December 16, 2007

Advent 4

Christmas Cantata

Writer Frederick Buechner tells the story of Mary this way: "To the angel Gabriel Mary seemed hardly old enough to have a child at all - let alone this child. But he'd been entrusted with a message to give her, and he gave it. He told her what the child was to be named, and who he was to be, and something about the mystery that was to overshadow her. 'You mustn't be afraid, Mary,' he said.

"And as he said that last sentence - as he said, 'Don't be afraid' - Gabriel only hoped Mary wouldn't notice that, beneath the great, golden wings, Gabriel himself was trembling with fear to think that the whole future of creation hung now on the answer of a girl." [1]

Gabriel need not have been afraid. There was never any hesitation in Mary's answer. "I am the servant of the Lord," she said. "Let it be - let it happen just as you have said."

Years later, Jesus himself explained what his mother had done that is the lesson for us. On one of his travels, a well-meaning woman tried to compliment his mother Mary by saying to Jesus, "Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts where you nursed!" But Jesus corrected her. "No, no," he said. "She is blessed (not because of me) because she heard the Word of God and kept it. And anyone who does what she did is also blessed."

First Mary heard God's Word and faith was conceived - and then Christ was conceived in her. That's the point (but it takes a moment to process that deep thought, so stay with me and we'll circle back on this again)... that Mary heard the gospel, caught it and kept it - and the result? What happened nine months later on in Bethlehem.

Christmas isn't just about Jesus; it's also about Mary. St. Luke gives Mary more ink in his gospel, more air-time, than any other individual except Jesus. In Luke's gospel there are two chapters that deal with what we call Christmas. The first chapter has 80 verses; it's the longest chapter in Luke's book and it's essentially all about Mary. The next chapter is 52 verses, and Mary is visible repeatedly. All this material, and so much about Mary, in a gospel about Jesus. [2] Well, St. Luke doesn't specifically call her this, but it's clear that he considers Mary the first disciple, the model of the Christian believer.

She was, for starters, a nobody, a girl from "Up Nortt-" - and in Minnesota we know what that means! I hesitate to make an actual comparison with a town that's insignificant, because someone here might be from there and they'd be miffed at my comparison. But let's say it was like... well... Just think of one of those countless little dots on the map of Minnesota north of Zimmerman, and think of a high school girl living all her life up there. Mary's a country girl from Nazareth, engaged to a blue-collar guy who works with his hands in the sweat of his brow. Neither one of them have a lot of leisure time or the kind of success that tempts a person to think that God is rewarding you for your smarts and good luck.

That's Mary... that's Mary indeed... a young woman of maturity, wisdom, and faithfulness that we'd expect only of someone more advantaged and much older - someone my age, for instance.

St. Augustine writes about Mary that she's important not in her giving birth to Christ, but rather that Mary conceived Christ first in her heart, even before conceiving him in her womb. [3] That's back to that deep thought about this early stage of Christmas, so I'll repeat it.

What the Bible says about Mary is not "word candy" for a sweet, heart-warming story. She herself isn't "eye candy" in your manger scene! Mary is our example not because she's the mother of our Lord but because she's such a good example of receiving him by faith. Before the little Christ-child embryo could safely be embedded within her, Mary herself was ready for him by her faith, a faith which could receive and treasure anything God held out for her.

And that's the point I leave with you today. God is getting you ready even now, already before "it" happens. From heart to whatever comes next for you (and ever after), God is at work in you. If Mary was the first disciple, you are the most recent disciple, and God is at work in you, too.

Before some absolutely life-changing event in your life, God was / God is preparing you. Before a merely unusual event in your life, some remarkable challenge or opportunity you face, God prepares you. Before the ordinary kinds of stuff we all go through, the effort, work, and responsibility that everybody faces... from deep within your heart to whatever comes next and whatever's "out there," you are being prepared for what's ahead by the faith God plants within you by his Word of promise and presence.

Be sure you hear me right. It is not what MARY did by her own abilities that we should imitate and thus be better people. It is rather what GOD did in her - and she, made strong enough to carry the Christ-child, took up her task and did it. That is what disciples do - take up the responsibility that God gives us, equal to the strength God also gives, and do it swiftly and with confidence.

To be sure, it was a major role Mary had, to be Jesus Christ's mom. But we learn from Mary to take our relatively smaller, somewhat less dramatic parts in God's work. The Holy Spirit can conceive Christ within our hearts, and then we might somehow conceive and give birth to Christ in our lives, too. And the world will be blessed by that... and so will we.

Nate Castens
Chanhassen, Minnesota

[1] I don't have the reference to this.
[2] Mark Trotter, "Poor Mary," December 21, 1997
[3] Adapted, shortened, expanded, and rearranged from Elliott J. Bush, Christian Century 11/25/87