Why Was Mary Blessed?
When Mary visits the house of Zechariah, Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and tells Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:42). In one way, Mary is blessed among all other women because she is the mother of Jesus. However, Elizabeth does not tell her that she is blessed because of Jesus, but rather than she is blessed along with Jesus: “Blessed are you… and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Instead of this graceful state being a result of the recent incarnation of the Messiah, the language of blessing has its roots in Israel’s earliest history. Luke’s narrative follows the logic of God’s blessings for Israel in the Torah; Mary is a servant of the Lord whose obedience leads to blessedness.
Before Mary speaks with Elizabeth, she meets with the angel Gabriel. When the divine messenger tells her that she is with child, Mary responds, “Behold, the servant of the Lord (ἡ δούλη κυρίου, he doūle kurīou) let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). Mary’s answer to the angel echoes the language of Leviticus. God declares, “For it is to me that the children of Israel are servants (עֲבָדִים; avadim [LXX: παῖδές, paidēs]). They are my servants (עֲבָדַי; avadai) whom I brought out of the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God” (Lev 25:55). Immediately after this statement, God offers a list of blessings if the Israelites “walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them” (Lev 26:3). The divine blessing follows from the notion that Israel would live as servants of the Lord, and Mary identifies herself in that long line of Jewish servants.
In Deuteronomy’s version of the Levitical blessings, Moses tells Israel, “All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the Lord your God. Blessed are you (בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה; barukh atah) in the city, and blessed are you in the field. Blessed is the fruit of your womb (בָּרוּךְ פְּרִי־בִטְנְךָ; harukh peri-vitnkh)” (Deut 28:2-4). In the Greek version of Scripture, the texts says, “Blessed is the issue of your womb (εὐλογημένα τὰ ἔκγονα τῆς κοιλίας σου).” When Elizabeth addresses Mary, Luke blends the Hebrew and Greek versions, retaining the Hebrew reference to “fruit” and reproducing the Septuagint’s “your womb”: “Blessed are you, and blessed is the fruit of your womb (εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου)” (Luke 1:42). Luke draws on Israel’s Scriptures to portray the mother of Yeshua as the recipient of the Torah’s divine blessings. Mary lives out the ideal servanthood that God always envisioned for Israel.
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