The Divine Advent(ure)
How to Handle the Unexpected
Luke 1:26-56
Have you ever noticed how life never seems to going exactly, or sometimes, even close to your plans?
One of my favorite quotes is this one, apparently from an unbeliever: “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.”
And if this is true of an unbeliever, how much more for a dedicated believer—especially one who is devoted to the idea that when it comes down to God’s plan vs. his or her plan--God’s plan must prevail.
In fact, Proverbs 16:9 provides us with this rather sobering truth: The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.”
So, in light of all this, how should we respond when the unexpected, and even the unwelcome, takes place?
As we continue in our Christmas series entitled “The Divine Advent(ure)” we have a near perfect example of how we ought to respond in someone who was a teenage girl whose very ordinary life what about to become incredibly extraordinary and complicated. That example this morning is the Virgin Mary.
And what she’s going to demonstrate for us this morning is quite encouraging: When the unexpected happens: Humbly sur4render to God’s apparent plan expecting Him to bless your obedient faith. Humbly surrender to God’s plan expecting Him to bless your obedient faith.
Before we delve into this familiar story, I’d like you to stop and think for a moment about the unexpected twists and turns in your life, and how you have responded, for good or for ill. Have you always responded in obedient faith? Or has God’s plan been a real challenge for you, like it has been for me. Now, consider what could happen in this next year, in your life, that would be a real challenge. How would you likely respond? And then consider how you might respond using Mary’s example.
Now let’s consider Mary’s experience and her response. Now believe it or not, I‘ve actually visited Mary’s hometown of Sepphoris, just down the hill from Nazareth. It’s rather incredible to think that these places actually exist today, a testament to the fact that we’re not talking about some fairy-tale here, but real live people who lived in time and space 2,000 years ago. Most scholars believe that Mary was a young teenager at the time these things happened, a typical but very godly young Jewish woman who was recently betrothed to a young man Joseph, a carpenter, from Nazareth when the angel Gabriel appeared to her.
But part of our problem as we think about Mary and her experience today is that we tend to have a 20th Century perspective. That is, we all already know that this Mary is the virgin Mary, destined to be the mother of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus, the Christ, the greatest person who ever lived, the Messiah of the Jews and for us who are believers, the Savior of all Mankind, a man who would be characterized by his ability to do every kind of miracle and healing, including raising the dead, and would Himself predict His own resurrection and accomplish it.
But what you’ve god to know is that at this point in her life, Mary did not know any of this. Oh, as a godly young woman, she had her Messiah was coming, and there was much Messianic expectation in her day, and she no doubt that know that the Messiah would be somebody’s son, but in a very innocent and unassuming way, I suspect she had never seriously entertained the idea that she herself would be the mother of this great Messiah. So when the Angel Gabriel showed up in her room one day, this was an entirely unexpected set of events. Despite the fact that Gabriel had provided her with an incredible positive greeting: “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you,” Mary initially had no idea what to make of what was happening. Verse 29, in fact, tells us “She was very, not a little, but very perplexed at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this was.”
Now, in retrospect, it was clearly a very positive introduction. You are favored, by God. The Lord is with you? If the Angel Gabriel said that to me, I hope I would be encouraged. But Mary initially was not so sure at all. Her attitude was “What in the world is going on here? What is this all about? Fortunately, for her, Gabriel doesn’t beat around the bush. He tells her that she will conceive in her womb and bear a son, and His name will be Jesus, and then the blockbuster, He will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and he will reign over the house of the Lord forever, and His kingdom will have no end.”
Now these were loaded words for anybody, but especially for a devout Jew in the first century. Son of the Most High God; who will rule on David’s throne—that’s the Son of David, that’s the Messiah. Son of the Most High—God in the flesh. God as a man. Immanuel, God with us, the son of that virgin in Isaiah 7:14. He will rule over the house of Jacob—He will be king over Israel and His kingdom will endure forever? Wow! This is too incredible to believe; this is beyond comprehension. Mary’s just a little nobody in her own sight, and life has just become incredibly complicated.
And there’s just one other problem here. She’s a virgin! How in the world is this going to happen? She’s engaged. She knows about the birds and the bees. So she asks it in verse 34: How can this be, since I am a virgin? Now what the angel is about to say is of extreme theological importance in a moment which is filled with extreme drama. Before we get to the drama, let me explain what is so heavy with intellectual and theological implications.
Verse 35: The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for the reason the holy Child will be called the Son of God.”
Now what has just been predicted is the miraculous Holy Spirit empowered conception of the Son of God. Gabriel has just explained that this son of Mary’s will not be the son of any male counterpart, any human being, and any father on the earth. He will be Mary’s son. But He will also be the Son of God Himself, the only begotten Son of God. God Himself begets God. And therefore this son would derive his human nature from Mary, but derive His fully divine nature from the Holy Spirit representing the Most High Himself, and therefore would be fully man and fully God, all at once.
