Misunderstood Mary
It’s not easy to be politically correct during the Christmas season. I recently came across a 90’s version of “The Night Before Christmas.” Let me read just part of it to you:
Twas the night before Christmas and Santa’s a wreck...
How to live in a world that’s politically correct?
His workers no longer want to be called “Elves.”
“Vertically Challenged” they were calling themselves.
Four reindeer had vanished, without much propriety,
Released to the wilds by the humane society.
The runners had been removed from his sleigh;
the ruts were termed dangerous by the E.P.A.
And to show you the strangeness of life’s ebbs and flows,
Rudolf was suing over the misuse of his nose
And had gone on Geraldo, in front of the nation,
Demanding millions in over-due compensation.
Before we look at the misunderstanding surrounding Mary, I want to clear up some misconceptions that may be circulating in this community about Pontiac Bible Church. As you may know, several months ago, we had the honor of hosting the groundbreaking ceremony for OSF St. James hospital right here in this room. I’m sure it probably created quite a stir when about 10 nuns were seen leaving the Bible Church that morning! People may be wondering if our new annex plans include space for a convent…
But, something else happened more recently, which needs to be cleared up. Did you notice in last Saturday’s paper that Pontiac Bible Church is hosting a fiesta in honor of the Virgin of Guadalupe today? Actually, this was a misprint though it would have been fun to have a piñata.
Misunderstandings are everywhere, aren’t they?
The Overestimated Mary
The often misunderstood Mary was a major character in the divine drama that first Christmas. Mary plays two widely differing roles among Catholics and Protestants. In fact, I’ve been in both camps I was raised Catholic and now I’m a Protestant.
From my perspective, it seems to me that many Catholics overestimate the role of Mary. According to Catholic teaching, “God has committed to Mary the treasury of all good things, in order that through her are obtained every hope, every grace, and all salvation.” (Pope Pius, IX) Another Pope has put it this way: “It is the will of God that we should have nothing which has not passed through the hands of Mary.” (Pius, XII).
Recently, there has been a push among many Catholics for the present Pope to declare Mary the “Co-Redeemer, Mediator of All Graces, and Advocate for the People of God.” (Christianity Today, 12/8/97).
While we were living in Mexico for three years, we were amazed and grieved by all the attention given to the Virgin. In fact, today is the Day of the Virgin in Mexico, and millions of people will pay homage to her. Hundreds of thousands will make a pilgrimage to the Basilica in Mexico City from all over the country; many of them will walk on their knees. Beth and I have been to this shrine on several occasions and have observed people climbing the rough cement stairs on their knees, leaving bloodstains behind them.
I’ll never forget an experience Beth and I had shortly after we arrived in Mexico. As part of our attempt to understand the culture, we made it a practice to visit different churches. If we were out walking, and came across a church, we would try to at least look inside. One day, we found an open church and walked in. It was a fairly large building, but pretty plain on the inside. As we walked toward the front, we couldn’t help but see a huge statue of the virgin, hung prominently right in the middle of the wall, directly above the altar. This image was probably 30 or 40-feet high! As we got closer, we then saw a small statue of Jesus, only about two feet high, placed at the feet of Mary. We just stared with our mouths open in disbelief, while our eyes flooded with tears. There’s something wrong with that picture, isn’t there?
Before I say what I want to say next, please understand that I am not a Catholic-basher. I care deeply for those who are Catholic. However, it must be clearly taught Mary has no place in our redemption. It is only by the shed blood of Jesus that you and I can have forgiveness of sin and open access to God the Father. Mary is not a co-redemptorist or a mediator. She needed to have her sins forgiven, just like we do. Don’t give to Mary that which belongs only to Jesus.
The Underestimated Mary
Now, let me be quick to add that while many Catholics overestimate Mary’s importance and attribute things to her that are not taught in the Bible, most Protestants underestimate her importance. Many of us allow her a cameo appearance in Christmas cards, carols, and nativity scenes during this time of the year, but then we tuck her away like a Christmas ornament, out of sight, out of mind, until her reappearance next December. Mary is often the victim of simple neglect, having been abandoned to a kind of evangelical limbo. Some of us have consigned her to virtual oblivion.
As we will see this morning, Mary did play a crucial role in God’s plan, and we will be spiritually impoverished if we ignore her.
My goal this morning is not to bash Catholics or Protestants. If you’re itching for a theological gunfight, you’ll be disappointed. Put your pistols back in their holsters. My goal is simply this: Based upon what the Bible teaches, what relevance does Mary’s faith have for us today?
