Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

"The Point of Being Mary"

Text: And Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to Your word." [Luke 1.38; RSV]

We have come to the final Sunday of the season of Advent, a Sunday with two themes, one focused on John the Baptist and the other on the Blessed Virgin Mary. This year we consider Mary, God’s unique servant, who bears in her body, virgin-conceived and virgin-born, God the Son becoming man to assume your human nature unto Himself so that He will be your Substitute and your Savior.

I.

In Mary, the Scriptures present a woman who is both a lady and a mother. In a world such as ours today, which follows the footsteps of Herod and not Christ, that causes doctors to murder infants even after they have successfully escaped from the dangers of the womb, it is good to remember the gentle spirit of Mary, the mother. It need not be, in so remembering her and marking her example, that her Son is somehow forgotten. But the Advent lesson teaches, from the days of the Early Church to this very day among Reformational Christians, that to attend to Mary’s story with care reveals her story to be a singularly great sign pointing to Christ, her Baby and your God.

Cultures in the Christian past at times have forgotten Mary’s humility. They forgot that the great wonder of her reaction to Gabriel’s announcement was in the simple acceptance of God’s will. "Let it be according to your word." Her greatness is seen in her humility. Her human condition, the "low estate of His handmaiden," is not the story – her condition is the context to the story, where the body of the Blessed Virgin is identified as the very place where God becomes man. Today our culture, drunk on abortion and self-glorification has gone to the other extreme. And with what gifts has this culture blessed you? All around us are empty churches, broken marriage vows, governments with no conscience because they have shorn themselves of godly values. My, how far we have come!

Our own importance is the key to life today. And nothing could be in greater contrast to the Lady of Christmas. There is exhibited in Mary to godly gifts: strength and humility. It is a forgotten combination. Who learns today to say, "Lord, be it done unto me according to Thy word?" For Mary, it is enough merely to be the handmaiden of the Lord. She embraces the title of a servant, and her humility transforms that very term into a glorious badge of honor. In Mary’s example, you are given to see that, in the hierarchy of heaven, to take one's God-given role, even when that happens to be the role of slave, is to be exalted.

Your world, your culture, your education, not to mention your sinful nature, knows nothing of such exaltation. Rather, in your world you can hear the clamoring voices on all sides demanding the destruction of this model of womanhood. The joyful submission of wife to husband is viewed as slavery. Submission to some men has been, of course, worse than slavery. Submission to a man who loves his wife as Christ loves the Church is to find great honor. Mary’s God-given role teaches you that in spiritual submission there is great power and joy.

II.

God chooses a mate for Mary in Joseph, of the house of David’s royal line, as is Mary. Joseph is clearly revealed as the head of the house into which Jesus is born. Yet, it is hard sometimes to even remember Joseph at Christmastide; it is the pregnant woman on the donkey who attracts your eye.—as it should be. There isn't a less important figure than that of the father at the moment of delivery! It is the mother who, having born this burden for nine months, is the focus of all the energy in the delivery room. Joseph’s role is to raise this child, so as to present to the world its Savior.

Today, Christ’s church today has her Josephs, who are the called servants of God that continue to labor in the God-assigned task of presenting, through Word and Sacrament, this Child to the world as its Savior. In God’s design stands, the pastor is God’s servant, God’s messenger, neither to be elevated, nor to be shot. The pastor carries the Word of God to you. He, like Joseph, transports Christ to the right moment in space and time. You are able to receive God’s grace because of that work. You hear the Word of God and are transformed. The pastor may appear to be important, for the moment, but it is Word that takes the center place as Christ is birthed anew in your soul. In that sense, the congregation that, like Mary, receives from God is more important than the pastor who gives it from God.

In truth, of course, the Blessed Virgin is the model for us all. As C.S. Lewis points out, before the majesty of God we are all feminine. Standing to Christ, we are all together the bride. Mortal men seem so small, because God alone is the true Father, to which any mortal man is but a pale image. He is the One who makes the decisions and who is the ultimate fountain of all true authority in heaven and on earth. Christ, Himself the eternal God, has the role of actor and Sovereign Lord. The Church is His consort and Bride. He will ravish her with His love. The word from Mary in her humility is the model for what it means to be part of the Bride of Christ. In this light, she is the first New Testament Christian.

III.

God demands from us all worship – "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." As a loving husband, He will stand for no rivals. He is worthy to receive all glory and all praise at all times. But just as a noble husband, brings love into the household as he delights in honoring those who faithfully follow his God-given family governance, so God, the true Father of all families on earth, delights in honoring those who humbly follow Him. For Mary -- who humbles herself to His will when no one else knew what He was about to do and even she did not comprehend the meaning of Gabriel’s words, God delights to bestow great honors. By the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, God reminds you of these great honors through the mouth of our Christmas Lady, "Behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed." In this darkened age, it is good to remember that God both blesses the lady and destroys the ruler who kills Bethlehem babies.

But it is, after all, merely a reflected glory that Mary has gained. She is great, because the Father God is great. She is great, because her Son is great.

Our Christmas Lady is victorious precisely in her humility. Mary is greater than her earthly ruler, Caesar Augustus, precisely in humbly embracing of God's design for her. Mary, our Christmas lady, stands before her sons and daughters of all age groups on this Sunday before Christmas. She stands before you to remind you of how God both rules this present life in the civic realm and at the same time saves His own in the spiritual realm. St. Mary stands before you today, to point you to her Son, the Savior of sinners, the lover of humans, the gift of a heavenly Father. Oh, Come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!