It is an explanation not only of the incarnation, in which God becomes man, but fully explains exactly who Jesus is, and who we must believe He is to be saved: He is fully God as a man, fully God in the flesh, the only begotten God, the only begotten Son of the Heavenly Father, as Colossians 2:9 puts it: All the fullness of the Godhead dwelt in Christ. Wow. And as John 8:24 puts it, unless you believe Jesus is the I Am, that is very God of very God, you are guilty of some form of idolatry, and you will die in your sins—you will pay the penalty for your own sins.
Now back to the drama of the moment. The most unexpected has happened, the most incredible thing has just been predicted. Her we have a very godly, pure young woman living in the midst of an incredibly conservative culture which so condemned immorality that is was considered appropriate to stone fornicators and adulterers. And she has just been informed she is going to become pregnant out of wedlock, while she is engaged/betrothed to be married, and that she’s going to become pregnant not by the man she is engaged to, but by God Himself, and though she’s not going to be guilty of immorality, it is likely that absolutely everyone she knows is going to think that she’s been immoral, and terribly immoral, in having broken her engagement/betrothal vows, so no one is going to believe this story, even though she tells it, probably not her husband. And so what in the world are people going to think; what are they going to say; what will happen to her; more than that what will her fiancé’/betrothed think, will he still marry her, or will He divorce her? And more than that, she has just discovered she is going to be responsible for parenting the literal Son of God Himself. Whoa! Life has just become terribly complicated and perplexing. Mary has just had a bombshell of good and bad news dropped on her doorstep, and if she was perplexed before, how much more is she perplexed now! What I could imagine is that this might be a moment of tremendous anxiety, great joy, and perhaps great foreboding, all at once. And then there’s the issue of whether this young lady is going to believe what has just been told her. She’s got to be thinking to herself, is this really happening. Is this a dream? Is this my imagination?
Fortunately, at this point, the angel gives her something else to go on—something that she can check out for herself to make sure all this is true. I’m sure this is God’s provision for this completely shocking set of eventualities. So Gabriel gives her a way to confirm what’s really going on here. What’s happening for you is something very much like what has already happened for one of your relatives—Elizabeth. Of course, Elizabeth, we know from earlier in Luke 1, is about to have a baby in her old age, the baby being John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus, the greatest prophet of all time. And so Gabriel gives her this news as a means of confirming the hard-to-believe news she has just received: Verse 36: “And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age, and she who as called barren is now in her sixth month (of pregnancy). For nothing shall be impossible with God.”
Now, I think verse 37 is the real challenge for us. Do we really believe that? That’s exactly what we’ve got to believe when the unexpected, the very perplexing, the incredibly complicated, and even the impossible happens in our lives. That nothing shall be impossible with God.”
And fortunately for Mary, that’s exactly what she believed. Because we find in verse 38 a response for the ages—the model attitude for someone, anyone of us, who encounters the unexpected, the complicated, the impossible: Mary’s response: “Behold, the bond slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
What was Mary saying here? She was saying, “I surrender, Lord. I completely surrender to your will and your plan, no matter what. Why, because I am a bond-slave of the Lord. What is a bond-slave? A bond-slave from Old Testament (cite verse) is a slave who might otherwise go free but so loves his master and his family that he or she commits to be in bondage, be a part of the family, forever, for the rest of his life, to serve his master’s family. It’s exactly what the Apostle Paul calls Himself in relationship to Christ—a bond-slave of the Lord, one who so loves God and is so loved by God that He is committed Himself in love to serve whatever the Lord’s purposes are, regardless of how difficult they might be—for live, out of love for the Lord.
Mary is saying: “I humbly surrender to your plan God. And that’s the heart of the response God wants from any of us. Our first point this morning: When the unexpected happen, good or bad, humbly surrender to God’s plan.
I can tell you from experience, when you attempt to follow the Lord in your life, life can become incredibly perplexing and complicated. I can remember adopting twins with a $190,000 hospital ell and having no money. I can remember at a critical juncture in our small church’s history, find out I had terminal cancer, discovering and even deciding the church could no longer pay me anything, but sensing that the good shepherd does not abandon His sheep, especially when things get tough. And having to surrender to the Lord, when nothing else this side of heaven made sense. And He saw us through.
And that’s why Mary was so blessed. She believed God would somehow see her through all the incredible complications and unanswered questions about what was about to take place.
And of course, the Angel had given her a clue as to how she could confirm what she had just heard was not a product of her own imagination. Just go see Elizabeth, your relative. And if she’s really pregnant for the first time in her old age, then you’ll know!
And so in verses 39 through 45, Mary did just that. Now this is another spiritual lesson for those of us who encounter the unexpected which is clearly God’s plan. When God reveals His plan, He often provides us with a second and third witness of the plan, and so He did so here for Mary, and the second witness, would indeed be Elizabeth, and in no uncertain terms.
