Gospel for the Day: Pierced Hearts

Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
"Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
(and you yourself a sword will pierce)
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."
Luke 2: 34-35


I've been asking myself since yesterday's post who played the harder part: Mary or Joseph? (As an aside, previously, I found myself asking what differentiated Mary from Zechariah). 


Mary said yes to being the Mother of God. Of course that meant she would be subjected to shame and possible death from stoning for having had sex out of wedlock. Of course there was the mothering that she had to do but if handled well, that would be pretty joyful on balance. And she had to see Jesus grow up and suffer throughout his life and through his death. But except for that yes at the start, a lot of it seemed passive, a lot of piercing of her heart, as the Gospel today says. 


Joseph, on the other hand, had to do things he didn't want to do. Marry a woman who probably had sex with another man. Go to a foreign country and leave everything behind. 

Maybe the politically correct thing to say is that Mary and Joseph are models of two different kinds of obedience. One kind of obedience is active, doing that which you are asked to but you do not want to do. And the second one is passive: accepting things that happen and still keeping the faith.

(The part of me trained in the social sciences says: what do you expect? It was probably the case that all the heavy lifting in Jesus' society could only be done by a man. So it would have been unthinkable (and dangerous) for Mary to bring Jesus by herself to Egypt. And being a woman, Mary probably wasn't in any position to influence the events of Jesus' life (and she probably knew Jesus himself wouldn't allow her to intervene) 

I guess these two models apply to different people or to different times in our lives. Sometimes we are asked to do things which we would rather not do. Sometimes we are asked to accept things which we would rather not happen.