Review article

Mother, Woman, Disciple: The Place and Role of Jesus' Mother in a John's Gospel

Ivan Dugandžić ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb, Zagreb, Croatia

Abstract

It has always been apparent to the exegetes, that the two passages in the Johannine Gospel which speak of Jesus' mother, express a rich symbolic meaning and reveal the evangelist's theological interest in her. Much literature on these passages offers vastly different interpretational efforts: Mariological, typological, eschatological, religious-historical, pneumatological, sacramentological... It is obvious, that none of these interpretations succeed in exhausting the full theological content of the passages, if not observed in a wider theological context in the Fourth Gospel. Indeed, this is occurring in newer research of the Johannine Gospel. Accepting the premise that the narrative complex in Jn 2-4 is a thematic treatment of the gathering of the eschatological Israel, it is not difficult to see that the pericopes on Cana (2:1-11) which possess a rich theological symbolism assume a central position in the narrative complex. It is also obvious that the evangelist's main attention is not Mariological but rather Christological. Here, the real role of Jesus' mother is intercessory for those Israelites acknowledging Jesus as the Messiah. Evidently, mother and Son at that exact moment are situated at two altogether different levels, that is, she has no influence on his »hour« which is completely under the authority of the Father. Consequently, Jesus' mother is transformed from an intercessor of the Jews into a disciple of Jesus. After the occurrence of the first sign, she becomes numbered amongst the group of disciples (2:12). In the scene at the foot of the cross (19:25-27) the Christological perspective opens to an ecclesiological one. The disciple whom Jesus loved, appears in John's Gospel as the transmitter of the tradition on Jesus and the guarantor of its authenticity and as such, incarnates the Johannine Church, to whom Jesus entrusts his mother. He accepts her eis ta idia, meaning, into the Teacher's inheritance and spiritual domain of his Church entrusted to him. Accordingly, Jesus' mother who has in the meantime become his disciple receives an honorable place in the Church of her Son as an intercessor for all the people of Israel, those accepting Jesus as the Messiah. Accordingly, the Johannine Gospel in a powerfully theological manner expresses Mary's acceptance of the Son of God in history, and as the physical mother of the incarnate Son of God, she continually assures the historical dimension of his existence (1:14).

Keywords

Jesus' mother; woman; disciple; Jesus; Messiah; Jews; wedding (feast); wine; Jesus'glory; faith of the disciples; the Loved Disciple; Jesus' testament; acceptance

Hrčak ID:

24685

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/24685

Publication date:

7.9.2005.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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