Saturday, January 3, 2026

Don’t Put Mary Away After Christmas

“For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed”—Luke 1:48

Most American Christians don’t pay much attention to Mary except at Christmastime. Every year she comes out with the Christmas tree and gets put away with the ornaments. More often than not, she is reduced to a figurine in a crèche.

The reason for this neglect, I believe, is twofold. First, our culture was shaped by Protestant theology which, historically, focused almost exclusively on justification from sin through the sacrifice of Jesus upon the cross. When this perspective dominates, the birth of Jesus becomes little more than the means by which God provides the sacrifice. Mary’s role is to aid this process by giving birth to and nurturing, as it were, this perfect, divine-human sacrifice.

The second reason behind the neglect of Mary is a failure to contemplate the deeper meaning of the birth narrative. Blinded by the simplicity and warm fuzzy feelings which surround the Christmas story in American culture, we often fail to realize that we are celebrating not just a birth, but a cosmic event, namely, the incarnation of the eternal God who created and sustains the universe. This incarnation is more than a singular, historical point in time. It is an abiding reality which continues into the present, made possible by Christ’s bodily resurrection.

The Incarnation and the Virgin Birth

The incarnation is paradigmatic of God’s ultimate plan to dwell among humans eternally. As St John tells us, “the Word became flesh and dwelt [lit. tabernacled] among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This concept culminates in the book of Revelation, “And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God’” (Rev 21:3).

Though it is true that the incarnation was necessary to set in motion the chain of events leading to the cross, it cannot be relegated to just another link in that chain, given its profound significance. The same is true of the instrument through which this cosmic event takes place. Mary plays an essential role in bringing about the incarnation. She is not just the vessel by which the Son of God was manifested to the world, any more than the ark of the covenant was a mere box (or the temple a mere building) for manifesting the Divine Presence. Both are holy (see 2 Sam 6:6-7) and occupy a unique position in unfolding God’s plan of salvation.

Stop and contemplate the implications which lie behind the familiar story of the babe in Bethlehem. By uniting God to human flesh, the infinite is contained by the finite and the divine essence is united to His creation. This mystery is intoned in the Eastern Orthodox Liturgy of St. Basil by juxtaposing the infinity of God and the finitude of the Virgin’s womb: “He made your body a throne and made your womb more spacious than the heavens” (see 2 Kings 19:15).

Scripture is full of pious men and women of God, as well as glorious and powerful angelic beings, but none of them had the privilege of giving birth to the Son of God, wrapping the divine essence in swaddling clothes, and holding the creator in their arms. For this reason Mary is unique in her role as the God-bearer, the Theotokos (Greek)—a title first used by the ancient church (c. 3rd century). In the Orthodox liturgy of St John Chrysostom, she is lauded as being, “More honorable than the Cherubim, and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim.”

In her singular vocation as Theotokos, Mary is rarely depicted without Jesus on Eastern Orthodox icons (this is not the case in the Roman church). This principle also holds true for Orthodox hymnography, which often celebrates her role as the God-bearer. While her humility, obedience to God, and personal holiness are worthy of all admiration, it is her participation in the incarnation that raises her in glory above the saints and angels.

Mary in Old Testament Typology

The implications of the incarnation and Mary’s role as the Theotokos were not lost on the early church. Interest in Mary and the birth narrative burgeoned in the second century as illustrated by the popular, apocryphal work, Gospel of St. James (or, Protoevangelium of James*). Around the same time, Christian theologians saw types and prefigurements of Mary in the Old Testament (OT). Justin Martyr (c. 160 AD), Irenaeus (c. 180 AD), and Tertullian (c. 200 AD) spoke of Mary as the new Eve. By virtue of her obedience to God in bearing Jesus, Mary reversed the curse that Eve brought upon the world through disobedience. Later interpreters would find types of Mary in the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle, and the Burning Bush, etc.

Typologies consist of people, events, things, or institution that foreshadow a higher reality than themselves, these being the antitype. The New Testament reveals a plethora of types and antitypes, especially surrounding the OT sacrificial system which was fulfilled in Christ (see, Heb 7-10). Over the centuries, many interpreters—Protestant, Orthodox, and Catholic—have identified additional OT types and antitypes, especially those relating to the tabernacle of Moses (its design, furnishings, materials, colors, priest’s clothing, etc.). For example, many Protestant interpreters regard the Ark of the Covenant as a type of Christ since He is the fulfillment of the Divine temple. The wood of the ark is said to represent Christ’s humanity, while the Ark’s gold overlay represents his divinity.

Typological interpretation deals more with symbols and imagery, than grammar and lexicography. It is aesthetic and poetic, rather than critical and analytical. In the words of the nineteenth century poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Aurora Leigh, book seven):

Earth's crammed with heaven,
And every common bush afire with God;
But only he who sees, takes off his shoes—
The rest sit round it and pick blackberries.

