Blessed Among Women

Text: Luke 1:39-56

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

            Aged Elizabeth was now six months pregnant. She’d heard from all her friends who had given birth long before here—in those decades that women usually had children—that pregnancy could be difficult, but this was certainly compounded by her advanced age. And yet, she still got the house ready for her cousin Mary to come visit from Nazareth. They would make a strange pair, to be sure: elderly Elizabeth and young Mary, both pregnant, both in exceedingly unusual circumstances. But if Elizabeth thought her pregnancy was unusual, then Mary’s certainly took the cake—a virgin had conceived, according to what the angel had told her. Of course, there would be those who would doubt it was true, but Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah had seen and spoken with the very same angel who told him that she would be pregnant with a son who would grow up to be the prophet to get people ready for the Messiah. So she believed Mary’s report.

She didn’t need confirmation of the truth of her cousin’s word, but when Mary entered the house and spoke her greetings, the infant prophet in Elizabeth’s womb, still unborn, gave his first prophetic witness and leapt for joy in her womb. Elizabeth couldn’t contain her wonder and exclaimed words that have been repeated by the Church for countless days ever since: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

Truly, Mary was blessed. She was granted to be the mother of the Messiah, even more, the mother of the Son of God. The eternal Word, through whom the heavens and the earth were made, was content to be her child, growing in her womb, to come into the world the way all people have. No other human has ever been granted such an honor from God. No emperor can claim as much esteem, no king, no ruler, no accomplished scientist or athlete or celebrity; none can compare to the mother of our Lord. The Church has always acknowledged this. In fact, it’s the Church’s recognition that the greatest honor ever given was granted by God to a woman that changed the way the women were regarded as the message of Christ and the story of His birth spread throughout the world. No longer were women trading chips or household property. They shared in the womanhood of the mother of Jesus. They were to be revered and served, protected and cherished. And so the Church changed the way the ancient world regarded women because Mary was blessed in this way.

There have been those who have tried to figure out why the Lord blessed Mary to this degree. Because we fallen mortals are prone to thinking that God only does things because we do something worthy first, some have tried to assert that Mary was holier in her thoughts, words, and deeds than any other human. Some have gone so far as to say that she was sinless, or that she was also born of a virgin and had no original sin like the rest of humanity.

But all these attempts are only what our fallen nature can imagine, and it can only imagine Law answers to any question. Our limited minds too easily fall back into thinking that God only does good things to those who are good first, that He’s waiting on us before acting. But if you want the real answer of why Mary was blessed in this amazing way, look no further than her own words and explanation. When Elizabeth announces that Mary is blessed among women, Mary replies, “From now on all generations will call me blessed, because he who is mighty has done great things to me, because holy is his name.”

Mary, the mother of our Lord, gives all credit to God. She doesn’t take a scrap of credit for herself. She proclaims nothing she’s done that could merit this immense gift from God. He has done mighty things because His name is holy. He has done great things to her simply because He wanted to. That’s grace. Grace is God giving something that we haven’t earned; not because He had to, or because He was contractually obligated because of something we’ve done. Grace is God doing something good and beautiful to us simply because that’s what He wanted to do.

This may grate against our fallen nature, which will want to have that little bit of backup security in saying, “OK, I’ve done this for you, God; now you have to do that for me.” Our old nature is suspicious of the God who gives good things as freely as He does. That’s why we covet and steal. That’s why we lust and envy. That’s why we always keep our little lists of good things we’ve done so that we have that ammo, just in case.

            But here’s the thing that will silence that old complaining voice in your fallen nature, the antidote to the suspicion about the God who gives Mary such a blessing simply because it’s His joy to do so: God blesses you just as He blessed Mary. No—you won’t miraculously conceive and give birth to the Savior of the world. But you will be just as blessed as she is. Later in Luke’s gospel, after Jesus has grown and is publicly preaching, there was a moment when a woman in the crowd listening to Jesus raised her voice and called out, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts at which you nursed!” This is true—it was a blessing to Mary that she was privileged to be in that status. But listen to Jesus’ response: “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it!”

            Jesus was not denigrating the blessing His mother had received. Remember, He loved her so much that even on the cross, as He was in the most intense pain that can be imagined, He still took the time to make sure that His mother was cared for after His death, and so He entrusted her to the disciple He loved. By saying, “Blessed rather are those who hear the Word of God and keep it,” Jesus was not disparaging her at all. What He’s saying is that if you want to be blessed as Mary was, if you want the Word made flesh to come to you as He did to Mary, to Elizabeth, to infant John the Baptist, then go to His Word. Go hear the Word of God. That’s what they did. Mary heard the Word of God spoken by the angel and believed it and her Lord came to her. Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary and knew that her Lord had come to her house in the womb of His mother. John the Baptizer, as an unborn child in the womb, heard the voice of the mother of his God and leapt for joy, recognizing the Promised One who would save him.

            What we learn from Mary as we’re approaching this Christmas is to go to where the Word is being spoken, sung, chanted, taught, and prayed. Hear it, hold it sacred, gladly hear and learn it. For in the Word of God you’ll see, you’ll hear, you’ll receive none other than Jesus. Hear Him forgive your sins in the Absolution. Hear Him claim you as His own family in Baptism. Hear Him unite Himself to you, body and blood, in the Words spoken at the altar in Holy Communion. And in His Word, He will remain with you, not only a day, not only three months, not only a few years, but forever.

            Christmas is almost here. If you would be blessed like Mary that first Christmas, come to hear the Word of God. Come to hold it, to keep it, to treasure it and ponder it in your heart. And you will be blessed. In the name of Jesus, the Word made flesh. Amen.