 St Alban’s Episcopal Church Bolivar, Missouri Wednesday, December 8, 2021 “Hail, Mary, full of grace”  Mary, Full of GraceToday is, for Roman Catholics, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This means that the church believes that Mary was kept free from sin from her conception. Whether that makes any sense to you or not – perhaps you can understand the impetus to declare it. Catholic Christians were worried about how the taint of original sin might have affected Jesus, had Mary been affected by it herself. It’s not the sort of thing we usually think about – but reflecting on questions like this is good for us! According to Luke 2:26-38) the angel Gabriel comes to Mary, an ordinary young woman in an obscure town and says, “Hail, Mary, full of grace (or, “favored one”), the Lord is with you .”However we understand her, we recognize both her full humanity and her “specialness” – but it is fair to ask why Luke says she was “favored” or “full of grace. “Why does the angel say, “Do not be afraid, Mary. For you have found favor with God” What do we think that means for us Christians right now? Remember that the story of Pentecost in the Book of Acts asserts that “all of them were filled with the Holy Spirit…” which is to say filled with God. And every writer of the rest of the NT affirms the same thing – that those who are called Christians – “little Christs” are filled with the Spirit of God, filled with grace – and able to obey God’s commands – able to love and to live as “heirs of God.” Nothing forces us to do that. God doesn’t. But grace does enable us. In other words, we can celebrate Mary’s deliberate choice to receive the message of Gabriel. We can be glad that of all the young Jewish women she was the one to say, “Yes.” We do not have to imagine her as some weird teenager unlike the rest – but somehow she was willing. Somehow she had “found favor” with God. There was a tradition that spread early in the church that Gabriel had actually asked many young women, and that Mary was the first to accept the embarrassing and costly privilege of bearing the child of promise. What sets her apart is not that she could not sin – but that she didn’t. We have no need to say she was born differently from any of us. Fully human, with all that entails, including freedom to choose to walk with God. And the New Testament says it is true of us now, as well.(And a whole lot of what you are afraid is sin, or disobedience or failure, isn’t.)  “The Lord is with you.” Hail, Mary, full of grace! The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:26)Mary was “much perplexed.” She “pondered what sort of greeting this might be. “And well she might! Angels were terrifying beings – and when they show up, the first thing they say is, “Do not be afraid!” We now have the privilege of being the living Christ in this world, and also of bearing Christ to the world. It is paradox. It is mystery. It is also true.  And we need to be the ones who recognize him however he comes, who welcome him, who bring him to birth, and who announce his presence. All of us. Men as well as women. We don’t want to celebrate Mary by leaving ourselves off the hook! She would not much appreciate that, I’m pretty sure. Here is John of the Cross, the Carmelite mystic and reformer, (1542-1591): If you want the virgin will come walking down the road pregnant with the holy, and say, “I need shelter for the night, please take me inside your heart, my time is so close. “There, under the roof of your soul, you will witness the sublime intimacy, the divine, the Christ taking birth forever, as she grasps your hand for help, for each of us is the midwife of God, each of us, Yet there, under the dome of your being does creation come into existence eternally, through your womb, dear pilgrim – the sacred womb in your soul, as God grasps our arms for help; for each of us is His beloved servant, never far. If you want, the Virgin will come walking down the street pregnant with Light and sing… |
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