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December 18, 2005 What About Mary?
Last week I went on the U.S. Postal Service website to see what kind of Christmas stamps they were offering this year. There were the secular stamps: Christmas cookies and Christmas ornaments. And there was the religious stamp. It was a picture of the baby Jesus in the arms of his mother Mary. Unfortunately, Jesus wasn't the only one wearing a halo, so was Mary. Now what I am supposed to think of that? Should I put the Holy Mother on my Christmas cards? Or how about this one? Front page of Monday's Post Crescent paper. The headline reads, "Area faithful honor patron saint of Mexico. Hundreds gather for Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe." And who exactly is our Lady of Guadalupe? Well, it's the Virgin Mary, who in 1531 allegedly appeared to a poor Mexican man and instructed him to have the local bishop build a temple in her honor, a temple which now receives an estimated 10 million visitors each year. And why does this woman garner so much attention? Well, as one man who was quoted in the paper put it, "For us she is everything. We have faith in her. She gives us strength to keep going when we fall on hard times. We take comfort in her." Hmmm. What are we supposed to think about a statement like that? As we seek to reach out to the Latinos in our community, many of whom regard Mary to be the patron saint of their homeland, what are we to do about Mary? In fact, maybe it hits even closer to home than that. Maybe you have a close friend or a relative, who feels that it is Mary, the very mother of God, who is in the best position to empathize withour needs. And so that person prays at each little bead of her Rosary, "Hail, Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou 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."… Now, is that wrong? How are we supposed to regard Mary? What should be our attitude toward this woman whom the Bible clearly says, "found favor with God"? My friends, these are some of the questions that our text for today invites us to consider. Today, we take up a question that confronts not only Lutherans, but really every Bible believing Christian. The question is: What About Mary?As we look to God's inspired word today, we'll see that Mary was:
First, Mary was a virgin who was favored by God. Really, there are two important concepts there. First, that she was a virgin, that is, she had never had intimate relations with a man. I mean, isn't that why she reacted the way she did to the angel's announcement? When Gabriel tells her that she is going to give birth to a son, how does Mary respond? "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" You see, Mary knew where babies come from. She knew that babies are not delivered by a stork. She's thinking, "How am I going to give birth to a child without having relations with a man?" The angel answered her natural question with the words, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God." In other words, "Mary, it's not Joseph who will father your child. No, it's the Holy Spirit who will conceive this child in you." Even though Mary likely had other children with her husband after Jesus was born, the fact is, her first born was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus was born of a Virgin mother. Now, someone might ask, "Is that such an important point to make? That Jesus was born of a virgin?" Yes, it is. Why? Because so many people deny it ever happened. While the Roman Catholic Church may overemphasize the importance of the Virgin Mary, you have a whole other segment of the visible Christian church that denies the virgin birth altogether. Unfortunately, included in that group are some Lutheran churches. For example in the theology textbook used at the seminaries of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we read this statement: "The notion of the pre-existent Son of God becoming a human being in the womb of a virgin and then returning to his heavenly home is bound up with a mythological picture of the world that clashes with our modern scientific world view." In layman's terms, he's saying that the virgin birth is a myth, a fable. I don't share that with you to denigrate anyone, but rather to alert you to the fact that not every church actually believes what the Christian church has historically confessed in the words of the Apostles' Creed, namely, that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. If, by God's grace, you are one of those who still believes that Jesus was born of a virgin mother, then praise God for the conviction that he's planted in your heart. Secondly, while it's important to note that Mary was a virgin, that second concept is also important, namely she was a someone who was favored by God. Isn't that what the angel said to her? "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!" And again the angel says, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God." Now, the question is, "Why was this woman, 'highly favored?' What made her so special in God's eyes?" Some would say that she's special because she had been immaculately conceived, that is, she had been born without sin. They would say that God found favor with her because of the sinless life she had lived. It's almost as if Mary had somehow earned her position as the mother of God. But that's not what the Greek says here. In the original language, that phrase "to find favor" literally means to find "charis," that is, to find grace, to be a recipient of God's undeserved love. In other words, God chose Mary not because she deserved it. God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus even though she didn't deserve it. Mary was a sinner, just like the rest of us. In fact, she clearly confesses that fact when, a little later, she refers to God as her Savior. Only sinners need a Savior. The whole point of this section is not the favor Mary earned, but rather the grace God showed. I mean, think about it. Why, out of all the women who have ever walked the face of this planet-why did God choose this little Jewish girl to be the one to deliver his Son into the world? I don't know-other than to say it was pure grace. But isn't that exactly how God works? Isn't that how God has dealt with us? Why is it that after all the times I've turned my back on God, all the times I've closed my ears to his word, all the times I walked away from his path, why in the world would God still love me enough to go to hell in my place? Why, out of all the people in the world, why would God choose to create faith in my heart and thereby make me a member of his family? My friends, there is no answer except grace, God's undeserved love. If you think about it, Mary was not the only one "favored by God." By God's grace, you and I are just as highly favored by God as she. You and I have the same status with God as she did, because you and I have the same Savior she had and believe the same promises she believed. In fact, that brings us to the second thing we need to remember about Mary. She was not only a virgin favored by God. She was also II. A Believer who Trusted in God. I mean, isn't that the truth? Just for a minute, imagine that you're Mary. What is the angel asking you to believe? First, that you're going to get pregnant without having sex. Secondly, that your child will not only be your son, but will also be the Son of God. Thirdly, that he will be the Savior who will rule over a kingdom that last forever. Tell me that that wouldn't take a great deal of faith to believe! Through the angel's words, God was asking Mary to believe some things that humanly and scientifically speaking, could not be explained. God was asking Mary to simply trust his word. But then again, isn't that exactly what God asks us to do as well? 2000 years later, we still can't come up with a scientific explanation for a virgin conception, and yet, by God's grace, we believe it. By faith, we cling to God's promise that the child born to Mary was in fact, God's Son, and our redeemer, and that his kingdom will go on forever. Every day, God asks us to trust his promises: his promise that those who die in the Lord are released from this valley of tears. His promise that our times are in his hands, and that even the worst physical ailments or financial struggles we face will serve our eternal good. His promise that for the repentant sinner, there is no sin that will go unforgiven. Every day of our lives, God calls us to entrust our lives into his gracious hands. Again, isn't that exactly what Mary did here in our text? After the angel tells her about the incredible things that are about to transpire in her life, what does Mary say? "May it be to me as you have said." In other words, "God, I'll trust you on this one. I'm putting my life in your hands. Even if I don't understand exactly how this is going to work out. Even if I get some dirty looks when people find out that I was pregnant before I was married, or worse yet, when I try to explain to them exactly how I got pregnant, still O Lord, I will trust you." My friends, isn't that the real reason for us to give attention to Mary today? Mary is not the sinless mediator between God and man. Mary is not worthy of our worship, our adoration, or our prayers. Only God can hear and answer prayers. And Mary is not God. What Mary is, however, is a believer. She is someone who put her hope in God, someone whom God used to carry out his purpose, someone trusted in God's promises. And that's why we honor her memory. That's why we can praise God for the miracle he worked in Mary. And yet, let's keep everything in perspective here. I know that it will be very easy to go home today and say, "How about that? Pastor preached a sermon on Mary." And I guess that would not be entirely wrong. But I hope you also realize that the real story here is not Mary. The real story is still God. More specifically, it's the grace that God showed to Mary, the very same grace that God has shown to sinners like you and me, who are just as unworthy of God's love as Mary was. It is God, who in pure grace, chose a sinner like Mary to be the vessel to deliver the world's redeemer. It's God who made and kept his promise send one of David's descendents, to be born of a virgin mother, to rescue us from our guilt and punishment, and rule in our hearts forever. And it was God who gave Mary-and us-the faith to believe the promises he had made. What God gave to Mary is exactly what God has given to us: a Savior from sin. And for him we say, to God be the glory. Amen. |
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