Blessed to bless

Part two of nine

Luke 1:26–56; 11:27–28

Catholics and Protestants typically disagree on the role and status of “the blessed virgin, Mary.” Many Catholics view her as divine, or at least semi-divine. Protestants often downplay Mary’s significance altogether. Could it be that Catholics and Protestants alike have something to gain by examining Luke’s portrait of Mary?

Luke’s contribution begins in 1:27. Gabriel, God’s messenger, astonishes and perplexes Mary with an unexpected greeting: “Hail, [Mary], one whom God has filled up with grace!” (So, I think, the words can be translated.) And Protestants say, “There you have it! There was nothing special about Mary at all. She neither inherited a sinless human nature nor lived a sinless life. Her role as bearer of the Messiah was purely by God’s grace. That is why she is called blessed!”

Catholics go in another direction, claiming Mary was filled up with grace as no other person before or since, so that she can dispense grace to others. Who is right? We’ll return to the question later.

When Mary learns that she will play a special role in God’s salvation plan, she visits her cousin Elizabeth and there utters the prophetic words, “From now on all generations will call me blessed” (1:48). Do we? Should we? And what does it all mean? Luke’s Gospel contains some surprising answers to these questions.

One day while Jesus is teaching, an unnamed woman in the crowd bursts out: “Blessed is the womb that bore you and the breasts that nursed you!” How blessed must that woman be whom God chose to give birth to someone like Jesus!

A surprising response

Jesus’ response is surprising. He challenges the logic behind the woman’s words; He deflects the ascription of blessing, saying, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it.” There is nothing so special about giving birth to the Messiah, He seems to say. You want to know what’s special? It’s the privilege of hearing God’s word and the grace to respond in obedient faith.

So what about Mary? Is she not blessed? Here is where Luke’s Gospel is both subtle and profound. The reader is drawn back to the opening chapters to see what they really say, and what they don’t say.

Mary knows she is blessed. Elizabeth knows it as well. But neither ever claims that Mary is blessed for being the mother of Jesus.

I think that is Luke’s whole point in 1:39–45. Here is pregnant Mary visiting her cousin, also about to give birth to a miracle child. God offers the two women a portent. Elizabeth’s unborn child leaps with joy in the presence of young Mary, “blessed among women,” and in the presence of Mary’s unborn child, whom Elizabeth calls “my Lord.” Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. She understands the portent and calls Mary blessed.

Elizabeth understands

But unlike the unnamed woman in Luke 11, Elizabeth recognizes why Mary is blessed. It is not because she is the mother of the Lord, but because she has “believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord” (1:45). Mary is blessed for hearing, believing and obeying God’s word.

Still bewildered at Gabriel’s message, Mary had responded, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (1:38). She knew it was all grace, nothing deserved. She did not understand, but she believed and submitted. She was filled up with God’s grace and she was blessed.

Oh yes, she would also be the mother of the Messiah, but that was secondary. Those who understood recognized that Mary’s blessedness was not linked to that. Indeed, Jesus went so far as to say that all who hear God’s word with obedient hearts are His “mother and brothers” (8:21).

So is Mary a mere recipient of God’s grace or also a dispenser of it? Both of course. But no more and no less than everyone else who has heard the word of God and obeyed. We are blessed so we can be a blessing. God has filled us with grace that we might be conduits of God’s grace to others.

We might do it as mothers of famous children (as Mary did) or as a missionary physician turned author (as Luke did). We may do it as a healed Samaritan leper who returned to pour out an offering of thanksgiving (17:11–19). Or we may do it as a converted tax collector with short legs but a big heart (19:1–10).

It doesn’t matter who we are, or how we’ve received God’s grace, or what God’s voice has said to us, or what role God is calling us to fulfill. What matters is that we know we haven’t deserved any of this. What matters is that we respond, like Mary, with “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Then we too will be recipients and dispensers of God’s grace. We will be called “blessed” by other generations, at least by those who understand what it means to be truly blessed.

For reflection:

• How would you feel about being called “blessed”?
• How have you received grace this week? Given it?

Tim Geddert teaches New Testament at MB Biblical Seminary, Fresno, Cal.

The series continues in the next issue. The series began in the previous issue.