Fourth Sunday in Advent

Fourth Sunday in Advent (C)

December 22, 2024

Text: Luke 1:39-56

            The Blessed Virgin Mary is a Lady.  I mean that in the highest sense of the word.  Not simply as a vocative street address toward an unknown woman, as in, “Hey Lady!”  Lady, as in “Ladies and Gentlemen,” comes closer to the idea.  An aristocratic Lady of rank among the British may be more like it, albeit with two very important qualifications: Mary is no aristocrat (she’s a poor virgin girl from Nazareth, betrothed to a common laborer, St. Joseph), and her ladyship is not an accident of birth.  Then, too, the ladyship of Mary is really beyond all of these definitions. She is the Lady par excellence.  Why?  Is it her virtue?  That is certainly a part of it, though she is not sinless.  She, too, needed the redemption and forgiveness of her Son.  Is it her faith?  Yes, absolutely, but even more than that.  She is highly favored, the most highly favored Lady (as we just sang), not because of any merit or worthiness intrinsic to her, but because the Lord is with her.  And that, in a very particular way.  He’s in her womb.  Conceived by the Holy Spirit.  The eternal Son of the Father.  The Savior of the world.  Mary’s Son is Mary’s Lord.  And He comes to her by grace.  And He comes to us through her by grace.  We are most highly favored in her being most highly favored.

            Now, I didn’t issue a trigger warning at the beginning of this sermon, although I probably should have, not only because I’m once again making the politically perilous claim that there is, objectively speaking, such a thing as a woman, a biological reality, determined, not by the woman herself, but by the God who created her.  And that there is a model of femininity, a woman women should aspire to be; namely, blessed Mary.  But also, I know you Lutherans have an allergic reaction to saying too much good about the Mother of our Lord, and, as a result, you say far too little.  But the Bible doesn’t say but little, so you shouldn’t, either.  Once again, you’ve got to get over your “that’s too Catholic” absurdity.  Hopefully that’s enough said about that!  Mary is the Mother of God, as the Church has called her for centuries.  Does that title trouble you?  Let’s think this through.  Is Jesus God?  Yes.  Is Mary His mother?  Yes.  Okay then.  A Christian probably ought to hold the Mother of God in high esteem.  Right?  Good.  No, you shouldn’t pray to her.  No, you shouldn’t worship her.  But you should honor her.  You should imitate her.  You should give thanks for her faith and her example.  You should recognize that she’s a member of your Church, that she joins you at the Altar of her Son every Lord’s Day, with all the company of heaven.  You should meditate on these realities.  So let’s take this in order: Mary’s virtue, Mary’s faith, and Mary as most highly favored Lady.

            As a woman of virtue, Mary is the model, to be imitated by Christian women.  Men, too, in many ways, of course, but just like we held out St. John the Baptist as the model of masculinity last week, this week, we’re holding forth Mary.  First of all, she is chaste.  We know that because she is a virgin at the time of our Lord’s conception and birth.  Now, I know, and you know, there is debate about whether Mary remains “ever virgin.”  That is, whether Mary and Joseph ever consummated their marriage, whether she has other children, and all of that.  That has always seemed to me an awkward question, to say the least.  Do you ask your mother the details of her intimacy?  Okay, let’s not worry about that with Mary, either.  Let’s just give thanks that we have in Mary a woman who keeps the treasure of her sexuality within the bonds of God’s order.  She is a virgin at least until marriage (in fact, at least until the birth of Jesus), and what happens between her and Joseph thereafter is between her and Joseph and God, as ought to be the case for all married couples.  Now, we must say here that if you, man or woman, have not kept the virtue of chastity, as Mary did, do not despair.  What should you do?  You know it.  Repent of your sins.  Confess them to God.  Be absolved.  I encourage you to make use of private Confession and Absolution with your pastor.  And know that your sins are forgiven.  All of them.  Completely.  Freely.  For Jesus’ sake.  Now, it is never too late.  Take Mary as your model from this day forward.  If you were not chaste then, be chaste now. 

            What other virtues should we imitate of Mary?  How about humility?  She never puts herself first.  She puts God first, her Son first, and so us first.  How about modesty?  That goes along with her chastity.  Her behavior, her raiment, her lack of vanity.  Her beauty is, as Peter will later write, not to be found in braided hair or splendid jewelry or clothing, but in the hidden person of the heart, the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit (1 Peter 3:3-4).  How about her longsuffering, patience, and courage?  In the face of people, who talk: “She’s pregnant!  And she and Joseph are only betrothed!  Whose child is it?  Her parents must be so ashamed!”  In the face of Joseph’s determination to put her away quietly.  Well, at least he doesn’t want to stone her, as is his right under the Law.  In the face of government compulsion to travel to Bethlehem for a census, for taxes, when here she is, about to be delivered.  No room for them in the inn.  A stable for a birthing room.  A manger for a crib.  In the face of a midnight flight to Egypt to save the Child’s life, while Herod’s henchmen slaughter every male child of Bethlehem, two and under.  How about her submission to God’s will, undertaking this divine mission to be the God-bearer, the mother of the Savior, in spite of the danger, in spite of the hardship, in spite of the impending heartbreak of it all?  How about her loving care for her husband, Joseph?  For her Child, Jesus?  For His brothers and sisters?  For Elizabeth, John, and Zechariah during her visit?  Etc., etc.  We can never say enough good about Mary.  Mark that, dear Lutherans.  She is the personification of the Proverbs 31 woman, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, you have some homework tonight.  Read the Chapter.  Now, trigger warning!  I’m about to tell a politically incorrect story about the kind of wife a young man should desire.  When I was in college, my pre-seminary brothers and I would often talk about our desire to find a Proverbs 31 woman for a wife.  We would pray for that.  (Oh, how God has answered my prayers, all thanks and praise to Him!)  Young men, you should pray for that, that if God so wills you to be married, your future spouse is a Proverbs 31 woman.  Somebody like Mary!    

