This morning I want you to think back to your teen years. I realize that might be easier for some of us than others, but I want you to think back what you were doing around the age of 14. Did you live on a farm? Or in town? Where were you going to school? Maybe for some of you, you were not even going to school at the time. Who were your friends? Did you have a boyfriend or girlfriend? What was going on in your life when you were a teenager? I just want you to get a mental image of your circumstances when you were 14 or 15 years old. Once you have that mental image, I want you to think about what your dreams and goals were. Did you want to go to college? Were you longing to leave home, or were you content with growing up and living your life right near you grew up? I am guessing if you were like me at the age of 14, you had, well thought you had life all figured out. You probably resented any adult who told you that your outlook on life was idealistic, or that your future plans would never happen? I mean what do adults know? How dare them try to tell you that the very mature age of 14 what you should be doing and/or thinking about? That is the attitude of most 14-year-olds right? Now, imagine that an angel of God shows up and tells you that you are highly favored, and God has chosen you for a special assignment that would totally change life as you know it. What would you reaction be? Let’s assume you say yes to God’s plan, because let’s face it saying no to God never works out. What are you going to tell you parents? The rest of your family? Your boyfriend or your girlfriend? The rest of your friends? Will they believe you? What if they don’t? What if saying yes to God means losing everybody and everything you know? Are you still going to say yes? Like I said, saying no to God never works out, but you could take your chances and say no. Sounds like an impossible situation? Maybe. Aren’t you glad that you are just a regular person which means God would never put you in that situation? Or would he?
On this fourth and final Sunday of Advent, we take a close look at Mary the mother of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. We actually do not know a whole lot about Mary. We are told that she was a virgin who was engaged to man named Joseph. We learned about Joseph last week. As we all know Joseph was a Carpenter. Carpenters were businessmen who would be considered part of the middle class today. In the first century, it was common for Jews to marry within their own social economic class. This tells us that Mary’s father was probably a businessman, but we do not know that for sure. We are not told Mary’s age, but as I said last week when I was talking about first century Jewish engagements, it was common for girls to marry around the age of 14. Since Mary was engaged at the time that she became pregnant with Jesus through the Holy Spirit, it is widely assumed that she was around 14 years old when she was visited by the angel Gabriel. Gabriel is the same angel that, as you may recall, announced the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah.
Our Gospel lesson this morning begins with the angel Gabriel appearing to this simple ordinary girl named Mary and saying “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you!” Of course, fourteen-year-old Mary was taken aback at the greeting, and wondered what was going on. Gabriel tells Mary that she is going to give birth to a baby boy, and she was to give him the name Jesus. Luke records Gabriel’s description of Jesus is Luke 1:33 and 34 by writing “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Of course, Mary wondered how this could happened since she was a virgin. Gabriel explains to Mary that the Holy Spirit would come over her, and that her baby would be called the son of God. Gabriel’s description of Jesus seems to refer to 2 Samuel 7 which is the story of God making a promise to David that his house would reign forever. As part of that promise God tells the prophet Nathan to tell David he would raise up an offspring of David to establish a kingdom that will never end. And, of course, the virgin birth is the fulfillment of our old testament reading this morning from the 7th chapter of Isaiah. Isaiah 7:14 says “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel.
Our Gospel lesson ends with a story I referenced a couple weeks ago when I preached on John the Baptist. After Mary became pregnant with Jesus, she went to visit Elizabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist. The baby John the Baptist leaped in Elizabeth’s womb when Mary entered the house which makes Elizabeth exclaim: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her.” What follows this passage of Scripture is a song that Mary sung in praise and thanksgiving to God for using her and keeping his promises to his people.
