Naturally, the Mother of the Son of Man is Called Woman
In the four Gospel accounts, Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man over 80 times. But the term did not originate with Jesus. It is used 107 times in the books of the Old Testament.
It is clearly a messianic title in the Old Testament, especially in the Book of Daniel. Jesus by referring to himself in that manner is claiming his Messiahship and, by extension, his role in the redemption of all humanity. While he is a divine person he has two distinct natures; human and divine which are separate but indivisible.
It is by virtue of his human nature that he is able to offer himself as the pure sacrifice to God the Father to make atonement for our sins and, by virtue of his resurrection, to restore us as adopted sons and daughters of God the Father. He alone by virtue of his two natures is able to do this!
In the Book of Genesis, when speaking to the serpent immediately after the fall of our first parents God said, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall strike at your head, while you strike at his heel” (Gn 3: 15). Many of the early Church Fathers, saw in this passage of Genesis, often referred to, by them, as the “protoevangelium”, the first announcement of the “Good News” of our redemption.
It’s reasonable to ask, why does God refer to a woman in this important passage? Afterall, it is God’s Son, that is in turn the woman’s male offspring, who shall strike at the serpent’s head. The answer quite simply, is because God chose that his only begotten Son would receive his human nature from a woman. And that woman is Mary. Pure and gentle, immaculate from the first moment of her conception. The true tabernacle, that was destined to bear the Son of God in her womb for nine months!
The very next time in sacred scripture that Mary is referred to as the woman is at the wedding feast at Cana. Mary realized that the wine was running out. Jewish wedding celebrations, at that time, lasted an entire week and wine was an essential staple at all weddings. This predicament, if not remedied quickly and discreetly, would have caused considerable embarrassment to the bride and groom and their families.
Mary approached Jesus to inform him of this predicament, and said “They have no wine.” Jesus responded by saying to his mother “Woman, how does your concern affect me? My hour has not yet come.” Mary did not hesitate but told the servers, “Do whatever he tells you.” And we know that Jesus performed the very first of his miracles, or signs as St John describes them, at this wedding feast at Cana.
On its surface, Jesus’ response to his mother appears to be disrespectful. This mistaken connotation is largely the result of Jesus’ use of the word “woman” in addressing his mother. In the English lexicon of our modern day, addressing someone as “woman” has a very negative inference. It conjures up a sense of angst in the person addressing a woman in that manner.
But is that what Jesus is really doing? Jesus would never be disrespectful of his mother. To act in this manner would be a violation of God’s fourth commandment which states “Honor your mother and your father”.
