re mary s assumption david bernard central sun com dave bernard writes when elizabeth greeted mary elizabeth said something to the effect that mary out of all women was blessed if so it appears that this exactly places mary beyond the sanctification of normal humanity i don t see how this logically follows true enough mary received a blessing beyond any granted in all the history of humanity by being privileged to be the mother of the savior it says nothing about mary needing to be a blessed person first in order that she might thereby be worthy to bear the son of god again i think the problem is that as humans we can t comprehend how the sinless incarnation could spring from sinful human flesh and god s spirit rather than simply accept the gracious miracle of god we must needs try to dope out a mechanism or rationale as to how this could be mary s own words my spirit rejoices in god my savior for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden sound like the words of a human aware of her own humanity in need of a savior similar to what david proclaimed in his psalms not the words of a holy being with no further need for god s grace i really apologize for harping on this i don t suppose it s important it s just that i see mary and joseph and the baby reduced to placid serene figurines i feel we lose the wonder in the fact that god chose to come down to you and i to be born of people like you and i to share our existence and redeem us from it s fallenness by his holy incarnation paul marxhausen university of nebraska lincoln grace happens
