Mary, Mother of God.
Most churches I’ve attended pay some sort of deference to the church calendar. Even churches that do away with the traditional seasons of Advent and Lent, still celebrate Christmas and Easter. The church calendar provides a rhythm for our worship together as Chrsitians. It provides an outward unity in the church which can be beneficial as well. Christians across the world are contemplating the incarnation of Jesus Christ in the womb of the Virgin Mary.
It’s been said, often in hushed tones and in small circles, that one thing Protestant Churches lack, and Lutheran churches are not exempt, is a biblical understanding of the Virgin Mary. That is not to say, we don’t talk about Mary. Many Lutheran churches confess weekly that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creed. Every year at Christmas, our children’s programs depict the Virgin Mary and we sing songs such as, What Child is This? which refers to Mary.
But what do we really think of her? That is the question I’ve been pondering some since the beginning of September.
On Wednesday evenings, our congregation has been using an order of worship called Vespers. It is not found in the Ambassador Hymnal, but is found in the majority of Lutheran hymnals I’ve been able to collect. After the sermon, the congregation sings a Canticle (A song from scripture from somewhere other than the Psalms). The most common Canticles that are Nuc Dimmitis (Simeon’s Song from Luke 2:29-32) and The Magnificat (Mary’s Song from Luke 1:46-55.)
The Magnificat is a beautiful song. It begins with Mary singing about her reaction to God’s grace in her life. Next, she confesses (agrees with God) what God has done for her in her humble estate and then says, “From now on all generations will call me blessed.” The rest of the song recounts God’s work throughout history.
Just previous to The Magnificat, Elizabeth exclaimed, “Blessed are you (Mary) among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! … And blessed is she who believed that there would be fulfillment from what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
Continuing to work our way backwards, when the angel, Gabriel, visited Mary, he greeted her by calling her, “O favored one,” and continued, “The Lord is with you!”
Now, I know what you may be feeling a little uncomfortable with the direction we are going right now. I understand. But let us observe that nothing said thus far is not directly from Scripture. This is how God talks about Mary. To say what God says about something is simply to agree with Him whose ways are above our ways (Isaiah 55:9).
But, I’d like to make another observation here as well.
Protestants typically recognize the inconsistencies with Scripture that are made in Roman Catholic teachings about Mary. One of these inconsistencies with scripture is the doctrine of the immaculate conception. Roman Catholicism does not deny their inconsistency with scripture, it seems. For the Roman Catholic Church, it is a matter of authority. They hold up Canon Law (church councils and papal decrees) alongside scripture as authoritative for the church. In the Council of Trent (AD 1563), the Council sets Mary apart from all other human beings. Only Mary and Jesus, they say, were humans who were born without sin: Jesus by His virgin birth and Mary by her so-called immaculate conception. To show that this is the case, they do not refer to scripture, but to Pope Sixtus IV decree (AD 1476).
In AD 1854, Pope Pius IX cemented the doctrine of the immaculate conception in his Papal Encyclical, The Immaculate Conception. In doing so, Pius does not point to scripture, but to previous encyclicals and ancient teachers. According to Kathleen Coyle and her book, Mary in the Christian Tradition, even the Archbishop of Paris in 1854, said that the Immaculate Conception is not in the New Testament and cannot be deduced from it.
Martin Chemnitz, in Examination of the Council of Trent, Vol. 1, points out that the scriptures and the ancient church do not actually teach these things. Instead, Chemnitz points out that the Roman Catholics misuse the words of illustrious teachers, such as St. Augustine, to fit their predetermined doctrinal position. This, by the way, is something that we are all prone to do and should be on alert to guard against it.
I’m not going to go into much more detail here, but I think much of the neglect of the study of Mary in the church today is reactionary. The common imagery that is used is that of a road. If the Roman Catholic Church’s teaching of Mary is in the left hand ditch, then Protestants are most likely in the right hand ditch.
Mary holds a special place in scripture, as we have seen above. In his Genesis Commentary, Martin Luther taught that Eve, when she gave birth to Cain, thought that she had given birth to the Lord incarnate. Then, Mary actually does! The seed of the woman finally does crush the head of the serpent.
Maybe it is time for us as Protestants to climb out of the ditch and see Mary for who she is in scripture: A young girl who is favored by God. A woman who is blessed with a quiet and unshakable faith. A devoted mother who loved her Son. A sinner who is saved by the blood of Jesus Christ, her own Son, the Son of God.
