Throughout the season of Advent, we have gathered around the manger to prepare our hearts for the celebration of our Savior’s birth. It is hard to spend time in the manger without talking about Mary, the mother of our Lord. Mary is arguably one of the main participants in the Christmas account, second perhaps only to the baby Jesus.
As Lutherans we are sometimes reluctant to talk too much about Mary (before I typed the first word of this sermon, I prayed that I wouldn’t lose sight of our Savior Jesus in a text that focuses our attention on Mary). I know for myself, part of my reluctance to talk about Mary is a reaction to the teachings about Mary in the Catholic church. Catholicism suggests that Mary did not inherit original sin from her parents, it makes her a partner in God’s plan of salvation, and it has elevated her to the status of Co-Redemptrix and Mediatrix (meaning Mary is said to play a part in the forgiving of sins). In Catholicism, Mary is elevated to nearly godlike status.
In Catholicism Mary is elevated too high. However, sometimes I wonder, if in an attempt to balance out Catholicism, we don’t elevate her high enough. Sometimes I think I treat Mary like a footnote in the Christmas account (maybe not as far down the page as her husband Joseph but a footnote non the less). But the Lord God doesn’t treat Mary like a footnote. The Lord God has a rather high opinion of Mary. Let’s take a closer look at Luke 1:26-38 and you will see what I mean.
In verses 26-27 we read, “26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.” The Lord sends Gabriel, seemingly one of His chief angels; one of only two angels that are actually named in the bible, He sends Gabriel to the Galilean town of Nazareth. The town of Nazareth sits nestled along the border of Galilee and Judea. To the north the snow tipped peaks of mount Hermon dominate the horizon. To the south the fertile Jezreel valley stretches as far as the eye can see. To the west the sun glitters off the seemingly endless waters of the Mediterranean Sea. To the east stands the forests of Tabor and beyond it, the great Galilean Sea. It would be tempting for us to assume this quiet town nestled in the midst of mountains and seas, farmland and forest would be isolated form the rest of the world. But the quiet little town of Nazareth was not the stagnant pool of rustic seclusion you might imagine it to be. The ancient Via Maris, a popular caravan route, led through Nazareth. As a result, men of all nations, busy with the worries of the world traveled through Nazareth. Additionally, all throughout Israel there were certain towns where priests would gather to prepare themselves for the sacred duty at the great temple in the holy city. Nazareth was one of those towns. As a result, it would not be at all uncommon for the streets and synagogue of Nazareth to be populated with visiting priests. In short, the people of Nazareth were not as cosmopolitan as the people of Jerusalem, but they were not as isolated and ignorant as you might imagine.
Luke tells us, the Lord God sent Gabriel to one specific resident of Nazareth named Mary. Mary, as Luke tells us, was pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. Very likely Mary and Joseph have already spoken vows to each other in a public ceremony. They considered each other and were considered by other people to be husband and wife; husband and wife in every way except one. Mary was, as Luke has just written in verse 27 and Mary herself will soon freely admit in verse 34, a virgin. Mary and Joseph had bound themselves to all the regulations and restrictions of marriage but had not as yet enjoyed all its blessings and benefits.
Now, normally the sexual activity of a teenage girl would not warrant the attention that Luke, Mary, and I have now given it. However, Mary’s virginity is, as you know, a crucial piece to the puzzle. But before we get there, listen again to Gabriel’s greeting. In verse 28 we read, “28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” I said before that Catholicism elevates Mary too high by making her a dispenser of grace. However, here we see her very much as the recipient of grace. In the Greek, Gabriel’s greeting uses different forms of the same root word. In English a clunky translation would be, “Grace! To she who has been shown grace.” Mary, like the rest of us, was a sinner and was very much in need of God’s grace.
The angel Gabriel recognized that Mary was not a dispenser but a recipient of God’s grace and in verses 30-33 Gabriel elaborates on the grace that God was about to show her. Gabriel “…30 said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor (again “grace”) with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Remember when I said that the people of Nazareth were not as isolated and ignorant as we might imagine? That statement includes Mary. Mary understood, probably better than we, exactly what God’s grace was going to look like. When Gabriel told her that she was going to “give birth to a son”, I would not be at all surprised if in the back of her mind she heard the words of the prophet Isaiah, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel (God with us) .”[1] When Gabriel told her that she was to name her child “Jesus”, Mary, as a student of Hebrew, would have understood that name to mean “Jehovah is salvation”. When Gabriel told her that her son was also the Son of the “Most High”, Mary would have recognized that as a description of the one true God, she would have understood that her son was to be the Son of the one true God. When Gabriel told her that her son would be given “the throne of his father David” and would “reign over the house of Jacob”, Mary, like every devout Jew, knew that the Messiah was to come from the house and line of David. Mary knew what Gabriel was saying to her; she knew that she was to be the mother of the promised Messiah; the long-awaited and eagerly anticipated Savior of the world.
