The theme of the abrahamic sacrifice of the son, the paternal motifs that surround it, and the role of mothers within it recurs in the stories of Mary and Jesus in the New Testament and the Qur'an. These stories have many figurative and typological connections with previous Biblical dramas of chosen sons, their ordeals and triumphs, their contributions to the lineage of Israel. The gospels and the Qur'anic accounts also extend these dramas in new directions, both in terms of the magnitude of the contradictions entailed and their divisiveness and the potentially healing power of their resolution.

Though she appears also in festive, joyful, and celebratory contexts, Mary's primary role in the gospel scenario is as a witness both to the unique sacrifice of Jesus on the cross and to the sacrifices of many such sons and daughters in Israel who have led lives of religious ordeal and affirmation. Standing in a long line of women from Sarah through Hannah to the mother of the Maccabees, she endures the danger and difficulty created by her son's prophetic and messianic mission and endures as well the conflicts and various forms of bloodshed, both symbolic and real, that this mission creates.