And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.
Luke 1:26-30
The Annunciation is one of my favorite feast days, and it's very popular with the Johnson kids, too. This is the day when God's promise of salvation has begun to be fulfilled. Let us praise the Holy Virgin by whom that salvation comes.
And that wonderful painting is actually in America! At the National Gallery! You can see it in real life for free! *sigh*
It's in the Johnson dining room, too.
I praise and glorify God using Mary to bear Christ in her womb and raise her, but I don't praise Mary herself for doing the will of God. I praise God that in His infinite wisdom, he willed and chose Mary, whom He knew would accept the calling to do so, to bear Jesus Christ in her womb, to birth the Word Incarnate, and raise Him in the admonition of the Lord.
Luke 11:27-28 (NKJV)
27 And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!"
28 But He said, "More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!"
The New American Standard version says it thusly:
While Jesus was saying these things, one of the women in the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, "Blessed is the womb that bore You and the breasts at which You nursed."
But He said, "On the contrary, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it."
Let's add more for context:
Luk 11:29 As the crowds were increasing, He began to say, "This generation is a wicked generation; it seeks for a sign, and {yet} no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah.
Luk 11:30 "For just as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will the Son of Man be to this generation.
Luk 11:31 "The Queen of the South will rise up with the men of this generation at the judgment and condemn them, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Luk 11:32 "The men of Nineveh will stand up with this generation at the judgment and condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.
So this woman tries to divert the crowd from focus on Jesus by focusing on Mary. Jesus gently corrects her, saying, "yes, my mother is blessed. But truly, more so, the blessing of God is to those who hear the Word and observe it."
Jesus then proclaims that He is the Son of Man prophesied of in Daniel, that is the Prophet, the Messiah, who bears the message of salvation. He says that most in "this wicked generation" would reject him, and stand condemned by generations past, who had a lesser perfect witness to the Gospel in Solomon.
Anyway, Jesus shifts from this woman's interjection to redirect the focus of the people on the blessing to the Church, called of God by Name, who hears and keeps the Word.
As such, I'm wary of Marian devotion. Truly she was blessed and favored of God, and had a special calling by God to bring Jesus into the world in the flesh and to raise him as her son. However, she was doing as all of us are generally called to do: hear the Word, and be doers of the same. Mary heard the Word of God as proclaimed by the messenger Gabriel. Joseph heard the Word of God and did not quietly put Mary away. John the Baptist heard the Word of God and proclaimed the coming of the kingdom of the same. The Apostles heard the Word and proclaimed it to all the nations. We hear the Word and in our own ways, in our own vocations, must fulfill the Great Commission.
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Ken, by praising my son for being kind to my daughter, I am not detracting from the glory of God. Thanking my wife for being a good mother does not substract from my appreciation for how God watches over us. How could it possibly hurt the cause of Christ to praise and thank the Virgin for being the means by which our salvation entered the world?
I don't think you'd object to a biography of, say, Billy Graham that cast his ministry in positive terms. Doubtless when he dies (hopefully a long time from now), there will be a ton of media coverage of his death. If there was an annual remembrance of his death, where churches held prayer services and asked God for the conversion of the lukewarm and non-believers, would that not be a positive thing?
I contend that Protestants have a problem with Marian devotion, not because there's anything wrong with praising and thanking the Mother of God per se, but merely because Protestants think they have to reject certain Catholic practices because they're Protestant. That's a *tradition*, not something derived from Holy Scripture. Martin Luther himself said that we should honor Mary as the Mother of God; downplaying her role in salvation history was a later development.
All authentic Marian devotion leads the Christian through Mary to Jesus. Incidently, you should know that a Catholic could have written your concluding paragraph, with the exception of the first sentence. We all do have our roles to play in living out the Gospel; the Blessed Mother's role is to be the first, and greatest, Christian that has ever been, or ever will be.
I think Jesus's statements in the Gospels do show a different view than the one you've espoused for citing Mary as "the first, and greatest Christian" in the history of the Church.
