Bishop's Epistle: Mary’s “Amen”

Excerpted from the author's book "Mary of Nazareth"
Estimated reading time: 5.5 minutes.

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant” (hand-maid, KJV) “of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:38)

I am impressed with one of Mary’s particular qualities, which, no doubt, got the attention of God, and was one of the reasons she was chosen above all virgins in Israel. Namely, she believed and was a willing vessel. Mary said “YES” to the will of God. We could not even imagine her not. I mean: What would have been the consequences to Mary’s “No”? The universe of the fallen (not only fallen man; but all life on a fallen planet and fallen stellar worlds) will be eternally grateful for Mary’s “Yes.”

One may dismiss my question (“What would have been the consequences to Mary’s ‘No’”?) with a shrugging of the shoulder, and say: “God would have gone to another virgin; the Incarnation was His will, and the will of God is always done.” Well, actually, that is not true. The will of God is not always done. An example from holy Scripture is — we know that many will perish in eternal judgement in spite of the fact that God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The Calvinists' doctrine of irresistible grace (the "i" in the acronym "T.U.L.I.P.") is simply not supported by holy Scripture. We may state with biblical certainty that the will of God is dependent on the willingness of His people. The Lord of the universe has engineered the creation of mankind so that freewill is holy ground upon/into which the Almighty will not force His purposes and designs. Noah could have said “No” to building the boat; Abraham could have said “No” to leaving Ur; Joseph could have said “No” to preserving the lives of his brothers; Moses could have said “No” at the burning bush; Mary could have said “No” to the Angel; and her Son, Jesus, could have said “No” in the Garden. Thank God for these who said “Yes.” An eternal thanks!

The coming of Mary was presaged throughout the Old Covenant by many of the female characters that appear there. In order to bring the Son of God into the world, God wanted the free cooperation of a creature. The Father of Mercies willed that the Incarnation should be preceded by the assent on the part of the predestined mother, so that just as a woman’s freewill had a share in the coming of death, so also should a woman’s freewill contribute to the coming of life.

Throughout the Old Covenant the mission of many holy women prepared for the mission of Mary. At the very beginning there was Eve; despite her disobedience, she receives the promise of a posterity that would be victorious over the Evil One, as well as the promise that she would be the mother of all living (Genesis 3:15, 20). By virtue of this promise, Sarah conceives a son in spite of her old age. Against all human expectation God chooses those who were considered powerless and weak to show forth His faithfulness to His promises: Hannah, the mother of Samuel; Deborah; Ruth; Esther; and many other women (1 Cor 1:17; 1 Sam 1). Mary stands out among the poor and humble of the earth, who confidently hope for and receive salvation from the Lord. After a long period of waiting the fulness of time is fulfilled in her, the exalted daughter of Zion, and the new plan of salvation is manifested and established.

“Let it be (done) to me according to your word.” At the announcement that she would give birth to “the Son of the Most High" (without knowing a man) by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that "with God nothing will be impossible”: “Behold, the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be (done) to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:28–38; cf Rom 1:5-6[1]). Thus, giving her consent to God's Word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, she gave herself entirely to the person and the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with Him, dependent on Him, by Gods grace: as Irenaeus says, “being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race”[2]. Hence, not a few of the early fathers gladly assert: “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin, Eve, bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith”[3]. Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary “the mother of the living” and frequently proclaim: “Death through Eve, life through Mary”[4].

We may mention, at this point, the difference in Mary’s response to Gabriel’s announcement, here, and Zacharias’ response to Gabriel’s announcement six months earlier. Mary was quick with her “Amen” (“Let it be so!”); whereas, the attitude of the father of John the Baptist was one of doubt. “And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years” (Luke 1:18). In that Zacharias was asking for a sign as proof of God’s promise, and was unwilling to simply believe, the Angel had to intercede in order to protect the promised birth by striking Zacharias dumb. Because the power of life and death is in the tongue, the ground for God’s purpose and will is either prepared or destroyed by one’s speech. Jesus taught that if one has the faith as a grain of mustard seed (the smallest of seeds) he could “say” to the mountain … . The miracle is in the “saying.” The Almighty created the universe, and all it contains, by speaking it into existence; it is even so with man. Humans, alone, of all creatures, have been given the power of speech; with speech we create and/or destroy the world in which we live. Truly, it may be God’s plan to bless, but with our negative speech we may hinder, or even destroy God’s planned purpose for our lives. Yahweh purposed to give Zacharias and Elisabeth a son, but to protect that planned blessing the father-to-be was restricted from speaking any negativity onto the landscape of God’s proposed miracle. Mary stands in stark contrast to Zacharias, in that she spoke words of faith when she said, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. … .” (Luke 1:38).

Mary cooperated in human salvation through obedience and free faith. She uttered her "Yes" in the name of all humanity. For her obedience she became the new Eve: Mother of the Living.

The readers of Luke’s Gospel are given great insight into Mary’s “Yes” when that evangelist writes of Elisabeth’s words to Mary; “And blessed is she that believed: for there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord” (Luke 1:45). As astonishing as the Angel’s proclamation was, even more astonishing is the readiness of Mary to believe and submit to the wonderful event. It was her believing that caused the conception to take place. She could have doubted; she could have said: “No.” But, says Elisabeth, because Mary believed, “there shall be a performance of those things which were told her from the Lord.” Here, in all of its magnificence is the event of which the evangelist John wrote when he said, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). Had there been no “Yes,” had Mary not “believed” there would not have been a conception of the logos (the Word of God) in the womb of the maiden of Nazareth. The believing was the catalyst of conception.

We have already seen how Mary is the antithesis of Eve. Here, too, that truth is made evident by a profound illustration: Eve believed the words of the serpent and conceived sin and death, Mary believed the words of the Angel of the Lord (which words were from the Lord) and conceived the Holy One - the Word of God. The very Word that spoke into the empty void of space and said, “Let there be” and His universe leapt into existence, the very Word that walked and talked with our first parents in the Garden in the cool of the day, the knowable God (that is otherwise beyond knowing), became nestled inside Mary’s warm womb — because she chose to believe.

Apostolically Speaking,

☩☩ Jerry L Hayes

Endnotes

1. Romans 1:5-6, Through Him we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith among all nations for His name, 6 among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;

2. Adv haeres, 3, 22,4 PG 7/1, 959A

3. Adv haeres, 3, 22,4 PG 7/1, 959A

4. Epiphanius Haer. 78, 18: PG 42, 728CD-729AB, Jerome, Ep. 22,21: PI. 22, 408