Luke 2:16-21

In 431, the bishops of the Church gathered for the third world-wide—or ecumenical—council of the Church in the city of Ephesus, in modern-day Turkey. The bishops who gathered at the Council of Ephesus were there to settle a controversy. The archbishop of Constantinople and others were teaching that the child born to Mary was actually two separate persons: the human Jesus… and the divine Christ. Mary, then, would be the mother of the human Jesus, but could not be called the mother of anyone who is divine.

This way of thinking was condemned by the Council of Ephesus. The teaching of the Church, they proclaimed, is that there is only one person in Jesus Christ, and that if Mary is the mother of the human Jesus—Jesus Christ who is God—then she can be honored as the Mother of God.

Still, even if we know all this—if we know in our heads that we can call Mary the Mother of God—why should we? Why is this feast so important that we normally celebrate it as a holy day of obligation?

This mystery that Mary is the “Mother of God” says something about her, about Jesus, and about us.

What does the title “Mother of God” say about Jesus? The mystery that the Council of Ephesus reflected on is not that Mary is the MOTHER of God, but rather, that this baby, whom we see lying in the manger IS God. The hymn we sing asks “What child is this?” and our answer is that “this, this is Christ the King!” This helpless infant… is the same God who creates the stars of the heavens. This helpless infant… is the same God who destroys our sins on the Cross. In Jesus, God and man are united. The infinite and the finite wed each other. And because of this wedding, our lives on this earth, naturally destined to last maybe seventy or eighty years, can be lived forever in heaven.

If Mary is the Mother of God, then we are called to be brothers and sisters of Jesus and one another. The only reason that Jesus was born into this world was so that we could be borne into Heaven. In dying, Jesus opened the gates of heaven to us, to make a home for us there, so that we could live as one family.

This feast Mary, Mother of God has implications in our daily living. This feast challenges us to examine how we treat our brothers & sisters. If you are looking for a new year’s resolution, perhaps that might be good choice. Rather than making the resolution about ME, choose to examine how I care for all who are my sisters & brothers in the Lord.

Many of us are going to make resolutions for the New Year. How successful will we be? For most of us, the New Year won’t be much different than the last. Because, after all, we remain the same person that we have always been. If we truly want to change, it will take the grace of God. The grace of God is what made Mary the “Mother of God”. The grace of God is what can cause us to grow in loving our brothers & sisters.

Rev. Ev Hemann