So Mary according to verse 39 hurries off from Sepphoris, near Nazareth, to the hill country of Judah and entered the house of Elizabeth and her husband Zacharias. And guess what happens the moment she greets Elizabeth. The supernatural. The incredible. The experience of God confirming that indeed all this was actually taking place. The moment Mary greets Elizabeth, the child in Elizabeth’s womb, who had been there for six month, jumps for joy. And Elizabeth, if you hadn’t noticed is immediately filled with the Spirit and delive3rs what has to be a prophetic, supernaturally empowered declaration of what has just happened. She has heard nothing of Mary’s pregnancy—Mary has not revealed it to anyone, I’m sure. They would have all thought she was nuts or immoral. But immediately, God reveals to Elizabeth what this jumping for joy in her womb is really all about! Verse 42: “And she (Elizabeth) cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! (How could Elizabeth have known except the Lord had revealed it to her?) “And how has it happened to me that the mother of my Lord would come to me?” (Where did that come from? Elizabeth not only knows supernaturally that Mary is pregnant, but she knows whom she is pregnant with: “The Mother of My Lord” Elizabeth declares it in advance supernaturally that the fruit of Mary’s womb is none other than God Almighty in the Flesh, Immanuel, God with us! “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy”
And then she delivers a statement which is the second great lesson we are learn this morning: “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.”
And believe me, Elizabeth was qualified to speak on this subject. For her husband, Zacharias, had not believed when Gabriel announced he was about to become the father of John the Baptist, and was unable to speak for nine months on account of his unbelief. And this statement, mark verse 45 provides us the second great lesson to apply when we encounter the unexpected: “Believe God will bless your obedient faith. Believe God will bless your obedient faith. Expect He will bless your obedient faith. You see, if I were to put it in a nutshell what God wants from us in any and every circumstance in life, it’s this: Obedient faith. Faith that produces obedience. That’s what produces God’s mercy and eternal life and all his blessings. And this is what Mary demonstrated she had in boatloads.
When the unexpected, even the unwelcome takes place, this is the question: Will you believe God will take care of you and it with obedient faith. When you do, then you will blessed, and perhaps many more with you.
And when you believe with obedient faith, something else will happen for you. You will give thanks. You will thank God because He blesses when you are challenged. Because you are challenged. Because He is God, and He wants to encourage and grow your faith. And the response of faith is then this: Thank God that He will bless your challenges. ?thank God that He will bless your challenges.
And as Mary hears these incredible supernatural words from Elizabeth, her faith and her joy overflows in what we know as Mary’s Magnicat. What I have believed is true; God is faithful. He is not only hearing my prayers, but the prayers of all Israel for centuries. He is fulfilling His Word to the prophets. He is sending His Savior, the Messiah, to save His people and me from our sins.
Verse 46: “My soul exalts the Lord. And my spirit has rejoiced in God My Savior.”
Now, again a very important theological note for any of you who might come from a tradition which prays to Mary, or believes Mary is a co-redemptrix, or that she saves us, or that she is also every-where present, all-knowing, all-powerful, and able to answer prayers on her own. If you come from a tradition which claims she is sinless and without the need of a Savior herself, notice her own confession. “And my Spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.” Mary is not sinless, she is not a savior, she is not God, she does not answer prayers, and she is not a mediator between us and Jesus. No, she’s a sinner like the rest of us whom only God, the God in her womb, Jesus could save, and He did when He died on the cross for her sins and ours some 33 years later.
“And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior, for he has had regard for the humble state of His bond-slave. For behold from this time on all generations will count me blessed.” Again notice, she is not the blessed, the one who blesses, the source of blessing. But she is the object of God’s blessing. She essentially is saying, "I will be counted not as the blesser, but I will be counted as the blessed!" For the Mighty One has done great things for me; and holy is His name. And His mercy is upon Generation after generation toward those who fear Him—He’s the Savior! “He has done mighty deeds with His arm; He has scattered those who were proud in the thoughts of their heart. He has brought down rulers from their thrones. And has exalted those who were humble—even little old me, even little Mary. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich empty handed. He has given help to Israel His servant in remembrance of His mercy, As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and His descendants forever.”
And then we’re told, Mary stayed with her (Elizabeth) about three months. Elizabeth was the only who would understand her joy. And you know how women are. How giddy they are about engagements and pregnancies and babies. These two had their own private baby shower and party for three months—Mary couldn’t tell anybody else and have them believe it. So God provided even for this—someone to understand, someone to celebrate, a baby shower, for the greatest baby to ever be born.
God’s merciful isn’t He? He provides for everything we need, especially when we’re humble, obediently humble and believing as Mary was.
He even provides heaven, and forgiveness through this Son of Mary who died for our sins and rose again. And He’ll provide for, provide you will respond with the same surrender, and obedient, humble faith that Mary displayed.
Has something unexpected happened? Humbly surrender to the Lord’s plan, believing He will bless your obedient faith.
