Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

From the Old Testament of the Day: Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, And instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. [Isaiah 61.7]

From the Epistle: But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born[a] of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. [Galatians 4.4-5]

From the Holy Gospel: And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior. For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant; For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed. [Luke 1.47-48]

     Today, we observe the Feast of the Dormition of St. Mary, Mother of God, which occurs on the 15th of August on the historic Western Church Calendar. The term “dormition” comes from early Eastern Greek sources, meaning “the falling asleep.” In English, the term “dormitory” comes from this same Greek root.

As with every other saint’s day, this one occurs marking the day of the death of the saint. This is quite different from the way in which we mark civil and national noteworthy person, where we use the birthdate for occasion. So, Today, we give thanks for St. Mary, the Mother of God as we give thought to this important term, also from the Greek, that describes Mary’s importance: “The Theotokos.” That Mary called the God-bearer is controversial among some Christians, but this term, “The God-bearer,” the “Theotokos” in Greek, is not much ado about nothing, as Shakespeare entitled one of his plays. In this case, that Mary is called the Theotokos, the God-Bearer, the Mother of God, is a Scriptural issue. That St. Mary is rightly and called “the Mother of God” is “Much Ado about Much!”

I.

In the Old Testament of the Day, you hear the prophet Isaiah declare to you: “Instead of your shame, you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion, they shall rejoice in their portion.”

Isaiah speaks of what he sees, given the inspiration and insight of the Holy Ghost. He looks forward and sees what lies ahead. To him, it all seen as the “Last Day of this world and the beginning of the next.” As it unfolds, what he sees as the Last Day is the Last Era, beginning with Christ’s incarnation and wrapping up with His return on what we now call the Last Day.”

Speaking for God, Isaiah proclaims “Instead of your shame, you shall receive double portion.” Well, to whom is that promise made? It is made to every person who stands in Isaiah’s view of the Last Day, every person in God’s salvation plan. And the first of these is young Mary.

Well, in the case of St. Mary, what is it that is her shame, a shame that, according to the promise of Isaiah’s vision, will be changed into double honor? It is Mary’s pregnancy that is her shame. She is with child, but without a human husband, without the bands of matrimony, and without visible means of support. That is her shame.

Her shame is that her betrothed husband wouldn’t understand – and he didn’t. Her shame is that her parents and family wouldn’t understand, wouldn’t bring shame upon their household by taking her back – and they didn’t. So, who would understand?

The answer to that question takes her to the home of Elizabeth and Zecharias. Why here? Because the angel Gabriel, who brought her the news that she would bear the Savior of the world, also told her that her relative, Elizabeth, after a life of barrenness, is going to have a son. Yes, go to Elizabeth, Elizabeth would understand, wouldn’t she?

II.

And indeed, Elizabeth does understand, at least somewhat, at least enough to welcome Mary into her home for three months! And by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, Elizabeth embraces Mary and declareds, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”

Elizabeth understands; Elizabeth believes; and so Mary has a haven for herself and for her unique, truly unbelievable condition. Later, her betrothed, Joseph, would re-think his decision to break off their betrothed status, but only after he gets a proverbial kick in the back-side from the angel: Hey, Joseph, you son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for what is conceived in her, indeed, as she told you, as you didn’t believe, is by the Holy Ghost! And, HE is the Savior of the world, promised by God, to which Joseph likely responded: Oh! God forgive me for not believing what my beloved heard from the angel!

And at that time, about three months after Mary arrives at Elizabeth’s home, Joseph arrives to take  Mary home, this one to whom he is still betrothed, but to whom he is not yet formally married, Thus, this couple appears to be living  -- as is so common today – as husband and wife without the benefit of marriage, which makes their unborn child appear to be illegimate, an out-of-wedlock child. And that is what her neighbors and family regard as her shame!

But not shame to her and not to her betrothed, for the both now understand. God will take her shame and make it into her glory, her double-glory, her beyond- human understanding glory, for she is bearing not just a human being, but also God Himself. And so she is called, rightly so, the Mother of God,  the Theotokos, the God-Bearer!

III.

Down through the centuries of the Church’s life, Mary the bearer of God in human form has been troubling, with many wanting to be Christians but at the same time to have nothing of this Mother-of-God business. That is the way I was raised; many of you probably were, also.

But this Mother-of-God business is found on the lips and in the writings of early Church Christians, and especially the church councils in Nicaea, where they made much about this name. For, by this name Christianity was clearly delineated from Arianism and other religions that denied, in some way or other, that Jesus is both fully human and yet also fully divine – that Jesus is completely man, while at the same time He is completely God. Thus it is true, and the Church rightly makes much about it: Mary bears a human who is God; therefore, Mary bears God in her womb, who is also human.

The Church, through the centuries, gives us the language to express what God has revealed, and in this case, the language is quite simple to say and to believe, if not to fully understand: Mary is the Mother (confessing her child to be human), the Mother of God (confessing her child to be God). To deny this language, after coming to understand it, is to deny Christianity; it is to deny God’s Word; it is to take away the true nature of salvation Jesus, who is, both God and Man.

So it is that we say, “Mary is the Mother of God.” Anything else that may come to be said of her through the ages, in the Church, is unscriptural, but this one truth remains, for your salvation: Mary is the Mother of God!” And that is how it is that her Son is the Savior of the world.

Her Son is your Savior. He is your gift from God. He is your substitute before God’s judgment. He is your advocate in times of need. He is your forgiveness and your growth in grace and your perfection by faith and your full redemption upon His return. He is it all as God-Man. And so St. Paul guides us to say, “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman,” the God-Man, for you!