The Seven Joys of Mary

A sermon delivered to All Saints Anglican Church on the Third Sunday of Advent, December 14, 2008, at the Convent Chapel of St. Mary's Medical Center, Huntington, WV. based on
I Thessalonians 5:16-28

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you! (You may be seated.)

As Father Mark explained to us last week, today is the Rose Sunday, when our emphasis in on Joy. Our reading from I Thessalonians touches on this theme: Rejoice always…
During this season of Advent, I’ve been pondering Joy with the help of an old, medieval song called ‘The Seven Joys of Mary’. It’s found on a Christmas album by singer Loreena McKennitt. Cindy brought it home one day at the beginning of Advent and we’ve been enjoying it ever since. The tune is the traditional ‘Star of the County Down’, which we usually sing with different words. Let me read you the lyrics.

The first good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of one.
The first rejoice that Mary had Was to see her new born son.

To see her new born Son good man, and blessed may he be.
Sing Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to all eternity.

2. The next good joy that Mary had it was the joy of two.
To see her son, Jesus, Make the lame to go.

The next rejoice that Mary had, it was the joy of three.
To see her own son Jesus, to make the blind to see.
To make the blind to see good man, and blessed may he be.
Sing Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to all eternity.

The next good joy our lady had, it was the joy of four.
It was the rejoice of her dear son, when he read the bible o'er.

The next good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of five.
To see her own son Jesus, to make the dead alive.
To make the dead alive good man, and blessed may he be.
Sing Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to all eternity.

The next rejoice our lady had, it was the rejoice of six.To see her own son Jesus, to bear the crucifix….

Whoops. Stop the song. I thought this was about joyful things!
Watching her son bear the cross doesn’t seem like something a mother would rejoice in, does it?

This one kind of threw me for a loop – until I began to tie it in with some reading I’ve been doing during this Advent season - Gustaf Aulen’s book, ‘Christus Victor”.

As you may recall, two weeks ago, I sent out a Chapter Talk to the Company of Jesus, and to you all, about this very topic. The context was that one of the CoJ brothers, Dale Brown, had developed a Rule of Life that he called “Christus Victor”. He had used this Rule during an especially difficult time in his marriage this past year, and when he shared it with me, I thought it might be well to put it out to the Company as a special Advent intention.

It also occurred to me at the time that I had a book on my shelf by the same title. I had purchased this book for 79 cents at the Glen Flora Used Book Exchange back in about 1986, when we lived in Waukegan, Illinois. But unlike the other books I buy, I had never been able to get into this one. It was just too difficult and I didn’t have a compelling enough reason to finish it – until now, when I’m actually thinking about the topic and trying to relate it to my Christian life.

Gustaf Aulen was a Swedish theologian who lived during the first half of the 20th century. His book, “Christus Victor” is actually a series of collected lectures published in 1930, and is subtitled “An Historical Study of the Three Main Types of the Idea of the Atonement”. I think you can see from the title why I had some trouble getting into it…

But it’s been a good Advent discipline and its theme actually connects with our theme of Joy today.

As I said in my Chapter Talk, we normally think of Advent as being primarily about the Incarnation and the Atonement as dealing with the Easter events. Aulen ties the two together by quoting Irenaeus, the earliest of the Fathers to deal with the topic of the Atonement.

In his book ‘Against Heresies’ (II, 14.7), Irenaeus asks the question, “For what purpose did Christ come down from heaven?” The answer he gives is: ‘That He might destroy sin, overcome death, and give life to man’ (AH III,18.7). …”

‘In Irenaeus’ thought, Jesus came down from Heaven and was incarnated because, although Man had been created by God that he might have life, through the Fall we became helpless and held in bondage by the power of sin, death and the devil. Only God has the power to overcome these powers, and He Himself, in His mercy, took on the job of delivering us by sending Jesus, the Logos, the Word of God, to take on human flesh in order that He might destroy death, bind and spoil the Strong Man – the Devil - and bring man new life. Therefore, the Incarnation is the necessary preliminary to the Atonement – God’s decisive victory over sin, death and the devil. There is even the thought that the Devil was deceived in a way. Because Jesus was clothed in humility, Satan didn’t recognize who He really was and therefore overextended himself by attacking Him. Satan was like a fish that takes the bait and gets caught because of his own greed.

These thoughts reflect the ‘Classic” view of the Atonement, a view which is both “dualistic” and “dramatic” – that is, the forces of Evil are arrayed against God, and the Atonement is seen as a Divine conflict and victory. Christ – Christus Victor – fights against and triumphs over the evil powers of the world, the ‘tyrants’ under which mankind is in bondage and suffering, and in Him God reconciles the world to Himself. “…the victory over the hostile powers brings to pass a new relation, a relation of reconciliation, between God and the world.” (CV :pgs 4, 5).

