Saints Joachim and Anne, Mary's Parents
Today is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. We celebrate every December 8th the day on which Mary was conceived. Why is this a big deal?
Well, let’s look at what we’re celebrating. The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. Immaculate Conception? What’s that mean? A lot of folks hear “Immaculate Conception,” and think it’s talking about Jesus. It’s not. Well, not directly, at least. We’re talking about Momma, here. Mary was conceived immaculately. That means, she was never touched by original sin.
Whoa. That’s pretty neat. No original sin, huh? Why’s that?
Let’s think about it. God knew, from before time began, that his son, Jesus, was to become human and die to rebuild the bridge between God and Man forever. And he knew that if he was going to become human, he’d need to be born. He would need to develop like every other human, in the womb of a mother. And God knew from before time, that that mother, would be Mary.
Okay. That makes enough sense. But why would Mary need to be immaculately conceived without original sin?
Think about when someone really important is coming to town. We pull out all the stops to make sure everything is a good as it can be. What if the president was coming to your house for dinner? You’d probably want to make something really good to eat, and instead of eating it off of paper plates, you’d want to use the good stuff. Now let’s imagine you get to pick up the president from the airport. And let’s suppose you’ve got a half dozen cars, and you have to decide which one to use. (What a problem to have, right?) Well, I know I’d want to pick the nicest car I’ve got, what about you? You might not want to pick the Suzuki you bop around town in, but the Bentley. Are you going to clean out the Bently? Or is the president going to have to sit with his feet on top of empty McDonald’s cups and wipe old Doritos crumbs off his butt when he gets out? I’m guessing you’re going to have it super clean. The deluxe wash,wax, vacuum, and detailing at the best car wash in town. And why would you go to all this trouble? Because the president is a very important guy.
As nice as that Bentley is, I’m sure there’s an even nicer car. I’d want to use the absolute best car ever. And this car, I never had to go to the car wash, because it was never dirty. Not even a little bit. Not one smudge. It’s perfect. It’s immaculate.
Mary was picked by God to bear his son. God wants the best for his son. He wanted to send him not in a woman who had to be made clean, but one who was already perfect, who didn’t need to be made ready to carry Jesus. She was born ready to carry Jesus. More than that, she was conceived ready to carry Jesus! Jesus is all man and all God; he’s perfect. He’s God. If he’s going to be in a woman’s womb, it’s going to be the absolute best and most perfect womb possible. And that womb will be in the absolute best and most perfect woman, Mary.
Hmmm. That’s wild. Very interesting… but doesn’t baptism remove original sin? Doesn’t Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross take care of sins?
Yup. It sure does. We must remember that God is outside of time. He does what he wants, when he wants. To God, everything is now. So, yes, it was Jesus’ sacrifice that delivered Mary from original sin. The only difference between how say, I, was delivered from original sin, and how Mary was, is the question of when. Think about it like a swimming pool. In this case, the pool of water is sin. Jesus doesn’t want anybody in the pool. I was born with original sin. I fell in the pool at my very beginning, and Jesus came and pulled me out, and dried me off. Mary, though, Jesus made sure she never went in the pool. It’s like he ran out of the dressing room and threw himself in front of Mary and said, “WAAAAAIT! Don’t go in there!” And she didn’t.
Okay… so, both you and Mary are dry. What’s the big deal?
The big deal is that although we may both be dry, Mary never even got wet. She never had to be dried off. And even though we’re both dry, you can tell I’ve been in the pool. You can smell the chlorine in my hair, see the wrinkles on my fingers. Mary on the other hand smells amazing. And she doesn’t have fingers that are pruney from sin. Hers are perfect. It’s an analogy, and it’s going to break down, but there it is.
