Ember Wednesday in Advent

The Roman Catholic Church has a teaching called the Immaculate Conception. Perhaps you’ve heard of this. And perhaps you assumed, as I did, that this referred to the conception of Jesus. His conception was immaculate, that is, free from sin, and free from the help of any man. Every Christian believes this. But it’s not what the Roman Church means by the Immaculate Conception. They are not talking about Jesus at all. They are referring to Mary. They believe that Mary was conceived and born without sin.

Their logic is simple. If a sinner has a child, what kind of child will it be? A sinner. So in order for Mary to give birth to the sinless Son of God, she must also be without sin. This is the teaching of the Immaculate Conception, and we reject it as unscriptural. The Bible teaches that among the children of Adam, there are none righteous, no, not even one – not you, not I, not Mary. All of us need a Savior.

How do we know this? From the Scriptures, of course, but also from Mary’s own words. When she greeted her relative, Elizabeth, Mary spoke the words we call the Magnificat, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Only sinners need a Savior.

And when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary, she was afraid. He said to her, “Fear not, Mary. For you have found grace with God.” Why was Mary afraid? The same reason you or I would be afraid if we encountered an angel. Sinful man is always afraid of holiness. As soon as Adam and Eve at the forbidden fruit, they hid from God because they were afraid. Without sin, fear would not exist.

But the angel says, “Fear not. You have found grace with God.” Here is God’s answer to our fear: unmerited, undeserved grace. My vicarage supervisor used this acronym to teach about grace: God’s Reward At Christ’s Expense. GRACE. This is why Mary does not need to fear holiness. This is why you don’t need to fear. You have found grace with God. Why? Because you were such a model citizen? No. If you were already good, you wouldn’t need grace. Grace is only for sinners who don’t deserve it – sinners like you, and me, and Mary. You have found God’s Reward At Christ’s Expense.

The angel said to Mary, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you” (Lk 1:28). Certainly, these words apply in a special way to Mary, because she was uniquely chosen to be the mother of God. But they also apply to you. God has favored the human race by joining us in our humanity. Truly, the Lord is with us. Immanuel. He is man and he is God. He has entered our world in order to give us what we did not deserve: grace, mercy, forgiveness, salvation, and eternal life. God has descended to earth so that man may ascend to heaven.

We might very well ask with Mary, “How can these things be?” To which the angel answers, “The Holy Spirit…” That is answer enough. Every good thing that we have is the work of God. Salvation is his work from beginning to end. We don’t contribute. We don’t help with it any more than Joseph helped Mary with the Immaculate Conception of Jesus. If we did try to help God out, we’d only make a sinful mess. Instead, we respond to God’s announcement, following the faithful example of Mary and saying, “Let it be done to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Amen.