Everyone is equally unregenerate and condemned before accepting the free grace of God through Jesus Christ by faith. Everyone is equally restored to rightstanding relationship with God by the free gift of God's grace through the shedding of His blood.
As for tradition, I don't doubt there can be traditions that are extra-biblical that are worshipful and valid. I have problems with Marian devotion on the same plane as I have expressed before with veneration of saints.
Certain praise and honor and esteem of any individual righteous person is a good thing. But we must understand the difference between "encouragement" praise and "worship" praise. The praise you use in the context of your post seems to be in the same vein as the context of praise as used scripturally, which is a praise of worship, and worship is only to be directed to God.
I use "encouragement" praise of my fellow believers in the Lord to spur them on in the pursuit of the Truth and in living in righteousness. Therefore, I praise [encourage] you, Eric, as a fellow believer on Him.
But I praise [worship] God and God alone.
Perhaps we are talking past each other, however, and you are talking about the praise [encouragement] of Mary. However, I find that context to be rather specious since she needs no encouragement, having died in Christ, and awaiting the redemption of her body at the Resurrection. Clearly, she needs no encouragement praise from anyone, for she is standing in the presence of God.
o happy day!
Luke 1:48
"For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed."
"Today is the beginning of our salvation, and the revelation of the mystery that was planned from all eternity: the Son of God becomes the Son of the Virgin, and Gabriel announces this grace. Let us join him in crying out to the Mother of God: Hail, O Full of Grace, the Lord is with you!"
--from the Byzantine Liturgy
Yes, I call her blessed. But recognition of that blessedness does not detract from the blessedness of all who heard the Word and do the same, as I've posted in previous scriptural citations.
The Greek used in the Annunciation Scriptures is "eulogeo." Jesus uses a similar Greek verb to command us in Luke 6:38 to "bless those who curse us." In other words, we pray that they come to the full saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. We want them to received the grace and blessing of God as sons of God, rather than go to perdition (which in our flesh we are tempted to sometimes wish upon those who wrong us, though we ourselves are not without sin).
The same verb is used to describe Jesus blessing and consecrating the five loaves and two fish.
It's also used in Hebrews 11 to describe the blessings which Isaac bestowed on Jacob and Esau and which Jacob invoked on his 12 sons, the tribes of Israel.
Also, Mary was and is called blessed through all generations (Luke 1:48), but the Greek there used is "makarizo" not "eulogeo."
Furthermore, James uses "makarizo" (James 5:11) to describe "the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience." (verse 10)
Yes, yes. But that doesn't negate what the angel's words, and Mary's, have in fact meant to the Church. We do not work by "sola Scriptura," in regard to Mary any more than in regard to anything else.
Perhaps the cranky one can tell us why the "Ecce ancilla Domine" is upside-down and who started that custom.
I apologize for the long hang-time, Ken. I've been sick, or tending to sick family members, for the last few days.
If you're putting forth the idea that we are all "equal" as in "equivalent" in heaven, that isn't consistent with the Bible. Revelation clearly depicts the 24 elders in positions of judgment in heaven; there are divisions within the angels (cherubim and seraphim; angel and archangel). We may be "equal" in the sense that we can all make it to heaven, but we won't be in the same place when that happens.
Who would be greater than the woman who found favor with God, so much that she was selected to nurture God from the moment of his conception? The woman whom Gabriel saluted, in the manner of a soldier saluting an officer, not a greater being addressing a lesser, fallen one?
You might want to clarify your Greek lesson -- which was enlightening -- because I don't think it quite makes your point. "Eulogeo" means "speak well of," unless I'm off-base here (it's the verbal form of "eulogy," right?) Jesus would have been saying "speak well of those who curse you" in that phrase, not that we should pray for them.
As for the other word, Catholics would certainly number Mary among those "who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience," and I don't see what would prevent Protestants from doing so, either.