The birth of Mary’s child radically altered the course of human history. So much so that people around the world divide history into two parts -- B.C. and A.D. -- Before the birth of Christ and after the birth of Christ. I want to use the letters “A.D.” this morning to describe what impact Mary can have on our lives today. First, for the “A” Mary was Available.
A Teenager in Love
Let me give you some background. We know at least four things about Mary. She is a teenager, she is poor, she is a devout believer in God, and she is very much in love. When the story opens Mary is pledged or engaged to Joseph. Between the pledge and the wedding feast was a period usually lasting six months to a year. During that period the couple was considered to be married and were called husband and wife but they did not live together or have marital relations.
Like brides-to-be everywhere, she can hardly think of anything but their wedding -- the guest list, the decorations, the food, the music, and her dress. Mary had never been happier. This was the most exciting time of her life.
It’s right at this point that God enters the scene. He is about to ask an unknown teenage girl to take part in something that is so shocking that it’s almost unbelievable. What God asks Mary to do will change her life -- and the course of history forever.
Gone are the happy dreams of a beautiful wedding; gone are the days of sweet anticipation; gone are the carefully thought out plans for the wedding feast. She will be married, but not before rumors spread through the countryside. There will be a wedding feast, but not the way she planned. It will all happen, but not the way she expected.
Gabriel’s Message
Luke 1:26-38 tells us how it all began. Let’s look at verses 26-27: “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.”
These two verses set the historical framework. They let us know that what is about to happen really happened, that this episode is not the figment of some writer’s imagination or some kind of religious hallucination.
These verses stress two facts about Mary. First, she is a virgin. Verse 27 mentions that fact twice. The Greek word means that she had never had sexual relations with anyone. Second, she has no idea what is about to happen. Mary is completely in the dark, without a clue that her life is about to be changed forever.
Let’s see if we can’t use our imagination to reset the scene. Let’s suppose that Gabriel first appeared to Mary one day when she was out in the backyard in the middle of the afternoon, getting ready to go to the well to draw out some water. She looks up and sees a tall man. Then he spoke and she got spooked: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” (28)
This greeting is both beautiful and powerful. The angel recognizes Mary’s God-developed character as a young teenager who has accepted God’s grace and has been living it out in quietness, peace, and purity. This greeting does not mean that Mary is so full of grace that she can forever bestow grace on others. The context here is that because the Lord is with her, she is favored. That’s what grace is all about.
Verse 29 tells us “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”
Mary was troubled because she did not think of herself as one who was highly favored. She, more than anyone, knew all about her shortcomings.
But that’s not the half of it. Without a pause, Gabriel proceeds to tell her something that blows her mind. He tells her that she’s going to have a baby. And not just any baby. She’s going to give birth to the Son of God.
What He Will Be Called
Listen again to these words in verses 30-33. But this time, put yourself in the sandals of a teenager in love: “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
The first time Gabriel spoke to Mary, he said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!” This time he tells her again that she has found favor with God and adds that she does not need to be afraid. This phrase does not so much describe her character as it describes how God’s grace is going to affect her and work through her to impact all of human history. The preposition with, literally means that she has found grace by the side of God, in the fellowship of God.
Did you catch the emphasis here? It’s not on Mary -- it’s on her son. Gabriel uses beautiful poetic language to recount the Messianic prophecy from the Old Testament, which is fulfilled in Jesus. Gabriel is saying, “Your baby boy will incarnate all of the godly Messianic personhood foretold for hundreds of years. This is the one. He is the savior of the world and Lord of life.”
Let’s look at what the angel said to Mary.
She will be pregnant a fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14
The angel names the boy Jesus which means Jehovah-Salvation. In Matthew 1:21, this name is explained: “for he will save his people from their sins.”
He will be great a fulfillment of Isaiah 9:6 “For to us a child is born…and he will be called…mighty God…”
- He will be called the Son of the Most High
- He will be given the throne of his father David fulfillment of prophecy of 2 Samuel 7
- He will reign forever not an earthly kingdom, but rather the rule of grace and truth established in the hearts and lives of all those who have the God of Jacob as their refuge.
With these bold declarations, Mary could have responded in a variety of ways and asked numerous questions. But she has only one concern, it’s a technical matter that she would like cleared up: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” (34) This is a perfectly natural question. Mary is engaged but not formally married. She has saved herself for her husband. How then can she become pregnant and have a son?
In verses 35-37, the angel answers Mary’s question. First he deals with the biological issue by saying that the power of the Holy Spirit of God will overcome Mary and this divine activity will result in conception. The last phrase of verse 35 deals with something that Mary did not ask, “…So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”
There are two important truths held in tension in verse 35.
