Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Family, Parenting and Religion
Mother Load

Mother Load

Last updated on: December 25, 2024 at 1:48 am by Ben Witherington

Mother Load 2024-12-18T08:52:09-05:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

MOTHER LOAD

From the very beginning
The burden was clear
Sometimes bearable
Sometimes severe

Ate from the apple
Shared it with him
Disobeyed the order
Indulged the whim.

What was the outcome?
The fruit of the act?
She ‘knew’ good and evil?
She experienced it in fact?

Did the earth creature join her?
Did he crumble into dust?
Did he die in an instant?
Or just tumble into lust?

To love and to cherish
Becomes ‘desire and dominate’
Objectify the ‘other’
So you can subjugate.

Suddenly self conscious
Instantly aware
There are no coverings
Only nakedness there.

Hiding in the garden,
The creature in shame
Running from her Maker
Like some kind of game.

Passing the blame on
From God to the wife,
From the wife to the snake
‘The’ creator of strife.

Banished from the garden,
But clothed by their God
Not allowed to live forever
Find a living from the sod

Pain in her labor
Shortness of breath
The mother of all living
Gives birth near to death

And would she be able
To raise Cain at all?
Or will her next offspring
Be first to fall?

And how to redeem this?
Set the process in reverse
Put a stop to the death toll
Undoing the curse?

From the very beginning
The burden was clear
“Be it unto me as you said,
The Lord’s servant is here.”

A virginal conception
Had a child without a man
Which no one expected
And few would understand.

She received a word of warning
A sword would pierce her soul
But the death of her first born
Would make the race whole.

There beneath a crooked tree
Stood that woman and a man
Neither disobeyed the orders
Each accepting the plan.

Then He rose in the garden
Reopened its gate
To the tree for the living
To the Adam without mate.

And there in the Scriptures
Was a promise true and sure
“She’ll be saved through the childbearing”
That Mary did endure.

The story revisited
The human tale revised
Motherlode now delivered
Curse reversed before our eyes.

THEOLOGICAL MUSINGS

It has long been the case that Christians, including theologians have compared and contrasted the stories of Eve and Mary, just as they have contrasted the stories of the first and the last Adams, Jesus being the last one. No descendants could into the world without Eve, the mother of all living, and no one could come into the world to come without Mary, the mother of the messiah. Sometimes even the church fathers resorted to typology or allegory to find connections between the stories of Eve and Mary. For example Eve beneath the tree with the fruit and the snake, is seen as like Mary beneath the cross, only Eve listened to the serpent and disobeyed God, while Mary listened to her Son and obeyed his words. There is then considerable precedent for the kind of comparisons and contrasts that are going on in this poem.

One of the things I was exploring and trying to probe in this poem is the burden that women have always borne since the beginning of humankind, and by this I do not just mean bearing the burden of childbearing, though that is no small task in itself. I referring to the fact that women have tended to be viewed as either like Eve or Mary, with nothing much in between. From deceived by a serpent to believing an angel women have been seen as either sirens or saints. This has been quite a burden to bear, to say the least, and it is unfair. But there is more. Mary had the additional burden of not only being the mother of a controversial messianic figure who came into this world in an irregular manner, but she was warned as well that Jesus would leave the world in a shocking manner as well.

The correspondences between these stories underline a few dominant Scriptural themes: 1) God is a God of second chances but 2) on the second go around it is none other than his Son that makes sure that the human tale is set right and will have a happy ending. In other words, God takes matters into his own hands, and yet all hangs on a Jewish maiden saying “be it unto to me as you have said, I am the handmaiden of the Lord.” Human response to the divine initiative is neither pre-empted nor pre-determined. The curse was reversed through an obedient woman just as the curse was initiated by a disobedient one. The human drama involves both divine and human decisions, and women have as much to do with salvation as they do with fallenness. In fact, the author of 1 Tim. 2.8-15 is prepared to remind us that “women shall be saved through the Childbearing”, an oblique reference to the birth of Jesus. But none of this story would have turned out well if God had not raised Jesus from the dead. All the obedience in the world cannot produce divine grace or salvation. Only the divine activity itself can produce such an outcome. Resurrection is not the outcome of a human self-help program. One then must give God the glory, while still giving Mary her due.

Family, Parenting and Religion

Home and Religion

Uncategorized

The bearable birth

Previous Post

December 24, 2024

Incognito

Next Post

December 26, 2024 The Secret

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz