Mary Mother of our Lord
Luke 1: 36-55
Today is the commemoration day for Mary, Mother of our Lord. When August the 15 th falls on Sunday--even we Lutherans are invited to pause and turn our attention to Mary, Mother of our Lord. Perhaps no other figure in the New Testament has been the inspiration for so many paintings and poems, stories and myths. From the Beatles' musical dream of John Lennon proclaiming "When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comforts me, speaking words of wisdom, let it be Let it be.
To the theologically grounded poetic vision of Gerard Manley Hopkins proclaiming
"Mary Immaculate,
Merely a woman, yet
Whose presence, power is
Great as no goddess's
Was deemed, dreamed; who
This one work has to do--
Let all God's glory through,
God's glory which would go
Through her and from her flow
Off, and no way but so."
--from The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air we Breathe
Something about Mary speaks to our hearts and minds and imaginations. For decades Protestant churches have wrongly shied away from even discussions of Mary. They have played down her importance if not attempted to ignore her in an attempt to counter the 1854 and 1950 doctrinal moves by the Roman Catholic Church elevating her to higher and higher places of adoration. Both faith traditions have done her a disservice--the one by diminishing her place in the faith story while the other elevating her to a place that risked removing her from the human story of the incarnation. In declaring her more than human the church and we have risked losing Mary's most defining important quality--her humanity. It is precisely in her humanity and in our ability to identify with her, that she becomes a vital and important witness for us.
We commemorate and assign certain days of the church year to celebrate and offer remembrance of people of faith for three reasons. We give thanks for their lives, we grow as we hear their witness to the faith, and we look to model our lives on the faithfulness they have shown.
It is fitting on this August 15 th that we look at Mary in these three categories.
We give thanks for Mary's life.
In Holy Scripture we have only a few short encounters with Mary. We become close to her in these encounters as we imagine ourselves into the emotions of her life. We are introduced to Mary in the familiar description from the Gospel of Luke of a frightened young unwed woman, probably no older than 15. In this encounter with the angel Gabriel Mary is told she is to bear a child, the son of the Most High. We have come to imagine her fear at such a pronouncement as she knew that in this ancient society an unwed pregnant woman would be an outcast if not face even death. Yet we hear her words of assent "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." What follows then is Mary's visit to Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, which creates the setting for today's Gospel lesson known as the Magnifcat and then of course the familiar scenes of the Christmas nativity.
We often miss some of the most revealing moments in Mary's life as the mother of Jesus. Just think of what Mary felt just a short time after the birth when she stood in the temple protecting with pride her new born infant son at his formal presentation. And in that moment we hear the ancient Simeon's words as he gazes upon the child Mary holds in her arms "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed--and a sword will pierce your own soul, too." Every parent wants to believe their child is destined for great things--but who would not be haunted by those final words "And a sword will pierce your own soul too."
Still later, Mary and Joseph will be terrified when the adolescent Jesus disappears as they travel from Jerusalem to their home town of Nazareth. The fear of losing a child is not an emotion or feeling easily forgotten. Searching frantically we know that ultimately they find Jesus unconcerned with their anxiety back at the temple.
The years pass and Jesus begins his ministry gathering disciples and others around himself. When Mary and Jesus brothers seek him out as he is preaching in Capernaum we feel the rebuff of Jesus' words when he asks those gathered around him, "And who are my mother and my brothers?"
Every parent remembers the moments when they were particularly proud of their child. We also know how a mother's words may sometimes seem to be falling on deaf ears, but then. We smile with Mary as Jesus whose "time has not yet come" responds to his mother's urging to turn water into wine.
And ultimately we wince at the pain and cry of a son looking down from a cross on his mother. We cannot help but feel the great sadness with Mary as Jesus turns his sonly duties over to John as the moment of his death on the cross arrives.
Finally we sit with the disciples and Mary in a locked room in Jerusalem waiting for the Holy Spirit's presence among them.
We give thanks for Mary's life because we can understand and feel with the very human challenges; the hopes, the fears, the joys, the pain and the sadness.
But beyond giving thanks for a life once lived, we find that we grow into a fuller appreciation of our own faith as we witness the struggles of the saints who have gone before us. In so many ways we find in Mary's life insights into the humanity of our God. This Jesus was not some distant divine. He struggled with issues of family, vocation, friendship and betrayal. Mary reminds us that the joys and sorrows of our humanity are exactly the reason why God created us. It may well be that the struggles of our humanity are what may bring us closest to God's image. If our God chooses to use a 15 year old girl to reveal divine power then it is also possible that God has something planned for each of us. If God can redeem from death the son of a first century peasant girl named Mary, then there is also hope for we who live in this 21 st century. It is the struggles in the lives of those the church lifts up for veneration that we find models for the faith filled lives we would live.
But it is the text we have today that is translucent of Mary's faith. Mary's beautiful song the Magnificate crystallizes the very declaration of God and the message of Jesus in the reality of a human life.
When Mary says "he has looked with favor on his lowly servant" she is not saying something about herself, she is not feigning false humility. She is saying something essential about God. She is saying that this is a God who desires to be involved in all the reality and messiness and hurtfulness of human life. Our God is a God who regards the lowly by being born one of low estate.
Scholars remind us that The Magnificat is a song of reversals. The mighty cast down--the hungry fed--the rich sent away empty. These are promises of things to come that most of us would just as soon forget. There is no special privileged in Mary's vision of God's coming kingdom. If anything, scripture teaches us that God has a preference for the poor and the oppressed. The Magnificat comes to us as if spoken with two voices--one that is condemnation while the other strives to bring comfort. The words of condemnation are the judgment against wealth and power. In honesty it takes little effort for most of us when compared to the rest of the world to recognize our place among the rich and powerful people of the world. But there is also a word of comfort to all who are found to be wanting or in need While we may have many things there is still within us that yearning--that longing--the need for something we cannot seem to possess. Mary recognized that this son of hers was coming not to improve the material well-being of the world. His coming was far more complex and far reaching. These can be words of comfort for us when we recognize our own poverty. As much as we want to believe that we have advanced closer to God's kingdom we still find that we come up short. Mary's words haunt us. For all our power we cannot possess the peace we so desperately desire. Even the ancient Greeks could declare a five day truce from violence during the time of the Olympiad. Our world continues the battles of the mighty and powerful without end. There is indeed emptiness to the wealth that we have created--and a hunger to be filled by the good things of God.
Here is where we turn to model our lives on the faithfulness that she has shown. "My Soul Magnifies the Lord, and My spirit rejoices in God my Savior." In the moment of a fearful prophecy delivered by an angel of God Mary opens herself to God's presence. She does not flee in fear--but believes that God will not ask more than God will give the power to endure. Her calling would not be to die for the faith but rather to be faithful to the God who called her. To do the tasks that would be expected of her--and every once in a while be surprised by God's power--the unexpected blessing--the terrifying struggles with evil and death--and to ultimately rest in God's grace.
We remember Mary this day not as one who is better than us but one who is like us. Yet we also remember her as the very human mother of Jesus--A good and faithful Jewish mother--Who trusted in God's word and gave to us the vision of faithfulness that holds the promise of worldly reversals with the lowly lifted up--the hungry filled with good things--for God remembers his promise of mercy--to which we can only say, Let it be.
Amen