Star tracking/Mother of God

Q On Jan. 2 we celebrated The Epiphany of the Lord.  The Gospel on that day presents the story of the Magi looking for the newborn king of the Jews after following the star of Bethlehem.  When did the star first appear to the Magi, before or after Jesus’ birth?  

A I don’t think anyone really knows.  

Some believe the star appeared to the Magi two full years before the birth of Jesus because of this passage from St. Matthew: “He (Herod) ordered the massacre of all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had ascertained from the Magi” (Mt 2:16).  St. John Chrysostom and St. Augustine believe this was the case, and it took the Magi two years to reach the child Jesus.

However, if this were true, the Magi would have learned of the incarnation of Jesus before the Blessed Virgin accepted the call to become the mother of our savior.  This would not seem fitting that the Magi would know of the coming of the Jesus even before his mother.  St. Thomas Aquinas and others hold that the star first appeared only after the Nativity.  According to St. Thomas, the Magi set off on their journey on the day of Jesus’ birth and were able to travel a long distance “owing partly to the divine assistance, and partly to the fleetness of the dromedaries.” 

There is a great article on this from “The New Theological Movement.”  You can Google: When did the star first appear to the Magi? 

Q  We refer to Mary as the mother of God but how can that be?  Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, is eternal; he existed before Mary, so Mary can’t be his mother.  Right?  Didn’t Mary only give birth to Jesus’ human nature?

A Mary did not give birth only to Jesus’ human nature.  Mothers do not give birth to natures; they give birth to persons.  Sure, the second person of the Trinity (Jesus) existed long before Mary but Mary became his mother by contributing genetic matter to him by carrying him in her womb for nine months.  

Since the third century, Mary had been called Theotokos (“Mother of God” or “God-bearer”).  The Council of Ephesus in 431 confirmed this, echoing the teaching that Jesus was both divine and human, that the two natures were united in his one person.  The Council insisted on the use of the title “Theotokos” to reaffirm the central truth of what occurred in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.  It makes sense:  if Mary is the mother of Jesus, and Jesus is God, then Mary is the mother of God.

Although Scripture does not use the term “mother of God,” it uses its equivalent when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she would become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you.  Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the son of God” (Lk 1:35).  If Mary’s child is the son of God, Mary has to be the mother of God.  Additionally, when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting upon her visit, Elizabeth states “how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” (Lk 1:43).  Elizabeth is basically calling Mary the “mother of God.”

Even Martin Luther recognized Mary as the mother of God.  Martin Luther wrote: “Mary, the mother, does not carry, give birth to, suckle and nourish only the man, only flesh and blood – for that would be dividing the person – but she carries and nourishes a son who is God’s son.  Therefore, she is rightly called not only the mother of the man but also the mother of God.”

Deacon Hooper is a deacon assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs. He can be reached at [email protected].