Mary is My Hero. Advent 4C St. James Batavia

 

Today is typically called “Mary Sunday,” the Sunday in Advent when we hear a part of her story. Today we hear about her visit to Elizabeth, but for me, to really know Mary is to remember what happened right before today’s gospel, what is commonly referred to as The Annunciation—the visit of Gabriel.
I love Mary: she was his first disciple, and the only person present at the birth, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus…Mary’s little boy.
But what I love about her isn’t the Mary of adoration, mysticism and almost God-like status, but the young woman who was, by all accounts, a faithful servant, a good daughter and well…regular…
living an ordinary life when, suddenly, her life was turned inside out and upside down after a visit from Gabriel.
Gabriel was an angel…and you need to know that I have a thing about angels. And not always good thing. I’m just not sure what to make of them.
Something about the wings and the harps turn me off. I prefer my angels to be more like Clarence from It’s a Wonderful Life. I’m more comfortable with angels who look more like you and me and less like, well…angels….
So that’s why I’m pretty sure I’d like Gabriel. I  have a sense that he was regular enough that his initial appearance to Mary didn’t freak her out. I think Gabriel fit right into the landscape of Mary’s world.
So when he appeared at Mary’s door, or when he encountered her at the market or down by the river while she washed clothes or out back as she gathered pomegranates from the bushes, wherever it was that the encounter happened, Mary was receptive to him.
She received the message— outrageous and fantastic as it sounds —Mary said yes. [although my guess it was more , ‘errrr….ok……” than “Absolutely!”]  Mary received the message. She accepted it. And then she waited.. wondered…pondered.
    Mary’s also my hero because not only did she accept the Word of God through Gabriel she literally BORE the Word of God. Mary, the God-Bearer, carried the incarnated God in her womb for nine months. The word of God grew within her until it could no longer be contained and it burst forth, changing the world. Forever.
And Mary’s my hero because after that birth she led the Lord of Lords and King of Kings, the Prince of Peace, the Messiah, her baby boy…through all the trials and tribulations of childhood.
Nursing him.
Weaning him.
Soothing him when he fell.
Encouraging him as he grew into his role, as he learned the fullness of what it meant to be the Prince of Peace, the Messiah.
And she was there when that role reached its necessary conclusion on that hilltop called Calvary.
Mary bore the Word of God and together with Him she bore the slings and arrows, jubilation and joy of being God in the Flesh, Emmanuel.
Most of all, Mary’s my hero because she said yes.

Would we? Do we?
How does God ask us to bear the Word of God? And when asked, do we say yes?
That’s our task during these days of a miracle birth in Bethlehem---to ask ourselves, how has God come to us? Like Clarence?
Like Gabriel?
Or has God come to us in the neighborhood child who could use a smile?
Or the elderly woman in the grocery store who cannot reach the top shelf?
Or the homeless and the hungry?
The destitute and the depressed?
The lost and the lonely?
Perhaps God has asked us to bear the Word of God while we stood in the voting booth, or while we decide where to spend our money, or when we know a friend or family member is in an abusive relationship.

You see, God asks us to bear God’s Word at all times. And in all places.

And maybe that’s the point of God coming to be among us in the first place…to show us that bearing the Word of God is not a once in a lifetime thing, it’s a lifetime thing.
Mary’s my hero because in all that she was and in all that she did she was the God-bearer.
May we, in all that we do, be that as well.
Amen.