Mother Mary

Quotes:

"I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life." -- Abraham Lincoln

"Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible." -- Marion C. Garretty "Let us be grateful to people who make us happy, they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom." -- Marcel Proust

"A mom's hug lasts long after she lets go." -- Author Unknown

Isaiah 7:14 “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Matthew 1:18-23 “18- Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. 19- Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a publick example, was minded to put her away privily. 20- But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. 21- And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. 22- Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, 23- Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”

Jesus Saves!

By the His outstanding triumph and His splendid achievement at the cross of Calvary.

Christ was/is the fulfillment of the Genesis 3:15 promise:

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

That promise was given because of original sin (disobedience).

Messiah’s victory is a remarkable one;

For Christ conquered the devil turning his own weapons of choice against him.

The fall of all mankind came after this manner:

A Virgin, a Tree and Death:

The virgin was Eve (for she had not yet known man);

The tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil;

And death was the penalty for their sin.

And amazingly these three tokens used for the very destruction of all mankind (the virgin, the tree and death), became the tokens by which mankind’s deliverance was achieved.

Replace Eve with Mary;

Replace the tree of knowledge of good and evil, with the despised tree of the cross;

“Replace the first Adam’s death, with the death of the last Adam (The Christ).

Thereby the devil was defeated by the very means he used to conquer.

There is something innately beautiful about “poetic justice”.

By a tree the devil cut Adam down;

And by a tree Jesus the Christ defeated the devil.

The first tree sent man spiraling out of control;

The last tree brought all back into perfect order.

The first tree exposed man as naked and captive;

The last tree revealed the victor naked and shamefully exposed for all the world.

The first spiritual death condemned all those who are born afterward;

However the death of the last Adam gives hope to ALL.

Such is the great achievement of the cross of Christ.

Understand the victory for us was won.

Our victory, our deliverance our salvation, was achieved on our behalf;

Without any labor or effort of our own required.

For “we bloodied no weapons, nor stood on the battle line, nor bore any wounds, nor saw any fighting, and yet we won the victory. It was the Lord’s combat, but ours was the crown.” - Saint John Chrysostom, bishop (409-450)

And therefore as victories let us raise our joyous voices unto Jesus, our Christ;

Praising the Lord let us proclaim: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O grave, where is your sting!”

Sermon Source(s): Adam and Christ – Eve and Mary a homily by Saint John Chrysostom, bishop (349-407).