I love the quote that you’ll see printed on the front of your bulletin. Martin Luther was the one who said it about the Christmas story.
"There are three wonders here: one, that God should become a man; another, that a virgin should bear a child; and third, that Mary believed. And the greatest of these is that Mary believed."
I’m sure that if I could ask him, Luther would be quick to say he knew that God becoming a man was really the greatest miracle. But on that day he was pointing us to Mary and making an important point. Mary was an amazing person in what she took on.
We Protestants easily overlook Mary. Mostly we picture her just sitting there, holding the baby in the manger. It really is sweet, isn’t it? Pictures of mothers holding babies will get you a lot of ‘likes’ on Facebook.
But there is so much more to Mary than that one scene in Bethlehem.
Let’s listen again to the story of the amazing moment when Mary said “yes” to God. And as we listen, think about what it took for her to do that. She had some pretty strong reasons to say “no” to God, reasons we can all recognize. But Mary said “yes”. And what a difference it made. Now hear the word of God from Luke’s gospel, chapter 1, verses 26-28.
“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, `Greeting, favored one! The Lord is with you.' But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, `Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.' Mary said to the angel, `How can this be, since I am a virgin?' The angel said to her, `The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.' (pause) Then Mary said, `Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.' Then the angel departed from her."
If you think about it, Mary had some awful good reasons to say no” to God here. Has anyone here ever had an angel appear to them? How would you feel if some angel appeared to you and started talking about really strange things? You might go running to a doctor or a pastor to ask, “Am I going crazy here?”
God was out of line here, at least by the standards of 1st century culture. A message to a young woman should have come to her through her father or her fiancé, not directly to a young woman. The culture said God should speak to her through a man, but God saw Mary differently. And Mary had the spunk to answer for herself.
We’re not used to this kind of thing, a message from an angel. And even though angelic visits are rare, I believe that God speaks to all of us and if we aren’t hearing, it’s because we aren’t listening.
We all know how to communicate by just speaking face to face in good conversation. When it comes to talking with friends, some of us are really good at it. We’re all used to talking on the phone. Some of us are good letter writers, even if that’s becoming a lost art. Many of us send many texts or emails every day. We’re used to those things.
But I’ve never gotten a text from God. I’ve never actually heard his voice with my ears. Probably lots of people say “no” to God because God doesn’t speak to us in the ways we are used to. He doesn’t make appointments. He doesn’t put his propositions in writing. He calls us to start out on an adventure, usually without telling us much of where we are going or how we are going to get there, and expects us to trust him to take care of it.
When God speaks to me it’s in that still, small voice deep inside, so quiet that I can miss it if I let myself get too busy. It’s so quiet that I can ignore it all too easily. It happens most when I’m studying my Bible. It happens when I’m praying with Kathy. Sometimes it happens when I get away for a hike in the out of doors. Sometimes it happens when I’m swimming at the Y. It’s always so quiet that I can ignore it if I want to. We’re not used to this kind of mystical stuff. It’s easy to ignore it, in effect to say “no” to God.
But I believe that learning to listen for God’s voice and following where he leads has been a wonderful gift, the best thing that has ever happened to me. Don’t say “no” to God when his voice comes to you in ways that you aren’t used to. When you sense that God is speaking to you, take it seriously.
Here’s another reason that Mary could have said “no” to God. How could anyone as smart as God think that a peasant girl like Mary could pass as the mother of a great king, the Son of God? She would obviously feel inadequate. Wouldn’t you?
If I were Mary, I know what I’d be thinking. “How can I raise someone to be king? I’ve seen King Herod’s palace from the outside, but they’d never let someone like me come through the gates. I’ve never spoken to a royal person. I’ve never been to school. I don’t know much theology or political science. I don’t have the wardrobe for this, I’ll need some new clothes.” It was overwhelming.
Just having your first baby in normal circumstances can feel overwhelming enough. But to be the mother of the Son of God? That would pull you way out of your comfort zone. God does that a lot. Expect God to stretch you to do things you never thought you could do and become things you never thought you could be.
If you were in Mary’s shoes, wouldn’t you have at least bargained for better circumstances?
“God, don’t you have an easier job for me?” I’ll bet God hears that one all the time.
