I've spent a huge amount of time this semester working with youth, and not just here at church. As some of you know, in addition to doing my internship at NBUCC, I was doing another internship for what's called CPE, which is an acronym we commonly use at seminary. It stands for Clinical Pastoral Education. CPE is basically training for seminary students in pastoral care. I did my training at the Hennepin County Juvenile Detention center in downtown Minneapolis. I worked with the youth as a chaplain. Our conversations included all aspects of their lives – from relationships with members of their family to the reasons they were brought to the detention center. Nothing, and I really mean nothing, was off limits or taboo. It seems to me that many youth simply crave to have someone listen to their stories and take their lives and the issues they face seriously. I've had the same experience here with the youth at NBUCC. Making my ear available to them has allowed me the privilege of hearing some interesting stories and engaging in some wonderful and serious conversations.
One topic that has come up again and again in my conversations with youth is sexuality, and issues around it. In most cases I'm struck by the ease and knowledge with which youth speak. I'm sure this situation is due to better education and openness these days, but I've also noticed that it's heavily influenced by our hyper-sexualized culture and cultural attitudes around sexuality. I hear puns and innuendo on TV shows and commercials constantly. Inappropriate images of women seem to be everywhere for public viewing: advertisements, magazines, TV, the Internet. I'd feel different if these funny one-liners and images served a positive educational purpose. But, it seems they hardly ever do. They rather perpetuate stereotypes about women, men and sex. Often they're degrading for women, and sometimes men. They make light of sex, as if it doesn't mean much beyond a solitary moment of gratification. You have to wonder, given all these images and messages about sex, what the youth actually think about it all? What strikes them? I won't answer for them; they should answer for themselves. But, I will tell you what's struck me from these conversations: The treatment of women.
Images of half-naked women suggest that a woman's value is derived from her sexuality. Jokes and talk about female body parts, their sexual lives, and strip clubs also function to reduce a woman's worth based on her sexuality. In one case, two female youths said that they used to speak up, but to no avail. Instead, they said that they've grown numb to it all! Still young teenagers, yet they already have to numb their feelings to protect themselves, being unprepared to handle what culture confronts them with. Besides making a woman feel like less than a child of God, what's worse, culture teaches her that she must exploit her sexuality to get ahead in the world and get what she wants. For men, the permissive exploitation of women teaches them that it's normal to take advantage of and control women through their sexuality. Some of the male youth with whom I speak or overhear, parrot back perfectly what they hear in pop-culture regarding women. Other youth, such as at NBUCC, I am delighted to say speak critically about the degrading way women are treated. To be honest, the young men and women here at NBUCC warm my heart and give me hope for the future when I hear them speak so disapprovingly.
I'm hopeful also when I consider culture today versus the past. Until relatively recently there wasn't even any serious discussion about the treatment of women. Although we still have a huge problem, the degrading treatment of women is rarely, if ever openly condoned, and often it's condemned, thank goodness. I can only imagine how much worse women were treated in Jesus' day. Through historical records and myths we do know that women in ancient times were often regarded as less than men, and in some cases, even less than male children. Often the concerns of women weren't taken seriously. Undoubtedly, there were wonderful, loving relationships in ancient times. Still, given what we know, I think it's impossible to deny that women were often thought of and treated as a means to an end. She was an economic asset, a body for sexual pleasure, a vessel for the husband's children, and a servant to raise children.
When I encountered today's scripture and brought it into dialogue with the ancient context and my recent experiences among the youth, I was surprised at what I discovered. The Gospel of Luke seems to confront the treatment of women head-on through the Immaculate Conception. In the past, a woman's worth depended particularly upon her virginity. Virginity was a commodity for the woman's father; it provided him a dowry. Virginity also had sexual value to the future husband, arousing sexual desire. Women who had relations outside marriage were considered tarnished, and so incapable of being married. Not being able to marry was devastating for women, because outside marriage there were few paths open to women that provided social acceptance and economic security.
What's downright surprising and subversive about the Gospel witness, I think, is the image it presents of God and what the encounter with God does for Mary in the Immaculate Conception. To be clear, I'm not trying to suggest that God has sex with Mary, or imply that sex is bad. I readily admit that I don't care much about whether the miracle literally happened, or how it happened. The fact is that the miracle occurs in the Gospel, and I believe that it has profound meaning, if we let it to speak to us. That said, I think the Immaculate Conception turns on its head the cultural assumptions about assigning value to women based primarily upon their sexuality.
In the ancient context a woman had no control over her sexuality. It was assumed to be the male's prerogative: It belonged to her father as a dowry and then to her husband. The Gospel challenges this assumption in verse 38. Mary says, "Here am I…let it be with me according to your word." Unless I'm mistaken, it sounds as if Mary is actually giving her assent to God's call to play her part in the redemption of creation. To be able to accept the call means that, like all of us, she can reject the call. God will not force Mary, but wants Mary's consent to the conception, as well as her active and loving participation in the life of her Son. God won't force Mary into this situation, because compulsion – as women so often experienced – leads to fear, pain, victimization, and distrust. God won't conceive Christ in violence of any sort. In fact, all hints of violence, all hints of financial or sexual exploitation are absent from the Immaculate Conception.
