Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with
thee.
Blessed are 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.
There are many
differences between Lutheranism and Catholicism, as well as many common
elements of our faith. One of the
differences that has emerged over the years is with respect to the Virgin Mary.
This prayer, the
Ave Maria, epitomizes that difference.
For a devout
Roman Catholic this prayer is second only to the Lord’s Prayer in common piety.
And for many
Lutherans, praying to the Virgin Mary as opposed to praying to Jesus, is
something we just haven’t done.
Let me share with
you some statements on the Virgin Mary from a devout Roman Catholic:
1. ". . . she is full of grace,
proclaimed to be entirely without sin. . . .
God's grace fills her with
everything good and makes her devoid of all
evil. . . . God is with her,
meaning that all she did or left undone is
divine and the action of God in
her. Moreover, God guarded and protected her
from all that might be hurtful to her."
(Commentary on the Hail Mary (Luther's
Works, American edition, vol. 43, p. 40 , ed. H. Lehmann, Fortress, 1968)
2. ".
. . she is rightly called not only
the mother of the man, but also the Mother
of God. . . . it is certain that
Mary is the Mother of the real and true
God."
(Sermon on John 14. 16: Luther's Works
( (St. Louis, ed. Jaroslav,
Pelican, Concordia. vol. 24. p. 107: )
3. "Christ
our Savior was the real and natural
fruit of Mary's virginal womb. . . . This
was without the cooperation of a
man, and she remained a virgin after
that."
(On the Gospel of St. John: Luther's
Works, vol. 22. p. 23, ed. Jaroslav Pelican,
Concordia, 1957):
The devout Roman
Catholic who so venerated the Virgin Mary in this way was, wait for it, Martin
Luther himself.
Luther’s
Commentary on the Magnificat is considered one of his richest and most profound
works.
So what about
that prayer?
Holy Mary Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now and at the hour of
our death
Amen.
Notice that in
the prayer, strictly speaking, we are not praying to Mary, but rather asking
Mary to pray for us. So contrary to
Lutheran criticism, the Ave Maria is a request that Mary intercede on our
behalf.
Have you ever
asked someone to pray for you?
People ask me to
pray for them all the time, but that doesn’t mean that they are putting me in
the place of God and praying to me, as opposed to Jesus and the Father.
So let’s just put
aside some of our anti-Catholic bias and consider again just why she has been
called blessed for all generations.
Mary is
introduced to us in the opening chapter of Luke’s Gospel:
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was
sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a
man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with
you." 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of
greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne
of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of
his kingdom there will be no end." 34 Mary said to the angel, "How
can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel said to her, "The
Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow
you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.
36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son;
and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing
will be impossible with God." 38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the
servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the
angel departed from her.
Two statements of
Mary stand out:
1.
“How can this be?”
2.
And “Let it be.”
Mary’s life was a
journey of faith, and her faith is a model of perfect obedience and submission
to the Word of God.
Mary knew how
things worked.
One of the facts
of life, is virgins don’t conceive and bear children. This fact was not lost on Mary.
"How can this be, since I am a
virgin?"
There are those
in the Church today that question whether Mary was truly a virgin or whether
this was a later theological development, rendered in order to support the
belief that Jesus was sinless.
Those who have
thought this way have been quick to point out that the term for “virgin” in
Hebrew also simply means a ‘young maiden’ who has not yet given birth.
Every woman
remains a maiden, until she becomes a mother.
This logic allows the modern mind to avoid the stumbling block of
believing that God did the impossible.
Yet it avoids
Mary’s own assessment and question. “How
can this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;
therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”
Faith. It is to believe and trust in God’s Word
above all else. In Mary’s case it is to
believe that all things are possible with God, and that, if it be God’s will,
she could indeed conceive and bear a child as a virgin.
"Here am I, the servant of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word."
Joseph could have
had Mary punished for infidelity. To be
found to be with child, when one is already betrothed to another, was a great
sin. Adultery. And a woman who was found guilty of adultery
could be stoned to death.
The risks were
high for Mary.
Let it be to me
according to your word.
In saying that
she exhibited the ultimate faith, trusting not only that what the angel said
would happen, but trusting also that God would protect her from all harm and
that she would be allowed to bear the child.
In this way Mary
is the pioneer of our faith, our teacher.
“Let it be to me,
according to your word.”
These should be
the words on all of our lips. Let it be.
Elizabeth
declared: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?
John, Elizabeth’s
baby, leapt for joy within her womb as Mary approached.
The Orthodox
refer to Mary as the Theotokos, literally, the God bearer, the Mother of God.
Why do they hold
Mary in such high regard?
Because it was
within her womb that the Word became flesh.
And it was she,
that young maiden, who bore the Christ Child into the world for us.
To encounter
Mary, is to encounter Jesus within her.
Imagine this
young maiden, bearing the Son of God within her womb. God within her.
It was a holy
communion.
We will gather at
the altar to receive our Lord, in, with and under the bread and the wine.
With Mary, we too
ask “How can this be?”
And the answer is
the same: by the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Consider this.
“This is my
body. This is my blood.”
“Eat, drink.”
God within us, as
God was within Mary.
And as she was
blessed, so also are we blessed.
Mary sang her
song:
"My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the
lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will
call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things
for me,
and holy is his name.
God has looked
upon our low estate with favor and grace.
“His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.”
And God has done
great things for us.
Mary’s song is
our song of praise, as well.
One final word,
about the Blessed Virgin Mary:
Sometimes only
a mother will do.
This is, I
believe, the reason why Mary has been held in such high regard by Christians
throughout all generations, including Martin Luther.
As the Mother of
God, Mary bears witness to the tender compassion of our God and his mercy and
love.
And whenever
Christians have been embraced by this compassion and mercy, they have been
embraced by God.
It’s not that
Mary is God, but rather that through her God is with us.
And for this, we
call her blessed.
Amen
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