Typologies are often fluid and may have multiple meanings. For example, Jesus is the antitype of the OT tabernacle (John 1:14), the temple (John 2:19-21), the Passover sacrifice (1 Cor 5:7), and the high priest (Heb 7:26). He rent the veil of the Jerusalem temple in two at His death (Mat 27:51), enabling believers to, symbolically speaking, enter the Holy of Holies through the veil of his sacrificial flesh (Heb 10:19-20), while He entered the Holy of Holies of the heavenly temple on our behalf as both high priest and sacrifice (Heb 9:12, 24). It should not be surprising that objects such as the Ark of the Covenant, the tabernacle, or the Burning Bush find overlapping antitypes in Jesus and Mary.

Mary’s womb, which miraculously contained the incarnate God for a time, was the antitype of the Ark where the “Lord of Hosts” dwelt “between the cherubim” (2 Sam 6:2, 2 Kings 19:15, Exo 25:22). The icon above reflects this miracle, showing the Virgin flanked by cherubim. The typological correspondence does not end there. Like the Ark (Heb 9:4-5), which contained (1) the word of God in the tablets of the Ten Commandments, (2) the miraculous food, being the manna from heaven, and (3) Aaron’s rod that budded (Aaron was the high priest), Mary carried in her womb (1) the Incarnate Word of God (John 1:14), who is (2) the true Bread of Heaven (John 6:31-35), as well as (3) our Great High Priest (Heb 4:14). The typological correspondences are practically self-evident and positively awe-inspiring.

A similar prefigurement is signified by the OT tabernacle and temple. Verses from the Orthodox Church canon call Mary, “the tabernacle that is to hold God, the sanctuary of the glory” and the “venerable Holy of Holies” (Matins for the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple). Mary is the tabernacle and temple of God who gave birth to Jesus, the Heavenly and Divine Temple (John 1:14, 2:19, Col 2:9).

Though OT types of Mary can be multiplied, the Burning Bush completes the incarnational typologies of the Ark and the tabernacle/temple. When Moses was tending a flock of sheep in the desert, the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from a bush. “So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed” (Exo 3:1-6). How is it possible that the fire of God did not consume the bush? The same miracle took place in Mary who carried the all-consuming, divine glory in her womb. “She is the Bush springing from the barren ground and burning with the immaterial fire that cleanses and enlightens our souls” (Small Vespers for the Nativity of the Theotokos). As with the Ark and the tabernacle/temple, the type of the Burning Bush culminates in Christ Himself, whose human nature and material flesh were not consumed by His divine essence (see also, Mat 17:1-3).

Mary the Great Example

It would be tempting to conclude from the discussion above that Mary’s unique role in salvation history is intended to single her out as the Great Exception to humanity, but the opposite is true. She is actually the Great Example. Her humility, obedience, and even her role as the God-Bearer, the Theotokos, serve as the model for us and for our salvation. As Fr. Thomas Hopko has observed, “everything that is praised and glorified in Mary is a sign of what is offered to all persons in the life of the Church.”

Just as Mary contained the divine glory in her womb, so Christ is born in believers by the Holy Spirit (John 3:5-6, 1 John 4:15, 5:1, Rom 8:10-11, Gal 4:19). Christians thus become the Ark, the tabernacle, the temple (1 Cor 6:19-20), and the Burning Bush, because the living God abides in them. They are, in the words of St Peter, “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Pet 1:4). Those who imitate Mary’s holy life of humility, purity, obedience, and love will be blessed like her and venerated as “more honorable than the cherubim and beyond compare more glorious than the seraphim” (Liturgy of St John Chrysostom).

In His priestly prayer, Christ said He had given His disciples the divine glory which the Father gave to the Son in order that they may be one (John 17:22, see Rom 8:17, Col 3:4). The apostle Paul exclaimed, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor 3:18). The salvation and glorification of believers is a mystery which even angels long to look into (1 Pet 1:12). It is Mary, the God-bearer, who shows us the way. She is blessed “among women” (Lk 1:48) to “all generations” (Lk 1:28)—not just at Christmas.


* The Protoevangelium was likely composed from both oral and written traditions, including the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. Though the work shows embellishment, parts of it probably contain reliable oral traditions about Mary. This may explain why the Protoevangelium had an immediate and lasting impact on the early church.

SOURCES

Eastern Orthodox
https://orthodoxwiki.org/Theotokos
https://orthodoxwiki.org/Theotokos_the_Unburnt_Bush_icon
https://www.stmaryorthodox.com/post/the-typology-of-the-theotokos-a-new-eve-the-true-tabernacle-the-queen-of-heaven
https://www.oca.org/orthodoxy/the-orthodox-faith/worship/the-church-year/dormition-of-the-theotokos
http://www.orthodoxmedjugorje.com/mary-in-the-bible-4/
https://www.iconmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/TheotokosOpt.pdf

Roman Catholic
https://www.homeofthemother.org/en/resources/virgin-mary/fathers/8373-protoevangelium
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