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Mary (Me) Too?

Image result for annunciationI've heard the story of Mary for decades but that thought had never crossed my mind!

 I was attending an advent service at Christ Episcopal church this morning where the pastor was preaching on Luke's account of Mary.  He was artfully making the point that Mary "Meek and lowly," was truly an amazing and powerful woman.  

 As his discourse on Mary unfolded, he highlighted Mary's cooperation with God in Operation World-Salvation. Specifically, he referred to the fact that Mary consented to Gabriel's briefing of God's plan. 

 What struck my mind immediately was the counter point.  
Wait a minute? 
Did she consent? 

 Was this Mary's  #me too moment?

 What was the nature of Mary's consent?

 "Mary answered, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let everything you’ve said happen to me.”

 In my job, we teach the CERTS model of healthy sexual relationships.  Does Mary's encounter with the divine pass the test?

 Consensual:  The episode passes on first blush but is debatable imo. She did give verbal consent. 

 Equal: Definitely not. On this, the whole god having sex with human trope is                        problematic. What would have happened if Mary had said, "um...no thanks, I'm about to be married and this is going to throw  wrench in things?"

 Respectful:    If we are assuming God really did this then we could safely assume he was  respectful? 

 Trustworthy: I would assume by definition God would be the most trustworthy.

 Safe: Um...sure, not sure what risk there is involved with spirit "overshadowing" a                human body

 A couple of final thoughts:

  1. Yes, it's not entirely accurate to compare this to a sexual relationship as there was no divine penis. Nevertheless, it still is a powerfully intimate encounter where Mary is overshadowed and a fetus is implanted in her body. 
  2. Some may argue that this is impiously comparing God to a rapist.  Well, I don't think this event really happened so I assume the telling to reflect patriarchy and other historic conventions of her milieu.  However, for those who do hold this to be an historic event, it remains problematic and I'd be interested to hear your take. 
  3. Potential problems notwithstanding, Mary was still pretty bad ass in signing up to raise baby God knowing that at some point a sword would pierce her heart over the whole affair. 


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