What if Mary was A Man?

"... and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isa. 9:6b)

God as Father... it is a central image in scripture that becomes even more prominent around Christmas time. After all, Mary was the mother of Jesus... God was the Father. And Jesus himself is in this passage called "Everlasting Father."

Is God called Father because God is male? Or is God more like a man? Or is a man more like God than a woman? Most people... not all, but most... would strongly oppose these ideas. We are all created in the image of God. God is neither male nor female.

But why did God have to choose to be the Father in this Christmas scenario? Why not the mother? I have been thinking about this a bit today. Most of what I have thought about is significant, but perhaps a bit too graphic for my blog. But if God was the mother of Jesus, physically, then God would have had to preexist as a woman... an adult womb was needed for the little fetus Jesus to grow into a baby. It is a bit of a chicken and the egg scenario. Which came first? And it seems that it is extremely significant for the incarnation that Jesus' life began just like any other human being, at conception.

Having said that... it is Mary's act that seems to me so reflective of who God is. Bearing life... carrying life within her and giving birth to a new creation. Becoming one with God, knit together in the womb, providing sustenance out of her own being. Isn't that so much of who God is? The life giver? The one who feeds and nourishes us? The one who gives birth to new life, who creates and recreates?

The Everlasting Father, the Mother who gives birth to new life, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Prince of Peace.