I included the story of Mary visiting Elizabeth this morning because I think Elizabeth’s words have played a role in the different beliefs about Mary. The Catholics believe that Mary remained a virgin, and never died but was taken to heaven after her ministry on earth. This is not what Protestants believe of course. In the story of Joseph that we read last week, Mathew 1:24 and 25 state “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord commanded him and toook Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” Other translations say that Joseph did not know Mary until she gave birth to Jesus, but it means the same thing. We are told later that Jesus had brothers and sisters, and Jesus’s brother James is the author of the epistle of James. The Catholics argue that when the Gospel writers refer to the brothers and sisters of Jesus the word they use is better translated kin rather than brothers or sisters. As I was researching Mary, I was very surprised to learn that John Wesley believed that Mary remained a virgin. I remember reading that, and think wow I can’t believe that I get paid to research both my Lord and Savior and one of my spiritual heroes. I am deeply thankful and humbled that you pay me to help you understand the word of God. Thank you for allowing me to be your pastor. I consider it an honor. Okay, back to Mary and John Wesley. Even though Wesley did believe Mary remained a virgin, he clearly did not believe that Mary was one to be worshipped or prayed to. In his notes on Luke chapter 1 he points out that the term highly favored is the same term used to describe Noah, Moses, and David. It is clear that Wesley believed that Mary was a sinner in need a saving just the same as you and I are. Mary was an ordinary girl who God used to do something truly extraordinary. It was through Mary that God became flesh and dwelt amongst us to teach us God’s ways. God not only became flesh to teach us his ways, but he also became flesh to die on a cross as a ransom for our sins, and raise in victory in the defeat of death to grant us eternal life with him in the New Heaven and Earth that Christ will establish at his Second coming. How could anything be more extraordinary?
There are definitely people in history that I would love to have a chat with. Most of them are from the Bible, but not all of them. I would like to talk to Abraham Lincoln, Fredrick Douglas, George Washington, and, of course, John Wesley just to name a few people that are not in the Bible that I would love to have a conversation with. I don’t honestly know if I will get opportunities to talk to them in heaven. I hope so, but I might be too distracted by the glory of God to even notice some of my heroes around me. I would love the chance to talk to Paul and Peter, or any of the disciples. I would like to know what they were thinking when there were in the presence of Jesus, my Lord and Savior. Of course, I want to sit and have a 100 year long conversation with Jesus, but I think all Christ followers want that. As a history teacher, I want to know the stories of the people around Jesus. That is why I love the song Mary Did You Know, and why I asked, through Peggy, Deb to come back and sing that song this morning. I would love to know what Mary knew as she held the Baby Jesus. Max Lucado, one of my favorite Christian authors, has 25 questions he would like to ask Mary. The one I think everybody would like to ask Mary is what was Jesus like as a kid? Some of Lucado’s questions are silly like Did Jesus ever come home with a black eye, When he saw a rainbow did he ever mention the flood, or Did he have any friends name Judas? Others on the surface sound just as funny, but are actually quite theological like Did you ever think that is God eating my soup, or did it ever feel awkward teach him how he created the world? Those questions are what the song Mary, Did You Know? is about, right? The question is did Mary know that her son was God in the flesh, and if she did how did it effect how she interacted with him. The wedding at Canna gives us a clue that she did know something was different about her first-born Son, I mean besides that fact that she was a virgin when she gave birth to him. John 2:3 says “When the wine was gone Jesus’ mother said to him, ‘They have no more wine’” I have preached on this before, because I remember telling you that Jesus’ response to her would not go over well with my mother or really any mother I know. Jesus responded to her by saying “Woman, why do you involve me? My time has not yet come.” But almost as if she did not hear Jesus’ response Mary tells the servants to “do whatever he tells you?’ And, Jesus being the obedient son, changes the water into wine. I would like to ask Mary about that incident. I wonder how it felt to order God to do something. But, the question that I would like to ask Mary the most is what her childhood was like? I want to know what made her so special that God would choose to her to be his earthy mother. I know it may be odd to here it that way, but is that not what God did? Our God is triune. It means that God is three in one. Yes, we can talk about God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, but in reality, there is no separation of these personas of God. God is one. So, I want to know why God chose Mary to be his Earthly mother.
