Dear friends, yesterday I spent the morning in meetings and much of the afternoon trying to get out of the parking lot at Park Meadows Shopping Center.  I wonder if the first Christmas was even the slightest as hectic as this one.  Here are some words to consider:

          Those lines ought to get the attention of Lutherans at worship!  "Wrong church, Pastor Bob, that's not us!"  Of course that's true, but there has always been something fascinating about Mary and also about this mysterious thing called the Rosary.  These words have often become the object of scorn among non-Catholics, but few of us realize how biblical they are.

          It was the angel Gabriel, great messenger of God and protector of people, who saluted Mary at her annunciation, "Hail, Mary, full of grace!  The Lord is with thee." (Luke 1:28)  And it was cousin Elizabeth who said later, "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." (Luke 1:42)  These verses are the inspired Word of God, words that honored the expectant mother of the promised Messiah, the mother of the Christ who would save the world.

          The last words of the Rosary, however, are unsettling, for they're like a prayer:  "Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death."  Wait a minute, we think, we pray to God, not people, and no matter how good we think someone has been, God alone is worthy of prayer.  How, we ask, can Mary help anyone from the grave?

          Ever since realizing Christ was God's Son, Christians have wondered what to do with Mary.  True, she was highly honored by God to be the birthmother of the Christ.  But how far do we go in honoring her?  What do we know of her and what's the right way to treat her?

          Mary was born in Nazareth, a village of 300 people or so near the Sea of Galilee.  These 300 people were from several clans whose ancestors had returned from exile only 150 years before.  Those released captives had been waiting long and hard for the redemption of Israel, so much so that they even named their village "Nezer - oth," "branch town" as some have translated it, the village from which the "Branch of the tree of Jesse" would come according to Isaiah 11:1.

          Mary was a descendant of King David through her father's side.  Her fiance Joseph was a distant cousin, probably born in Bethlehem, and also part of David's lineage through his mother's side.  Her name comes from "marah", Hebrew for "bitter", very much how she felt when her son died.  Mary was in her teens and Joseph in his 20's when Gabriel visited them with the news.

          Most all we know of Mary is related to Jesus' infancy.  After the annunciation, she visited Elizabeth in the Judean hills down south, and then returned home to settle affairs with Joseph and their families.  There were undoubtedly problems trying to explain the legitimacy of the coming birth, so when the edict for a census came from Caesar Augustus, she and Joseph eagerly set out for Bethlehem as soon as they could.

          After the birth and all that happened that first year, we hear nothing of Mary until Jesus is twelve years old.  Again the family was back in Jerusalem, and Mary was too busy (probably with her other children) to notice her eldest son was missing.  After a few days of looking and a gentle scolding, we hear little of Mary until her Son is grown and they attend a wedding together.  Later there were a few times when she and His siblings went to caution Him that He'd gone too far with His radical teachings.  We know she was present for part of the crucifixion, but the last biblical word about her is in Acts 1:14 where she is identified as part of the small group of early believers.  Then Mary disappears from biblical history.

          But not from church history!  People just can't leave her alone.  There's something about Mary being favored by God that has moved Christians throughout history to honor her beyond her station.  They have elevated her from honored mother to venerated saint to near-equality with God.

          When Constantine ordered the whole empire to become Christian in the Fourth Century, thousands of pagans abandoned their belief in multiple gods.  But Mary gave them a good excuse to keep looking.  Led by Constantine's mother Helena, Christians began pushing Mary up the ladder of honor.  These early half-Christian, half-pagans prayed and venerated anyone close to Jesus, figuring if you can't have more than one god, maybe you can deify those next to Him.

          In 431 AD Mary was labelled "Mother of God," and in 649 granted status of "Perpetual Virgin."  Mary's climb began to mold her in the image of her Son.  She was declared free of actual sin by the Council of Trent in 1545, like Jesus, and in 1854 she was decreed to have been conceived by the Holy Spirit, without original sin, like Jesus.  Finally just 50 years ago in 1950, it was decreed she ascended bodily into heaven, again, just like her Son.

          It's only been during the past few years that Mary achieved the apex of her elevation, being publicly and officially declared "Co-Redemptress" with Christ by Pope John Paul II.  In other words, some in the church now claim that we're granted heaven as an act of grace by both Jesus and Mary.  This places her right up there with the Father, Son, Mother and Holy Spirit - a "Holy Quartet."  No place higher than that!  Fortunately few Christians anywhere have taken this last proclamation seriously.  But again it shows people don't know what to do with Mary.

          Now please understand this is not Catholic-bashing.  Orthodoxy pushed her this high long ago.  We need to know that many Christians have made more of Mary than she is.  Officially, Mary is not worshipped, but she does have 17 major yearly feasts dedicated to her and millions do pray to her daily.  Some believe that if she does hear their prayers, she's more likely to influence her Son, who would then influence the Father to get what they want, rather like a holy chess game.  Aside from this being just plain wrong, it's also too much like politics.  Belief in the super-humanity of Mary is just a lot of rationalization, but it does not make Catholics into pagans.  Like other groups in the church, they're Christians with a lot of unnecessary baggage.

          God's Word plainly says Jesus is the only One who intercedes for us with the Father:  "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (1 Timothy 2:5)  Mary was a humble servant of God, a great person.  She'd be embarrassed if she knew what the church has done to her.  "I am the Lord's servant," she said, "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1:38)

          Prayer to anyone other than God borders on idolatry.  Martin Luther always honored her as mother of God, but made it quite clear she was no better or worse than anyone else, yet worthy of honor because of what she did.  Luther, who saw the terrible abuses of the church, still considered her an object of human affection because of the role she played in the story of salvation.

          You and I need to know what to do about Mary.  We should thank God for her, not as a super-mom, but as a vessel who brought the Gospel into human form.  She was and should always be highly favored, but not an object of worship.  She is right up there with the Apostles and St. Paul, but she's also one of us poor miserable sinners in need of salvation.  No man or woman, no matter how holy, can get along without Christ.  Indeed, the more humble and devout God's men or women become, the more they acknowledge their need for Him.  Only the fool thinks he or she is greater than others or equal with God.

          Let's give Mary her due.  Sometimes Lutherans and Protestants do not give her the respect she deserves.  No other human came so close to God, but was still in need of God.  No other woman carried the Son of God, Who then carried the cross for her.  No mother ever kissed the face of God.  No human had such a close look at His infancy, childhood, and growing years, and no one else in all of history has been so honored.  Know who's been on the cover of Time Magazine more than any other?  Not Jesus, but His mother.  Even the secular media sees something special in Mary.  She will always be held up as a most unique person in all of history.

          And what would Mary tell us today as we near the end of Y2K?  Probably that we should listen to her Son.  His Father once said, "This is my Son... Listen to him!" (Matthew 17:5), and that's what His mother would say, too.  Her Son came to forgive us and grant us hope for life in God's presence.  He was born of a young virgin who cared for Him like any mother would.  He alternately worried her and made her proud, but He also died for her sins, and rose again for her sins and ours.

          Many a mother has saved her son, but no mother has been saved by her Son.  Mary takes her place amid the entire mass of humanity that needs salvation only her Son can give.  She will always be honored, but today her soul rests with all the saints until the resurrection, awaiting the judgment and life with God forever.  May we all rejoice at the gift God has given us in this fine woman, and may we all be ready by faith to meet her Son in eternity.  Amen

Copyright © 2000 by Pastor Bob Tasler.  All rights reserved.