Woman?

[Cepha]

Why did Jesus refer to Mary, as "Woman" and never as "mother"?

[knuckle]

term of endearment

[Cepha]

And why never as "mother" then?

[knuckle]

Hi Cepha--------------

It seems natural understanding the word gynai as a term of honor and respect and in the way the bible presents it.

Being from the south my mother was referred to as 'momma' only when speaking of her in the third person when we spoke directly to her it was Ma'am----Ma'am may I, yes ma'am,no ma'am never yes mother or no mother also all of the ladies who were our elders or who were strangers to us are Ma'am (can I help you Ma'am?Ma'am you dropped this) it is a sign of respect and or endearment depending on whom is being addressed. We also used the word Miss. alot when addressing a casual acquaintance close to our age or younger ladies at our church are Miss Annie Miss Lori etc as a sign of respect

maybe it is a "southern" thing,what is the Yankee take on it?

much love--------------knuckle

[Cepha]

Aug 10, 2008 12:43:10 GMT -5 knuckle said:

Hi Cepha--------------

It seems natural understanding the word gynai as a term of honor and respect and in the way the bible presents it.

Being from the south my mother was referred to as 'momma' only when speaking of her in the third person when we spoke directly to her it was Ma'am----Ma'am may I, yes ma'am,no ma'am never yes mother or no mother also all of the ladies who were our elders or who were strangers to us are Ma'am (can I help you Ma'am?Ma'am you dropped this) it is a sign of respect and or endearment depending on whom is being addressed. We also used the word Miss. alot when addressing a casual acquaintance close to our age or younger ladies at our church are Miss Annie Miss Lori etc as a sign of respect

maybe it is a "southern" thing,what is the Yankee take on it?

much love--------------knuckle

I got that. The 2nd part of that question was why not "mother"?

And my belief in why Jesus called Mary "woman" when He did was because He wasn't speaking as Jesus the Man, but as Jesus "God".

The first time (I believe) He called her woman was just before His first recorded miracle in The Bible when at her intercession, He turned water into wine.

The only other time is when He gave her to John as a replacement for His being taken away from her. Again, something only God could do.

So when He said "Woman", He is speaking to her as God directly, not as her Son.

Which leaves the question as to why He never called her "mother".

If Jesus was fully God and fully Man, then this would make Mary The Mother of God on Earth (not God in Heaven).

(One would have to separate Jesus' divine nature from his human nature to make this statement untrue.)

[Cepha]

Yankee respect for mothers?

Mom (and all the forms of Mom, mother, mommy, mami, etc...).

Ma'am applies to both mothers and non-mothers.

[knuckle]

That seems so foreign to me,though she was momma when we were very young it shifted to ma'am as we grew up (though I did return to momma on her death bed)

much love---------------knuckle