Luke 1:39 At
that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home
and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When
Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit. 42
In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed
is the child you will bear! 43
But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your
greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed
that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!" 46 And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my
Savior, 48 for he has been
mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will
call me blessed, 49 for the
Mighty One has done great things for me-- holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear
him, from generation to generation. 51
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are
proud in their inmost thoughts. 52
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good
things but has sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants
forever, just as he promised our ancestors."
Well, the
Advent journey is almost over...Christmas is almost here. The collect for this
Sunday is: Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come. With your abundant
grace and might, free us from the sin that binds us, that we may receive you in
joy and serve you always, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, one God, now and forever.
The traditional schema is that Advent 1 is about the
2nd coming, Advent 2 & 3 are about John the Baptist and Advent 4 is about
Mary. Yet, I find it interesting that John the Baptist has 'snuck' into this
year's Advent 4 setting. The prophet prophesizes even within the womb. A lot
can be said about this... in terms of what I would call a 'healthy Marian
piety.' For, it seems to me, a great many people have fallen overboard on
either one side or the other when it comes to a proper veneration of The
Blessed Virgin. Roman Catholics, for instance, have Mary immaculately conceived
(conceived without the stain of original sin); they have her as 'Mediatrix' and
even 'Co-Redemptrix'... meaning, she mediates on our behalf with God and she
has contributed to humanity's redemption. Besides being biblically and theologically
incorrect, these views do not square with the ancient (and highly venerating)
views of Mary; they're innovations. And, sadly, they're innovations that
detract from the glory and majesty that belong solely to Christ.
Yet,
if the Roman Catholics are guilty of falling over one side of the boat, 90% of
Protestant Christians are guilty of falling over the other side. Under
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Mary joyously proclaims that all generations will call her blessed,
yet all we've heard on the Protestant side is generation after generation of
deafening silence. Sometimes worse, Protestants seem prone to go out of their
way to "prove" that there was "nothing special" about Mary.
This too, is UNBIBLICAL, theologically incorrect, and obviously not in keeping
with the ancient church's veneration of this blessed saint.
The
Lutheran confessions are the only Protestant documents that come to my mind
that actually do a good job with Mary. They refer to her as the Mother of God,
which of course, she must be. There is no part of Jesus that isn't God. To
proclaim Mary as theotokos (the ancient church's designation, meaning,
God-bearer) is to guard the full divinity of Jesus. Mary is the first in
stature and greatest of all of the saints. The Bible always portrays her as
pointing to her blessed son; as engaged in acts of worship, etc. In seeing Mary
we are pointed to Jesus, hence all of the best Marian art/statuary etc. depict
her holding the Savior.
And
so we honor Mary; we venerate her; we put her on a pedestal. This is biblical.
It's precisely what's going on in today's passage: the child leaps in honor (vs
41), and Elizabeth magnifies her (vs 42). We honor and venerate her for the
favor that God has shown her and no one else... and we honor and
venerate her for the example she is to us all.
Consider: she bore Christ into the lives of others (vs
39-40). Aren't we called to do the same....called to also be Christ-bearers
into the lives of others? She also bore Christ openly even though it must've
meant some degree of hardship. We're all familiar with what Matthew chapter 1
reports about Joseph and Mary: Mary
was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was
found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. 19 Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want
to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. 20 But after he had considered this,
an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of
David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is
conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. The intervention of the angel is
all well and good when it comes to Joseph and we readers of Matthew's gospel,
but there's nothing to undo the fact that she
was found to be pregnant. Undoubtedly she faced the same public disgrace
and stigma that any unwed mother would in her day. Again, could we ask for a
better example? Elizabeth also mentions Mary's faith: Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises
to her (v45). Blessed is she who believed God's promises!
The ancient
church was correct to venerate Mary, and we do well when we follow their
example. A more perfect template of Christian faith could never be found: she
bore Christ into the lives of others; she bore up under the hardships of her
faith made public; and she unwaveringly trusted God's promises.
cheers,
TM
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