"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and
blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of
our death. Amen."
Thus begins the most famous and widely used form of Roman Catholic devotion, the "Hail Mary" or "Ave
Maria." We have heard it on the radio at the noon hour, we have heard it sung in worship services and on collections
of Christmas music, we know it to be the last words of faithful Catholics in the face of death, and we probably
never expected to hear a sermon about it in the United Methodist Church of Red Bank.
Familiar as the words are, a composite of the words of Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, when she greeted
Mary, and Mary's own prayer upon learning that she was to be the mother of the Messiah-and as universal as is our
respect and even affection for Mary-we children of the Reformation simply don't know what to do with her.
Who is this woman that we focus on on this the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and why do we have such problems with
her? I suspect it is partly due to the fact that she is a woman-and that despite the enlightement of ecumenism
that has taken us farther from the intolerance of earlier times I suspect we regard most of what we know about
her as Catholic-whose veneration of her is problematic to those of us who are Protestants.
Yet it is impossible for us to consider the advent of our Lord and the will of God in that advent without considering
this woman who becomes for us the means of the new creation.
We are not certain what to do with her, but the real question for us to ponder together this morning is not so
much what we are to do with Mary as it is what God does with Mary. How is she used as an instrument of God's purpose,--and
how does she thus become an example for all people of faith forevermore?
Tradition and tour guides in the Galilee will tell you that Mary's young life was interrupted when the angel Gabriel
appeared to her at the well when she was about the ordinary task of drawing water. They will take you to the site,
enshrined in an underground cave where the people of Nazareth have been drawing their water for thousands of years.
You might want to remember that water once again is the symbol for us of new beginnings---and that deep, spring
fed wells are considered to be sources of "living water" because they never go dry.
The visit was neither anticipated nor particularly welcomed. "She was greatly troubled at the saying, and
considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be." So much troubled was she that the angel had to
offer reassurances-"Fear not Mary, for you have found favor with God."
It is not an easy thing to be confronted with an angel bringing a personal message from God. We pray all the time
that God will come near to us and tell us what we need to hear. We pray with ease and frequency-most likely because
we do not expect any response. We know where God is supposed to be and we think we know where we are supposed to
be and our prayers are most often just self-affirmations that such is the case. If the veil of heaven was torn
in two, the ceiling above us disappeared and blinding light surrounded us filled with sound…I doubt we would be
so complacent and pietistic.
This summons to Mary-for that is exactly what it is-is no different than the summons which came to Abraham, to
Moses, to Isaiah or to Jeremiah. All prophets find themselves surprised by the call of God. They find themselves
annoyed by the interruption of their normal lives, and they later find themselves overwhelmed by their own sense
of unworthiness and ill-preparedness.
They all have other things to do, important, urgent things-the fulfillment of their own destinies, the carrying
forth of their own lives, their own choices, options, and challenges. Mary is no exception. "She was greatly
troubled at the saying."
Why me? Why now? Why Mary?
In the Middle Ages as the various cults centered around Mary took shape and form all kinds of wonderful qualities
were ascribed to her. So many in fact that it became an additional source of some of the troubles we Protestants
have accepting her for who she really was. Scripture you see tells us almost nothing about her character…that is
the stuff of legend. We are told simply that when the angel appeared to her he said "Hail, O favored one,"
or depending on your translation "Hail, Thou who art highly favored"-"Hail Mary, full of grace."
We waste our time seeking to understand what it was about Mary that made her so special. She became special because
God chose her. She was not "full of grace" because of her wonderful character, she became filled with
grace because she was chosen by God for a purpose.
God always chooses for reasons known only to God and it is the choice that confers the favor. When God chooses
Israel, Israel becomes the chosen people. When God chooses us, we become the chosen as well.
Mary became the mother of our Lord, and the first of many to bear the Christ into the world.
It is consistent with the character of God as we have come to know God, to choose that which is lowly, ordinary
and of no apparent account to be used for divine purpose. Any god can make something good out of the exceptional
and the extraordinary. It is our God who makes out of nothing something-who takes nowhere and makes it somewhere-who
takes nobody and makes them somebody. This same God who makes things that are out of things that are not-who moves
in ways unknown yet not unseen.
God does not choose for grace, but when God chooses grace and favor follow, long before we even begin to recognize
it.
"You have found favor with God." Not simply "notice," or "positive attention." This
is not "You've gotten a good review Mary," this is "enablement." God will enable you. God will
make the impossible possible in order to fulfill what God desires. That is the meaning of grace-the ability to
will and do what God would have us do. To be "full of grace" is to be so enabled.
Mary's reaction is so very human. Puzzlement and annoyance "What can this mean? How can this be since I have
no husband?" She is a practical girl, she knew enough to know that even in Nazareth the stork did not deliver
babies. How is this to be accomplished? Like all the great women of scripture before her, Sarah, Rebeccah, Hannah
and her cousin Elizabeth..she dare to believe that the lofty promises of God can in deed be accomplished.
To doubt self is one thing-to doubt God quite another.
So she concludes the interview with "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord," and it is probably that
complete submission, that absolute resignation of her own will that gives us the most troublesome problem with
Mary of all the rest. She does as she is told and for those who believe in the value of feminist theology especially
she undermines the role of women in that she exalts the very qualities that her culture demanded. She is not the
free spirited Eve who rebels, she is the compliant servant of the Lord.
But no less so than Christ himself became the servant of God in order to save humanity. "Not my will but thine
be done." No less so than Christ himself called all who follow him to take up their own cross and become a
servant people.
It is not that we serve and become compliant that is by nature evil and demeaning-it is who we serve.
Mary found her true purpose and that is the most liberating discovery of all. She affirmed the promise within her
and found the gift of divine vocation. She became what she was meant to be-the gifted one of God.
If you visit any great art museum with a Medieval section you will discover examples of the three great icons of
Mary that exist even to this day. We have three ways of picturing this dynamic woman, and each has its own place
in the story of faith.
The first shows her as a young child-mother of a bouncing baby boy. She is often with braids the sign of her youthful
virginity, and the colors of her clothing are always soft and vibrant.
In the second she is shown as a grieving older woman, the broken body of her son splayed across her knees-the Pieta.
Her clothing is now dark, her eyes sad and wizened.
The final image is the Regina Coeli (chay-lee), the Queen of Heaven. She stands on the globe, a crown of stars
in her hair, and a snake trodden under her foot. She is robed in splendor the embodiment of the Church.
We do her a great disservice to confine her to an annual role in our Christmas play-for she is not only the mother
of our Lord---she is the mother of our vocation as well. For we too have been called to be Christ bearers in the
world today. She shows us that God's will is still possible even in the face of the impossible-and that to do it
is a great gift we dare not deny! She deserves all that is done for her today---not because of who she was but
because of what God has done in her for us.
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of
thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen."
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