God's call to Mary is a blessing that, even if it entails difficulty and tragedy, ultimately lifts up the lowly. Mary says of her experience, "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant…. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly." Mary's encounter with God becomes the source that enables this first century Jewish woman to see that she is much, much more than what culture tells her she is. Mary isn't an object for delight, a profitable gain, an incubator, or a slave to raise children. The lowly woman of Palestine is lifted up. In her experience with God, Mary discovers that she is invaluable, and a necessary participant that God requires and is excited to inspire. Remarkably, the profound gift of increased self-worth and empowerment that Mary finds in God leads her not to glorify herself. Her experience of chosen-ness permeates her soul with a joyful spirit that only seeks to magnify the glory of God. Mary, if I may be so bold to say, becomes a faithful model of discipleship that God wants and needs – for in Mary, Jesus will undoubtedly find the inspiration and strength He requires to mature into our Christ and usher in the peaceable kingdom! The true God sees that a redeemed humanity can't do without a redeemed motherhood and womanhood.
So, we shouldn't limit God's work with Mary to her personally. Mary wouldn't appreciate it, I think, if we made her experience solely about her. Her gift from God is also for us. Through Mary, the Mighty One gives renewed dignity and honor to women in general. This, I believe, is the real reason that Mary's virginity is important. By frankly alerting us to Mary's virginity, the Gospel calls our attention to the cultural assumptions and significance of virginity. The striking absence of cultural value involved in the Immaculate Conception is the first reason it's immaculate – not the absence of sex. The Gospel witness calls our attention elsewhere. It finds other elements in the encounter with God far more valuable and meaningful: Mary's free assent to God's call, her active participation in motherhood, the liberating effect an increased sense of worth has on her, and God's promised salvation for the world through her child. The Immaculate Conception is immaculate, second because Mary's faith perfectly demonstrates faith, and the amazing work that God can accomplish through immaculate faith.
None of what I say should suggest that the miracle itself ought to be disregarded as naive superstition. I think the miracle has real earthly meaning and purpose, if taken seriously: It's a path to grace that helps to redeem womanhood, as well as manhood. Within the narrative, Mary's welcome of the Immaculate Conception actually puts her in a tough spot. Folks in the first century might more readily believe in birth by a virgin, but many would still find it hard to accept. To be honest, if Mary told me that her child was conceived without sex, my response would probably be, "Aaaaah! That's nice," all the while thinking, "This one's a bit mental." Considering Mary crazy, however, is nicer than what some others would say or think: liar, promiscuous, mm, mm, mmmm! I beg your pardon for even suggesting terrible words in the pulpit. But, look at what the miracle evoked by taking it seriously, and being honest about what it calls to mind. As soon I admit that it evokes those terrible things, I can't help but ask: Why do judgmental, demeaning names come to mind at all? Where do the insults come from? Why condemnation instead of compassion, or even joy? Aren't motherhood and a future child something we should want to celebrate – even if it isn't our Savior?
Herein lies the true miracle! In the Immaculate Conception, God gives us the opportunity to see the truth about ourselves, a cruel aspect of our culture, and purge it. Condemnation of Mary comes because we're trained to see women and their sexuality in terms of economic and sexual value. God's in-breaking into our lives through the miracle challenges us to question our values and assumptions, and see women differently, as God sees Mary! The eyes of God, the eyes of love, call us to see that womanhood and motherhood possess inherent worth.
Miraculously, when men acknowledge that inherent worth, they're also liberated. We no longer need to define our worth at the expense of women; no longer does our value depend upon subjugating and exploiting women and their sexuality. God frees us men to discover who we're truly meant to be. We're freed to form relationships with others that are divine, like God and Mary's – one's that uplift each other, one's that honor each other's dignity, one's that empower in such a way that the love of God is magnified through that bond. This divine bond is not formed merely for the couple's sake, though. The divine bond brings our children closer to God, and gives them a sacred place to start their journey into realizing who they're meant to be in Christ. Come, let us be cleansed and purged by the miracle – the third reason Mary's conception is truly immaculate. May we be made immaculate in faith and life through Mary as we await the hope promised by God in the One whose birth we yearn to celebrate, sweet Christ Jesus.
Amen
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"Perhaps the anthropological role of the Christian church in human history might be simplified as follows: To undermine the structures of sacred violence by making it impossible to forget how Jesus died and to show the world how to live without such structures by making it impossible to forget how Jesus lived." Gil Bailie, Violence Unveiled: Humanity at the Crossroads
