸ And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. 

^{Luke 2:25-35 - 25} And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s  Christ. ²⁷ And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law,²⁸ then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, ²⁹ “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,According to Your word;³⁰ For my eyes have seen Your salvation,³¹ Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,³² A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES,And the glory of Your people Israel.” ³³ And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. ³⁴ And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— ³⁵ and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 

^{Luke 2:41-52 - 41} Now His parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. ⁴² And when He became twelve, they went up there according to the custom of the Feast; ⁴³ and as they were returning, after spending the full number of days, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. But His parents were unaware of it, ⁴⁴ but supposed Him to be in the caravan, and went a day’s journey; and they began looking for Him among their relatives and acquaintances. ⁴⁵ When they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem looking for Him. ⁴⁶ Then, after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ And all who heard Himwere amazed at His understanding and His answers. ⁴⁸ When they saw Him, they were astonished; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You treated us this way? Behold, Your father and I have been anxiously looking for You.” ⁴⁹ And He said to them,“Why is it that you were looking for Me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand the statement which He had made to them. ⁵¹And He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all these things in her heart. ⁵² And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

Reflections on the Scriptures
God's word - not only what is written, but the word made flesh in Jesus (John 1) - is the key we must follow, as we read, to understand what God is doing. Below, I may assume the knowledge gleaned from other texts and will expound these should anyone be interested in further study. We learn a few simple ideas from these passages, just from reading and thinking a little about what we read:

1. Mary's pregnancy with Jesus was by the Holy Spirit (Matt 1:18, 20; Lk 1:35).
2. The angel says Jesus will save people from their sins (Matt 1:21; the name Jesus, a form of Joshua, means "YHWH [the specific, only God of the Hebrew Bible and New Testament] is salvation").
3. Simeon, according to Luke, is a confirmation of Jesus' person ("the Lord's Christ"), mission (be a light to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel), and purpose (to be "[God's] salvation").
4. Both Joseph and Mary were amazed to hear what others said of Jesus (Lk 2:33).
5. Matthew connects Jesus' birth to Isaiah 7:14, a passage about Immanuel, and applies Isaiah's use of 'almah (i.e. young woman) to Mary, who was in fact a young woman AND a virgin at the time of Jesus' birth (Lk 1: 35).
6. Mary was a virgin only until sometime after Jesus' birth. The scriptures mention Jesus' brothers even as Jesus was sitting in the midst of a crowd of people and disciples (Matt 1:25, Mark 3:31, Lk 1:34).
7. God was with Mary and favored her to carry His Messiah. Mary had the faith to trust what the angel told her (Lk 1:28, 38). 
8. Jesus himself, though respecting His earthly 'parents,' held greater importance for those who did God's will, as it was His desire to be about the work of His Father (Mark 3:35; Lk 2:49).
9. Jesus' title, according to the angel, is Son of the Most High, the Lord God's anointed to an everlasting kingdom, a kingdom without end (Lk 1:32-33, 35).

There is certainly much more that could be listed here - Mary prompting Jesus to help at the wedding in Cana; Mary's presence in the crucifixion accounts; the Magnificat (i.e. Mary's "song" when she meets Elizabeth in Luke 1:46ff) - but not anything of a sort that would pertain to the issue being addressed. So based on the texts we've got to work with regarding Mary, the mother of Jesus, we see that she was favored by God and used to carry out the most dramatic event in history - the birth of God in the flesh. This should not be discounted by anyone and for this reason we all should call her blessed. She was special and we may never know how special she was until we get to speak with her in heaven. But I am relatively certain that she herself would be appalled at how much weight she has been given over the centuries, to the detriment of Jesus Himself.

Since no scriptures in the entire Bible refer to her as being sinless; a virgin throughout her life; spiritually linked to Jesus through the birth process (as a wholly unique member of the church, according to Catholic texts); bodily and spiritually taken up into heaven without dying (in the manner of Jesus); a mediator between us and God or us and Jesus; a hearer or answerer or relayer of prayers lifted to God; or the mother of the church (the Word only mentions the body [us] and the head [Jesus]), we must deduce that such beliefs have originated from human beings, not from God's authoritative word. Whether this started from the Church's authority structure or from the 'people in the pews' is irrelevant. What is important is that we acknowledge the focus on Mary - or any other person spoke of in scripture - instead of Jesus as wrong. Not unforgivable, not wicked or tantamount to hating God, but wrong nonetheless. And the disruption this places on people who seek to understand our reliance on Jesus should draw all of us to humble repentance because, in Christ, we needn't fear judgment on account of our sins.

In light of what we've learned here, what do our practices and spoken beliefs about Jesus and Mary say about them? Furthermore, what do they say about God? Ultimately, we must deal with these hard questions if we are ever to be honest about what our beliefs and practices say to those inside, and outside, our faith. When we elevate Mary in our hearts and minds - past the level of special honor she has been given in scripture - we run the risk of creating a theology (or ideology) that makes less of Jesus. This isn't necessarily the inevitable outcome, but it begs the question: if my heart seeks something more than Jesus, do I find Jesus at all, or just something else?