Sermon. The Blessed Virgin Mary

Sermon. St Mary’s, Little Ilford. 15 August 2019

The Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Luke 1.46-55

“What is the most boring way to begin a sermon on the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary?”

“We don’t know Patrick, but we’re sure you’re about to remind us!”

Well, we’ll all have different answers, as we all have a different “back catalogue” of sermons. One, for me, is to begin thus:

“What a tragedy! Christians should unite in admiration for and gratitude to Mary, the Mother of Jesus, for all she accomplished. So how tragic that Christians are in fact divided over her; she is a cause for hostility.” That sort of thing. Usually the preacher goes on to expound their own views of Mary – which turn out to be those around which all Christians should unite.

If we think of Mary as a source of division between Christians, we probably think of rows between Catholics and Protestants. Different answers to such questions as: Was there anything special about Mary’s own birth? Did Mary, after Jesus’ birth, go on to have a normal married life? Was there something special about Mary’s death? What titles can we give Mary? Is she (for example) “Queen of Heaven”, or just a Christian among Christians? Such matters - all of which I propose now to leave to one side.

You may not know that there were controversies about Mary long, long before the Reformation. Already in the early Church, there was a heated debate about titles for Mary. Everybody agreed that Mary was the Mother of the Lord Jesus. So she could be called the “Mother of the Lord”. But could she also be called “the Mother of Gd”? The Mother of Gd.

Brothers and sisters, tonight I can reveal for the first time that this controversy played itself out anew – in this very parish, when I arrived, and Fr Brian and I looked together at the liturgy. We were looking at our services, and in particular the eucharistic prayer, the whole of the prayer over the bread and the wine. You’ll know it ends with mentions of saints. Brian wanted “we, in the company of Mary the Mother of our Lord, St Michael and all the saints, may praise and glorify you”; I wanted “we, in the company of Mary, the Mother of Gd…” and so on.

Brian won. Unsurprisingly. And I did and do take his point. To call Mary the Mother of Gd feels strange. Because, well, obviously, in human life parents are always older than their children; parents come first. So to call Mary the Mother of Gd makes you feel that Mary is older than Gd, which makes no sense at all. In truth, even people (like me) who do like to call Mary the “Mother of Gd” don’t think it’s the best expression. The original Greek is actually Theotokos (I like the sound of the word – you can say it too – Theotokos). It actually means “the Bearer of Gd”, “She who bore Gd”, “She who gave birth to Gd”. You see: Gd is eternal, outside of time; within time, Mary is indeed the one who bore Gd, who gave birth to Gd. I think this is right, and it’s the argument that won in the early Church (and, by the way, Brian would agree).

If it is a cliché to say that Mary should be a source of unity between Christians and it’s devastating that she has been a source of division, then (like so often) it’s a cliché because it is true. In truth, we all have so much to learn from Mary. Mary is present at important moments, without saying a word. She ponders things in her heart. That’s vital in itself. But let us on this occasion look at the four times she does speak.  

First of all, she speaks to the Angel Gabriel, saying, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” and, then, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Here – well, I am going to say it – here we see Mary as a prophet, or like a prophet. When the Word or the Spirit of Gd comes to a prophet in the Old Testament, the prophet almost always objects or raises questions. Mary is the same. But Mary swiftly accepts her vocation. “Let it be with me according to your word…”. Don’t think of Mary here as some shy and timid person. Rather you can imagine her shouting a huge “YES!” back at Gabriel, a Yes that changes everything.

Second, she sings her great hymn of triumph with Elizabeth (which we have just heard): “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.” No shyness of timidity there. The song of a revolutionary, more like (another true cliché). So, again, I say: Mary the prophet.

Third, the curious incident of Jesus the child left in the Temple. Mary says, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.” It’s hard not to feel a sense of exasperation here. So here we have a unique story of the family of Jesus, which powerfully shows us just how human they all were. They misunderstood each other; they bewildered each other by seeing things in different ways – just like every other family.