1. It was necessary for the Savior of the World to be born of a woman, so that he would be of the same nature as those whom he came to save (c.f. Galatians 4:4-5)
2. It was just as imperative that he should be holy, sinless, and blameless.
In this one verse Gabriel is making clear the glorious fact that both of these requirements are fulfilled in the life of Jesus. He is fully man, yet fully God. Here the mystery of the incarnation and the virgin birth are held in tension. As C.S. Lewis has said with penetrating insight, “The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.”
In verse 36, the angel explains that God’s power has already impacted Mary’s elderly cousin Elizabeth, who is already 6 months pregnant. God is not restricted to the natural order.
Verse 37 is really a summary, a benediction, the bottom line, if you will, of all that he has been saying to Mary, “For nothing is impossible with God.” This literally means, “For no word from God shall be void of power.” God can and will do anything that He determines.
I think there should be a long pause between verses 37 and 38. In his powerful book called, Peculiar Treasures, Frederich Buechner describes the moment between these two verses as the angel Gabriel waits for the answer of Mary:
Mary struck the angel Gabriel as hardly old enough to have a child at all, let alone
this child, but he’d been entrusted with a message to give her, and he gave it. He
told her what the child was to be named, and who he was to be, and something about
the mystery that was to come upon her. “You mustn’t be afraid, Mary,” he said. And
as he said it, he only hoped she wouldn’t notice that beneath his great, golden wings he
himself was trembling with fear to think that the whole future of creation now hung on the
answer of a teenager.
Mary’s Response
It’s interesting to note that Mary does not doubt the angel’s word, even though it must have sounded incredible. She believed what the angel said. Her only question had to do with how it would happen. In essence she says to Gabriel, “All right. I’m willing to do my part, but you need to explain how we’ll handle this one little problem.” That’s real faith. That’s believing the impossible. That’s trusting God even when the facts argue against it.
In the history of the church Mary has often been portrayed as a kind of misty, otherworldly figure. If you look at some of the great paintings of Mary, they make her look so peaceful that you almost forget she was a real person. That’s a shame because the Bible makes it clear that she was very real, with very real doubts, very real questions and very real faith. Nowhere is this seen with more clarity than in verse 38: “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
Her answer establishes two things:
She is accepting voluntary slavery. She recognizes she is the property of God.
Her answer shows obedience to revealed truth.
Without exaggeration, we may call this one of the greatest statements of faith in the entire Bible.
Mary said that she was Available. She said YES to the impossible, and YES to the plan of God.
Did her heart skip a beat when she said YES? You bet it did -- but she said it. It is not the experience of seeing an angel that gripped Mary. There was no spiritual rush, no emotional ecstasy because she was in the presence of an angel. Her response is a thoughtful, obedient response to God’s revelation. Mary believed God, with a single-minded, unwavering commitment. She was Available. With her head tilted high, her hands trembling just a bit, wide-eyed, nervous, open-mouthed, questioning but not afraid, wondering but not terrified, unsure but not uncertain...when the angel said, “Nothing is impossible with God,” Mary took a deep breath and said, “May it be to me as you have said.” And with those words Christmas came to the world.
Friend, are you available to God this Christmas? Are you ready to say “yes” to Him? Or, are you holding back? Don’t be afraid to make yourself available to Him -- your life will never be the same!
The Cost of Christmas
Let’s not underestimate what it cost Mary to become available to God. Mary knew--or would soon realize--that saying YES to God meant misunderstanding and public shame. Gone was her pure reputation and with it her dreams of a quiet, happy life in Nazareth. In the future, her life would at times be happy but it would never again be quiet.
And Mary had no way of knowing how Joseph would respond to her pregnancy. Would he blow his top and walk out on her? Would he humiliate her publicly? Would he dump her? After all, he knew he wasn’t the father. As the story turned out, Mary had every reason to worry about Joseph because he was planning to break up with her -- I’m sure his friends thought he was codependent. Maybe they thought Mary and Joseph were even dysfunctional -- she’s pregnant and neither one of them will own up to it!
And all these things were just the beginning. Mary could not know what the future would hold. Before it was all over, she would experience heartache, opposition, slander, confusion, anguish, despair and loneliness. In the end she would face the greatest pain a mother can endure when she would watch her son die on a cross.
When God said, “Are you available and willing to believe the impossible?” Mary said, “YES I am!” Without that YES, there would be no Christmas -- and there would be no A.D.
