Honour Mary, the mother of our Lord

Sermon for Sunday 20th December, 2009 (4th Sunday in Advent)
Crows Nest Lutheran Parish
W.Logan

Luke 1:39-45 
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah,  (40)  and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.  (41)  And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit,  (42)  and she exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!  (43)  And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  (44)  For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.  (45)  And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord."

Lord, help us to recognize your presence, as you come to us in your word. How blessed we are to have you speak to us! Bless us now through your word and fill us with your Holy Spirit, so that we can also be a blessing to others. Amen.

When I was young my primary school put on a play about Snow White and the seven dwarves. One memorable line from the dwarf called Grumpy was: “Women?! Bah!” Later in the play Snow White was able to win him round, so in the end he too appreciated the princess.

Our text today highlights the crucial role of a woman in God’s plan of salvation.

Women and babies feature prominently in the Bible’s record of how God’s plan of salvation unfolded. Most significant is Mary, the mother of our Lord. But in this text we have Elizabeth, carrying within her womb, John the Baptist, the immediate forerunner of Jesus. Going back into history we have the miracle of Isaac, the child of the promise, conceived by Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Exodus begins with baby Moses in great danger from the Egyptian Pharoah. (His mother put him in a watertight basket and put him in the river Nile, technically obeying the Pharoah’s command that the Hebrew babies had to be thrown into the river. His sister Miriam watched over the baby and took the initiative to offer her mother as the baby nurse when Pharoah’s daughter found him and adopted him). Many years later, a number of prophecies of the coming Messiah (/Saviour) were about his birth: Isaiah 7:14 
“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
Isaiah 9:6 
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Our first reading today gives us another prophecy about the birth of Jesus: Micah 5:2-3a
The LORD says, "Bethlehem Ephrathah, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah, but out of you I will bring a ruler for Israel, whose family line goes back to ancient times."  So the LORD will abandon his people to their enemies until the woman who is to give birth has her son.

Genesis 3 records the very first prophecy of the Saviour. It is sometimes called the ‘protogospel’, the first proclamation of the good news of salvation. The devil in the form of a serpent had deceived Eve, the first woman. While Eve was the first to violate God’s simple command, it was a joint act of  rebellion, since Adam chose to join his wife in that first sin. God knew the evil their act had unleashed, and what it would mean for countless generations to come. But he would deal with the source and fruit of evil, through the woman’s offspring. God said in Genesis 3:15 “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." 
Death came into the world through that first sin.
Romans 5:12  “…sin came into the world through one person, and death through sin, and so death spread to all people because all sinned…”
But new life, resurrection life, came into the world through the one sinless descendant of Adam and Eve: Jesus Christ.
Listen to Romans 5:18-19 18“So then, as the one sin condemned all people, in the same way the one righteous act sets all people free and gives them life.  19And just as all people were made sinners as the result of the disobedience of one man, in the same way they will all be put right with God as the result of the obedience of the one man.”
And Hebrews 2:14-15
 14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

God needed a sinless Saviour to reverse the original sin of rebellion, on behalf of humanity.  He also needed to get rid of all the evil that had corrupted the beautiful world he made, and the sin that kept him separated from us, his dearly loved but alienated and often spiteful creatures.

There was no way that we, as human beings, can reverse what our ancestors, and we ourselves, have done. We have no way of paying for our sins and escaping eternal punishment. But God, (as Ephesians 2: 4-5 says), being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,  even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved. 
Romans 5:6  says “For when we were still helpless, Christ died for the wicked at the time that God chose.”
Galatians 4:4-5  “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

Born of a woman: That woman was Mary.

Elizabeth recognized this, and praised God with joy, as she blessed her cousin Mary. Her unborn child, John, also recognized who had come into the world, and was now an embryo inside Mary. John leapt for joy, within the womb!  When the angel told John’s father Zechariah about him, he said this: “he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.” (Luke 1:15)

Many cultures –both ancient and modern- assign women a second class status. While Jewish culture wasn’t as bad as some of the others, it was still strongly male dominated.
Human beings, male and female, were made in God’s image (Genesis 1:27). Male domination, (men ruling over women/their wives), is recorded in Genesis 3 as part of the curse that God put on the world as a consequence for the sinful rebellion of Adam and Eve. Thorns and weeds, harsh work conditions, and pain in childbirth were also part of the curse. By God’s gracious help, we reduce weeds and improve our work conditions and productivity. We have ways of reducing pain in childbirth, and we thank God for this and for all the medical advancements he has given us. What about overcoming male domination, too? Ephesians 5 refers to a husband being the head of his wife. This has been used by some husbands to justify abuse. But a man can only do that if he completely ignores the context of the passage and what it actually says!
Ephesians 5:25-27 says “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,  that he might sanctify her (that is, set her apart as special), having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor…”
Christ laid down his life for the Church: this is what it means to have authority over other people: it’s not about dominating or putting them down. It’s about laying down our lives in service, to lift them up. It means helping them become glorious!

Our gospel text today focuses on two pregnant women. Elizabeth and Mary. ,
 
Mary in particular has a very high status in the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches. As Lutherans, we are uncomfortable with what seems to us to be an over-emphasis. We want to emphasize that Christ alone is our Saviour. His work saves us. The merit we need to stand righteous in God’s presence comes from him, not from Mary or any other fellow believer.

Still, today’s text points us to Mary’s very special role in God’s plan: 
Christ is the way for us to come to the Father, but Mary was the way Christ entered our world.
We worship Christ, not Mary, but let’s not go to the other extreme, and grieve God by disregarding his mother!

Elizabeth is our example. Her words came as a result of being filled with the Holy Spirit, so they are words that God himself inspired her to say: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? … The Lord has blessed you because you believed that he will keep his promise. Luke 1:42,43 (ESV) & 45 CEV).

Mary, too, can be an example for us. An example of faith, and an example of humble service. She carried within herself, Jesus, our Saviour. We too, carry Jesus within us, wherever we go. Not in the same way, but with the same reality.

Just as the Holy Spirit allowed John to sense the presence of Jesus and filled him with joy, may we sense the presence of Jesus and also leap for joy. May others, too, sense the presence of Jesus in us, and find peace and joy in Christ our Lord.

 Amen.