Luke 1 verses 39-56
This
Sunday, the week of Christmas, all our thoughts and prayers of
thanksgiving are on, and for the birth of Jesus.
This
week let us think of the young Jewish woman Mary, who was honoured by God to be
the mother of His Son, and whose name would live on in all history. This was
the fulfilment of the prophet Isaiah, who many years earlier in the Old Testament
had said, ‘behold a young girl shall conceive and bear
a child’.
In the past, the Roman Catholic Church has
perhaps made too much of Mary’s position, whilst the Protestant Church has made
too little. We should keep in mind that until the 20th century, in
all the years prior, perhaps even more so when Mary
was called on by to accept this call, that it would have been looked upon in
society as scandalous, Women were expected to be married before having
children, something these days seems unbelievable by many today.
The
gospel passage opens with Mary, a fifteen years old virginal girl from a Jewish
village, having found she was pregnant, and been told by an angel of the Holy
Spirit being upon her, decided to go seventy miles to visit her elderly cousin
Elizabeth, whom she had been told was also pregnant in her old age.
On
arrival the two women greeted each other, and Elizabeth in a loud voice proclaims
how blessed Mary was. Until that time Elizabeth thought this was just a family
visit, but now she realised how unique the situation is and feels she should
have been the one visiting Mary. At the same
time Elizabeth felt movement of her own baby.
Elizabeth’s
joy inspires Mary to fully recognise she is to be the mother of the Saviour of
the world and spontaneously sings a song, which has been sung at every Evensong
in Churches all over the world for centuries since, the Magnificat. The Lord God is magnified in this song of praise
which is filled with Scripture.
Mary
expresses her glory and rejoices in being blessed, and how gracious God has
been to her in her humility. She readily obeyed God. There is a significant point made by her in
that she recognises she needs a Saviour, which implies she recognises that only
a sinner needs a Saviour, which tends rather to negate some Roman statements
about her.
God
therefore in His amazing grace has allowed this girl to be the mother of His
Son. This reflects the words of
John Newton in that wonderful hymn which
he wrote, that God saves us by grace.
If this
gospel message was told as a story in one of our daily newspapers, and so
posted on their website, it would receive numerous scornful mocking comments,
questioning as to why anyone would believe it. In fairness, if a daughter or friend
came and told you she was pregnant but had not been intimate with a man, you
would reasonably think she was mad or trying to cover up a moral lapse.
Such was
the situation experienced by a young Jewish girl in a remote Israeli village,
risking disgrace and shame and also the loss of her fiancée. It has to be
accepted that the birth of Jesus was unique. God took the initiative, and Jesus was
born of a virgin, such is a basic doctrine of the Church.
But such was the faith and courage of that young woman that she
trusted God, and so became the most famous woman in all history, the most
blessed of women. She would ever be the only woman to wear the red rose of maternity with the white rose of virginity.
Is it not
amazing how peoples’ minds reason. Thousands say they will not believe what
they cannot understand. If
I should go out on to the car park of this Church and take out a little plastic
box, and press a combination of 13 numbers, within seconds I would be speaking
to my son in Hong Kong. Yet if I
wished to speak face to face, it would take a journey of 16 hours to do so.
I can’t
explain how this can happen, and I doubt there is anyone I know who could
explain, we take mobile phones for granted. We watch events as they happen from
across the world in a box in our homes and take it for granted. Who can
explain how a brown cow, which eats green grass, produces white milk, and
yellow butter, yet we eat and drink both. Why on earth if we can accept all the
marvels of man, we cannot accept the miracles of God.
Mary
knows that all future generations will speak of her and indeed throughout the
ages she has rightfully been praised, and she has brought honour to her
sex. Mary has raised being a mother to
the highest of professions, although now some feminine politicians are anxious
to downgrade motherhood and their sex by trying to equate women on all levels
with men. In the process some women have
demeaned their sex by not only copying men’s excesses, but furthering them.
When
God created the world men were intended to care and provide for the family, and
women to be mothers, (primarily but not exclusively)and for that role were
endowed with a more tender and caring nature. Now for their own selfish
purposes, politicians and social workers want to meddle with gender identities.. We are all equal under God, but are meant to
have different roles in life.
The Pope has wisely stated that the future of mankind is at stake, when the understanding of what a family means is challenged through same sex
marriage. He said ‘In the
fight for the family, the very notion of what being human really means – is
being called into question'. He spoke of the falseness of gender theories and of
the current attack on the structure of the family made up of father, mother and
child.
.Mary
told of how God is merciful to those who fear Him, and we should be mindful
that whilst God is a God of love and mercy, He is also a God of wrath. In that respect we should take note of Mary’s
words, ‘He has brought down rulers from
their thrones’. She has a profound view
of God, who disputes the worldly values of status and misunderstanding of what
it means to be equal.
God
chooses people who are lowly. If the
Church authorities had been given the responsibility for choosing the Apostles, Christianity would have died in very short
time. They would have been looking for
people with degrees, diveristy, and with an equal balance of men and women Apostles. (A
cynic once said the Church is falling apart by degrees). This is why God chose Mary and gave her
everything, that He may be glorified.
Mary acknowledged her humility, her ordinariness, and the high honour
God had given her.
She
ends her song by singing praise of how God has remained faithful to His chosen
people, the Jews, by keeping His promise to Abraham. Every Jewish boy and girl would know the
history of Israel, and how God has blessed them.
God
chooses ordinary and lowly people to do His work, so that they will remain faithful
and dependent on Him, and not be full of themselves and feel self
important. We should each seek to find
out what God wants us to do and do it.
Next week we can think of the baby that Mary had, and how twenty one centuries later His name is still known worldwide, respected and adored, and how He has influenced millions of the most brilliant minds of men and women.
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