Just a few more days to Christmas… are you ready? We conclude a short Christmas series designed to make room in your heart to worship Jesus, entitled The Mothers of Jesus. For the last several weeks, we’ve been examining the four mothers of Jesus, the several women who served as Jesus’ distant mothers and grandmothers. We’ve noted how unusual it is for Jesus’ genealogy to list four women’s names when women didn’t have the cultural clout and status they enjoy today. Secondly, we note that each of these women listed Jesus’ family tree, Matthew includes four women with some kind of scandal attached to their stories. We’ve looked at Tamer, Ruth, and last week we saw Bathsheba. Today, we finally arrive at the literal mother of Jesus, Mary.
While Mary has enjoyed high status throughout the centuries, she was the subject of gossip in her day. Mary’s scandal is this: she was an unwed pregnant teenager and all the tongues were wagging were in her small, conservative town of Nazareth. Now if you’ve tried to read about the story of Jesus’ birth from just one of the four Gospels, then you’ve discovered two things. First, no one Gospel tells you everything about the birth of Jesus. Second, some gospels do not tell you anything about the birth of Jesus. So you really have to read all four gospels to get the whole picture of Jesus’ birth. And when you take the time to read all four Gospel accounts of the first Christmas, you’ll discover Jesus is both completely God and He is completely human.
Jesus’ Biological Family
And because Jesus was human like any one of us, He had a human step-father, a mother, brothers, and sisters (see Matthew 13:55-56). It’s His mother, Mary, and step-father, Joseph, who play an integral part of the Christmas story. If you read from Matthew’s Gospel, you’ll gain the perspective of Joseph hearing about Mary’s pregnancy though she was a virgin (Matthew 1:18-25). Joseph struggled to believe at first. If you read Luke’s Gospel, you’ll see Mary’s perspective of hearing she’s pregnant though she hasn’t been with her fiancé, Joseph. And it’s here that I want us to focus today. For I want you to consider the process Mary went through to believe the news of Jesus’ arrival at the first Christmas. Because she is a model for all of us in how we are to process and believe to Jesus’ coming into our lives as well. Invitation Preview: I’ll be offering each one of you an opportunity to place your faith in Jesus Christ today just as Mary did so many years ago.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 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 father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered 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 called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” (Luke 1:26-47)
Again, notice Mary carefully. Rather than just see this passage as historical and what happened to Mary, I want you to experience this passage in a fresh way. I want you to see Mary as a paradigm for you who struggle to believe but still want to believe.
Five Stages of Belief
When the angel shows up with the message of the first Christmas, I want you to see it’s really the message of the gospel. By watching Mary carefully, you’ll get a sense of whether you’re a follower of Christ. Watch this unwed teenage soon-to-be-mother carefully for she’s the paradigm for all those who believe.
1. I Have Doubts
You’re here with doubts this morning and I want you to know we’re glad you’re here. You need to highlight the fact that Mary had her doubts as well. She begins by expressing her doubts
When the angel showed up to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and said, “Mary, you’re going to become pregnant with Jesus. You’re going to become pregnant out of wedlock. You’re going to have into your life a child who’s actually the Son of God?” All Mary wanted was a normal life. All Mary wanted was a decent reputation. “But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be” (Luke 1:29). Circle the words “greatly troubled” and “tried to discern” there in verse twenty-nine. The original word behind the words “tried to discern” means to “reason thoroughly.” She’s taking stock; she’s adding things up. Mary didn’t encounter angels every day and she wasn’t gullible. She’s asking herself, “Am I really seeing an angle? Am I hallucinating?”
Many modern people think it was easier to believe in Bible times. We come to the Bible this side of splitting the atom and think to ourselves, “I’m not so gullible as the people in the Bible. I don’t swallow superstitions wholesale.” We assume that if an angel showed up, people of that time simply said, “Oh, it’s an angel. Hello. What’s the message, please?” Mary isn’t swallowing the message of the angel without considering what’s in front of her. She may be from a small town and she may be young, but she’s using both her heart and head to consider the message of the gospel. Remember, she was a good Jewish girl. She was trained to believe that God couldn’t become human. The message of God becoming man didn’t fit into her paradigm. This was a tremendous barrier to belief for a first-century Jew and it’s every bit as big a barrier as you face in believing the message of the first Christmas.
It’s important for you to see that even Mary had doubts.
2. I Have Questions
The angel makes three incredible statements beginning in verse thirty: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 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 father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:30-33)
The three amazing statements the angel makes are part of this gospel message. 1) The angel says the Child who is going to be born will live forever; 2) The Child will actually be God himself; 3) In this Child, God will become radically vulnerable. Can you imagine a young teenage girl taking all this in? She begins by asking questions.
So many people think that the religious kind of person doesn’t ask questions. “Oh, I wish I was more like you. I wish I didn’t have so many questions about all this. I wish I could just believe so simply.” If you think believing people don’t have questions, you don’t understand the first thing about faith. Mary says, “How will this be? I’m not even married yet. I’m not joined with a husband. What do you mean I’m about to become pregnant?”
There’s a certain flavor to Mary’s doubting that I want you to capture.
Look with me at Zechariah, who also encounters an angel in the very same chapter: “And Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.” 19 And the angel answered him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. 20 And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time’” (Luke 1:18-20).
You might ask, “What was the difference in Zechariah’s doubting and Mary’s doubting?” Option #1: The women in the room say, “Well, obviously, she’s a woman and he’s a pig-headed man.” Option #2: Zechariah just happened to catch a grumpy angel. The difference wasn’t the mood of the angel or the gender of the one doubting, instead, it was the difference between honest doubt and dishonest doubt.
