by Rev. Dr. Mariano C. Apilado
What is the significance of Mary in the celebration of Christmas?
God’s sharing quality time is one of the main reasons Jesus was born. God wants to show that he continues to care for His people, assuring us of His special visitation.
An excellent example of God’s special visitation is the choice of Mary as the mother of Jesus. Mary was an innocent, insignificant, almost unknown virgin when God visited her and told her that she would be the mother of the Christ. God’s visit was an answer to the psalmist’s question, “When I look at the heavens, the moon and the stars, the works of thy fingers, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him?” (Psalm 8: 3-5)
Mary was a virgin, a teenager, daughter, tradition says, of Joachim and Anne. Specially trained in the Jewish religion, Mary loved God and practiced diligently the essential elements of the Jewish faith. She was probably considered ordinary, uncouth and uncultivated by her more sophisticated neighbors. God chose her, nevertheless, and this choice made her special and blessed among the women of her age.
God sent the angel Gabriel to Mary in her rural town of Nazareth to inform her of God’s plan. Considering that she lived in a relatively rural place, and considering, too, that then as now, trafficking of women and youth for sexual trade was practiced, Mary at first was perplexed and afraid.
“How can this be?” she asked in her childhood innocence. The angel Gabriel told her that this was God’s plan. She then exclaimed, “I praise the Lord . . . for He took notice of this lowly servant girl.” Mary saw the social implications of God’s appointment. “God has taken princes from their thrones and exalted the lowly.” (Luke 1: 47.48).
She remembered that God had “satisfied the hungry with good things and sent the rich away with empty hands.” Mature in faith, Mary saw God’s appointment as an example that God had not “forgotten Israel and His promise to be merciful” For Mary there were social dimensions of the birth of Jesus Christ. (Luke 2: 55)
In the Matthew narrative, the first to notice Jesus’ birth were wise men from the east. In Luke, it was shepherds, lowly shepherds on the hill who were first given notice of such good news. In Mary’s experience and understanding God had satisfied the hungry with good things.
When all the attention at the time of Jesus’ birth was being focused on her baby, the scriptures say that Mary kept all these things to her heart. Mary did not attempt to focus attention on herself, but on Jesus Christ. Nor was she jealous that this was happening. The importance of Mary as the mother of Jesus, to be sure, should not be overlooked. Nor should her devotion and commitment to God be ignored.
It is wrong, however, to focus devotion or veneration on Mary. Worship belongs only to God. Focus on Christmas should not be on commercialization or materialism. Nor should the veneration for Mary as the Mother of God divert our attention to the new-born Savior of the world. Nothing should distract our focus, nor stand to block our view and access to God as our Lord and God, not even the mother of Jesus.
Focus and attention should always be on the new-born Son of God. So must our attention and focus at Christmas and at other times of the year be ever on Christ as Savior and Lord. Mary is an example that God visits and gives time for his people. How this happened is one of the mysteries and wonders of God.
In God’s act of choosing Mary as the mother of Jesus, there are important messages of Christmas. One, in God, nothing is impossible. Two, God so loved us that He gave His only begotten Son as our Savior. We, too, should love each other. Three, only believe in Jesus Christ, and salvation and the joys of Christmas will be ours.
Whatever happened and however it happened, however, did not qualify for Mary to be venerated, nor to be regarded as the Mother of God. We honor and respect Mary, but praise and worship belong to God and God alone.
So, what is the significance of Mary in the celebration of Christmas?
Despite the anxieties, tragedies and pains, God has special care and compassion for his people, and so the joyous message still is, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come.”
