Advent IV: Year B: 23 December 2017

St. James Episcopal Church, Clinton NY The Rev. Gary Cyr, Rector

Mary reminds us that we too are Theotokos – God bearers.

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 Romans 16:25-27 Luke 1:26-38 Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26

For most of the Church year, reformed churches (aka, the Protestants) don’t have a clue what to do with or say about Mary, if they have anything to say at all. Mostly, beyond the nativity, she’s ignored.

In most reformed traditions, it’s all about Jesus and everything else is superfluous to that understanding.

If anything, Mary, who just happens to be Jesus’s mother, is simply an appendage to his story. Outside of that reality, she’s relegated to the sidelines of theology, which, I believe, is very unfortunate.

Now this is where my Roman Catholic roots will start to show. Personally, Mary is an important icon for me. Here’s this poor, adolescent, Palestinian Jew, pregnant and unmarried, striving to understand what is happening in her life. She is of little consequence to society, and the religious customs of her time would’ve been harsh upon a woman in her situation. After all, there’s little recourse for women in a patriarchal society under the subjugation of a foreign imperial overlord. It’s simply remarkable, in my mind, that she not only survives, but goes on to share in the life of one who wears the mantle of Messiah – anointed of God.

If the gospel reading is any indication, Mary was a willing and compliant participant in God’s desire. She, and her cousin Elizabeth – if I’m to take the story at face-value – are pawns in God’s plans.

This is difficult for me to accept. Acquiescing to divine providence is one thing, passivity is another.

As any women who has gone through a pregnancy can attest: it’s no simple matter to carry a child to term, much less experience the birthing process. It wasn’t a simple act of faith on Mary’s part to say “yes” to God, though the biblical narrative implies it was. It was an act of courage and fortitude to willingly participate with God in bringing to life a child that God determines will be God’s Self dwelling

1 among us. Thus, Mary is not some appendage to the Jesus narrative relegated to the sidelines, but a vital and central component to the story deserving our attention and admiration, which is blessedly encapsulated in the prayer of Mary.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

What a wonderful and biblically sound rendering of today’s gospel reading. Gabriel’s, and

Elizabeth’s voice, ring out in four wonderfully simple and elegant lines of poetry. However, it’s the next stanza that causes some reformed theologians’ heads to spin as well as those of other faith traditions:

Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death.

It is incredulous to some that God can be born. The whole incarnation is a huge stumbling block for many non-Christians. Even some reform Christian faith communities mumble and stumble their way through the idea that Mary is the mother of God. It’s so simple to just erase her role in this by saying she is the mother of Jesus rather than the mother of Immanuel. We in the West, seem to fall all over ourselves trying to understand Mary when this prayer captures it so well. But it’s the Eastern Orthodox

Church that fully gives voice to Mary’s role in the divine plan of salvation.

In most, if not all, Icons of Mary from the Eastern tradition, she is holding the Christ child – either as an infant or adolescent. The child Jesus is either cradled in her lap, resting in her arms, or sitting on her leg. However, she and Jesus are depicted, she bears Jesus to the world. From pregnancy to crucifixion Mary is present, not just figuratively, but personally and intimately. Here, she is not on the sidelines. The Eastern Church even has a theological name for her: Theotokos, a Greek word translated as God Bearer. In other words, Mary is the one who bears Immanuel, the Christ child, to the world.

Her act of accepting God’s invitation thus becomes one of courage and defiance. Mary defies her religious custom and tradition. She is pregnant before marriage. A punishable act in her day and time.

Joseph has to be convinced to stay by her side and not dismiss her quietly. All the normal expectations

2 are thrown out the window. The fortitude she shows is stunning and I can only guess at what it must’ve been like for her to face the consequences of her yes to God. History will never fully explain to us what

Mary endured. We can only speculate. But she did endure, and persevered even, such that she bore a child who would forever change the world.

Today is Advent IV, and we are reminded, through Mary, of our commitment to God, our yes to

God’ presence in our lives such that we too are called to bear Christ into the world. Mary reminds us that we too are Theotokos – God bearers. That is why she’s an important icon for me personally, and why

Advent is such a special moment in the life of the Church. Advent is a time of personal preparation to receive the gift of Love that comes to dwell amongst us and be with us. That is the message of Christmas, and Advent, in particularly today, reminds us of our need to be prepared to receive this gift and to carry that Love out into the world. To bear it as Mary bore it – with courage and grace. In this way, the prayer of Mary becomes our prayer as we join our voices with hers and say – Maranatha, come, O Christ, and dwell with us and be among us. Alleluia!

AMEN

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