The Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year B, 2011

Luke 1: 26-38

The Rev. Ronald N. Johnson

In the Gospel this morning, we read the story of the Annunciation – the angel Gabriel telling Mary that she would conceive of the Holy Spirit and have a son.  Each year, on this Sunday, we read one of the accounts of Mary’s story.  Each year we honor Mary as the most revered of women.  From early in Christian history, theologians have referred to her as theotokos, Greek for “God-bearer.” Often, Roman Catholics call Mary the “Mother of God,” words that tend to set Protestants on edge.  But when you look at the root of this    title, you have to admit that it is not so far off the mark, after all. The point is that we honor Mary because she, of all people, had the privilege of giving birth to Jesus, whom we understand to be the Incarnate God.

There is much that can be said, regardless of how we deal with the question of the historicity of the virgin birth. The irrefutable teaching point of this story is that Mary, faced with a most difficult tasking, was perfect in obedience.  Her obedience came from faith.  Faith alone gave her the strength and courage to give birth to her child, to raise him with the same unconditional love that he, himself, later gave to all humanity.  Faith alone gave her the courage to raise Jesus as a single mother, apparently, for a number of years, before Jesus began his earthly ministry.  Even those only remotely familiar with the gospel accounts of the young Jesus know that Joseph falls completely from the gospel picture after the account of Jesus staying behind at the Temple, scaring mom and dad to death.  Mary does not drop out and remains influential in Jesus’ life until the Crucifixion. We have to assume that Joseph died, before Jesus came of age, even though the Bible doesn’t mention this.  The measure of Mary’s strength was her faith, and I am repeating this because it demands repeating.  We have to understand that the core element of faith is not so much hope; the core element is trust. Hope emerges from the assurance of trust. Faith is trust that God is love, and that God abides in a steadfast love that never ceases, and that in that love God will not abandon us and through that love, all things are possible.

That perfect love, the very essence of God, is understood, theologically, to be expressed as the Word of God, or the logos.  John tells us, in the prologue to his Gospel, that the Word became flesh.  Mary gave birth to God’s Son.  Mary gave God’s Word life.  So, we remember Mary on this fourth Sunday in Advent and honor her as our model of obedience in faith.  As Mary was, so ought we to be: confident in God, confident of ourselves when we are obedient to God; confident, as we await our meeting with Jesus.  Amen.