There’s a kind of doubt that actually wants answers, and there’s a kind of doubt that doesn’t want answers. There’s a kind of doubt that really shows that I am open to the truth. When you’re willing to remove yourself from the driver’s seat of your life if you can be shown the truth. Then there’s a kind of doubt, which you see in Zechariah that is using all the questions, the doubts, and the arguments as a way of staying in control of your life. Which kind of doubt is yours?
3. I Surrender
For people of faith, there’s a point when you move past doubt and questions and you surrender. Remember: All Mary wanted was a normal life and a decent reputation. When God came and called her away from those things, she could have said, “I’m angry enough to die?” No, she said, “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
3.1 Mary’s Surrender versus Joseph’s Surrender
Remember a few moments ago, I said that in Luke you see Mary’s reaction to the angel’s message wherein Matthew, you see her eventual husband’s reaction to the angel’s message. Joseph struggles to believe just as Mary struggled. He knew he wasn’t the baby’s father. His reaction is simple upon hearing the news of Mary’s pregnancy, “I’ll have to divorce her.” “But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”” (Matthew 1:20-21) When you see Joseph struggling to believe the angel’s message, you can “the finish line” of submission. It’s when Joseph names his son. The first-century right of every father was to name his son. And especially the first-born son, this was prestigious for Joseph. And this is exactly where he struggled – he wanted to know that the first-born son was his own child. Yet, we can witness “the finish line” of Joseph’s submission in verse twenty-four: “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, 25 but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus” (Matthew 1:25-25). When you cross the finish line of faith, you surrender.
But turn from Joseph’s surrender (in Matthew 1) back to Mary’s (in Luke 1).
3.2 I Don’t Understand Everything
Look at Mary’s statement and be taught by this unwed teenager: “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). If you were to ask her, “Do you believe in God, Mary?” Mary’s reply, “Yes.” You, “Well, if there is a God who created the world, who delivered your people and protected them for centuries, why couldn’t He do this?” And it’s this that made sense to her.
There’s a fundamental level of trust even when we don’t understand everything. And we mix logic and faith in order to believe. This is just what Mary did.
How does a virgin conceive? I don’t know any more than science can explain love. People will say, “I would like to be a Christian, but will I have to do this? Will I have to give up doing that? Will I have to pray, give up sex, quit my job, change my views?” Are you willing to surrender? I accept what I don’t understand just as Mary did.
3.3 I’m Humbled
Mary knows what will be said of her. She is about to have a child, and even if Joseph stays with her, people are going to be able to add it up. Back then people had calendars and said, “Hmm … married that date … baby comes at that date.” She was in a traditional small town. She knew what people would say behind her back because she had an “illegitimate child.” She surrendered to a life of disgrace. You take your hands off the wheel and cede control of your life over to God.
“I take my hands off my life. No more conditions. I’m going to follow you even though I don’t quite know where I’m going, but whatever you bring me, wherever you take me, it will be all right with me.”
Are you willing to say that?
4. I Share
Mary does one last thing that can instruct us. She goes to Elizabeth, who speaks to her in the power of the Holy Spirit. “And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord’” (Luke 1:41-45). That must have helped Mary a great deal. It certainly encouraged her. Everything was confirmed for Mary when she spoke to her friend and family member, Elizabeth. It really became clear for Mary when she connected to others where her faith was confirmed.
It’s not enough to surrender yourself in solitary – you need to share your struggle to believe with others. Mary gets confirmation of what’s happening to her when she goes to see another believer. Don’t miss that crucial step. Elizabeth and Mary talk together and they worship together.
What does conversion to Christ look like? How long does it take? Few things are as dangerous as helping others believe that to standardize someone’s experience of believing in Christ. Rosia Champagne Butterfield has recently told her story in The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert. Rosia was an English professor at Syracuse University, graduated with a Ph.D., and had declared herself a lesbian at twenty-eight years old. What began with a telephone call with Pastor Ken, eventually found itself into years of conversation around the dinner table of Pastor Ken and his wife sharing the story of the gospel patiently over years. Rosia’s conversion took years and a great deal of patience in sharing the message of the gospel by mature believers. Even John Bunyan, the famous author of Pilgrim’s Progress, took eighteen months before he was converted. Yet, men such a Paul of the Bible believed in a matter of days. The man we know as the jailer in the ancient city of Philippi believed in a matter of minutes. Your believing in Christ happens in stages just as it did with Mary. Yet, you may pass through these stages in a matter of moments or in a matter of months or years. Few things are as dangerous as helping others believe that to standardize someone’s experience of believing in Christ. Some of you today will cross over the finish line to surrender your life to Christ today.
5. God Becomes Central
After visiting with Elizabeth, Mary launches into what we call the Magnificat. You’ll see it beginning in verse forty-six, and this is where Mary begins to worship. And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior…” (Luke 1:46-47). Mary sings as a reaction to the message of Christmas. Mary breaks out in song when she truly hears and believes in the gospel. Mary is “beside herself” we would say. She’s gripped by the message and she’s shaken by it. She says, “I’ve been moved to the bottom. All of me, it’s involving all of me: my soul and my spirit.” In other words, she’s saying, “At my very depths, every part of me has been gripped by this message. My mind has never seen anything like this that explains so much. My heart has never felt this anything like this kind of feeling, to this kind of depth.”
Join me in praying something like this with me:
“Jesus Christ, I don’t understand it all, but I’ve seen that You’ve promised to take care of my needs if only I’ll trust You. And I realize that worry is just a warning light that I’m trying to control everything. I don’t want to do that anymore. I want you to be in control of my life. I want You to be my manager. I want You to be my Lord.
I turn from my sin of trying to control my life. I want to know You. I want to listen to You. I want You to lead me in the life plan that You made me for. I trust in your Son Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sins. Amen”