Gustaf Aulen asserts that ‘Christus Victor’ was the primary view of the Atonement for the first thousand years of the Christian Church. Over against this view is the “Latin” type, promulgated by Anselm of Canterbury, who is actually the first theologian to attempt a thoroughly thought-out doctrine of the Atonement.

Anselm’s “Satisfaction” Theory became synonymous with the Roman Catholic view and held dominance until the Reformation. This view teaches a deliverance from the guilt of sin, and an ‘objective’ Atonement in which God is the object of Christ’s atoning work, and is reconciled through the satisfaction made to His justice.” Christ as MAN offers up satisfaction to GOD and because Christ is Divine, his sacrifice is applied by God to the whole of humanity.

The differences between these two views may seem esoteric, but the practical effects are huge. While the religion of ‘Christus Victor’ centers around the Mysteries of Redemption and the Sacraments, the ‘Satisfaction’ view leads to a System of Christianity in which “man’s way to God was interpreted as a way of justification by works and by human merit.” (CV, Translator’s note pg. xxv).

In other words, either God Himself initiates the Victory over Sin, Death and the Devil, resulting in Life and Freedom - or the Death of Christ is an act of sacrifice which opens the way for Man to make Satisfaction to God for his many crimes. One way is freedom, the other bondage to a System of works righteousness.

Martin Luther protested against abuses engendered by this System of works righteousness when he posted his 95 Theses on the cathedral door at Wittenberg, sparking reformation that effected all the Christian world. Ironically, Aulen claims that Phillip Melancthon, Luther’s successor actually went back to the Satisfaction view, leading to as much legalistic bondage for Orthodox Protestants as mediaeval scholasticism did for Roman Catholics.

This is one of the reasons why people get so messed up in their faith. They see Christianity as a set of Laws to be perfectly obeyed, rather than as a Celebration of our deliverance from Bondage.

One hears Paul saying to the Galatians, “For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery” (Gal.5:1). Jesus came into this world as a baby so that he could die for us as the God-Man and set us Free!!

Now we can understand why Mary can be said to rejoice in seeing her Son nailed to the Tree. It was, as Hebrews 12:2 says, that Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame, because of the Joy that was set before him – to be seated at the right hand of God as Christus Victor, Lord over All.

Mary then, models for us Paul’s admonition to:
Rejoice always,
pray without ceasing,
give thanks in all circumstances…

This is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you – because we triumph with Christ in His victory over sin, death and the devil. Even if you’re going through rough times like Brother Dale was – perhaps because you’re going through some tough time, God’s will for us is that we Rejoice, Pray, and give thanks in all circumstances. We don’t necessarily thank God for the circumstances themselves, but we give thanks in the circumstances, knowing that Christ is our Victory and that even now He sits on the throne in Heaven as Lord of all Creation, or Kyrie Pantocrator.

The icon of Christ Pantocrator shows Jesus as a rather severe and powerful Lord, not as ever-suffering victim. It reflects a”Christus Victor understanding

of the Lordship of Christ. The logo of our church, the Risen Lord, reflects the same understanding: Christ is now enthroned as Lord and reigns from Heaven, having overcoming the powers arrayed against us.

Mary’s last joy then, must be understood in this light:
“The next good joy that Mary had, it was the joy of seven.
To see her own son Jesus, to wear the crown of heaven.
To wear the crown of heaven good man, and blessed may he be.
Sing Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to all eternity.

This teaching should comfort and reassure us in our Christian walk.
God Himself initiated the battle on our behalf. Jesus decisively won the battle for us, and He reigns from Heaven as Lord. He has sent his Spirit to live inside of us to empower us to fight our enemies and conquer them in his power. But this power is only exercised through power and thanksgiving. In Him, we have the victory, - but only – and I repeat only, if we pray! Prayer is the weapon we wield in this spiritual fight and we must use it on behalf of ourselves and our families, our neighbors and our community.

I don’t know about you, but I feel this need keenly. In the last three years, there have been at least four shootings within one block of my house on Euclid Place. Five people have died and two have been wounded. True, they are all drug related, but I don’t even need an alarm clock any more, I just wake up to the sound of gunfire.

So recently, I’ve taken to doing prayer walks in the mornings. I’ve included in your bulletin A Christus Victor Prayer-Walk Rosary. I use this as I walk and pray through my neighborhood. You may not have as many shootings on your block as we have had on ours, but I know your neighbors need prayer – and I know they need you to pray for them.

Therefore, PRAY! ALWAYS! AND DON’T GIVE UP UNTIL CHRIST COMES BACK OR HE CALLS FOR YOU!

Friends, this is serious business and these are serious times -
But be comforted by this concluding blessing that Paul gives us in his letter to the Thessalonians:

“Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.” AMEN.