The Word Woman

Contemplating one word in the Word of God

06/01/2020

John 19:25-34 Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I thirst.” There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.” And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.

There are some words in Scripture that really pack a punch; they mean far more than meets the eyes at first glance. One such word is “woman.” Four key passages where we find the word woman is in Genesis, twice in John and Revelation. Remember that scene from the movie, “The Princess Bride,” where Vizini keeps using the word “inconceivable”? And Inigo Montoya complains: “You keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means.” (Movies really help you to under the bible!) Well, the Bible keeps using the word “woman,” and it often does not mean what we think it means. Indeed, it means so much more than we could ever “conceive” (pun intended) because the woman (Mary) will conceive Jesus, the Son of God, something we could never conceive.

Our scriptures today offer us two of those four critical occurrences of the word woman. But let’s look quickly at all four of them, because this is after all a weekday Mass and the homily is supposed to be short and sweet. Ha! Not if you’re at a Fr. John Mass, you don’t get off so easily! In Gen. 3:15, Adam blames the woman for the first sin (original sin) but God blesses the woman with the protoevangelion, the first gospel, saying, “I will put enmity between you (Satan) and the woman; you will strike at her heel, and she will strike at your head.” In other words, the woman of Genesis is a larger figure than the fig-wearing Eve; she represents the future woman, Mary, who will conceive the Savior of the world, the “new Adam,” as Paul put it in Rom. 5:12.

Secondly, in John 2 at the wedding at Cana in Galilee, Jesus calls Mary “woman.” If I ever called my mom “woman” she would slap me back to Saturday. But when Jesus says “woman,” it means far more than we think it means, just like it did in Genesis when God the Father uttered the word woman. Mary asks Jesus for the favor of providing more wine for the wedding, and Jesus replies: “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” But that was a Hebrew idiom meaning, “Yes, sure, mom, I’ll take care of it.” Jesus knows that Mary is not just a Jewish mother, she is also the Queen Mother (because Jesus is the king). And just as if Queen Elizabeth asks a favor of Prince Charles, he will likely acquiesce, so too Jesus. In John 2 the woman is the queen mother, who shows a special sway over the King, Jesus, her son.

The third occasion is in today’s gospel is John 19:26, where Jesus is hanging on the cross. He bestows his most prized possession on earth to John, the beloved disciple. He declares: “Woman, behold your son,” and then to John, “Behold, your mother.” That mother-child relationship is larger than between Mary and John, it extends to all the children of the Church, even to me and you. In other words, Jesus says to each of us: “Behold, your mother.” Because each of us is Jesus’ beloved disciple, so to each of us Jesus entrusts his “beloved mother.” Mary is the new Eve, the “mother of all the living,” those who find new life in Christ.

The last great occurrence of the word woman is Rev. 12:1, where we read about another woman. John writes: “A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Who is the woman of Revelation 12? Well, she is Mary, to be sure. But she is also the people of Israel, from whom the Messiah will come, as Paul asserts in Rom. 9:5. Further, she is also the Church, the Bride of Christ, as will become clear in Rev. 21 and 22, where she will be compared to the holy city, the New Jerusalem.

The Bible, like Vizini, keeps using the same words over and over, like “inconceivable,” and “woman.” But like Inigo Montoya said, “It does not mean what we think it means.” It means so much more than we can conceive. That’s why in 2018, Pope Francis designated the Monday after Pentecost the feast of Mary, Mother of the Church. Why? So that Mary, filled with the Holy Spirit, can teach us how to contemplate the scriptures, which are inspired by the same Holy Spirit. She can help us by her words and example to see how one word, like woman, penetrates the depths of the plan of salvation.

Praised be Jesus Christ!