We are now at the point in Luke’s narrative that I think we, or at least I, could do a better job of elevating Mary. Listen to how Mary responds to Gabriel’s description of God’s grace. In verse 34 we read, “34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” Mary does not ask, “who?”, “what?”, “where?”, “when?”, or “why”. Mary has but one question, “how?”. It is a drastically different question than the one her cousin Zechariah asked Gabriel. Mary is not questioning the validity of God’s grace, though to be honest she has far more reason to question it than Zechariah did. Gabriel told Zechariah he and his old wife Elizabeth were going to have a baby. People having a baby when they are as old as Zechariah and Elizabeth is highly improbable but not impossible. Mary was just told that, though she was a virgin, she was going to have a baby. That is not just improbable that is impossible. Yet Mary does not doubt what the angel Gabriel tells her; she does not doubt God’s grace, she just wants to know how. She wants to know how she can be a part of God’s plan of salvation. In effect Mary says, ‘tell me Gabriel, what does God want me to do?’
I wish “how” was the only question that I asked God. I am ashamed to admit it, even more so because I am a pastor, but sometimes I hear about God’s grace, His undeserved love for people and I can’t help but ask “who?”, especially when I think about how undeserving some people are, and I’m not just talking about terrorist, rapists, and Satanist, I’m talking about the people who don’t go to church as much as I do, the people who are not as devoted to the truth as I am, the people whose transgressions are not as discrete as mine are. I am talking about all those people out there whose faith is, but a flicker compared to my flame. I ask God “what?”. What’s the point of living a life of service, obedience, and dedication if I am not going to be treated any better than those people? I ask God “where?”. Where were you when those people who you inexplicably love brought pain and suffering into my life? I ask God “when?”. When will your patience with those people run out and your punishment be given? I ask God “why?”. Why is the grace you show to others equal to the grace you show to me? If you have ever asked any version of any one of these questions than you know what is behind them all. Arrogance. Pride. A complete misunderstanding of God’s grace. In short, sin.
‘Tell me Gabriel, what does God want me to do?’ In verses 35-37 Gabriel answers Mary’s question, “35… 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. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” You may have noticed that Gabriel’s answer is not exactly what you might expect. Gabriel doesn’t give Mary a list of tasks to do, errands to run, or projects to complete. Gabriel doesn’t actually tell Mary to do anything, which I think in and of itself is rather telling. Instead, Gabriel tells Mary what God is going to do. Gabriel speaks of the Holy Spirit Who would act, the Most High Who would overshadow, and the Holy One Who would be born. Gabriel tells Mary the Holy Trinity would fulfill the ancient promise to save humanity from sin. The creator would condescend to be born of His own creation. True God would become also true man. He would live among us as one of us in order to satisfy the righteous demands of God’s holy law for us. And, though Gabriel does not spell it out here, you and I both know that is only the half of it. Mary’s Son, the one she would name Jesus, the one who was also called the Son of the Most High God, Mary’s Son would sacrifice Himself on a cross to pay for all the pride and arrogance that causes us to question the grace of God. Gabriel answers Mary’s question by telling her what God would do and in so doing points out to Mary that she is not a dispenser of grace, rather, she like you and me, is a but a recipient of God’s grace.
The Lord God did not see Mary as His partner in the plan of salvation; He did not elevate her too high as Catholicism does. The Lord God saw Mary as a sinner in desperate need of His grace. But that does not mean the Lord God treated Mary like a footnote in the Christmas account. Notice the Lord God sent His Son to become also her son. He sent the Son of the Most High, the promised descendant of David; the holy Son of God to be her Savior from sin. The Lord God sent Jesus and made Mary a recipient of His grace. Mary is not a footnote in the Christmas account, she and sinners like her, sinners like you and me are the reason for the Christmas account. The Lord God has a rather high opinion of Mary, it’s the same opinion He has of you and me.
Mary understood Gabriel’s message about God’s grace. 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” As you prepare your hearts for the celebration of our Savior’s birth, I pray that Gabriel’s message is not lost on you. I pray that you, like Mary, understand that God’s grace is a gift that is to be received. Amen
[1] Isaiah 7:14