Posted on 12/24/2018 9:22:31 AM PST by Salvation
Madonna and Child, Theophanes the Greek (1380)
On this Christmas Eve we ponder the approaching mysteries. A question so basic that it does not occur to some to even ask is this: Why did the Lord choose to come to us through a woman, Mary, when He could have come in any manner He pleased?
He could have bypassed conception, gestation, birth, infancy, and youth entirely. He could have appeared suddenly on earth as a grown man — but He did not. Why not?
Remember, too, that although He chose to come through an earthly mother, he bypassed the participation of an earthly father (in the physical sense). If the biological role of a human father was bypassed in His taking flesh, why was the role of a human mother not similarly bypassed?
St. Thomas Aquinas pondered this question in his Summa Theologiae (part III, question 31, article 4) and set forth three reasons. St. Thomas’ commentary is shown below in bold italics, while my poor remarks appear in plain red text.
[Firstly,] Although the Son of God could have taken flesh from whatever matter He willed, it was nevertheless most becoming that He should take flesh from a woman. First because in this way the entire human nature was ennobled. Hence Augustine says (QQ. lxxxiii, qu. 11): “It was suitable that man’s liberation should be made manifest in both sexes.”
So, in this manner both sexes were ennobled. The male sex was ennobled because the Word became flesh and was male. The female sex was ennobled because it was from Mary that Christ took His humanity.
Secondly, because thus the truth of Incarnation is made evident. Wherefore Ambrose says (De Incarnation vi): “Thou shalt find in Christ many things both natural, and supernatural. In accordance with nature he was within the womb … but it was above nature that a virgin should conceive and give birth: that you may believe that He was God, who was renewing nature …”
Both the natural and the supernatural are evident in Christ’s conception and incarnation. St. Thomas emphasized the elevated need for the natural so that we might avoid the heresy of thinking that Christ’s humanity was not real due to its wholly supernatural origin.
And [as] Augustine says (Ep. ad Volus. cxxxvii): “If Almighty God had created a man formed otherwise than in a mother’s womb, and had suddenly produced him to sight … would He not have strengthened an erroneous opinion, and made it impossible for us to believe that He had become a true man? … But now, He, the mediator between God and man, has so shown Himself, that, uniting both natures in the unity of one Person, He has given a dignity to ordinary by extraordinary things, and tempered the extraordinary by the ordinary.”
So, it was fitting that Christ should be born of a woman, Mary, so as not to lose the natural in the supernatural, to show that both the natural (because He is true man) and the supernatural (because He is true God) should balance and complete each other.
Thirdly, … the first man was made from the “slime of the earth,” without the concurrence of man or woman: Eve was made of man but not of woman: [though since], other men are made from both man and woman. So [it] …. remained as it were proper to Christ, that He should be made of a woman without the concurrence of a man.
In other words, it seems fitting or proper that because Adam and Eve were both created outside of the usual order of things, the New Adam, Christ, would be made in a unique manner. Eve was made without the help of another woman, but rather was drawn by God directly from the man, Adam. In a kind of balancing parallelism, God made the New Adam directly from the woman, Mary, without the help of a man.
St. Thomas seems to point to a kind of poetic balance, not a necessary one.
So, here are some interesting insights as to why Christ chose to be born of a woman. Note well however, that these are arguments pointing to fittingness, not necessity. Saying that something is fitting does not mean that it is required, only that it is well suited to the situation. On the one hand, something can be fitting because, by it, we humans can more easily understand it. On the other, something can be fitting because it best suits God’s own purposes.
Monsignor Pope Ping!
Why Was Christ Born of a Woman Instead of Appearing on Earth by His Own Power?>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Because he did not foresee femino-nazis like SCOTOS Buzzy Ginsberg, Barabara Boxer, Hitlery Clinton, Fauxahontus or Nancy Pelosifer?
Doctrinally, He was God, but fully human which He couldn’t have been any other way.
Though no axe to grind here as I’m Noahide.
Perhaps you jest ...
But seriously, Jesus the Christ, the eternal Son sees all things eternally. Thus he “foresaw” the sins of those individuals you mention. He “foresaw” my sins, and yours, and of the whole human race ... and He gave His life to save us all from damnation due to our sins. Pray, then, for their repentance (and mine, and yours, and of all Men) that we may partake in the salvation offered by our God.
...Because he did not foresee femino-nazis like SCOTOS Buzzy Ginsberg, Barabara Boxer, Hitlery Clinton, Fauxahontus or Nancy Pelosifer?
Sure he did, people, ALL of us, are severely screwed up
Just lots of different flavors and types
...Pray, then, for their repentance (and mine, and yours, and of all Men)
that we may partake in the salvation offered by our God.
Ditto...
Merry Christmas to you and yours
The woman was the initial transgressor. But God was intent on rubbing the devil’s face in his evil deed. The woman would be used to bring forth the physical instrument of his physical destruction.
The woman, Mary, didn’t make the soul of her firstborn Son, God did.
We parents in the more usual way don't make the souls of our children either ... that comes straight from God, at the same instant we do our part.
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
I note that even as we celebrate the joy of Christmas, we cannot escape the shadow of the Cross. That is fitting, I think.
> He was God, but fully human which He couldn’t have been any other way. <
I’ve read that elsewhere. And to set a proper example, He had to live the part, so to speak. That makes sense to me.
Eve said yes, and brought us Death
Mary said yes, and brought us Life
Ecce ancilla Domini
Ecce Regina coeli
Only by being born of a woman could the incarnate God become fully human as well as fully divine.
And note the end of the story: after all his disciples had fled, Jesus' passion on the Cross was witnessed by one man, but three women.
Through the ages, Christianity has always recognised the power, faith, and devotion of the feminine. Unlike some other religions, that I probably need not mention.
All humans to ever walk this earth have been born of woman
Not even the most scientific endeavors can create a baby without a woman and a womb
No man Shall ever conceive
Life is sacred. Precious. And a gift from G-d
God promised David that the Messiah would be of his own line of descent. No birth of a woman of David’s line (Mary), no such descent; and there is the miraculous sign of Isaiah 7:14 to fulfill.
Jesus had to be a man to be tempted as we but without sin.
A perfect life as only a man he could have only provided Salvation for himself.
As the God-man His sacrifice and Forsaking from the Father provided a payment of infinite value which was applied to those whom the Father gave Him.
As man He was related to us.
As God he could pay the cost of the sins of His people.
I never understood that until a few years ago when I heard Paul Harvey recite the story of "The Man and the Birds" and then it became clear.
Yesterday’s second reading gives us a hint:
When Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. In neither holocaust nor sin offering did you find delight. Then I said, ‘Behold, I come to do your will, Oh God.”
Jesus was born of a woman because it was the “Will” of the Father.
For Jesus Christ came to take upon himself the sins of all who repent. That’s why I take the human form including its weaknesses, as a God with all power there would be no atonement
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