August 15, 2021
St. Luke 1:39-56
August 15th should be Mother’s Day for Christians. Why? Because Mary is a better model to mothers, unmarried women, and young girls than anything Hallmark can put on a card or the world will teach on screens or in classrooms.
We aren’t worshipping Mary today. When the church is robed in white she is dressing herself up for Jesus. When the church wears white it’s always and only for the bridegroom. The Church is white at Christmas for His birth, at Epiphany for His being God’s Son, at Easter for His resurrection, and at Ascension for His Glorious reign over all things.
However, as with all the Saints we learn from Mary of Jesus and what Jesus does to a person, in the case of Mary, a young unmarried woman, who is pregnant, soon to be a wife and mother.
Mary had just been visited by the Angel Gabriel. She had been told God chose her to be the mother of His Son. She, a virgin, would conceive a child. She asked how this could be and she was given a sign from God that nothing was impossible – even Elizabeth, her old barren cousin, was six months pregnant. God chose Mary as a gift. Mary was not more pure, more beautiful, or more righteous than any other woman. She was as sinful as every other teenage girl. God chose her. It was all Him, all gift. God was going to give Mary His Son. Jesus of Nazareth would have Mary’s DNA and live in Mary’s womb. To all of that Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word.”
There is no greater work of God than the Son of God becoming human – His incarnation, His en-flesh-ment. There is no greater sign of His grace, His gift-giving nature, than that the Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and was made man. The Son of God is now human and He is human for you. You are His highest creation. You are His beloved and He doesn’t want to lose you to your sin, your adultery with false gods, your slavery to death and the Devil. He becomes a man to save man, a human to redeem us from our selfish and slavish corruption to become free servants of the Most High God, masters over our sin, death and the devil.
Do you remember how God promised in the very beginning to save humanity from ourselves? God promised Satan that a Savior would crush the serpent’s head. That promise was spoken for Eve, that promise was to a woman, who also happened to be the first sinner, who went against her husband’s words to eat what was not given to eat. That Savior would be the seed of a woman. That Savior would be a son of a woman. To the first sinner, a woman, God gave the glory of giving birth to the Savior – something no man could do. God would use what was beautiful and unique about a woman – her womb and her seed to bring the Savior of the world into the world. This is likely what Saint Paul is referring to when He says to Timothy that “(woman) will be be saved through childbearing.”
Every Hebrew woman from Eve to Mary, every time she became pregnant, hoped that this child might be the Savior from sin. Eve thought her very first son might be the Lord. Mary knew her first son was the Lord. Every conception of every child ought to delight us by reminding us God became man. How far have we fallen when it comes to pregnancy and childbirth? Having children today is seen as a hindrance. Birthrates among Christians has declined. Wives and mothers are the considered least among women in the world. And Bruce Jenner is considered a great woman. How far have we fallen?
Saint Luke tells us Mary went with haste to Elizabeth. Why with haste? To see if Elizabeth was really pregnant. To help her older cousin until the baby came. To receive help. Mary was a likely a young teen and she had no idea what to expect when you are expecting. Mary went because she believed God’s Word of promise. Mary had faith and faith seeks God’s signs – so Mary wanted to see Elizabeth pregnant. Faith leads to humility – the humility to help others and the humility to seek help. Some churches refer to Mary as the queen of heaven, but you’ll never hear Mary making such boasts. What she has is given by God and what she is given is not for herself but for others. She’s not texting her friends how great she is or snapchatting pictures of Gabriel. She’s going in haste to serve and to receive help. It’s all about her child who is not her child alone, but God’s Son. She goes to work to help Elizabeth in those last three months. She goes because it isn’t about Mary. It is about Jesus and about Elizabeth.
If God created you female then you come from a long line of cherished women to whom God gave something good and beautiful that He would use in salvation. You alone can be a wife and a mother. And that’s how you go about it as a daughter of God. You get married first and then you have sex. Eve was married to Adam. Elizabeth was married to Zechariah. Mary was betrothed to Joseph – God would not put His Son in a place without a father – because He created the family and what He creates is best. A man and woman are necessary for the creation of a child and a husband and wife are necessary for the growth and life of a child. The government is the worst father ever invented. You do not want the state raising your child.
See from Mary’s visit to Elizabeth all that God worked. He worked faith in Mary’s heart to believe and receive the Son of God in her womb. The faith worked by God created humility – humility to serve Elizabeth, humility to magnify God’s name not her own name, humility to seek the signs God promised. When Jesus (in the womb of Mary) arrived at Elizabeth’s home, the Holy Spirit revealed that Elizabeth was now in the company of God’s mother. Jesus caused her to believe and confess. The baby in Elizabeth’s womb was also affected by Jesus – that unborn baby, who would be named John, believed in Jesus, recognized His Savior, and leaped in the womb.
This is what happens in the presence of Jesus. You are given faith and by faith you are made humble, by faith you seek God, by faith you serve your neighbor, by faith you confess not yourself but the greatness of the Lord. In the presence of Jesus an unborn infant is given faith and confesses His Savior. Infants can believe in Jesus – that’s why we baptize them into the strong name of Jesus. So learn from Mary, not about Mary, but of Jesus. Seek Him in His signs – in His Word and in His Water and in His Supper. Believe in Him as your Savior and live humbly for others with all that God has given you. In the name of Jesus. Amen.