Originally posted December 12, 2011, at Bishop Mike. Republished with permission of the author.
Editor’s note: This blog entry has been edited from the original.
This coming Sunday is Mary Sunday among congregations that use the lectionary.
The first Sunday of Advent often focuses on the second coming. The middle of Advent focuses on John the Baptist. The fourth Sunday in Advent often has us walking in the footsteps of the mother of Jesus.
Martin Luther holds Mary in very high regard, something that has become a bit lost in Lutheran devotional life.
The cult of the saints in the 16th century was so abused that the reformers used very strong rhetoric to oppose it. The idea that the saints had some treasury of extra works in heaven, which the faithful on earth could access through penance, plenary indulgences and donations to the church was an offense to Luther.
But it is hard to imagine that he would agree with the disappearance of Marian devotions entirely, as well as the eradication of statues, icons and other manifestations of longstanding Christian piety. For Luther, Mary was “Theotokos,” bearer of God, mother of God.
Luther’s take
For example, Luther said,
She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child. … Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God. (Luther’s Works 21:326ff)
You can see how Luther is drawn into the mystery of the incarnation, and Mary’s unique role in this. Nor was this Luther’s piety alone. Listen to these words from the Lutheran Confessions and their reference to her as the Blessed Virgin Mary:
On account of this personal union and communion of the natures, Mary, the most blessed virgin, did not conceive a mere, ordinary human being, but a human being who is truly the Son of the most high God, as the angel testifies. He demonstrated his divine majesty even in his mother’s womb in that he was born of a virgin without violating her virginity. Therefore she is truly the mother of God and yet remained a virgin. (Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration 8:24)
Most Lutherans do not espouse the perpetual virginity of Mary (that she was a virgin her whole life), but interestingly, Luther did. The thing is, Mark’s Gospel even names Jesus’ brothers and sisters. One author got around this in her midrash by having Joseph die and Mary remarry another man who had children. She never has sex with husband two, so she remains a virgin, and Jesus has half-brothers. (Seems like a big stretch to me.)
Praying with saints
Luther supports praying with Mary and even to Mary, though this gets thumped out in the period of Lutheran Orthodoxy.
Luther and Philipp Melanchthon both believed the company of saints prayed for people on earth. In our communion liturgy we pray, “And so with Mary and Peter and all the witnesses of the Resurrection, with earth and sea and all their creatures, with angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim we praise your name and join their unending hymn …”
We embrace the idea of praying with the saints and angels. We are part of the communion of saints.
It’s no stretch for the idea of praying with Mary. Praying to Mary is more debated. Luther did, and on our Lutheran/Roman Catholic dialogues, theologians have pointed out that there is no scriptural prohibition against praying to the saints.
The Magnificat is of course scriptural and can be prayed by Lutherans. Peipkorn says Lutherans can and should pray the pre-Reformation first half of the Hail Mary.
Our new director of evangelical mission, Pedro Surez, has pointed out to me that the Virgin Mary, for various cultural reasons, has a very high level of importance in various Latino cultures.
At the same time, Latinos may have a gift for us in reviving a sense of the importance of Mary. Congregations in our tradition won’t hesitate to have a statue of Luther and sometimes a statue of St. Francis. But put out a statue of Mary and people start worrying that maybe you’re too Catholic. Does Mary belong only to Catholics?
100 percent human
The Virgin is approachable. She is human, and, in contrast to so much of our patriarchal society, she is female. Perhaps there is a natural yearning to reclaim the feminine that was drummed out of Christianity after the Great Schism, with an all-male clergy, an all-male Trinity and an all male lay-leadership. Mary is the corrective to men’s club Christianity.
Just as a congregation might have a picture or statue of John the Baptist, it would be perfectly appropriate for a congregation to have a picture or statue of Mary. Lutherans would not place her front and center, to detract from Christ as our devotional center, but she would be held in reverence, certainly above Luther, as an important part of the story of incarnation, and as a model of a life submitted to God. Like John, she points to Christ.
Perhaps the Virgin is a gift to American Christians. She is a kind and gentle Mary, shining like the sun, and yet a woman of the land and a woman of the people. She is beauty. She is compassion. She too touches something deep within us.
In a Christmas Eve sermon Luther said:
This is the great joy, of which the angel speaks, this is the consolation and the superabundant goodness of God, that man (if he has this faith) may boast of such treasure as that Mary is his real mother, Christ his brother, and God his father. … See to it that you make (Christ’s) birth your own, and that you make an exchange with him, so that you rid yourself of your birth and receive instead, his. This happens if you have this faith. By this token you sit assuredly in the Virgin Mary’s lap and are her dear child.
