Sermon: Are you letting the side down? Lk 1:26-45
I would like to focus on Mary the Mother of Jesus.
Mary is in my opinion the unsung heroine of the Christmas story.
Not only was she a practising Jew but she was brave and courageous and LIVED the godly life.
I think we Protestants have sold her short due to the excesses of the Roman Catholic Church in raising her almost to divinity.
But this doesn’t mean we cannot LEARN a lot from her.
She led an exemplary life.
Her trust in God was such that she was willing to bear Jesus, even though she wasn’t married
The key verse for me is Luke 1 verse 38
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.”
We can skip over it without realising how important it is.
Unlike today were single Mums jump to the top of the housing queue, in the first century AD a single mum was not looked after
At best her fiancé Joseph would put her away silently – as indeed he did plan to do until God spoke to him in a dream.
And at worst she could have been stoned as an adulteress (for she was betrothed to be married)
But for Mary if God had sent an Angel to her with a message, she was prepared to be obedient.
Just as many Christians in Muslim countries today are prepared to be and it can cost them their jobs, often their freedom and occasionally even their lives for being a practising Christian.
In contrast Rodney Buchanan tells this story:
A wealthy businessman from Boston, who was well known for being ruthless and unethical, told Mark Twain that before he died, he wanted to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.
He said that when he got there he wanted to climb to the top of Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments, and there read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.
“I have a better idea,” replied Twain, in his typical wit, “You could stay in Boston and keep them.”
Buchanan went on to say:
I believe that Jesus would have preferred that he stay in Boston and keep the commandments as well.
But we always prefer some great religious experience to the routine of obedience.
We would like some mountaintop emotion rather than actually showing the evidence of a changed life.
I have known many people over the years who talked a lot about some spiritual encounter they have had, but never showed much evidence of it when it came to the way they lived, their ethics and the manner in which they treated other people.
And Buchanan is right.
There are many people who have had a Christian experience but it doesn’t rub off in day to day life.
There are sadly folk in Church who to put it in the vernacular are toxic.
James in his epistle says this:
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food.
16 If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it?
17 In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds. (James 2:14-18)
James, I don’t believe, is saying that you earn your salvation but rather he is talking about the process of sanctification here.
That is once you have received the gift of salvation by faith you have to change. To show the fruit of the Spirit.
And it is a sign of your spiritual rebirth.
St Paul in Gal 5 says this:
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.
I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. (Gal 5:19-26)
Story: When I was in University (Chelsea College University of London 1973-1976) I played for the college chess team.
I thought I was so good that I should play the Number one board.
And when I didn’t I let people know.
One of the older players in the chess team Steve, who by his own admission said he wasn’t a Christian said this to me:
Martin, I have a number of friends who are Christians. And you are a Christian but the way you are living is letting the side down.
And Steve was dead right.
I wasn’t living as a Christian on the Chess team.
We can’t come to Church on Sunday and live like a heathen the rest of the week.
But back to the Virgin Mary.
Mary’s life is exemplary.
Not only did Mary give birth to Jesus, but we find her joining Jesus in his ministry and we find her at the foot of the Cross when Jesus was crucified.
We read this in John’s Gospel in Chapter 19
25 Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.
26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her,
“Woman, here is your son,” 27 and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.”
From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
Jesus even when he was dying committed the care of his mother to the apostle John.
And we see Mary last mentioned in the book of Acts as part of the Christian community in Acts 1: 14
12 Then the apostles returned to Jerusalem from the hill called the Mount of Olives, a Sabbath day’s walk from the city.
13 When they arrived, they went upstairs to the room where they were staying. Those present were Peter, John, James and Andrew; Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew; James son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot, and Judas son of James.
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
In conclusion, Mary is an amazing yet very quiet woman.
Story: Reminiscent of another lady called Mary who we used to visit in an old people’s home in Leven, near Beverley, in the year before I went to Wycliffe.
She had such a deep faith and when we visited we would do a Bible Study as well as talk with her.
Even though she was in pain she loved to see us and she was a great prayer warrior. She would pray regularly for others in the home and kept in touch with her friends from her old Church.
Like Mary, this Mary lived a godly life and I am sure when she died she would hear Jesus saying: “Well done thou good and faithful servant”
When we think of the Virgin Mary, may a reflection on her life be a challenge for us to live a more godly life.
May I wish you all a blessed Christmastide
