The Hebrew word is geburah (gheb-OO-raw). The hebrew word
Geburah is found all throughout the old testament. It’s the word used for the
mighty works of God. God has done mighty things, amazing things, things that
are beyond human power. God created the universe out of nothing—the stars and
the planets are the mighty works of God. And the great celestial beings—the
angels—they are the mighty works of God. And even humans—creatures of free will
and intellect and also made up of the same material stuff as the stars and
planets—mighty works. God’s efforts to save humanity from sin—delivering the
Israelites out of Egyptian slavery with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar
of fire by night, God sending prophets to deliver mighty messages of
repentance—these are mighty works of God--Geburah.
Psalm 150, the last of the Psalms says—Praise God for his
mighty works—Praise God for his geburah. Praise God on instruments,
praise God with singing, praise God with tambourines and dancing and cymbals
and stringed instruments like lutes and guitars and violins and piped
instruments like flutes and organs, praise God with blasts of the horn for his
mighty works, his geburah. God’s word instructs us to praise God, to sing God’s
praises, to announce and declare to all the nations how great God is for his
geburah. And as Christians—we recognize that the Church fulfills the Psalm in
what God has done through his Son—for our salvation—his mighty work of saving
our souls.
Now I’m going to teach you another Hebrew word, very similar
to the first word. The first word was geburah—God’s mighty works, right? The
second word is gebirah (gheb-EE-raw), gebirah.
And the Gebirah—is the word for a woman—a special woman in
God’s kingdom. The Gebirah is the King’s mother. The king’s mother. And the
King’s mother in the kingdom of David was the most powerful, influential woman
in the kingdom. She was the king’s first advisor. To her the common folk
brought their requests for the king’s help. She was loved by the people of
Israel. It was from her that the king received his jewish lineage; his
connection back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
Interestingly, in Hebrew, in the Hebrew bible, when Hebrew is
written down, it didn’t contain vowels. So the word gebirah and geburah, when
written down in Hebrew, are identical.
So Psalm 150 could say “praise God for his mighty works”, or
“praise God for the King’s mother.”
As Christians, Jesus is our King. And who is the King’s
mother? Mary. That’s right, Mary.
Today, the Church praises God for his mighty work, Mary, the
King’s mother. And we praise God for the way that he made Mary—we praise God
for the way he made Mary.
Today the Church around the world gathers to celebrate the
way God made Mary. He made her, from the moment of her conception—the moment
she was a tiny tiny tiny human being in the womb of her mother—she was
immaculate. The was without the stain of sin. Her body and soul were
immaculate. The purest, the fairest, the most beautiful soul God ever made.
God could do that, right? After all, he’s God: he made the
universe, he could make soul any way he wanted. And it would certainly be
fitting, for him to make the mother of the king of kings as perfect as he
possibly could. And the church celebrates today that God could do it; it was
fitting for him to do it- and he did do it.
And so God’s mighty work geburah is the gebirah the king’s
mother. And today we sing, maybe he can even dance some time today, feast, eat
good food, to celebrate, to praise God for his mighty work, the immaculate
virgin mary, for the glory of God and salvation of souls.
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