(2.) Capernaum (John ii, 12) and Nazareth (Matt, iv, 13 ; xiii, 54 ; Mark vi, 1) appear to have been the resi- dence of Mary for a considerable period. The next time tliat she is brought before us we find her at Capernaum (Matt, xii, 46; Mark iii, 21, 31; Luke viii, 19). It is the autumn of the year 27 — a year and a half after the miracle wrought at the marriage-feast in Cana. The Lord had in the mean time attended two feasts of the Passover, and had twice made a circuit throughout Gal- ilee, teaching and working miracles. His fame had spread, and crowds came pressing round him, so that he had hot even time " to eat bread." Mary was still living with her other sons, James, Joses, Simon, Jude, and their sisters (Matt, xiii, 55) ; and she and they heard of the toils which he was undergoing, and they understood that he was denying himself every relaxa- tion from his labors. Their human affection conquered their faith. They thought that he was killing himself, and, with an indignation arising from love, they ex- claimed that he was beside himself, and set off to bring him home either by entreaty or compulsion. He was surrounded by eager crowds, and they could not reach him. They therefore sent a message, begging him to allow them to speak to him. This message was handed on from one person in the crowd to another, tUl at length it was reported aloud to him. Again he re- proves ; again he refuses to admit any authority on the part of his relatives, or any privilege on account of their relationship. "Who is my mother, and who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand towards his disciples, and said, Behold my mother and my breth- ren ! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother" (Matt, xii, 48, 49). Compare Theoph. in Marc, iii, 32 ; St. Chrys. Ilom. xliv in IMatt. ; St. Aug. in. Joan, tract x, who all of them point out that the blessedness of Mary consists, not so much in having borne Christ, as in believing on him and in obeying his words (see also Qiimst. et Besp. ad Orthodox, cxxxvi ; ap. St. Just. Mart, in the Kihl. Max. Patr. tom. ii. pt. ii. p. 138). This, indeed, is the lesson taught directly by our Lord himself in the next passage in which reference is made to Mary. In the midst or at the completion of one of his addresses on the same occasion, a woman of the multitude, whose soul had been stirred by his words, cried out, " Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked !" Immediately the Lord replied, " Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word
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of God, and keep it" (Luke xi, 27). lie docs not either aflirin or deny anything ^vityl regard to the direct bear- ing of the woman's exclamation, but passes that by as a tiling indifferent, in order to point out in -what alone the true blessedness of his mother and of all consists. This is the full force of the {.ttvovvye with which he com- mences his reply.
(3.) The next scene in ]Marj''s life brings us to the foot of the cross. She was standing there with her sis- ter Mary and Mary Magdalene, and Salome, and other women, having no doubt followed her Son as she was able throughout the terrible morning of Good Friday. It was about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and he was about to give up his. spirit. His divine mission was now, as it were, accomplished. AVhile his ministry was in prog- ress he had withdrawn himself from her that he might do his Father's work. But now the hour had come when his human relationship might again be recognised, '•Tunc enim agnovit," says Augustine, "quando illud quod peperit moriebatur"' (St. Aug. In Joan. ix). Stand- ing near the company of the women was the apostle John, and, with almost his last words, Christ commend- ed his mother to the care of him who had borne the name of '' the Disciple whom Jesus loved :" " Woman, be- hold thy Son." " Commendat homo homini hominem," says Augustine. From that hour John assures us that he took her to his own abode. If by " that hour" the evangelist means immediately after the words were spoken, Mary was not present at the last scene of all. The sword had sufficiently pierced her soul, and she was spared the hearing of the last loud cry, and the sight of the bowed head. Ambrose considers the chief purpose of our Lord's words to have been a desire to make man- ifest the truth that the- redemption was his work alone, AvhUe he gave human affection to his mother. " Non egebat adjutore ad omnium redemptionem. Suscepit quidem matris affectum, sed non qua;sivit hominis aux- ilium'' (St. Amb. Expos. Evam/. Luc. x, 132). But it is more probable that she continued at the spot till all was over. See Crucifixion.
(4.) A veil is drawn over her sorrow, and over her joy which succeeded that sorrow. Mediajval imagination has supposed, but Scripture does not state, that her Son appeared to Mary after his resurrection from the dead. (See, for example, Ludolph of Saxony, FiVa Christi [Ly- ons, 1642], p. 6G6 ; and Rupert, De Divinis Officils [Ven- ice, 1751], vii, 25, tom. iv, p. 92). Ambrose is considered to be the first writer -who suggested the idea, and refer- ence is made to his treatise De Virginitate, i, 3 ; but it is quite certain that the text has been corrupted, and that it is of Mary Magdalene that he is there speaking. (Comp. his Exposition of St. Luke, x, 156. See note of the Benedictine edition [Paris, 1790], ii, 217.) Another reference is usually given to Anselm. The treatise quoted is not Anselm's, but Eadmer's. (See Eadmer, De ExceUentia Marice, chap, v, appended to Anselm's Works [Paris, 1721], p. 138.) Ten appearances are re- lated by the evangelists as having occurred in the forty days intervening between Easter and Ascension Day, but none to JMary. She was doubtless living at Jerusa- lem with John, cherished with the tenderness which her tender soul would have speciall_v needed, and which un- doubtedly she found pre-eminently in John. We have no record of her presence at the Ascension. Arator, a writer ,f the 6th century, describes her as being at the time not on the spot, but in .Jerusalem (Arat. Z>e Act. Apost. 1. 50, apud IMigne, Ixviii, 95 [Paris, 1848], quoted by Wordsworth, Gk. Test. Com. on the Acts, i, 14). We have no account of her being present at the descent of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. What we do read of her is, that she remained steadfast in prayer in the upper room at Jerusalem with Mary IMagdalene and Salome, and those known as Ihe Lord's brothers and the apostles (Acts i, 14). This is the last view t'liat we have of her. Holy Scripture leaves her engaged m prayer (see Wordsworth, as cited above).