Letters

Mary in St John's Gospel

Dr Frank Mobbs

Contents - Feb 2015 - Buy a copy now Editorial: A request for your assistance - Peter Westmore Consistory: Pope Francis names twenty new Cardinals - AD2000 Report News: The Church Around the World The survival of the Church - Fr John O'Neill PP Vatican report lays bare problems in US religious life - AD2000 Report Martyrdom: Would I have had their courage? - Cardinal George Pell The Pope and the Holocaust: why did Pius XII not speak out? - Robert A. Graham SJ The family and the Church in 2015 - Archbishop Mark Coleridge Brisbane: powerhouse of Catholic young adult ministry - Br Barry Coldrey The Eighteen Benedictions of Judaism ... and Christianity - Andrew Sholl What Pope Francis really said to the Roman Curia - AD2000 Report Letters: Catholic education - Allan Choveaux Letters: Smartphone apps 'very suspect' - Elizabeth Afribo Letters: A rejoinder to Anne Lastman - Charles M. Shann Letters: Mary in St John's Gospel - Dr Frank Mobbs Letters: The Church in China - Paul Simmons Letters: Homosexuality - Anne Lastman Books: AUSTRALIANS AND THE CHRISTIAN GOD: An historical study, by Hugh Jackson - Michael E. Daniel (reviewer) Books: MY BATTLE AGAINST HITLER, by Dietrich von Hildebrand - Kate Veik (reviewer) Books: Order books from www.freedompublishing.com.au Reflection: Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy - Anne Lastman

Ever since the New Testament was completed, commentators have indulged in finding in it what is not in the texts. It is called eisegesis. Anne Lastman has exhibited this tendency in her "The mother of Jesus in St John's Gospel" ( AD2000, October 2014).

Her thesis is that Mary in this Gospel has a "pivotal role". In support, she cites the only two references to Mary in the Gospel: (1) at the marriage feast of Cana (John 2:1-12) and (2) when Mary stood at the foot of the cross and Jesus said to the beloved disciple, "Behold your mother."

At the marriage feast at Cana Mary said to Jesus, "They have no wine", and to the servants, "Do whatever he tells you." Mrs Lastman correctly points out that the first quotation does not constitute a demand but is a statement, merely drawing Jesus' attention to an embarrassing fact.

"Do whatever he tells you" does no more than advise the servants to have confidence in Jesus' capacity to fix the problem. Remember that at this stage Mary had no idea that Jesus could perform miracles.

So far it is difficult to find any evidence which supports the contention that she played a pivotal role in the Gospel story.

At the foot of the cross were three Marys (John 19:25-27), one being the mother of Jesus who did not speak.

Referring to her, Jesus said to the beloved disciple, "Behold your mother", which must mean, "Look after her as if she were your mother", and to his mother, "Woman, behold your son", which can be paraphrased as "Care for him as if he were your son ."

We lack any information on how Mary and the disciple thereafter treated each other. Are we supposed to think that Mary thus played a "pivotal role"?

St John's Gospel lacks any account of the birth and infancy of Jesus, so if we stick to the evidence contained in this Gospel we can conclude that his mother's role was not significant.

DR FRANK MOBBS
Point Frederick, NSW

Reprinted from AD2000 Vol 28 No 1 (February 2015), p. 16