By nature we humans know that we are not perfect. Deep down we know that God is righteous and holy. So, naturally, there is a human inclination to provide a buffer between us and The Holy and Righteous God. Consider this, in the Roman Catholic Church, the return of Jesus Christ is one of judgment. He bears the sword and will strike down anyone who has not lived up to His standards. This Judge and King is terrifying. To consider that Christ will return one day to enact His wrath on mankind leaves us with no protection. The Law demands too much from us. So we are shoved by the Law into the sword of the Judge. Enter Mary who pleads to the King on our behalf. Mary becomes the buffer, the R2D2 that stops the trash-compacting walls of the Law and divine judgment. She eases our fears. She calms our woes. She hears our cries. The problem with this picture is that it is not biblical. This is a false safety. It feels nice. The sentiment speaks to our emotional nature. Yet a liver shiver is not our lasting safety.
In fact, American Christianity has once again led themselves back into the same error that has been around for centuries. It’s not a new error; same dough, different pan. Safety is felt in yet another leaven by another name. The new verbiage for the safe zone between the ever closing walls of the Law and a righteous King is now a “relationship” or a “walk” or “faith life” or “being on fire”. Surely Jesus wouldn’t smite His chums. It’s no wonder people gauge their level of Christianity by how much time they spend in the Word or how long they hang out at their places of worship or the emotional strings that are triggered by music/pastor/devotionals. Desire for reassurance seeks to take a tangible form. The desire for peace from the Law leads them right back to it. Once again this is not biblical. It is a half-baked loaf from the mixing of Law and Gospel. It is rich and sweet to the taste but leads to spiritual diabetes.
This is the effect of misunderstanding the Sacraments. This is the effect of misunderstanding the Divine Service of God to us. This is the effect of not properly distinguishing Law and Gospel. The Law takes many forms. The Gospel takes many less, but no less effective. Life giving bread is made without yeast of the Pharisees. You have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Your relationship with God is more like Edmond Dantes and Fernand Mondego. You have betrayed to get the girl because you think you’re the better man only to treat the bride like another trinket. You do this each and every day. Your relationship stinks because you stink. There is no safe zone. There is no buffer. Prepare to die. This is the Law and it is in full effect. Thus God incarnates, born of the Virgin Mary. He suffers your fate. He pays the price for His betrayers. The tyrant goes free because of the blood of the Lamb. Jesus came to save you because you need more than a comrade.
How do we know we are saved? Is it Mary who reassures us? Is it a relationship? No, we receive the Word. God gives tangible promises; the cool trickle of forgiveness on our head, the taste of eternal life on our tongue, the pastor’s voice of God in our mind. You, O betrayer, are forgiven. This is not about a relationship or a safe zone. This is about being weighed, measured, and found wanting but also being made right with God through His promises; promises we touch and taste and hear.
Get over yourself. God does not want to simply have a relationship with you like a high school sweetheart. The “relationship with Jesus” jargon is the evangelical version of Rome’s Mary. To be in Christ is so much more. He has brought you back from the dead. By His Word He makes you a good Christian. He does this in baptism and absolution and the Lord’s Supper because HE ACTUALLY SAID SO. You can skip with Jesus across fields of flowers if you want.
As for me, I have a Savior.