 |
| Ethiopian Icon of St. Mary the Virgin |
9 But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of thee in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.” 14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.
- Genesis 3:9-15, 20, RSVCE
Sing the Lord a new song, a song of wonder at his doings; how his own right hand, his own holy arm, brought him victory. 2 The Lord has given proof of his saving power, has vindicated his just dealings, for all the nations to see; 3 has remembered his gracious promise, and kept faith with the house of Israel; no corner of the world but has witnessed how our God can save. 4 In God’s honour let all the earth keep holiday; let all be mirth and rejoicing and festal melody! 5 Praise the Lord with the harp, with harp and psaltery’s music; 6 with trumpets of metal, and the music of the braying horn! Keep holiday in the presence of the Lord, our King; 7 the sea astir, and all that the sea holds, the world astir, and all that dwell on it; 8 the rivers echoing their applause, the hills, too, rejoicing to see the Lord come. He comes to judge the earth; brings the world justice, to every race of men its due award.
- Psalm 97 (98), KNOX
Blessed be that God, that Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us, in Christ, with every spiritual blessing, higher than heaven itself. 4 He has chosen us out, in Christ, before the foundation of the world, to be saints, to be blameless in his sight, for love of him; 5 marking us out beforehand (so his will decreed) to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ. 6 Thus he would manifest the splendour of that grace by which he has taken us into his favour in the person of his beloved Son. In him it was our lot to be called, singled out beforehand to suit his purpose (for it is he who is at work everywhere, carrying out the designs of his will); 12 we were to manifest his glory, we who were the first to set our hope in Christ;
- Ephesians 1:3-6, 11-12, KNOX
26 When the sixth month came, God sent the angel Gabriel to a city of Galilee called Nazareth, 27 where a virgin dwelt, betrothed to a man of David’s lineage; his name was Joseph, and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 Into her presence the angel came, and said, Hail, thou who art full of grace; the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.[a] 29 She was much perplexed at hearing him speak so, and cast about in her mind, what she was to make of such a greeting. 30 Then the angel said to her, Mary, do not be afraid; thou hast found favour in the sight of God. 31 And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call him Jesus. 32 He shall be great, and men will know him for the Son of the most High; the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the house of Jacob eternally; 33 his kingdom shall never have an end. 34 But Mary said to the angel, How can that be, since I have no knowledge of man? 35 And the angel answered her, The Holy Spirit will come upon thee, and the power of the most High will overshadow thee. Thus this holy offspring of thine shall be known for the Son of God. 36 See, moreover, how it fares with thy cousin Elizabeth; she is old, yet she too has conceived a son; she who was reproached with barrenness is now in her sixth month, 37 to prove that nothing can be impossible with God. 38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; let it be unto me according to thy word. And with that the angel left her.
- Luke 1:26-38, KNOX
Sermon for the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, December 8, 2009
Solemn Mass
via The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin
One senses a strong pull in a great deal of Christian writing, teaching and preaching for Jesus’ mother to have a role and an importance in salvation history beyond the New Testament record. The portrait of Mary across the gospels is well-known – in part, because there really isn’t very much.
In Matthew, she is named in the birth narrative, but she is an embarrassment, with child before marriage.[1] In Mark, Mary is identified as Jesus’ mother early in the narrative.[2] After his death she sees where her son’s body is laid.[3]
In Luke, she is the focus of the annunciation story and not an embarrassment. She is “full of grace.” Luke records her as speaking to Jesus himself only once in this gospel. He is twelve and she and Joseph find him in the temple, “Son, why have you treated us so?”[4] At the beginning of Luke’s second book, she will be mentioned once as being in prayer with Jesus’ disciples.[5]
In John, she is known, without her name being given, as the mother of Jesus. She is with him at the beginning of his ministry at Capernaum[6] and she is with him at the cross.[7]
This morning I went pretty carefully through Luke. I was looking to see what kind of people turn to Jesus, what kind of people are able to accept his healing, his teaching. I was surprised that are only a handful conversations between Jesus and anyone seeking his help.
The first is a leper. Jesus does not hesitate to touch him and to heal him.[8] A centurion will come to Jesus seeking healing for his slave.[9] One father will come for healing for his daughter;[10] another will come for his son.[11]
A group of ten lepers will be healed because they follow the instruction Jesus gives them. When an insistent blind man engages Jesus, Jesus says to him, , “‘What do you want me to do for you?’ He said, ‘Lord, let me receive my sight.’ And Jesus says to him, ‘Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.’”[12]
The last person Jesus encounters in Luke for healing is not sick – and he cannot even get close enough to speak to Jesus, but he wants at least to see him. And as Jesus comes by, it is Jesus, who speaks to the man Zacchaeus. That night Jesus eats at the man’s house and proclaims, “Today salvation has come to this house . . . For the Son of man came to seek and to save the lost.”[13]
Why can Mary say, “Yes”? My own sense is that she is more like those who sought Jesus, than like those who thought themselves perfect.
In the history of Christian devotion, I am well aware of how a Mary of simple perfection has helped make God’s love real for countless people who have suffered. Of that I am very respectful. But it seems to me that Mary’s role as mother itself, mother of Jesus, is so great that I want to say almost nothing more about it. For me, Mary is part of the narrative that guards the reality of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Her life unfolds, as yours and mine does, as part of the history of the kingdom of God, a kingdom still unfolding in time and place.
In 2004, the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission published a called, Mary: Grace and Hope in Christ. The members of the commission were seeking ways to see really what Anglicans and Roman Catholics have in common and to see if there were ways to have a “re-reception” – a newish word for me – a new way to envision, to understand, how we may have gotten stuck and thereby reveal how we might move forward.
The document is available online for free from the Church’s website – www.episcopalchurch.org. I got the sense the authors were working very hard to find a way forward, perhaps too hard.
I think there is always going to a divide about Mary among Christians simply because we know so little. A large part of me at this point in my life, doesn’t seem to need or want any kind of perfect Mary. So often it seems to me that people who are unbroken by life simply can’t appreciate God’s presence in this world.
There are so many needless deaths, so much cruelty in this world, that if God can plan completely for Mary, what about the children who will die today without love. In some ways, Satan is always bringing me back to the problem of evil. And the answer to that, if there is an answer, it is the love and life God shares with humankind by giving us the Son of Mary.
+ In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[1] Matthew 1:1-25[2] Mark 6:3[3] Mark 15:47[4] Luk3 2:48[5] Acts 1:14[6] John 2:1-12[7] John 19:26[8] Luke 5:12-14[9] Luke 7:1-10[10] Luke 8:40-56[11] Luke 9:37-43a[12] Luke 18:35-43[13] Luke 19:1-10
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder