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Luke 1:26-38
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In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name 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 father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
And Mary said to the angel, "How will this be, since I am a virgin?"
And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy- the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God." And Mary said, "Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her. (ESV)
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Debunking Debunking
The Feast of the Nativity of Our Lord
25 December 2012
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Debunking is a popular modern pastime. Recently, I heard a radio special in which the reporter shared the results of studies done by some British think tank about popular urban legends that get repeated during the Christmas season, including that Poinsettia leaves are not poisonous. What will they come up with next? Maybe you couldn't really put an eye out with a B-B gun after all, as Ralphie's mom claimed in "A Christmas Story." Quite often debunking is perpetrated on things that aren't actually bunk, but we get carried away with the desire to sneer and exclaim, "that's not true!" Puffed up wiseacres both inside and outside the church often treat the miracles of the Christmas story this way.
One of those wiseacres inside the church was a leader by the name of Nestorius (c. 386-451). Nestorius came from Syrian Antioch (Islam hadn't been invented yet) whose theological cause he championed most fiercely over against the other bishops of the ancient world, especially the bishop of Alexandria. He was a powerful preacher and became the Bishop of Constantinople in 428. In his sermons, he pointedly declined to call Mary the mother of God, naming her only mother of Christ. This immediately demanded that he answer the question "who is Christ, if Mary is not the mother of God?" Was the Child born of Mary fully divine and fully human in one indivisible person? His position left people with the impression that the Child born of Mary was not a fully integrated person, but rather was like two persons glued together as two boards might be laminated; stuck together but not united. While church historians now argue about whether Nestorius truly believed this or whether he only recanted his incorrect views later in life, and there is evidence on both sides of the ledger, Nestorius the bishop still wanted to debunk Mary's exalted title as the mother of God. Moderns aren't the only debunkers.
Of course, when Mary is called the mother of God, we are saying not so much about Mary as we are saying something about her Son. If God is born of her through the overshadowing of the Most High as Luke tells us, then she should be called mother of God; that is what she is. We can easily grouse about this denomination, by complaining that this makes her a semi-divine being, and leads to idolatry in the cult of Mary. We must see this grousing for what it is. It is an attack on the divinity, not of Mary, but on the divinity of her Son, who is God of God. We might complain that no mere human could have given birth to God, and rightly so. However, Mary is no mere woman. She is the woman whom God the Most High overshadowed and who spoke the Life into her womb through the word proclaimed by the angel. What God says He can do, He can do. To believe anything else is to believe bunk. If the One born of the Virgin is not fully God then we are left floundering in our trespasses and sins. Mary's Son is God's Son and that makes Mary the mother of God, who assumed our flesh into his divinity for our salvation. What He assumes He also saves. And that's no bunk! |
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John Cassian
"We will now prove by divine testimonies that Christ is God, and that Mary is the mother of God. Hear how the angel of God speaks to the Shepherds of the birth of God: 'For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord' (Lk 2:11). In order that you may not take Christ for a mere man, he adds the name of Lord and Savior, on purpose that you may have no doubt that He whom you acknowledge as Savior is God, and that (as the office of saving belongs only to divine power) you may not question that He is of divine power, in whom you have learned that the power to save resides.
"But perhaps this is not enough to convince your [Nestorius'] unbelief, as the angel of the Lord termed Him Lord and Savior rather than God or the Son of God, as you certainly most wickedly deny Him to be God, whom you acknowledge to be Savior. Hear then what the archangel Gabriel announces to the Virgin Mary: 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy- the Son of God' (Lk 1:35). Do you see how, when he is going to point out the nativity of God, he first speaks of a work of divinity. The angel spoke marvelously, and explained the majesty of the divine work by the divine character of his words. For the Holy Spirit sanctified the Virgin's womb, and breathed into it by the power of His divinity. He imparted and communicated Himself to human nature. He made His own what was before foreign to Him, taking it to Himself by His own power and majesty. In case the weakness of human nature would not be able to bear the entrance of divinity, the power of the Most High strengthened the ever to be honored Virgin, so that His power supported her bodily weakness by embracing it with overshadowing protection. Human weakness was not insufficient for the consummation of the ineffable mystery of the holy conception, since it was supported by the divine overshadowing."
John Cassian, Seven Books on the Incarnation of the Lord, 2.2
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Prayer
Lord Christ, come among us under the humble signs of a virgin mother, weak preachers, a little bread, water connected with Your Word. Keep us from being offended by Your humility. Lead us to the manger of our church this Christmas that we might hear that You took our manhood that we might share with You Your sonship. Amen.
For all those who will work on the holy days that they might succor the suffering and protect the innocent, that they might be upheld in every good deed and that those who are benefited by their labor might be truly grateful
For all those whose service to their nation requires them to be separated from family and friends at Christmas, that they would be encouraged by the birth of the Light of the world
For all those who grieve in the season of the incarnation because their tables are bereft of loved ones whom the Lord has taken this year, that they may be upheld in faith for which Christ was born |
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Art: CORREGGIO Nativity Holy Night (1528-30)
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 © Scott R. Murray, 2012
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