Blessed is She Who Believed

Along with John the Baptist, Mary is the other important figure of Advent. Advent in a sense is the prologue to the Christian story. An essential prologue. Remember our church year begins, not on Christmas Day, but on the first Sunday of Advent. We have to start with Advent. You may or may not be one of those people who skips the author’s introductions to books. I usually do. But Advent is not some explanatory introduction, it is the prologue. Pro-Logos. John and Mary live and tell this prologue and teach it to us. Personally, I’ve had enough of John’s bit. On this Fourth Sunday of Advent, mercifully, we hear from Mary.

Or actually we hear from Elizabeth and Mary. And we hear very familiar words. Mary has traveled from her home in Nazareth of Galilee to a town in the hill country of Judea, a significant winter journey, because an angel told her that her relative Elizabeth, against all odds, against all human expectation, has conceived a child. Elizabeth’s child will be John the Baptist. Mary, too, of course is carrying a child, the one who will be called Emmanuel.

When Mary arrives, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for joy and Elizabeth utters the words that have become familiar in the Ave Maria: "Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb." And Mary responds with the also familiar words of the Magnificat: "My soul magnifies the Lord," or as we hear in other translations, "My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord."

Amid the familiar phrases, it’s Elizabeth’s words about Mary that caught my attention. Blessed are you, Elizabeth says. Mary is blessed. Two qualities of Mary bring her blessedness. One is her motherhood. She is blessed among women because of the blessed child she carries. She is hailed for her role in bearing God’s own Son. She receives blessing, becomes blessed in that act. There are many ways to be God-bearers, to be the means by which God is born into the world. It is a blessed role to fulfill. One in which we may receive blessing.

But listen again to the second part of Elizabeth’s blessing. "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." There’s a wonderful new hymn in our hymnal (673). It’s really more of a ballad than a congregational hymn. "The first one ever, oh ever to know of the birth of Jesus was the Maid Mary. Was Mary the Maid of Galilee. And blessed is she, is she who believes. Oh, blessed is she who believes in the Lord. Oh, blessed is she who believes."

Blessed is she who believes.

Mary believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord. Mary dared to hope that God would fulfill the promise given. Mary dared to believe that God would do what God said God was going to do. Mary believed. Not just "in God." We talk a lot about whether or not we believe "in God"… God as some abstract celestial being somewhere or another who may or may not, according to our belief, exist. Undoubtedly Mary accepted God’s existence. But more than that, she believed that God would bring to fulfillment that which God had promised. She dared to live with hope, not just as wishful thinking, but as certainty. Looking forward in hope with certainty. Mary dared to believe that God would fulfill his promise.

An angel came to her and said, "Greetings favored one; the Lord is with you…. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." Gabriel said that to Mary and she believed him. So shall it be. Blessed is she who believed. So shall it be, according to your word. Mary did not believe that the angel’s words told of what could be, or should be, or ought to be, or might be. She believed that as God has promised, as God has spoken, so shall it be.

Blessed is she who believed.

Can we sing the song in the present tense? The hymn is actually written that way. Blessed is she who believes. Blessed are they who believe. Blessed is he who believes.

What is God’s promise to us? What is it, in a nutshell, that we are supposed to believe if we wish to be blessed as ones who believe? The great theologian Karl Barth was asked to summarize Christian theology. Overall, Barth’s writing is very abstruse, very dense, very complex. He replied: "Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so." The Prayer Book Catechism describes the Christian hope in these words: "The Christian hope is to live with confidence in newness and fullness of life, and to await the coming of Christ in glory, and the completion of God’s purpose for the world." I also think of several passages from Scripture. Paul’s assurance that nothing, absolutely nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. Or Jesus’ own words to the disciples at the close of Matthew’s Gospel after his resurrection: "Remember I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Jesus is with us in love. Present with us, as close as a thought or a heartbeat. Jesus is with us in love and his presence and love bring us newness and fullness of life. Nothing, not even death, can separate us from that love, from that divine life, shared hand in hand, step by step with Emmanuel. That is God’s promise to us. Do you believe that God will fulfill his promise? Can you dare to hope that God will keep his promise? Can you live daily in the certainty of that hope, that promise fulfilled?

Mary believed. "Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord." It is tempting to say perhaps that Mary was special, different, specially chosen; she had an extraordinary faith. She was a poor young maid in Galilee. She had the faith that God gave her. No more or less than you or I. Faith is ours as God’s gift. We all have it. We don’t have to earn it or find it. God gives each of us more than enough faith. We cannot claim to have been shortchanged. It isn’t a matter of DNA; it’s a matter of grace. We all have abundant faith, just as Mary did. Faith that God will keep his promise to us, his promise to be with us, to love us, to bring us fullness and newness of life. Our faith tells us this.

The question is whether we choose to believe what our faith tells us. Or whether we choose to drown out the voice of our own faith with the secular voice of culture. Or whether we pridefully choose to deny the voice of our God-given faith, somehow claiming that our personal perspective has more authority. The world will work according to our expectations, not according to God’s promises. There are all sorts of reasons we mask, hide, ignore, deny, avoid, doubt the voice of faith. Reasons we choose not to hear, not to believe what our faith is telling us. Put them aside. Just put them aside. The distractions, the doubt, the need for control, the objections, the reservations. Just stop. Put them aside.

And then listen. And hear. Hear the voice of your own faith. Hear God speaking his promise to you. Hear the angels’ voices. "I am bringing you good news of great joy. [In just a matter of hours] will be born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord." Your Lord. Hear the voice of your own faith. Hear and believe the voice of your own faith. Dare to believe that the Lord will keep his promise to us when he says: "Remember I am with you always to the end of the ages." And blessed are they who believe…

Amen.