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December 21, 2003 (Year C, Advent 4)
Most conservative evangelical Protestants (a broad spectrum of Christianity that even includes the likes of me!) are “Mariaphobic.” We avoid talking about Mary’s place in God’s plan of salvation because we assume several things:
1. Only Roman Catholics spend a lot of time thinking about and honoring the Blessed Virgin Mary (and we DON’T want to be like the Roman Catholics).
2. Honoring and blessing Mary are unbiblical practices rooted in the superstitions of Medieval Catholic Christianity.
3. To honor and bless Mary is to detract from the centrality of the Person and work of Jesus Christ.
4. Mary just isn’t that important to Christian discipleship.
None of these assumptions are factual correct! To illustrate this let me ask you a few questions: Who said?…
“I believe... he [Jesus Christ] was born of the blessed Virgin, who, as well after as she brought him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin.” John Wesley in "Letter to a Roman Catholic!" In fact Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Bullinger – indeed nearly all the Reformers believed the Bible taught the perpetual virginity of Mary, mother of Jesus!
"The veneration of Mary is inscribed in the very depths of the human heart” and, "Is Christ only to be adored? Or is the holy Mother of God rather not to be honoured? This is the woman who crushed the Serpent's head. Hear us. For your Son denies you nothing." Martin Luther made in his last sermon at Wittenberg in January 1546.
"It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor." (Calvini Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Braunschweig-Berlin, 1863-1900, v. 45, p. 348, 35.)
"To this day we cannot enjoy the blessing brought to us in Christ without thinking at the same time of that which God gave as adornment and honour to Mary, in willing her to be the mother of his only-begotten Son."
"And this is the greatest praise we know how to give her ... that we avow Mary as our teacher and that we are her disciples." (Sermon XI, On the Harmony of the Gospels) John Calvin!
“It was given to her what belongs to no creature, that in the flesh she should bring forth the Son of God."
"It was fitting that such a holy Son should have a holy Mother."
"The more the honor and love of Christ increases among men, so much the esteem and honor given to Mary should grow." Ulrich Zwingli!
'The Virgin Mary . . . completely sanctified by the grace and blood of her only Son and abundantly endowed by the gift of the Holy Spirit and preferred to all . . . now lives happily with Christ in heaven and is called and remains ever-Virgin and Mother of God.' Heinrich Bullinger!
Certainly the Reformers rejected those practices that appear to worship and honor Mary as if she were a deity or treated her as if she were the mediatrix between humanity and Jesus (thus diminishing the mediating work of Jesus Christ). We should object to these teachings as Protestants and heirs of the Reformation. However we need to reclaim the vital role the Bible gives Mary in presenting the Gospel of Salvation. Timothy George, dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University, writes in this month’s Christianity Today:
In 1925, A. T. Robertson, a noted Southern Baptist New Testament scholar, published a book titled The Mother of Jesus. He wrote, "I have felt for many years that Mary, the mother of Jesus, has not had fair treatment from either Protestants or Catholics … She is the chief mother of the race, and no one should be allowed to take her crown of glory away from her."
If Roman Catholics have deified Mary, Robertson said, evangelicals have subjected her to "cold neglect." We have been afraid to praise and esteem Mary for her full worth, he said, lest we be accused of leanings and sympathy with Catholics. Robertson is right. It is time for evangelicals to recover a fully biblical appreciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her role in the history of salvation, and to do so precisely as evangelicals. We may not be able to recite the rosary or kneel down before statues of Mary, but we need not throw her overboard. [The Blessed Evangelical Mary: Why we shouldn't ignore her any longer, Timothy George, Christianity Today, December 2003]
I want to show you from God’s Word today why evangelical, “Bible-believing” Christians should embrace and honor Mary because she personifies the Gospel of Salvation.
I. Mary reminds us of the essential biblical doctrines of the INCARNATION and the TWO NATURES OF CHRIST. The Bible teaches that God himself took on human flesh in Jesus Christ and that Jesus is both truly God and truly Man. Jesus’ divine nature comes through the miracle of the virginal conception of Mary. The angel Gabriel tells Mary she is going to have a baby. Mary responds:
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” The angel answered, “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. 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. For nothing is impossible with God.” Luke 1:34-37
A. Elizabeth acknowledges that Mary holds in her womb the Lord of Israel: “But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? (Luke 1:43)” That’s why the great teachers of the Early Church had so many wonderful titles for the Virgin Mary. They called her:
· The "Temple of God" She is the Holy of Holies in which God dwelt. (Ephraim the Syrian, Ambrose, Gregory Nazianzen)
· The "King's Palace" (Ephraim the Syrian, Ambrose)
· “More Spacious than the Heavens", Mary’s womb contained the uncontainable God. (Athanasius of Alexandria, Ephraim the Syrian, Epiphanius of Salamis, Proclus of Constantinople)
· The "Burning Bush that is Not Consumed" Hebrews 10 says that our God is a consuming fire, and yet Mary contained God and was not consumed. Moses encountered God in the desert in a burning bush that was not consumed! (Gregory of Nyssa)
This is a GLORIOUS MYSTERY!
