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The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
O God, you have taken to yourself the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of your incarnate Son: Grant that we, who have been redeemed by his blood, may share with her the glory of your eternal kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
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The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
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Scripture citation(s): Luke 1:46-55
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
on
Luke 1:46-55
✛
Hail Mary, Full of Grace
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In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I was baptized and reared by devout parents in an ecumenically minded liberal protestant church called The Disciples of Christ. I look on that upbringing with grateful affection. However, liberal and ecumenical as we were, there wasn’t much that I remember about Mary the mother of Jesus. When I entered the Episcopal Church in college, I began to see images of Mary here and there, but it was her inclusion in the ancient creeds we use and in other places in the Book of Common Prayer, such as the prayers and lessons for today, that got my attention.
The Apostles Creed, which is used at Baptism and at daily Morning and Evening Prayer, reminds us that Jesus Christ, God’s only Son our Lord, was conceived by the Holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary. The Nicene Creed, which is used at the Eucharist and which we shall recite in a few minutes, says we believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of his Father before all worlds…very God of very God…of one substance of the Father…[who]…for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary, and was made man. That got my attention, and I began to notice some things about the human side of the mystery of Christ. I noticed that Mary was, as another venerable creed puts it, the Mother of God, God incarnate, God our Savior; for Jesus did not grow into being God but man – the divine Son took flesh at his conception in his mother’s womb; he was God always and from beginning to end. Thus the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.
Furthermore, I noticed that this wonderful mystery, which we celebrate at Christmas especially, occurred because Mary, at considerable risk, said yes to God. The angel Gabriel conveyed the message about God’s Son, that the Holy Spirit would overshadow Mary with God’s grace and power, and that she was to be Christ’s Mother without human intercourse. The coming of Christ was by the grace of a free will, the consent of Mary. That grace worked further on, with Joseph accepting, believing, and protecting his young wife-to-be. If we are to understand the Person of Jesus Christ, we will want to grasp both his divine identity and those who first received him.
Joseph disappears from the scene in the Gospels after Jesus’ youth, and tradition says he was older and predeceased Mary. But Mary was with Jesus all the way, loyal to her Son right to the cross, a witness of his Resurrection and present on the Day of Pentecost in the Upper Room. Her loyalty was tested, like a sword in her soul. She feared for her Son’s safety and wanted him to come home at one point. But Jesus had said his true family are those who hear God’s word and do God’s will. So Mary grew in grace, but come to think about it, she became Christ’s mother in the first place by hearing God’s word and doing his will. For Christ was conceived as Mary responded to the angel, yes; I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.
Today we celebrate the whole of Mary’s life. Roman Catholics call today the Assumption of Mary, meaning the taking up of Mary, body and soul, at the end of her life, into heaven. The Eastern Orthodox call today the Dormition, or the falling asleep, of Mary, as she is taken into heaven. But it isn’t just Roman Catholic and Orthodox, but classically Anglican and Protestant too. Rembrandt, a member of the Dutch Reformed Church, etched a lovely picture of Mary on her death-bed being taken up by the angels into heaven to be with her Son.
Today’s Gospel from Saint Luke is the Song of Mary. The background: Three months’ pregnant with Christ, Mary goes to visit her kinswoman Elizabeth, who is about to give birth to John the Baptist. How is this, exclaims Elizabeth, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me?” And Mary breaks into song. That song, called the Magnificat, is appointed for every day at Evening Prayer, or Evensong. Our choir has sung this canticle to hundreds of settings; it is one of the glories of the Anglican choral heritage. One verse is, “For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me; and holy is his name.”
There is something about Mary, I have discovered, that is more than historical; it is mystical and representative. Mary stands for both ancient Israel (her ancestors) and the Church of Christ (her descendants) in faithfulness, in waiting, hoping and believing. Just as Christ was conceived by faith, literally, in Mary’s body; so Christ is conceived in our minds and hearts as our Lord when God’s word visits us and we embrace God’s will. When Jesus commended Mary at the cross to the Beloved Disciple John’s care, he said to Mary, behold your son (meaning John); and to John he said, behold your mother (meaning Mary). And from that hour John took her into his own home. Saint John meant those words to echo through the church and down the generations of belief. It is possible for us to take her into our homes as well, and to have our Lord share with us the graces that he inspired and received back from his mother.
So I have discovered, and I commend this to you as well, that Mary is most definitely full of grace; and that her example and prayers are to be cherished. Christ’s Mother is rightly called our Lady.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