“God, this isn’t a good time for me to follow you.
Couldn’t we at least wait until Joseph and I are finally married? Let’s talk about this a year from now.” Have you ever told God that you didn’t like his timing? When do we ever have a day that we haven’t already filled up with our own expectations? When is it ever ‘convenient’ to do something for God?
“OK, God, I’ll listen, but I want all the details first, a complete budget to show where the money will come from and a time line with action steps that will show me things won’t happen too fast.”
“Come on, God, there’s gotta be somebody else you can get.” Has that ever been you?
I’ll bet lots of people say “no” to God because they figure God was picking the wrong person when he called them. He couldn’t be speaking to me!
I’ll bet that many of God’s greatest blessings to this earth get blocked because people just don’t believe that God can do it through them.
But all of God’s best gifts come to us by faith, when we know we can’t do it alone, when we know we don’t have the resources, when we know he is asking us to take a first step but he’s not going to tell us what the second step is until we take the first one. All of God’s best gifts come in ways that make us ask, “Am I going to trust God for this?” And when we answer, with Mary, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word,” that’s when wonderful things happen.
And then the third good reason why Mary could have said “no” to God is that following God risks relationships with loved ones. That may be the hardest one. Mary knew very well the things that good girls do and the things that good girls don’t do. And probably number one was “Don’t get pregnant until after the wedding.” Where would this “virgin birth” leave Mary? What would her parents say? What would the neighbors say? What would Joseph, her fiancé, say? Our culture has begun taking pregnancy outside of marriage pretty lightly, but think what the neighbors would have said 50 years ago here and multiply it by ten to bring it back into that culture. If she was going to find even one person with the decency to say, “You’re going to need a lot of support now. How can I help?” she would be very lucky.
This could cost her her marriage to Joseph. Matthew’s gospel tells us clearly that when Joseph heard Mary was pregnant he planned to break off their engagement. And it took a visit from an angel to convince him to stick with her.
But if Joseph hadn’t stuck with her, it would have brought horrible shame upon her family. Some of her friends might have nothing to do with her. That was the time she lived in. This would put her into a class of women that she never wanted to be a part of, women who ‘weren’t nice,’ who were ‘loose.’ And if you don’t think that was a danger, you can see the accusations popping up here and there in the gospels. Sometimes Jesus’ enemies referred to Jesus as the son of Mary instead of the son of Joseph, as would have been customary. They openly taunted him, “Where is your father?” Mary understood that this could cost her reputation and social standing. And I think 999 out of 1,000 people would have said “no” to God, that this was too great a cost.
And some of us have paid a price to follow God. Our son, Luke, was born in the Shanta Bhawan mission hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal. The doctor was Dr. Mary Eldridge, who could have made a lot of money practicing in England with all the best equipment. There had been a fine young man who wanted to marry her and build a family in England. But she said goodbye to that nice young man and followed God to the mission field alone. And what a difference she made for thousands of people who wouldn’t have had proper medical care otherwise.
Some of us may have family members who complain when we get up and go to church on Sunday, who complain when we give money to God, who complain when we come out on weeknights to do the work of the church.
Some of our teens and young adults face very difficult choices whether to go along with the gang and do things they know would be displeasing to God, or to stand alone and follow Jesus.
Mary said “yes” to God. It might seem strange to us that God could use this peasant girl from a small town for such a job, but he knew what he was doing. He picked the right one. He picked the one who dared to believe, who dared to obey. He picked the one who would say “yes.” And the world has never been the same since because that simple peasant girl said “yes.”
If we want to come into the flow of God’s grace on earth we will need to understand the ways he works and the ways he calls us.
Mary had a lot of good reasons to say “no” to God that day. Aren’t you glad she said “yes”?
God calls every one of us to take our part in his great plan. We have the same reasons to say “no” every day.
But the reasons to say “no” are nothing compared to the reasons to say “yes”. He knows what he is doing. His call to us will be different from his call to Mary. But be sure to say “yes” and follow. It’s when we say yes that we discover the blessings and privileges of taking our place in God’s wonderful plan. Mary didn’t see the fruits of her obedience for years. But how wonderful it must have been for Mary when the day finally came when she saw what God had done through her after she said “yes” to God. AMEN
