Sermon manuscript:
It is kind of hard for a protestant to observe the festival
that we are observing today. Whereas Catholics and Eastern Orthodox love their
ideas of who Mary is, protestants are a little leery of talking about her. That
is understandable. Both of these confessions go too far with their devotion for
Mary. They say things about her that aren’t true. Then, because of these false
beliefs, they often believe in Mary more firmly than they might believe in
Jesus or God.
So what do these other churches teach about Mary? First of
all they believe that Mary was immaculately conceived. The word “immaculate”
means “pure.” So by immaculate conception they mean that Mary was born without
sin. In a way, it’s like she is a second Eve. Eve was created without sin, but
by her sin, she and Adam contaminated our human race with sin. Mary, as the
second Eve, is without sin, so that she can conceive Jesus, the second Adam,
without sin.
Although the Catholics go too far with this, ascribing
sinlessness to Mary, there is a bit of truth here. It is true that Jesus was
immaculately conceived. The human nature that Jesus inherited from Eve was not
contaminated by original sin, the way that all of us have been conceived in sin
by the sinful seed of our fathers. The Scriptures say of Jesus that “he knew no
sin.” He received everything from her that being a human being means, but he
was not born with original sin. He was pure from the moment of his conception.
When the Catholics ascribe this to Mary, they are going
beyond what we can know from the Scriptures. The Scriptures do not say that
Mary was born without sin. In fact, the Catholics take it one step further and
say that Mary’s mother, who is not even named or mentioned in the Scriptures,
was made to be without sin.
Although Mary’s sinlessness is not taught by the Scriptures,
Pope Pius IX declared in 1854 that Mary’s immaculate conception was the
official Catholic teaching. In order to be a Catholic in good standing, it is
necessary to believe that she was conceived without sin. In 1870, at the first
Vatican Council, this teaching was affirmed when the council declared that
official statements of the Pope are infallible. These are known as ex cathedra statements. There have only
been two times when the Pope has made use of this so-called ability. The first
was declaring the immaculate conception of Mary. The second one also had to do
with Mary.
This second decree is especially connected to today, August
15, in the Catholic Calendar. If you looked at a Roman Catholic Church calendar
you would not see “St. Mary, Mother of our Lord” written on today. Instead you
would see the feast called the “Assumption of Mary.” In 1950 Pope Pius XII
declared that Mary being assumed, or taken, into heaven, body and soul, is
official Catholic teaching.
The reasoning behind this goes like this: Mary was conceived
without sin and was sinless. As you well know, the wages of sin is death. So
wherever there is no sin no death is due. Since Mary is held to be without sin,
she couldn’t have died like everybody else. So they teach that instead of dying
she “fell asleep.” This is known as the “dormition of Mary.” “Dormition” means
to fall asleep. Then, after having fallen asleep, she was taken into heaven,
body and soul, just like we hear of Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus.
Although the Bible says absolutely nothing about these
things, the so-called vicar of Christ, the Pope, has decreed that these things
are to be believed by Christians on pains of losing their salvation. It is hard
to see a clearer example of the Pope putting himself in the place of God as
Paul prophesied in 2 Thess. 2.
Requiring folks to believe in something that is by no means
certain is bad enough, but these false ideas also have led to serious false
beliefs that are at the very heart of the Christian faith. Their belief in the
sinlessness of Mary has not been left as some bare factoid. It has been
incorporated into their understanding of salvation. So the Catholic church teaches
that Mary is the co-redemptrix, or co-redeemer, alongside Jesus the Redeemer.
The sinless flesh which Jesus received from Mary is taken to be part of how we
are redeemed. Thus she should be regarded as a contributor to our salvation.
The Catholic church does not teach that Mary is the Savior or that she is God,
but I don’t see how they could come any closer to that kind of idea. And,
practically speaking, many Catholics treat Mary as God.
There is a prayer practice among Catholics known as the
rosary. It is a necklace with beads where the one praying prays different
things for each bead. Alongside the Lord’s Prayer and the Gloria Patri are
prayers to Mary. A portion of this prayer we heard in our Gospel reading:
“Hail, Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst
women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.” Then it goes on to say,
“Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and in the hour of our
death. Amen.” The Scriptures do not teach us to pray to mere human beings—no
matter how holy they might be. Nor do the Scriptures promise that such prayers
are effective. On the other hand, we are strictly commanded to make prayers to
God, and we have many promises that God hears those prayers.