I hope you enjoy Mary Sunday and move into it fully, marveling at the magnificent willingness of Mary to be an instrument of God’s grace to this world.
Find a link to Michael Rinehart’s blog Bishop Mike at Lutheran Blogs.
You might also like to read:
Finding favor with God
Joseph and Mary’s search for shelter comes to life
Why the virgin birth matters
Thank you for this honest balanced view of being Lutheran. It reminds us of our true heritage and that Luther was as human as us. To honor past faithful witnesses such as Mary, Peter, Paul and Luther is acceptable practice as long as we insure Christ stays central. I love how this strand makes a bridge to other body of Christs and to those we still need to give the Good News. It does not hurt to look at early practices and see if the time has come to renew them. The world could use a little less law and a whole lot more compassion and so could we. :)
Are you saying we should we pray to Mary and the saints? The Augsburg Confessions Article XXI expressly says that scripture forbids calling on the saints and asking them for help. Do you see the theologians of the modern Lutheran/Roman Catholic dialogues as more authoratative than the Lutheran Confessions? Where does scripture say that we should pray to Mary?
God's Word is always both Law and Gospel. We need both in their proper sequence and quanitites. The gospel is more than mere compassion; it is Christ's atoning work for us on the cross.
I did not write the blog. I agree with most of it and appreciate the history of Luther's actual practices. I will tell you how I feel. The Augsburg Confessions are not scripture and were done at a time of great controversy and disagreement in the church. Some things in those confessions were written to build a bridge and make some peace. God sends people or theologians in the time you are. So yes I see modern Lutheran/Roman Catholic dialogues today as the recommendations we should implement. God lives and He gets our attention over the ages and our hard heads and hard hearts cause us to take a long time to listen. I love my Catholic friends some of which attend a Lutheran church because of family members.
In our very own red hymnal pages 54 - 59 for Lesser Festivals, Commemorations and Occasions which I love honors person after person after person with a prayer specifically for them telling us the characteristics of that saint or person's faith. By the way for August there is a Mary, Mother of Our Lord prayer (just thought you should know before someone else finds it and shows you) We need neither sequence or quantities. Luther all ready taught us Faith alone. Scripture alone. Grace alone. We can organize in ways to let us manage it, but I suspect Luther knew his congregation and church organization would get off track and wander off into law so he gave us a compass to always bring us back home --Faith alone. Scripture alone. Grace alone. Christ did not die on the cross for the law--it was personal ---He died for love which makes it compassion because of the sacrifice. So it begins with love. That is even true in the Old Testament --"the Shema." Hear O Israel
V'ahav'ta eit Adonai Elohekha b'khol l'vav'kha uv'khol naf'sh'kha uv'khol m'odekha.
And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Love is the beginning, and why is it we forget that? Everything else falls in place after the LOVE. It never was law first then love. It has always been because it is from God who is love--- Love first then law.
I am only a child of God. Not a pastor, or theologian or any one important. I just do not understand why as a body of Christ (any denomination) we start with law when God the Father and Christ our model started with love. If I am wrong so be it, but I'd rather get disciplined or judged because I loved rather than I lawed. That's my opinion only. Try to have a Happy Mary Sunday tomorrow.
Luther reopened to us the message of salvation by grace, we are saved by what God has done, not by our might or orthodoxy. If we work hard enough we can even turn that message of grace into a work of orthodoxy. Thank you Mary for your graceful and grace filled thoughts.
I love the idea of turning the message of grace into a work of orthodoxy. :) Wouldn't that be turning the world upside down? LOL! Erring on the side of love and working that to the max. Wonder what the world would look like?
Everywhere in Lutheran theology the preaching of Law precedes the Gospel (e.g. in the Augsburg Confession the article on Original Sin prceeds the article on justification). Jesus died to filfill the law that we could not uphold, that's why we are saved -- he took the wrath of God on our behalf as our substitute. That's what scripture says. Read Paul. Without Law, Jesus' birth, death and resurrection are superflous. If there is no law, there is no sin and Jesus came then to save us from... nothing. Jesus didn't die to make us good; he died to pay our debt.
The Constitution of the ELCA, and a pastor's ordination vows, say we accept the Holy Scriptures, the Creeds and the Lutheran Confessions. Anyone may chose not to accept those authorities, but they should not call themselves Lutheran as a matter of integrity if they reject the witness of the Confessions (although, sadly, many in the church do). Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today, and tommorow. The Eternal Word doesn't change with every new generation of theologians.