Of course, I can only speculate what Mary would say when I asked her why, but I would be willing to bet she says something like I ask myself that question every day. I bet her answer would be just like any other person who has been called by God. Most people, even the prophets, the disciples, and the earthly parents of Jesus, when asked “why them?” would say I have no idea. I am not saying that I am anywhere close to any person in the Bible, but I ask why me every Sunday morning. In fact, I probably ask it at least a dozen times. I ask it a few times when I am doing devotions, a few times as I am getting ready, a few times on my drive here, when I walk into the church, right before I preach, and usually once or twice on my way home. What makes anyone qualified to serve the One Triune Holy God of the universe? What makes anyone highly favored as Gabriel called Mary? I might be wrong on this, but I am 99.9% convinced that it boils down to one word: GRACE. Jesus is the only human being who never sinned. That means every other person who has ever lived has sinned. Noah sinned, Abraham sinned, David sinned. Isaiah sinned. Mathew sinned. Paul sinned, And, yes Mary sinned. The only thing that made them highly favored was the grace of God.
God’s grace is what makes one highly favored. If that it true, and I strongly believe that it is, then as recipients of God’s grace we are highly favored. Yes, I said it. You are highly favored by God. Let me say it again. YOU ARE HIGHLY FAVORD BY GOD!!!! God sent his one and only Son to die for you on a cross, and He seeks to have a relationship with you. Even if you do not believe that, it will not stop God from pursuing you for the rest of your life. You may think that you are just an ordinary person, and you may be, but that did not stop God from doing something extraordinary for you. You could try to run away from God, but he will still pursue you because you are his child, and will stop at nothing in order to convince you of his extraordinary love for you. Our God is a God of the extraordinary, and he will neve stop pursing you with his extraordinary love because you are highly favored in His eyes. Why are you highly favored in God’s eyes? Well, for one God created you. Therefore, God loves you, and because He loves you He is constantly showering you with his Grace. Being someone who is constantly showered with God’s grace makes you highly favored.
All Christ followers are highly favored by God because they are recipients of God’s unending grace. Therefore the Church, which is the body of Christ, is made up of highly favored sons and daughters of God. That means the Church universal is highly favored, and each individual church, as a body of believers, is highly favored. That means the Blue Ridge United Methodist Church is highly favored. Extraordinary to think about right? Here’s the truth though. We need to not only believe that we are highly favored, but we need to also act as if we are highly favored. How does one or a church act highly favored? I don’t have time to list all the ways, but here are a few. We act highly favored by sharing the love of Christ with each other. By choosing joy, even when we don’t feel joyful. By choosing to love even the most difficult person in our life. By forgiving even when its not fair, and asking for forgiveness even when we unintentionally hurt someone.
I really truly believe that the real message of Christmas is that God loves each and every person so much, that he was willing to humble himself to become flesh, to be born in a manger, to walk the same earth we walk, and to die on a cross because he highly values each and every one of his children. Tomorrow, we have an amazing opportunity to share that message with everyone who walks through our doors to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I know it is tempting to think that if we can pack the house tomorrow, just maybe some of them will begin to attend our small little country church and may become new members. But that is not the way I want us to think about tomorrow. Tomorrow is about doing our best to share the love of Christ and his Gospel with each and every soul that walks though the door. And, that means with each other too. I want us to come together as the body of Christ that is Blue Ridge United Methodist church in order to communicate the message of Christmas tomorrow, because I want everyone to leave here tomorrow believing that he or she is highly valued by God, and because he or she is highly valued by God, God sent his One and only son to be born in a manger, to die on a cross as a ransom for his or her sins, and rose again on the third day to grant them eternal life. I am going to continue to preach on how we are highly favored in God’s sight tomorrow, because I believe this is a truth that we need to have ingrained to our very being. That is the message I want each and everyone of us to feel when we walk through the door tomorrow. That means we as the body of Blue Ridge United Methodist Church must speak the message of Christmas with our actions, including our smiles, and our words that we speak to each other and to our guests. I am very excited about the celebrating the Christ child tomorrow as we serve our guests who walk through our doors. Let us come back tomorrow as highly favored children of God ready to celebrate Christ the King whom shepherds guard and angles sing; haste, haste to bring him laud, the babe, the son of Mary. Amen
