We dont talk about Mary (But Maybe we Should)

 We Don’t talk about Mary (But maybe we should)- A Devotion to start 2023 

If you have children under the age of 10 you have watched the Disney movie, “Encanto.” There is a polarizing figure named Bruno. Over and over in the movie the theme is reinforced, “We don’t talk about Bruno.” In some ways, as a Protestant, this has been my experience of Mary. Ok. She does get talked about. Once a year. As a virgin. On Christmas. But that is basically it. And I get it. There is fear over the “worship” of Mary in the Catholic church. I’m not here to debate or offend anyone but I just think in a new year it would make sense to look at this from a Biblical perspective. Does Mary have something of value to offer me even if I don’t fully buy into her Immaculate Conception? 

The Old Testament is filled with God displaying his unconditional love toward his disobedient people. The Bible itself begins with a Good Creation but if you make it chapter 3, you see sin has quickly entered the chat. Adam (man) and Eve (woman) break the one rule and create a system in which all people have the tendency to sin. Theologians call this “original sin.” Keep reading and you will see a brother commit murder and by the time we get to Noah, the Biblical author declared that “God regretted making humankind.” We see some hope in the book of Genesis with God calling people to Himself, including an old couple: Abraham and Sarah. God promised that through them he would create a nation.  But these “men of faith” as described in Hebrews 11, were far from perfect. They were filled with insecurities and pride. Like when Abraham's great-grandson, Joseph bragged about his family bowing down to worship him. Yet, despite their faithlessness God was faithful to the promise he made. 

This story continues through the Torah (first 5 books of the Bible), into the time of the Judges. In the book of Judges, “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” It was as if God’s people were a kid jumping in the deep end of the pool over and over again only to be rescued time and time again by the lifeguard. You would think they would stop jumping but they don’t learn their lesson. 

The Old Testament is filled with great works of wisdom, Minor Prophets, and Major Prophets. These prophets try to help God’s people see the foolishness in trying to do things their own way. But even these prophets were not faultless and would often lack faith or straight up not do their job. For example, in the story of Jonah, he literally tries to go in the opposite direction of Nineveh because he doesn’t want to waste his time with such sinful people. 

It’s remarkable that God would continue to love us. Let’s be honest. We don’t deserve it. But God was determined to rescue us from the alien force that is sin. If we view our behavior as our identity we will see ourselves as scum of the earth or as one theologian described mankind as “sinners in the hands of an angry God.”  If you see God as angry, I wonder if you have opened up the New Testament. In which, we meet Jesus who as St Paul describes as, “the image of the invisible God.” What does this mean? It means that Jesus perfectly showed us the Father. He is generous to the workers in the vineyard. He is able to both forgive and heal the lame. He does get angry, but it's when there is injustice, like overcharging people in the temple. But in the end, he weeps and asks the father to forgive those that hung him on a cross. 

But back to Mary. 

The reason I went on my rant about the Old Testament is to show the lack of faithfulness of God’s people. But we see a shift in the New Testament. It begins with Mary, the peasant teenage girl. God saw value. He sent Gabriel to her and proclaimed her Blessed. In Luke’s Gospel we hear these famous words: “Hail Mary, full of grace. The Lord is with you.” If these words feel like worship, don’t blame Mary or the Catholic Church. You should blame Gabriel who said them. Or you can blame Luke who recorded them. Or even blame God who inspired him to write these words. Personally, I don’t have the authority to blame any of these people. Since these words are in our sacred text, I must wrestle with what they mean. 

God, through Gabriel, was about to ask Mary to do something life altering and before he did that he needed to remind her of something. 1) She is full of grace. There was something about her character that was special. Do you know anyone that is “full of grace.” You don’t feel like you have to be walking on eggshells around them. You can bring your concerns and actually feel better about yourself after talking with them. 2) The Lord is with her. The reason she has been a person of grace is because God has been with her, God is currently with her, and through her pregnancy and later raising the Son of God, he would be with her. The scandal of the “virgin birth” did not end when Jesus was born. The community would have continued to “talk about Mary” and her “bastard child.” It’s as if God knew from the start that people were going to talk about her. Let them talk, Mary. You are full of Grace. I know who you are. And that is enough. They think you are a slut. I think you are full of Grace. 

To Gabriel’s proclamation of who Mary was and what God wanted to do in and through her she said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.”- Luke 1:38 

It’s as if Mary was saying the words of her son in the garden prior to his death, “Not my will, but yours be done.” You see, Mary and Joseph had a plan for their lives. They were faithful Jews. They were poor Jews. They were no named Jews. They were going to live a small, peaceful, quiet life. But God had something more for them. And when God called them, they answered.

Over and over again in the Old Testament, we learn of people saying yes but later changing their minds to following God. Yet, Mary was different. She said, “Yes.” She said, “I am your servant.” 

Can we say the same things about our lives? When the going gets tough do we abandon our faith? I mean, it's easier to just go with the flow of culture. It’s easier to live for myself and complain about how UNFAIR my situation is. OR we can look to God. We overcomplicate things so much. Jesus gave us two commands: Love God and love others. 

I remember struggling with being certain of “following my calling.” That is (or at least was) the catchy phrase in Youth Ministry circles. You need to make sure you are “following God’s call on your life?” You don't want to miss it! I do think we need to figure out where we are gifted so we can best use our gifts for God and His kingdom but it’s not like we won’t figure it out. I mean, you can always switch your major if you are in college. You can always get a new job if you are an adult. But my experience of life is that there are two constants. I need to LOVE God and LOVE others. You just need to figure out what it means to love in your context. 

And when I look at Mary objectively, I see a person of love. Need someone to birth God? Ok. I’m in. I may be a virgin. I may be a teenager. I may not know what I am fullying getting into. That’s ok. I’m in. Because I know I can trust God. He has a better plan for me than I have for myself. 

As we enter 2023, we must ask, “Where in my life is God challenging me to grow?” You can take this as a “New Years Resolution” if you must.  Mary said Yes to God every step of the way. Are we doing the same? That’s the challenge. Because as we say “Yes” to God we become people that are “full of grace.”