|
The Rev. Frank
Logue
There’s
Something About Mary We are out of synch with our own culture this morning. We remain in the long pregnant pause of Advent, while for most of our neighbors, it is already Christmas Eve. While others pack Wal-Mart and bustle about doing last minute shopping, we gather to light the fourth candle on the Advent wreath. We sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel instead of Christmas Carols. And in this pregnant pause we read of Mary of Nazareth and her trip to the hill country of Judea. Our passage from Luke’s Gospel comes from that time after the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary to announce her finding favor with God and being selected for the awesome task of bearing God’s son. Mary has traveled to the hill country of Judea to visit her relative Elizabeth. Elizabeth had aged beyond child-bearing years without giving birth. In the culture of Israel in those days, this left Elizabeth with no standing among her people. Like it or not, the norm was that a woman was to bear children and she was even more blessed to bear sons. As the father of a wonderful daughter, I take exception to this, but that doesn’t change anything. Now Elizabeth is pregnant with the infant who will grow to become John the Baptist. And Elizabeth being pregnant in her old age is a sign from God for Mary that everything will be OK for her as well. Mary and Elizabeth are a contrasting pair of miracles—the young virgin Mary and the older barren Elizabeth are now both with child. And as Mary approaches Elizabeth, another miracle occurs to reassure Mary—both the elderly Elizabeth and the prenatal prophet John know that Mary bears God’s child. The child within Elizabeth leaps in her womb and she greets Mary saying, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” She goes on to tell Mary, “And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” Finally, she praises Mary for her trust in God by saying, “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” Now Mary forms a pair, not just with Elizabeth, but with Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah. You see Elizabeth’s husband was a priest at the Temple in Jerusalem. An elder, a man, and a priest. He has important standing in his community and before God. But when the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah, earlier in this chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Zechariah doubted the angel’s news that Elizabeth would bear a son. He knew his wife was old and barren and he didn’t understand how she could have a son then. Zechariah was struck mute from that time he doubted Gabriel until he named his son John at his birth as Gabriel told him to do. So while Elizabeth and Mary are hugging, talking and singing, Zechariah is off mute somewhere, only able to communicate through writing. Mary shows the complete trust in God that Zechariah lacked and Elizabeth praises her for it. Then just like in a musical, Mary breaks into song. She praises God in words and images drawn from the Old Testament beginning, “My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” This matters. Mary knows that God is her savior. This requires at least two things: 1) you know you need saving and 2) you know the one who is your savior can do the rescuing. Mary knows that not only she, but her whole people of Israel are in need of just such redemption. Mary longs for that salvation. But she doesn’t seek a military or political solution to the problems that plague Israel. Instead Mary seeks a theological solution, divine intervention. This divine intervention is what is happening in Mary. God is breaking in to human history through the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Divinity is being clothed in humanity. God is being made man. At this point, Jesus is not even big enough to cause a baby bump in Mary’s robes. But this is enough for Mary to declare the God present both within her and beyond her as The Mighty One. And then Mary defines exactly what she means by being mighty. She sees the Incarnation as turning the world upside down. Jesus will later preach that the last will be first and the first will be last. For Mary, that has already come to pass. A poor, unwed pregnant teenager from a nothing little village is the bearer of God. Mary knows this truth at the core of her very being. Obviously it’s not going to be situation normal anymore. The status quo has already shifted. Change has come. The rich and powerful just don’t know it yet. The Mighty One is the Savior who decides to come among the lowly as one who is himself lowly. God’s strength is being shown through the powerlessness of the infant Jesus, just as he will later show real power on the cross through powerlessness. God emptied himself to become human in Jesus. Where God could be everywhere at once, God the son in Jesus could only be at one place and in one time. These limits were part and parcel of the Incarnation. Showing mercy to those who fear God meant that the savior would come and live among those in need of saving. Jesus will be born in a borrowed stable to tired and hungry parents who soon afterwards become refugees into Egypt avoiding the wrath of the puppet King Herod who is fearful of losing his power. This is why all generations call Mary blessed. Mary was blessed to be the first to see so clearly what we all need to come to see, that God’s Kingdom is already breaking in to the here and now. Those who know they need a Savior can find in God “The Mighty One” who Mary praised. God is still lifting up the lowly and filling the hungry with Good things. And God is still scattering the proud in the thoughts of their hearts and sending the rich away empty. It’s not that God doesn’t want to feed the wealthy, it’s that in a spiritual sense if you think you are wealthy then you won’t even see the nourishment God has for you. If you think you are high and exalted, then you don’t see that you need a Savior. The proud seek no redemption. So it is the poor and lowly who God lifts up, for it is the poor and lowly in heart who know they need it. As we enter more fully into the Christmas story this day, remember that you need a Savior. Without God you will be on a purposeless pursuit of more and better that will just leave you empty. But turn to God knowing that you need redemption and you can find the peace you seek that will leave you satisfied. For there is no denying that there is something about Mary. She is unique in all human history. But there are ways in which we too can be like Mary. Like Mary, you too can become a God bearer. As a Christian you are called to bring the love of Christ to others. And like Mary, you can come to see what God has already done in your life, the miracles you have already experienced, as signs that the promised Kingdom of God is as good as hear. The world is already turned upside down. It just doesn’t know it yet. And so we continue in the pregnant pause of Advent. We wait and watch, confident that the world has already been changed by the one we await. Amen.
|
|
