Mary and Jonathan

The Rev. Julie Hutson

August 15, 2020

Seattle, WA

Today is the day the church remembers and gives thanks for the life of Mary the Mother of Jesus. In the Episcopal church, the day prior to this one, August 14th, is the day when the Church remembers and gives thanks for the life of Jonathan Myrick Daniels and the Martyrs of Alabama. Daniel’s story is less well known than that of the Blessed Mother, especially outside of Episcopal circles and possibly outside of Alabama.

Our siblings in the Roman Catholic tradition pray to and through Mary with words that are familiar and beloved:

Ave Maria….

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed are you among women

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

Holy Mary, mother of God,

pray for us sinners now

and at the hour of our death. Amen.

The words to the Hail Mary prayer come from Elizabeth’s lips and heart, as she greeted Mary: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42) As much as I am filled by Elizabeth’s greeting and as much as I love this prayer to the bearer of Jesus, I am even more drawn to the song Mary sung in response to Elizabeth:

My soul proclaims your greatness, O God,

and my spirit rejoices in you, my Savior.

For you have looked with favor

upon your lowly servant,

and from this day forward

all generations will call me blessed.

For you, the Almighty, have done great things for me,

and holy is your Name.

Your mercy reaches from age to age

for those who fear you.

You have shown strength with your arm;

you have scattered the proud in their conceit;

you have deposed the mighty from their thrones

and raised the lowly to high places.

You have filled the hungry with good things,

while you have sent the rich away empty.

You have come to the aid of Israel, your servant,

mindful of your mercy—

the promise you made to our ancestors –

to Sarah and Abraham

and their descendants forever.

Mary’s story has been rather whitewashed, in multiple ways, by the patriarchy of the Church throughout time. She is painted as meek and mild, unquestioning in her response to God. But that is not the story Scripture offers us. Ascent does not equal weakness. She is not unquestioning of the news that Gabriel brings. Her willingness to be a servant (Luke 1:38) of God tells us that she understands that the life of a servant is difficult and does not belong to them. Mary is not choosing an easy path. She knows that Gabriel’s admonition to fear not means that the news she is being given should cause her to fear and tremble.

In spite of wondering about the wisdom of Jesus’ mission to upend the oppressive regime of empire, Mary does not leave him. From the manger to the cross, she accompanies him, prodding him on to the work he has been given (there’s no wine….now’s your time!) In doing so, Mary was not just his mother; she was his follower. She was prescient in the words she sang out, even as she knew that the work of felling the mighty and the proud and raising up the lowly and the hungry would be dangerous work.

This was also the work of Jonathan Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian who was drawn to the work for racial justice in the American south and who responded to Dr. King’s call for all clergy to come to Alabama. On August 14, 1965, Daniels was with a group of 29 protestors who went to Fort Deposit, Alabama in Lowndes County, to peacefully picket whites-only stores. All 29 of them were arrested, transported to the jail in nearby Hayneville, Alabama, where they were held in deplorable jail conditions for six days. The authorities there refused to release anyone on bail unless they could all make bail. On August 20th, when they were released, they did not have transport back to Fort Deposit. While waiting for transport, Daniels and three others, a white Catholic priest and two black female activists, walked to nearby Varner’s Cash Store to buy a cold drink. Varner’s was one of the few places known to serve non-whites. They were confronted there by Tom L. Coleman, an unpaid “special deputy” who was holding a shotgun. Shouting at the group to leave, Coleman leveled his shotgun at one of the black women, Ruby Sales. Daniels pushed Sales down and took the full blast of the shotgun, dying instantly. He was 26 years old. Father Richard F. Morrisroe was severely wounded attempting to flee with the others to safety.

Coleman was tried for manslaughter by an all white jury. Blacks were excluded from jury duty due to disenfranchisement; only registered voters could be jurors. Coleman continued to work for the state of Alabama. He died at the age of 86, never having faced further prosecution.

The prayer offered for Jonathan Myrick Daniels is one forever linked to Mary: O God of justice and compassion, you put down the proud and mighty from their place, and lift up the poor and the afflicted: We give you thanks for your faithful witness Jonathan Myrick Daniels, who, in the midst of injustice and violence, risked and gave his life for another; and we pray that we, following his example, may make no peace with oppression; through Jesus Christ the just one, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Both Mary and Jonathan Daniels serve as icons to the work we are called to do as followers of Jesus. Both were following him, working and singing and praying against the injustice of their own particular times. Both were called to this work in urgent ways and at young ages. And both, in different ways, gave their lives to it.

We are also called, in our baptisms and in our common humanity, to this work for justice and equality. It is the work that cost Jesus and Jonathan Daniels and countless other martyrs, their lives. It is work that will require moral courage and moral imagination.[1] Yet, it is the very work to which we are all called, together, as the Body of Christ in the world.

Blessed are you among all people, Mary.

Blessed are you among all people, Jonathan.

May it be so.

Footnote: Each year the Episcopal Diocese of Alabama celebrates the feast day of Jonathan Myrick Daniels and the Martyrs of Alabama with a walking liturgy in Lowndes County. This year, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the liturgy was offered online, with videos from past years and messages from many, including Father Morrisroe and Kelly Brown Douglas. That video is available at https://www.facebook.com/dioala/

[1] For more about moral imagination, see the work of the Rev. Dr. Kelly. Brown Douglas

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