Advent #4.1 of 10:

The woman was deceived.

(First Timothy 2:14)

I wish the Apostle had not said it. At least, not the way he did. There is some truth to it. The woman was deceived. However, in no time, the man joined in—deceived as well. The curse falls on both and all.

This Advent hope, the first promise of Christmas, does not come through the man, but through the woman. The Serpent will meet his end through the “seed of the woman” (Gn 1:15). What the Serpent put in motion through the woman will recoil back on him through The Woman. Maybe, that’s what the Apostle had in mind when he quickly adds: “Nevertheless, the woman will bring salvation through childbearing” (1Tm 2:15).

It means, from the start, the woman is not looked upon so much as “the deceived” as she is the one who will one day turn the tables on the deceiver. Through her and her seed, the deceiver meets his end.

Something could be said as well about how man is out of the picture. Just as Adam went to sleep when God did his woman work; so man in his power, will be out of the picture when the Mother of our Lord “conceives by the Holy Spirit” (Lk 1:35). Man becomes the helper, as woman takes center stage. Christmas will be something  between God and the Woman.