A Woman God Could Trust
I have no doubt that Mary asked, “Why me?” Why would God choose an obscure peasant girl in some out-of-the-way village as the chosen vehicle to bring his son into the world? There are many answers that have nothing to do with Mary, but there is one answer that has everything to do with her. God chose her because he trusted her. He knew she was willing to believe the impossible. He also knew she was willing to pay the price for that belief. He knew she was willing to bear a child out of wedlock in order to bring God’s Son into the world.
That leads to the “D” of A.D. Not only was Mary Available, she was also a Disciple. The word disciple literally means that she was a follower of Jesus.
Mary, then, stands as a model for all of us.
1. She was available to God.
2. She modeled what being a disciple of Christ is all about.
Friends, it’s still true that “Nothing is impossible with God.” That’s as true today as it was 2,000 years ago. You have to make yourself available and follow Him or else the impossible will never happen in your life.
That’s good news this Christmas. Some of you are carrying heavy burdens today. For some of you Christmas will be lonely this year. Some of you are facing a financial crisis that looks hopeless to you right now. Some of you are out of work and don’t have a single lead on a good job. Some of you are looking at a marriage that seems worse than hopeless. Some of you are estranged from members of your own family. Some of you have children who are far away from God. Some of you feel empty and far away from God yourselves.
The list goes on and on. But all these things have this in common: They seem impossible to solve by any human means. And for the most part they are. After all, if human means could have solved your problems, they would have been solved long ago. Remember this: Christmas is all about miracles. They happened 2,000 years ago; they can still happen today.
What is it that God wants from us? Total comprehension about the future before we will trust him? No. That’s impossible. And besides, it’s better that we don’t know what the future holds. Do we have to be spiritually advanced to the point of sainthood? Thank God the answer is No. Very few of us would ever meet that qualification.
What does God want from you? The same thing he wanted from Mary. He wants you to be an available disciple.
You see, even though Mary was favored by God, she also needed to be forgiven by God. And it gradually began to dawn on her that God’s plan of forgiveness was wrapped up in her unusual son.
The final appearance of Mary in the 4 Gospels occurs in a violent scene that she did not want to witness -- on a hill outside Jerusalem, watching helplessly as her first-born son who was once treated like a king, now hung on a cross like a criminal. Like many of the other available disciples of that time, Mary must have realized the wisdom of God’s perfect plan.
A Christmas Savior
I like how a Christmas card puts it: God knew our greatest need. If our greatest need had been information, He would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent an entertainer. But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.
And not just any Savior. Because Jesus was born of Mary, he was fully human, and therefore could identify with our condition. Because he was conceived by God’s power apart from an earthly father, he was fully divine, and so could satisfy God’s holy demands. No other sacrifice could fulfill God’s desire for mercy without compromising his demand for justice.
The choir’s song this morning asks the question, Mary did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new? This child that you delivered will soon deliver you. At some point in her life, Mary made a decision to become available and to become a disciple. After giving birth to Jesus, she then needed to be born again herself. Even though she had close contact with her Son for many years, she ends up at the Cross -- just like we need to.
Sometimes people are surprised when they find out what I was like before I became a Christian. Actually, I’m not real proud of some of the things I used to do. When I’m asked about this time in my life, I like to make a distinction. Here’s what I tell people: “Those were my B.C. Days -- before I surrendered my life to Christ. I’m now an A.D. man.”
Friends, some of you are still leading a B.C. kind-of-life. I encourage you this Christmas to forget about being politically correct -- instead focus on what it will take for you to be spiritually correct -- that’s exactly what Mary did. Just as the history of the world is divided into B.C. and A.D., this Christmas can be a defining moment for you. You can become an A.D. Man or an A.D. Woman.
You Snooze, You Lose
I wonder how many of you this morning are just kind of going through the motions. Sure, it’s almost Christmas, but its no big deal to you. Maybe you’ve just been living your life without much thought about the future.
Maybe you’re a bit like two robins who were sitting in a tree. One of the robins turned to his buddy and announced that he was hungry. The other robin said that he was hungry too so they flew down to find some lunch. As they came down, they saw an entire field full of worms. They ate and ate until they could eat no more.
“I’m so full I don’t think I can fly back up to the tree,” said the first robin. The second one agreed so they just plopped down and basked in the sun. No sooner had they fallen asleep than a big fat tomcat snuck up and gobbled them both up. As he sat washing his face after his meal, he grinned, “I love baskin’ robins.”
Anyone here today just baskin’ through life? Friends, life is too important to miss out on what Mary discovered. Thankfully, she didn’t put her decision off. She responded right away before it was too late. She made herself available and she became a disciple.
What about you?
