Lately I’ve been mulling over the significance of God as Father, and Jesus’ experience of having God as his Father. Mystery surrounds his birth. When Joseph discovers his fiancée is pregnant with someone else’s baby, he’s described as being righteous because he was going to let Mary go quietly. He didn’t want to publicly shame her, although tradition called for that. (As an aside—the man God chose to raise his son honored the woman he’d planned to marry even when it appeared she’d cheated on him). But God speaks to Joseph and explains the situation, so Joseph accepts the role of being father to this suspiciously-conceived son.
When I read that he created man in his own image “male and female he created them” all those male pronouns obscure the fact that God doesn’t have a sex, because sex is something created for humans (“male and female he created them”). When Jesus put on flesh, he put on male flesh, so God the son is male. But I believe, strongly, that the Godhead is not male or female.
So why all this portrayal of God as Father? Yes, this could be in part because the Bible was written by humans, and those humans were males, and they lived in a world where males were the ones who counted. And we shouldn’t discount the times that God is portrayed as a mother—oh Jerusalem, I would have gathered you as a mother hen—and many have found comfort in exploring the concept of God as mother and I think God is absolutely big enough for that. But here, I want to suggest that perhaps, just maybe, God’s portrayal of Father to Jesus leaves a hole that needs to be filled by a human woman.
When God came to earth, he needed a woman. He needed a mother. The one who was with God in the beginning—the word—became flesh in a uterus. He was pushed out through a vagina and then drank from his mother’s breasts.
May you know God as father, mother, and friend.
May you experience your body as holy, a uniquely designed conduit for birthing life, physical or otherwise.
May you know deep within that your existence as a woman matters to God and to the order of God’s creation.
May you, with Mary, hold these truths close, pondering them in your heart.