These are the times Mary speaks in the Gospel of Luke. She also speaks once in the Gospel of John. I think you’ll remember where. At the wedding at Cana. She tells Jesus “they have no wine”. She says to the servants: “Do whatever he tells you.” Do whatever he tells you.

Actually, you know, I’d want to say that is a good summary of the Christian Gospel. Come to know Jesus. Be with others who know Jesus (so you check out that you have got it right). Stick with others who know Jesus even when you don’t see eye-to-eye, as getting to know him is not in all ways easy (how could it be? It’s a real relationship!). But it should feel like a party (a wedding feast), this being with Jesus. Go on getting to know Jesus and his party and, then… do whatever he tells you.

This means of course there are as many ways of being a Christian as there are Christians. Each of us is called to be – and called to be only – the disciple Gd wants us, personally, to be. Do whatever he tells you.

I dare to hope that that that is an exciting idea for you (as it is for me). That you have  your own unique vocation; it is yours alone. Your vocation is not limited by human expectations. Not those of the institution, nor of those around you, nor even your own. Go on getting to know and staying with Jesus at his party, and then do whatever he tells you.

Among Mary’s many gifts to us is that she was the first to give this exciting commandment. We can thank her for it. May we all find Mary exciting. Maybe one day we’ll even hear an exciting sermon about her.

Amen.  

Sermon: Mary: Why the Fuss?

Sermon. 20 December 2015. St Michael and All Angels, Little Ilford.

Advent 4 (Year C)

Canticle: Magnificat

Gospel: Luke 1.39-45.

Just yesterday someone stopped me in the street and said: 'If you're based at St Michael's, you'll know my Mary'. I said there's more than one Mary at St Michael's. So I'd need more to go on. It occurred to me that this is not an unusual position. Indeed, when I was a curate in Lincoln, in one of my churches I had this policy: if in doubt about someone's name, just call them 'Mary'; I'd still be right more than I'd be wrong. While this led to some perturbed looks from some men, it still made sense.

And another thing I have learned this week. A Cornish friend has said that, at one time at least, there was a tradition in Cornwall of calling the mother of Jesus 'Auntie Mary'. Does that sound over-familiar? Well, it's worth remembering that in some African cultures it's utterly normal to address any friendly woman as 'Auntie'. But if it does seem too informal, here is something that is more 'proper': in your standard, classic Church-of-England parish church, it is likely that there will be a side-chapel known as the Lady Chapel. That does not mean and never has meant a chapel for the ladies. It means a chapel named in honour of Our Lady, Mary.

So Marys are important to us, and St Mary is important to the Church. Even if you consider our own Church of England to be 'Protestant' (and let's not go into that just now), we still have a number of Feasts of Mary: her conception, birth, visiting Elizabeth, giving birth to Jesus, taking him to the Temple, and her falling asleep. And with them, supremely, the day once known as Lady Day, marking the Annunciation, when Mary said a huge, universe-changing Yes to Gd, such that in her own body she conceived and carried Gd the Son.

Of course, if we were Catholic, we'd have all these Feasts of Mary, and more. The 1^st January, for example, is the Feast of Mary in her title as the Mother of Gd. And if you were Eastern Orthodox, you'd have other commemorations. One important Festival you might never have heard of is the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. (That's not the Presentation of Jesus by Mary, but of Mary herself, as a young girl.) But, truth to tell, in Catholic and Orthodox traditions, there are also any number of commemorations of Mary, marking her believed appearance at various locations, like Lourdes, or her image in various icons which are held to be miraculous or otherwise specially worthy of honour.

And today – as we have heard and as must now be painfully evident – today we have another chance to focus on Mary This completes our Advent themes: from the ancestors, to the prophets, to John the Baptist... and now to Mary - as the climax of the story which brings us up to the birth of Christ. Mary, the climax of that story, is that important!

Or is she? Why is Mary so important in Christian thinking and through the Christian year? One answer was once radical but is now rather commonplace. It says this: it is because so much of the rest of Christian teaching is so very male. If we worship Gd called 'He', and further speak of that Gd as 'Lord' and as 'Spirit' but especially as 'Father' and 'Son', then it's all rather biased towards the male. However much we teach (as we do) that Gd is beyond gender (this argument goes), the maleness of Gd is still reinforced through our prayers, hymns and thoughts. With Mary (I say again: so this argument goes), we have an element of balance.

