May It Be As You Have Said

“May It Be To Me As You Have Said”

Luke 1:26-38

Imagine a 12-13-year old girl being asked by the angel Gabriel to give birth to God’s Son.

I mean, he was asking her to have a child, conceived outside of marriage and Mary was engaged to be married to Joseph.

And in Mary’s day, the Law said that if a woman engaged to be married was found to be pregnant by someone else, she was to be put to death!!!

I mean, God was asking a lot of her, was He not?

Add to this the fact that in Mary’s day, giving birth was a very risky proposition.

This was before modern medicine.

A very high percentage of women died during childbirth in those times.

And then Mary had hopes and dreams of her own.

She was supposed to marry Joseph.

Joseph was a really good man.

She was in love.

They had made plans together.

They would have their own family.

What would happen to all that if Mary ended up pregnant and Joseph wasn’t the father?

There’s not a chance he would stick by her.

I mean, what would she say?

“I am pregnant by the Spirit of God.

An angel came and ask me if I would be the mother of God.

And so I said ‘Yes.’

My child will be the Savior of the world.”

Would anyone believe that?

Would Mary’s friends believe that?

And what about her family?

What if someone you knew got pregnant and told you that kind of a story?

What would be your response?

Would you believe them?

There is no doubt, Mary was in a tough situation.

She was being asked to take a huge risk.

It could smash the dreams she had for herself.

It could get her killed.

Legend has it that Mary was not the first person to be asked by God to bear His Son, but rather she was the first person to say “Yes.”

There is no way we can know if this is true, but let’s imagine it is for a moment.

How many others did the angel Gabriel approach before Mary?

How many others said, “You are out of your mind!!!”

How many others were not willing to take the risk?

How many others turned down the privilege of giving birth to the Kingdom of God?

How many others said “No” before Mary said “Yes”?

Mary said “Yes” to God Who wanted to dwell within and through her.

And in a very real sense, this is the same thing God asks of us.

God doesn’t just want to be “with us;” God wants to be within us—distinct yet inseparable!!!

This is what Mary’s “Yes” was about.

She said “Yes” to being a vessel for the divine and the holy.

She was given a choice to allow God to live in her and work through her and she said “Yes.”

The same true of YOU.

The same is true of me.

The truth of the Gospel is that we human beings are created to be tabernacles, containers of the holy.

God is asking to live inside every one of us—to be birthed within every one of us—and thus to give us new birth and transform our lives completely.

The Bible tells us that Jesus is knocking on the door of every

one of our hearts.

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock,” says Jesus, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into them.”

When I was your age, I felt God knocking on the door of my heart.

And for several years, I resisted allowing Him in.

Instead, I gave into peer pressure.

I did things my own way.

And I’m sorry I did that.

Because, I made a lot of mistakes in late middle school and high school which I think would have been avoided if I had given my life to Jesus earlier than I did.

I went down some bad roads that caused me anguish and pain.

I did things I’m not proud of, and I did some things that probably still negatively affect me today.

But God didn’t give up on me.

Through God’s grace and love—God continued to knock on the door of my heart.

I remember one night, as if it were yesterday.

I was a freshman in college, and I was walking down the sidewalk at night.

And I was at a cross-road.

I was having a conversation with myself and with God.

And it became clear to me that I had a decision to make.

I could follow Satan or I could follow God—but I couldn’t follow both.

I decided to follow Jesus, and my life was transformed and I have never been the same since.

I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything else in the world.