It might seem as though criticizing the Catholic church is
rather fussy, hair-splitting, and uncharitable. After all, the Catholic church
is correct about most of the moral issues where our fellow protestants have
gone completely off the rails. But the
Catholic church makes mistakes often in this way. The Catholic church has the
Gospel. It has baptism. It has the Lord’s Supper. But it directs its people
away from these certain things that are instituted by God and have his promises
attached to them to things that have no such basis in the Scriptures or God’s
promises. The Gospel and the sacraments are obscured by teaching people to rely
on things that have been invented by men. They have rejected the reforms our
forefathers brought to their attention. Nobody is saved by believing in lies—no
matter how beautiful or devout those lies might appear to be.
The purpose of observing the festival today is the same as
it is for any of the other saint’s days that we might observe. A few weeks ago
we observed the day that is set aside for the apostle James. A couple weeks
from now we will be considering the martyrdom of John the Baptist. We
understand that these saints are not gods. We do not pray to them. We do not
put our trust in them for our redemption or salvation. That trust belongs with
Jesus alone. He alone died for us and rose from the dead, redeeming us from
sin, death, and the devil.
Mary, also, was a human being just like any other human
being. She was redeemed and saved by the blood of her Son, Jesus, just like all
other human beings. She believed in Jesus and thereby received God’s grace.
What is truly extraordinary about Mary is what is true about every one of
us—assuming that we believe. God loved her and chose her for salvation, and she
believed that. That is all the honor that anybody needs. Trying to rise above
this is to try to make Mary into something that she is not—some kind of god or
quasi-god.
This is not to say that Mary was just like us in every
respect, or that we are just as good as Mary. We are the same as Mary so far as
God’s redemption and salvation is concerned. We are not the same as her, but
almost certainly lower than her, when it comes to her gifts. Elizabeth was
entirely correct when she said, “Blessed art thou among women.”
There are two high and important gifts that Mary was given
that I’d like to talk a little bit about today: her faith and her wisdom.
Mary’s remarkable faith can be seen at the annunciation. The
annunciation is when the angel Gabriel announces to her that she is the
recipient of grace, the Lord is with her, and she is blessed among women. Then
he goes on to tell her that she will conceive and give birth to a Son. Even
though she was a virgin and would remain a virgin, the Holy Spirit would come
upon her, overshadow her, and the one born of her would be called the Son of
God. To all of this that the angel said to her Mary responded: “I am the
Lord’s servant. May it happen to me as you have said.” Thus she conceived,
and Jesus began to grow in her womb.
At the annunciation Mary did not consult her reason. If she
had, her reason would have contradicted her faith. She also did not consult her
emotions. She was frightened by the angel. The road ahead was not an easy one.
She was going to become pregnant without being married. What would her fiancé
Joseph think? What would the people in the town whisper? Her faith made her
despise whatever shame might come upon her from men. She was not looking to be
successful or powerful according to worldly standards. She was content with
God’s favor resting upon her. Through that faith she became the mother of God.
To this very day the teaching of the virgin’s birth is an
easy target for people who impress themselves with their own powers of
reasoning. The math doesn’t add up. They might think it is impossible because of
the DNA. These are the proud of whom Mary speaks in the Magnificat: God has scattered the proud in the imagination of their
hearts.
Which brings us to the second outstanding attribute of Mary
that I’d like to consider today—her wisdom. Consider Mary’s song, the Magnificat, which we heard in our Gospel
reading today:
My soul proclaims the greatness
of the Lord,
and my spirit has rejoiced in
God my Savior,
because he has looked with favor
on the humble state of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations
will call me blessed,
because the Mighty One has done
great things for me, and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear
him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his
arm.
He has scattered those who were
proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down rulers from
their thrones.
He has lifted up the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with
good things, but the rich he has sent away empty.
He has come to the aid of his
servant Israel, remembering his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers, to
Abraham and his offspring forever.
You should notice that
Mary’s wisdom is very much a product of her faith. Mary believes in the
greatness of the Lord. She believes in his action and salvation. Consequently she is not impressed with the proud, the
rich, and those who sit on thrones. God can and will bring them down. On the
other hand God will raise up the humble who believe in him. Although the
believer might be despised as a fool, poor, weak, and sinful, God will come to
his or her aid. This is all to say that believing in God’s grace and power is
wise. This wisdom won’t get you good grades in school. It is not your ticket to
Hollywood or Wall Street. But these things are passing away. God’s Word will
never pass away.
And so it seems quite plain to me that you will be
much better off learning from Mary rather than regarding her as the
co-redemptrix or the source of immense spiritual power. It seems to me that
such reasoning contradicts what Mary herself says in the Magnificat. In her song she does not sing about how great and
powerful she is. She says the opposite of that. She is poor and lowly, but God
is great. Imitate her faith and her wisdom.
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