I think this argument cannot be dismissed. Far from it. But the question may be: is it as simple as that? Does that say all that we need to say about the importance of Mary? I rather doubt that.

But there is one rather strong, and very obvious objection to treating Mary as quite as important as she seems to be from what I've presented. This is the insistence that in the New Testament itself, Mary does not figure especially prominently. She is present, not only at the beginning of Jesus' life (of course), and in his childhood, but also, crucially(!), at the end. She visits Jesus during his adult ministry, and in John's gospel they are both invited to the wedding at Cana, where Jesus performs his first 'sign'. And... and... that's really it.

It follows that we don't have enough to go on to determine her personality. She is not explicitly called especially loving, or motherly, or uniquely holy.

So, why is Mary so important, if the New Testament treats her as of significance, yes, but not compared to a Peter or a Paul or the Beloved Disciple in John's Gospel? Some would insist that we look at the particular texts where Mary is mentioned, especially in Luke – as we have this morning – and John. But actually it goes deeper than any biblical texts.

I believe that Mary is important because the Church in her wisdom took seriously - actually increasingly seriously - the humanity of Jesus. Not only was Jesus human (adjective), looking human and made of human stuff, but he was a human being (noun), a human person, just like you and I are human beings, human persons, save for sin alone. And if Jesus was a human being just like us, then he was 'brought up', just like you and me. He had to be 'brought up' as a baby, infant, and child to adulthood. Then, in his humanity (a humanity just like ours), he learned right from wrong - from being taught. And he learned love - from being loved. To deny this is to deny that Jesus was a human being like us.

You can see where I am headed. The New Testament says that Jesus was brought up by Mary and Joseph. But the bond with his mother is stronger than with his father/step-father. This is for all kinds of reasons, not least because of the time in Mary's womb, and because Joseph drops out of the story altogether. So we find that we must say that Mary taught Jesus, taught the Son of Gd Himself, how to love. And so, if ever there is an imporant saint anywhere, Mary is important.

I for one am actually very pleased that the gospels do not contain detailed stories of Mary and Jesus loving each other. Imagine:

Mary: I do love you, son!

Jesus: And I love you too, mother!

I am so glad you are so very loving!

Mary: But, son, you are a nothing short of a miracle

in your very being, and so easy to love!

Horrible, no? Just imagine how sickly-sweet Christian liturgy might be, if we had such texts. We don't. We are spared that.

But we do still have the assurance - the reassurance – that, however she did it (Mary's way of being a loving mother might be quite different from what we'd expect or hope), Mary loved Jesus into becoming the loving human being who, as Gd's Son, loved the world to his death, and through death to a new creation.

We actually have no reason to think that Mary was meek and mild in the sense of mousey. She who said YES to Gd and the Angel Gabriel, she who sang the fierce battle-cry of the Magnificant (read it again if you wonder why I put it that way), was not some shy, retiring creature. But it is true that much of her story is hidden from us. We see its effects, in Jesus' life, but we do not know the details. As the poet Philip Larkin said, albeit in a very different context, for all of us, 'what will survive of us is love'.

What will survive of us is love. On that note, how can I not end with reference to another biblical Mary – Mary Magdalene. Magdalene, whose name becomes... Madeline. As we as a community still mourn the death of our own beloved Madeline, whose funeral was just two days ago, we know that much of her story is hidden from us. That's the nature of church life; we can share much, but not all. But what is not hidden, what is absolutely visible, evident, and powerfully felt by us, is her love. What will survive of her is love.

Madeline,

Mary Magdalene,

Mary the Mother of Our Lord,

other Marys

... even people with names that don't begin with M...

however hidden our lives from public view and record,

we too can bear Gd, even after the pattern of St Mary, by loving.

By choosing and going on choosing to love.

Let us do so. Amen.