As preached by Brother Luke
Holy Wisdom Church
In
the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit!
The gospel's message of salvation has a
beginning point, it is today's feast of the Annunciation. Our Christian understanding
of salvation doesn't happen without Mary's assent to Gabriel's message from
God. Nevertheless, there can be the temptation to view Mary very narrowly, she
gave birth to Jesus, end of story. The rest of the story is all about Jesus.
The rest of the story is about Jesus, including the very human first 30 years
of his life.
Mary is the human connection we have with
Jesus and his heavenly father. And our human reality is that our mother's are a
very important part of who we are. And not just their DNA. Our mother's play an
important role in our upbringing. Why would we assume that this would not be
true for Jesus? If we notice that Jesus's public ministry didn't begin until he
was 30, this means for 30 years his family had an important impact on him. Mary
was very much around right through to his death on the Cross, where she stood
and watched her son die.
You might object, not much about that
first 30 years is mentioned in scripture. Yet, doesn't St John end his gospel
saying that if all that Jesus did were written down the world itself could not
hold all the books? [Jn21:25] In other words, scripture is not intended to tell
every aspect of the story. It gives a glimpse, important indeed, but not
complete. But if we take what is written about Mary and Jesus and then
integrate that with the human reality of family life, we can discern a valuable
message for us today.
The first message is the message itself.
The Annunciation. God, through Gabriel, is telling Mary that she has been
chosen to be the mother of God's Son. Although she was a young girl, shocked
and frightened by the prospect, she consented. She will bear that baby in her
own body and then care for him, bringing him up in a pious Jewish family
environment. We know from scripture that Jesus's family took seriously their
religious duties. Jesus was circumcised, named, and was presented in the
Temple. The family participated in the High Holy Days. But even more than
these, Mary cared for Jesus: she nursed him, fed him, clothed him, nurtured him,
protected him, listened to him, encouraged him - did all those things we expect
mothers to do. This role she played began at the Annunciation.
The message to Mary is the message to us
as well. We are also called to give birth to Jesus and then care for that
precious gift placed in us. God has placed Jesus and his message in our care,
do we do as much to protect and care for that message as Mary did for Jesus?
Mary was Jesus's sacred vessel before and after his birth.
Do we act as if we are also carrying that
precious, sacred gift and caring for it? If so, how do we care for it? By
living the gospel message! We share that precious gift by how we treat others;
by how we treat the world around us given to us by God; by how we treat our own
bodies, our sacred vessels; and by how we use the gifts and talents God has
given us. The Annunciation is not just Mary's feast, it is our feast as well.
It is our celebration of the gifts that God has given us. Can we consent, as
did Mary, to God's design for us and then act as Mary did to realize how
precious it is and carry it out? It may be a struggle to do this and that may
be why appealing to Mary for aid is so popular. She shows us the way a simple
humble human being can make a difference by a genuine response to God's call.
She shows us that it is possible.
Glory
be to Jesus Christ!