            Then, Mary’s faith.  Of course, her virtue flows from her faith.  It is the fruit of faith.  But look at the extraordinary way her faith manifests.  She believes the angel’s word!  She believes God!  Though she knows how these things work, getting pregnant.  “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34; ESV).  She knows the impossibility of this miracle according to the natural order.  Still, she believes.  She takes for granted that the angel’s explanation is true, the Holy Spirit coming upon her, the power of the Most High overshadowing her, her own Child, the Son of God (note the Trinity in action!).  And she says yes to it.  The whole plan.  The scandal.  The pain.  The cross.  “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (v. 38).  She says yes, because she believes that God will carry her through.  She believes He knows better than she does.  She believes that this Child will be her Savior, and the Savior of the world.

            Now, you may be saying to yourself, “That’s wonderful.  Mary is great.  But I’m not.  I know I should follow her example in all of this.  But I haven’t.  And I don’t.”  My friend, that is absolutely true.  What are you to do?  Do not despair.  You know what I’m about to say.  Repent of your sins.  Confess them to God.  Be absolved.  Your sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of the Father, and Mary’s Son.  Take her for your example now.  And where you fail, repent, and know that your whole life is covered in God’s mercy for Christ’s sake. 

            Again, do you really think Mary is sinless?  Of course she isn’t.  She needed her Son’s salvation as much as any one of us.  What makes her, then, God’s most highly favored Lady?  Not her own righteousness.  Not her own merit or worthiness.  No, the gracious, merciful, justifying presence of her Son.  And see, in this, she’s actually the icon of something much bigger than her.  She is the icon of the Church.  Which is to say, you!  You, dear Church of God…  you are the most highly favored Lady.  In spite of all your sins and failures.  In spite of all that is messy, and weak, and broken, and wrong in this assembly, and with the whole Church of God in this world.  Not by your own merit or worthiness.  Not because you’re good at being God’s people (you’re no better than Israel in the Old Testament).  But by the gracious, merciful, justifying presence of Mary’s Son, Jesus, in your midst, you are God’s most highly favored Lady.  After all, Christ is present in His Word and Sacrament, with and for you.  And that is to say, you, dear Church, carry the Lord Jesus in your womb.  And where you carry Him, and speak His greeting, babes of God, young and old, born and unborn, leap for joy, rejoicing in the presence of their Savior.

            That is why Mary always and only points you to her Son.  She always and only directs your eyes and your ears toward Him.  As she said to the servants at the wedding in Cana, “Do whatever he tells you” (John 2:5).  As she sings to us in our Holy Gospel: He is the One who looks on the humble estate of His servant… Mary, the Church, you… doing great things for you and bestowing mercy.  He is the One showing strength with His arm… the arm once affixed to the cross, but now risen and vigorous… scattering the proud in the imagination of their hearts, bringing down the mighty from their thrones, and lifting up the lowly, repentant sinners.  He is the One who fills the hungry with good things, and sends those who are full of it empty away.  He helps His servant Israel… Mary, the Church, you… in remembrance of His mercy.  In accordance with His Promise.  So here He is in the flesh, for you.  He was born of Mary for this.  To suffer.  To be nailed to the cross.  To die for you, for the forgiveness of all of your sins.  To be buried in a tomb for you.  To rise again for you, the very flesh and blood born of Mary.  To come to you.  To baptize you into Himself.  To speak Himself into you, the voice of the Man, Mary’s Son.  The Voice of God, the Word of our Father.  To fill you, O hungry ones, with Himself: His body, His blood in the Holy Sacrament.  To give you His eternal life.  His resurrection life.  To raise you, bodily, from the dead, as He is risen, bodily, from the dead.  Receiving all of that, by grace alone, what does that make you, dear Church?  The most highly favored Lady. 

            Mary is a Lady.  You, dear Church, are a Lady.  In the highest sense of the Word.  Follow Mother Mary.  Do as she does.  Believe as she believes.  Women, receive her as your model.  Aspire to be like her.  Men, desire your women to be like her, and encourage and support them in that.  Dear Christian ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, be Christians like her.  Be who God created you to be.  Be who God redeemed you to be.  And like St. Mary, bear Christ wherever you go, singing His praise.  In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.