Lawlessness has it's appeal. Without the law we would free: free to pollute Creation; to abuse children; to exploit immigrants; and to mudrer, commit adultery, lie, steal, etc. Ceratinly Jesus didn't nullify the Law or give everyone license to do as they wish. We are found guilty but pardoned, not acquitted.
And may we dispense with the not-so-subtle personal put downs like "just thought you should know before someone finds it and shows you." Sounds more like law there than love to me! In my comment above I asked questions and shared infornmation; I did not try to insult or shame anyone. Is similar respect too much to ask for?
I was not saying you did, but I did want you to be aware that it was in the hymnal. That was all. I am a follower of Christ first always and forever and denomination is a far behind second for me. I will respect your right to put denomination doctrines on equal footing. I do not and will never agree. We will agree to disagree about that. If it is what you need to practice the Gospel so be it. For me law gets in the way when it is put first. Frankly I rage about it because I truly believe it outcasts and causes us to be too inclusive. I read the bible everyday and have done numerous studies from a variety of perspectives. I will not back down about love. This is why. If I ever get to the point that I do not think that God and Christ was about love. I will not attend a church and I will officially no longer be a believer. Chief of sinners I am. There is not one thing I can do to change that. I have broken every commandment. Law has never saved me, has never prevented me from sinning or rebelling--for me it has always been love. The only way out of sin for me is love that God gave to me just because... Chemitz have your law, and I will tolerate it until it comes to a point where you try to make me say or do law above love. I will guarantee you I will rebel in the utmost creative ways to show that it is love that saves us--grace. When I extend the hand of Christ to others it will be love not law. I would rather die than live by a code that forces one to put law first. There is nothing I can say to convince you. I know in a lot of peoples eyes that makes me NOT Lutheran. So be it. Here is a paradox for you I am Lutheran and I do sin boldly.
I cannot remember where but since this is a blog about the Mother Mary I figure this it the best place to do it. Someone thought there was no Mary churches in the Lutheran denomination. I learned today that in the ELCA in Kenosha, Wisconsin there is a Saint Mary's Lutheran Church.
I guess Mary belongs after all. :)
Mary,
I think you're confusing the Law/Gospel distinction here, and that's part of what's clouding the authority of the Confessions for you.
The reason we must start with Law prior to Gospel is twofold. One is that the Law exists, whether we want it to or not ('lawlessness' is actually something of a joke... who's the last person you know who has escaped suffering or death?), and we have to deal with that fact. The second reason is that we cannot live up to the Law's demands. The Gospel rescues us from the Law's demands. If we don't feel the weight of the Law, we have no need for the Gospel.
The reason the Confessions should be authoritative is that they zero in on this Law/Gospel distinction, and show how this Law/Gospel distinction plays out in the various subjects. AC21 (cited by Chemnitz) points out that by calling on saints or other intercessors, we're no longer trusting Christ alone and only-- we're adding saints into the mix. The Gospel is that God gives us mercy not because of saints, but because of Jesus, and that Jesus personally saves us.
Another point of confusion seems to be that the Law/Gospel distinction is not Law/Love. Law itself is given in love. Leviticus 19:18 is itself a Law, as is Christ's statements that the Law and Prophets are summed up in love of neighbor as oneself as well as His statement: "I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.". That's all about love, but it's also 100% Law. Law is given in love, necessary for protecting and preserving a fallen humanity. Law is also God's justice, which even Mary celebrates when she sings:
"He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty."
It's love, but if you are those proud in your inmost thoughts, a ruler, or rich, it's not good news. The Good News is also love, but it is a different love, one undeserved and uncommanded.
When my children were younger, more of the parenting was in a law/gospel kind of mode. Don't play in the street, don't touch the hot stove, yes you have to do your homework, yes you have to at least try it before you say you don't like it.... etc. Now that they are older, there is still law/gospel, if you drink and drive you will get nailed, yes you have to pay your bills etc. But somehow when we mature we move past seeing everything from the law/gospel perspective, and even though it is still there, life seems more of a dance. I like dancing with God more than being scolded and rewarded. The Holy Spirit sing, the heavenly choirs strike up the band and the dance begins. I think the Matthew 25 text where those who were feeding, clothing, and caring and didn't know it, were doing the law because they were hearing the music. The law/gospel people were still trying to figure out the dance steps and were too occupied to hear the music.
Hello eveyone, This thread is moving off topic. It would be best at this time for you to continue the conversation amongst yourselves offline.
Thank you for your interest in LivingLutheran.com.