Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: cms@dragon.uucp Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Mary (immaculate conception) Message-ID: Date: 9 Jun 90 03:38:47 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Computer Projects Unlimited Lines: 146 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu [Jedidiah Jon Palosaari asks aboaut the relation of the Immaculate Conception to Mark 3, in which Jesus' family believed he was crazy. While Mary is not mentioned as being present in part of it, she is mentioned as one of those ready to "sieze" Jesus. I get the impresssion that Jedidiah Jon is bothered by the fact that Mary seems her to be making a mistake, which seems to contradict the idea that she is sinless. He asks for clarification. --clh] The Immaculate Conception means that Mary is preserved from all stain of original sin; this means that she was protected from her conception from estrangement from God, which is the result of sin. Her freedom from sin was a gift from God. Mary was perfect in purity of morals and holiness of life. The Scriptural derivation is from Luke 1:28. chaire, kecharitomene, ho kyrios meta sou (Nestle, UBSGNT) NRSV: "Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you." RNAB : "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you." Douay: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee." NAB: "Rejoice, O highly favored daughter! The Lord is with you." This passage has caused much debate. The word "grace" (charis) is associated with joy (chara) and wisdom (sophia). The translation of kecharitomene, according to one source, is a play on chaire and is the perfect passive participle of charitoun, a denominative verb related to charis (grace, favor) which means "to bestow favor on, highly favor, bless." Mary is thus one who has been graciously favored by God as is explained the v. 30, "You have found favor with God." Greek verbs ending in oo, according to another source, do not imply fullness but rather instrumentality. My first source says that while a denominative verb us usually instrumental or factitive (charitoun means to constitute someone in charis), occasionally it carries a sense of plenitude. One translation has it "I salute you, object of divine favor." God is the source of goodness; Mary is the object of God's grace and favor. Since the verb is a participal, "Mary is shown to have been chosen for a long time past; God's full flow of favor has already been concentrating upon her." (Jerome Commentary.) Mary is the object of some of the greatest Biblical salutations: 1:28, 30, 35 42-49. In 2:35, "and you yourself a sword will pierce" indicates that her blessedness as mother of God will be challenged by her Son who calls true blessedness "hearing the word of God and observing it." Thus, Mary is twice blessed, both as Mother of God by God and as one who hears the word of God and observes it, "Be it unto me according to your word." The Bible makes no distinction between body and soul (rendering the fullest meaning for "Body of Christ"); thus, in Mary, more than anyone else, God's messianic fulfillment is achieved. Back to chaire (rejoice): this word was used for the normal secular Greek way of hailing someone (hello) or in beginning and ending a letter. Some argue that it should be translated "rejoice" because, in scenes with a semitic background, Luke uses eirene ("peace," in Hebrew, "shalom") and not chaire as the ordinary greeting. In the LXX, chairein appears about eight times; around 20 times its use refers to a joy that greets a divine saving act; in 1:28 it is thought that Luke has this meaning in mind. The specific term chaire is used in the LXX only four times, three of them addressed to the Daughter of Zion: Zech 9:9 (quoted in Matthew 21:5 and John 12:15): Rejoice heartily! (chaire!), O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you, a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass. Zeph 3:14-17: Shout for joy, O daughter Zion! sing joyfully, O Israel! Be glad and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem! The Lord has removed the judgment against you, he has turned away your enemies; The King of Israel, the LORD, is in your midst, and you have no further misfortune to fear. One of my sources contradicts this theory by noting that Greeks would no more take chaire literally as "rejoice" than modern Americans would take goodbye literally as "God be with ye." Another problem is that most of the OT references to the Daughter of Zion are uncomplimentary; most potray her in a state of oppression, or as a prostitute full of lust. Still, I argue that Mary as Jerusalem, as the Mother of the Church, is all that is good about Jerusalem because God's gracious favor rests upon her. Luke describes Mary in terms of his Old Testament background knowledge of Abraham and Sarah, Daniel's description of Gabriel, the Samuel story, the promise of David, and various and sundry OT anunciation-birth standbys. Another extremely important image of Mary is Ark of the Covenant (my own personal favorite title for My Lady) or the Tabernacle. In 1:35 Mary is told, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you." The same verb is used when the cloud of God's glory overshadows the tabernacle in the desert (Exodus 40:35, Numbers 9:18, 22), and when the winged cherubim overshadow the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:20, 1 Chronicles 28:18). Elizabeth greets Mary in Luke 1:43, "And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" Compare this to 2 Samuel 6:9 when David fears the Lord and says, "How can the ark of the Lord come to me?" Mary stays with Elizabeth about three months; the Ark of the Covenant remains three months in the house of Obededom. John 1:14 literally translates, "And the Word became flesh and pitched his tent/tabernacle among us." The Ark of the Covenant (OT) is anointed by the priests with holy oil, etc. and subsequently anointed by God; Mary is anointed by her Immaculate Conception and is subsequently anointed by God. First the Ark of the Covenant (OT) is made holy by its creation according to the exacting specifications of God; first the Ark of the Covenant (NT) is made holy by its creation according to the exacting specifications of God. Then, the Ark of the Covenant is presented to God; God indicates his approval by overshadowing the Ark of the Covenant (both OT and NT). As for Jesus's family thinking he was beside himself, some of my sources suggest that Jesus is overworked; additionally, his family is fearful of the crowd, that they might harm Jesus in their zeal. The Gospels do say that the disciples couldn't even eat for the crowds. The family of Jesus want to sieze him because they seem to be saying, "The crowds are too large; they're not giving you any peace; anyone could be in the crowd, be careful; are you crazy letting the crowd invade the house like that, you could get hurt," etc. Houses in ancient Israel would open affairs; kind of like a large porch, one which is built around the entire house, if you can imagine that. When Jesus dines with the Pharisees, you see the same arrangement, with some woman coming out of the crowd to anoint his feet with her tears. Other passages cited from the Old Testament remind us that the Messiah will be "eaten up with zeal for your house," re the Temple incident driving out the money changers. Jesus is eaten up with zeal for the House of the Lord and his family is worried about his fervor as well as the fervor of the crowds. It does say elsewhere that not even his brothers believed in him but I don't believe this makes any mention of Mary. Mary is the first person to believe in him (re anunciation, Cana). Mary is thus the first disciple of Jesus. Certainly his closest disciples among the Apostles were less loyal, especially Peter. It's the women who are loyal to him even on the road to Calvary and at the Tomb. You don't see the men going to anoint the body but then perhaps men didn't do that kind of thing anyway; I'm not sure about that. Also, re his brothers not believing in him, at least James believed in him later. -- Sincerely, _///_ // SPAWN OF A JEWISH _///_ // _///_ // <`)= _<< CARPENTER _///_ //<`)= _<< <`)= _<< _///_ // \\\ \\ \\ _\\\_ <`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ <`)= _<< >IXOYE=('> \\\ \\ \\\ \\_///_ // // /// _///_ // _///_ // emory!dragon!cms <`)= _<< _///_ // <`)= _<< <`)= _<< \\\ \\<`)= _<< \\\ \\ \\\ \\ GO AGAINST THE FLOW! \\\ \\ A Real Live Catholic in Georgia