Blessed Among Women

Luke 1:39-56 Four thousand years ago, God graciously chose a man named Abraham through whom he would bless the world.  God promised Abraham that he would become a great nation—that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars—and that through one special Child from his family all the world would be blessed.

God made these promises when Abraham and his wife Sarah had no children—and still they didn’t.  Periodically God would renew his covenant with them—but still no child-- until they became very old people. 

It was at this point in their lives—when there could be no doubt but that it was a God of might who acted in their lives—that Sarah conceived and gave birth to Isaac, whose son Jacob had twelve sons who would become the twelve tribes of Israel—and they became a great nation just as God had promised.

Over the centuries God maintained his covenant with Abraham and renewed his promise to bless the world through his one special Offspring. 

Periodically God would send prophets who would tell more about him:  the place of his birth—that his mother would be a virgin—that he would suffer and die for the sins of the world and rise again.  Hundreds of prophecies made over hundreds of years—each of them a brushstroke in the portrait of Abraham’s Offspring.

Two thousand years ago in the hill country surrounding Jerusalem there lived another elderly couple named Zechariah and Elizabeth.  They were pious, devout believers and they too were childless.  But God graciously sent the angel Gabriel to tell them that he would do what was humanly impossible—that in their old age they would have a son in who would bring joy to many for he was promised messenger of the Messiah who would prepare his way into the hearts of his people.

At that same time, in a town called Nazareth, there lived a young woman named Mary who was engaged to be married.  Before that marriage was consummated, the same angel appeared to her with a startling announcement—that she too had been graciously chosen by God to bear his Son.  Luke writes:

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.

            By God’s grace, at Zechariah’s house, an elderly pregnant woman met a pregnant virgin.  But as amazing and wonderful as are God’s mighty and miraculous works in giving babies to these two women and Sarah before them—what God did spiritually in their lives and in the lives of their children—was even greater.

When the words of Mary reached Elizabeth’s ear, little John leaped for joy in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and made one of the first confessions of faith in Jesus.  She confessed that Mary was the mother of her Lord:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Thirty years later Jesus would breathe on his disciples and give them the Holy Spirit.  But already on that day—in Jesus’ presence within the womb of his mother-- the Holy Spirit was given through Mary’s greeting and Elizabeth confessed with her words and John confessed with his deeds --their faith in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.

As miraculous as those two babies were—as mighty a work of God as they were--the spiritual miracle accomplished that day of God working faith in human hearts, causing them to believe in Jesus—was just as great.  And so it is in our life too.

Through simple water and the promise of God, our heavenly Father rescues us from sin, death, and the power of the devil in Holy Baptism and adopts us as his children and gives us the Holy Spirit. 

Through the promise of Jesus to be with us always, our Lord gives us his body and blood in Holy Communion --feeding us with his own life to sustain our life in him. 

Through the preaching of his Word and the Good News of forgiveness, God awakens faith in our heart and fills us with his Spirit.

These mighty works of God are accomplished in those whom the Bible says are spiritually blind by nature—deaf to the voice of God—and dead in sins and trespasses! 

It is his gracious, mighty work alone that we are able to:  join our voices with Elizabeth-- and be filled with the fruit of the Spirit like John--and confess that the One born of the Virgin Mary is our Savior and Lord. 

Because of this Spirit-worked faith, we can add our praises to that of Mary as she thanks God for the mighty things he has done for her.  She said:

“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.  For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 

It is a helpful reminder for all of those within Christendom who would lift up Mary almost to the place of Christ—that Mary herself magnifies the Lord- and rejoices that he is her Savior from sin- and counts herself his humble servant. 

But it is also precisely because of her great faith that Mary serves as an example for all Christians to follow for she shows us what faith in Jesus looks like.

First of all, Mary knew and rejoiced in the Good News that God is her Savior.  There is nothing in her confession of faith that indicates in the least way that she has done anything worthy of the great things the Lord has done for her.  It is all by his gracious gift of a Son that she is saved-- and she exalts God’s holy name for his mercy. 

That we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone is not a Lutheran peculiarity or reformation innovation from the ancient catholic faith.  It’s not an idea you find only in the Pauline epistles.  It is the story of our salvation that goes back all the way to the beginning—God reaching out to those who do not deserve his notice—to do for them what they cannot do for themselves:  save them from sin and death.

All generations call the Mother of our Lord:  the Blessed Virgin Mary-- and rightfully so-- for out of all the women who have ever lived she was the one graciously chosen by God to be the mother of the Savior of the world. 

But that judgment of “blessedness” is also spoken over us too because we believe in Jesus Christ.  And it will be spoken about us forever in the courts of heaven.  The Bible says about those in heaven:  blessed are those who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 

Secondly, Mary reminds us that the Lord is both mighty and merciful.  She says:

His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

The powers of sin, death, and the devil are no match for Jesus much less the earthly forces of those who stand opposed to his people.  He is the God who orders and upholds the universe.  He is the God who kills and makes alive.  He is the God who rules all things.  He is strong and mighty and powerful to save!

But we are also reminded that he is merciful.  He exalts those of humble estate; fills the hungry with good things, and the rich he sends away empty.  When we are struck to the heart in the knowledge of our sins—the Lord lifts us up and forgives us and calls us his children.  When we hunger for the good things that are ours as God’s children Jesus promises to fill our deepest needs—giving us peace and hope and joy.  When we are confronted by enemies more powerful than ourselves, the Lord comes to our rescue, promising to deliver us from evil.

We can be confident that he will keep these promises he makes to us because he is the God of kept promises.  Mary concludes her song in the way that we began our meditation—by calling to mind the Lord’s faithfulness to the covenant he made with Abraham to save the world through his offspring.  She says that the Lord:

…has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 

Two thousand years separated Abraham and Mary—two thousand years separate Mary from us—but from generation to generation the Lord keeps his promises and shows his mighty and mercy-- and we can count on that very thing in our lives too.

From the day that Adam and Eve sinned and brought death into the world, the story of our salvation is the story of the Mighty One who has done great things for us, acting in human history in powerful ways, to reconcile us to himself through his Son Jesus Christ.  

That Good News cannot help but bring forth from our lips a song of praise just like it did for Mary:  the mighty one has done great things for me and holy is his name!  Amen.