B. But Jesus is not only God; he is also truly a human being. Jesus takes his human nature from his mother, Mary. Jesus lived for 9 months in his mother, just like you and me. He came into the world through the pains of childbirth and had to be cleaned up and have his umbilical cord tied off. He drank his mother’s milk and had to have his diaper’s changed just like any other baby.
C. This is vital for our understanding of salvation: Humanity had rebelled against God and as such we were all under judgment and the curse. Since it was a human (Adam) who condemned our race, it would have to be a human who would save our race. The problem is that our rebellion made it impossible for us to save ourselves. Our sinful nature made it impossible. Someone who was sinless would have to take away the sins of humanity. Jesus’ divine nature means that he was born without sin and in complete obedience to the Father.
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21
II. Mary also shows us that in God’s economy, the greater the service, the greater the offering of ourselves in loving obedience to God, the greater the blessing we receive. Did you hear how often the word “blessed” comes up in this passage? Can’t you just hear the overflowing joy in this scripture? Finally Mary can no longer contain the rapture, the elation she feels and she bursts into song:
My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his name! Luke 1:46b-49
A. How did this all this JOY and BLESSING come to pass? Mary, a teen-aged girl from Nazareth, offered herself without reservation to God.
Medieval artists often portrayed Mary in stained glass windows. Her pane would be the only one with no color on it. Clear glass. All the other windowpanes would filter the light of the sun through their own distinctive designs. Mary was clear, unfiltered. There was nothing of her to affect the light that came through. She could not advance herself and advance the work of God. [Ben Patterson, "A Faith Like Mary's," Preaching Today, Tape No. 87.]
· She offered God her very BODY. Here is my body Lord, use it for your purpose in bringing Messiah!
· She offered God her REPUTATION. She would have been seen as an immoral person. She was subject to public humiliation and scorn. Technically she could have been stoned to death.
· She offered God her FUTURE PLANS. The was NOT what Mary had planned for her life. By offering herself to God the entire course of her life was changed.
· Such acts defy reason! But as Madeline L’Engle has said: Had Mary been filled with reason there'd have been no room for the child.
B. One of the titles the early Church gave to Mary was “the Second Eve.” The first Eve said NO to God’s word and ushered in human destruction. Mary said YES to God’s word and ushered in human salvation!
C. Mary shows us that the more fully we surrender, the more richly we are blessed.
III. But perhaps the supreme reason we should honor and extol Mary is because she embodies the Good News.
A. Mary was CHOSEN by God. Grace alone.
The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. Luke 1:28-30
We too are CHOSEN by God. God picked you and me out! He said, “I choose YOU!” We didn’t deserve! It was GRACE ALONE! He chose us and that makes us highly favored!
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will. Ephesians 1:4-5
B. Mary BELIEVED God’s word. Faith alone in God’s Word alone.
Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” Luke 1:45
Mary’s example reminds us that our relationship with God is based on trusting in his Word.
So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:17
C. Mary personally RECEIVED JESUS. When she said yes to God, she LITERALLY ACCEPTED JESUS CHRIST into her life, into her body.
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Luke 1:38
In the same way we must personally receive Jesus Christ in order to experience an intimate relationship with God that leads to eternal life.
Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12
CONCLUSION: As heirs of the Reformation we can embrace and love Mary because she always directs us to her Son. Her instruction to us is just as it was to the servants at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee: “Do whatever he tells you. (John 2:5)”
So, beloved, do not ignore Mary this Christmas. Without returning her to her proper place in salvation history we have a poorer, shallower Gospel to declare. A. Stewart Walsh, a northeastern Baptist minister wrote these words in the latter half of the 19th Century:
No friend of the divine Son can dethrone Him by honoring her aright: indeed, as He Himself did. It was of Him she spoke when exclaiming: My soul doth rejoice in God my Savior! Can one truly honor Him and despise and ignore the woman who gave Him human birth? Can one have His mind and forget her for whom love was uppermost to Him in His supreme last hours? Can one honor her aright and yet dethrone the son whom she enthroned? She bore Him, then lived for Him. She honored herself in bearing Him, and was His mother, His teacher and His disciple. He revered her, she worshiped Him. [Quoted in The Blessed Evangelical Mary, by Timothy George, Christianity Today, December 2003]
Luke 1:39-56
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country
of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41
When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she
exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will
bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come
to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby
in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what
the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
46 And Mary said:
"My soul glorifies the Lord 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on
all generations will call me blessed, 49 for the Mighty One has done great
things for me- holy is his name. 50 His mercy extends to those who fear
him, from generation to generation. 51 He has performed mighty deeds with
his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. 52
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the
humble. 53 He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich
away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be
merciful 55 to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our
fathers."
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned
home.
NIV
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