Christmas, Mary's Point of View
Background: The Luke 1:5-80 is just prior to today’s scripture. It records how Zechariah and Elizabeth had never had children. Indeed, they had grown old praying for God to send then a child. Then the angel of the LORD, Gabriel, appeared to Zechariah and told him that Elizabeth would bear a child. This child would grow and bring many Israelites back to God. Zechariah did not see how two people so old could possibly have a child but they did. He was John the Baptist, the one who would prepare the way for our Lord Jesus. That was a miracle. Now we read of an even greater miracle is to befall the Virgin Mary.
Scripture: Luke 1:26-38 26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him 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 ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 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. 36 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. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 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.
Introduction: After weeks of cancer therapy, a radiation technologist became concerned about redness and apparent burning around a patient’s waist. He immediately sent him to an oncologist. You can imagine the patient’s mind went into crisis mode. When the doctor entered the examination room, he studied the man’ chart, and then looked at him sitting in the chair, fully clothed. He looked back and forth, from the patient to the chart a couple more times, and then produced an instant and accurate diagnosis: “Your belt is too tight.” The moral of the story, this Christmas you may experience a big crisis as you see redness or some apparent burning around your waist, as you feast, and feast and feast. So do not go rushing to the nearest doctor, I think they would enjoy a Christmas break too, maybe it is just that the waist has expanded, and your belt is too tight.
In a similar way, I think that when the angel came to Mary, she must feel a big crisis too. A virgin, Mary was likely only thirteen or fourteen; can you sense how Mary’s world was shocked? What would you do if a teenager came to you and told you “I just saw an angel.” If something like that happen to you, what would think? Maybe you would think that you had a vivid dream, or maybe a bit too much coffee and too little sleep because you watched, “How the Grinch stole Christmas” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and “A Christmas Carol” back-to-back in one night?
All of sudden due to this angelic visitation, a huge crisis hits Mary’s world, and her world changed dramatically. There were many uncertainties and concerns in the time of Mary as well. She, her family, and fellow citizens suffered through some unstable times, both politically and economically. Though the Bible mentions of these things, I am sure the same kinds of tragedy, illness, and financial worries must have been a part of their personal lives as well. For instance, the terror of the crosses hanging outside their towns reminds them each day of the brutal reign of terror of the Romans. As they looked around them, there seems to be little or no control over their future. The uncertainty had many looking for the Messiah but for a teenager to say an angle visited her; a smile and a brief chuckle is all that likely got. But, Mary knew that that this angelic visit was real.
As we read this story, it could have begun with “Once upon a time ...” It sounds like a fairy tale or a tale right out of the X-files. Angels in Nazareth? John.1:46 records what Nathaniel said of Jesus just before he became an Apostle, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”
So we read of the angel Gabriel coming down to the countryside of Galilee. There he visited a youngster named Mary. She was engaged to a carpenter named Joseph. The angel came to bring her a message. Gabriel greeted the young girl Mary as one who has “found favor with God.”
Understandably, this angelic greeting puzzled, troubled, Mary. Now think about this, would not it be great to have an angel bearing a message from God come to you and say, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Here is confirmation that there is a God, she had the attention of an angel. Being specially chosen by God, and not just favored, but the “highly favored”. That is awesome.
Then Gabriel said, “the Lord is with you.” She must have wondered if she has gone out of her mind. She would have a child out of wedlock and tell me how scandalous that is in that day and time. Then to have to face the pain of a disappointed and confused husband who had in his mind, this lovely virgin, must have committed adultery. She would have to face ridicule and strange stares from fellow villagers seeing her pregnant before her marriage to Joseph.
Next, the hated Romans forced her and Joseph to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem. The government wanted census taken and taxes paid. She was near delivery, nine-months pregnant, and she had to ride a donkey. Is that the way to treat the Messiah? She had no wealth, no recognition, and no royal title for Mary the woman who would be the mother of the man whom Gabriel said, would be King and whose Kingdom would never end. That sure does not sound like being “highly favored”.
Perhaps this Christmas you too find it impossible to believe you are favored of God. Perhaps you had a rough year. Maybe you have endured some tremendous losses this year. Perhaps you feel misled, misguided by God, betrayed, how can God, loved by Him with so much that is wrong with my life, so much wrong in our nation, so much wrong on the world, favor me. There just there isn’t much hope on the horizon?
You just do not feel God’s favor is with you, let me remind you of Ephesians 1:3-5, “3How we praise God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we belong to Christ. 4Long ago, even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.”
Gabriel must have sensed Mary’s feelings for he said, “Do not be afraid”. Hear the message in Ephesians 1 and in Romans 8. That you need not to be fearful for God has you in his hands, no matter what you may have to suffer thru now, your future is secure, do not be afraid! For me, the best gift of Christmas is that God loves me, the future does not hold me hostage, he holds my future, and nothing can separate me from Him! Hear the words for you this Christmas “Don’t be afraid.”
For Mary, the temporal trial of giving birth to a son, born out of wedlock, means a future where the world is blessed. Her Son’s name will be Jesus. He will be the Son of the Most High, the Son of the God. Yes, Christ offers salvation to the entire world. For God, in His infinite wisdom has a plan. God knew of our need for a Savior. God knew of our need for Christmas. God knew we needed the touch of His felt hand, His presence among us, relating to us on one hand, able to save us on the other. God knew we would be drowning in sin, and going nowhere fast, without hope in a world gone mad.
Listen to this poem. “If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator; If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist; If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist; If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer; But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.”
God knew there were times then and times now when the uncertainty and the severity of the events of world would overwhelm us. God knew kingdoms and powers would rise to power, that leaders of these human kingdoms would grow strong, overwhelm and overpower others, that these kingdoms would gather followers of falsehoods, and that these same kingdoms would oppress and hurt others, then after the damage they have done, these kingdoms would crumble and fall away.
God knew we needed a new kingdom, where hope and real peace would reign, and in Jesus, all human, all God, we will find a King to reign over God’s people forever, for his kingdom is a spiritual kingdom, one built out of love for us all who trust Him.
Neither Mary and nor the angel Gabriel are the central figure in our story. The central figure in our story is the gracious and loving God who gave us his Son, Jesus, whose birth is the promise of God’s redeeming love. The word Emmanuel means that, “God with Us.” Mary was favored, chosen by God, to play a role in this redemption process. So are you. We are favored by God, favored to tell be able to tell the impossible story that God loves the world. We are favored that God gave His Son to be born of a woman.
Mary was troubled by these words for acceptability, prosperity, and comfort have never been the essence of God’s blessing. God’s blessing is not going to take away our pain, at least not in this life. God’s blessing is not going to bring our loved one’s back; it is not going to restore our lost health; it is not going to erase the memories of troubled times; it is not going to make our life easy, comfortable, prosperous; that waits for heaven.
For Mary being favored by God would be both difficult and wonderful. Her life would demand great courage, great strength and great energy. God sometimes asked us to face what we would rather not face. We are often be asked to grow through events and in areas that we had rather not grow. However, unbelievable as it may be, overwhelming as it may seem, incomprehensible as it is, Gabriel tells us, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” Yes, in the face of life’s greatest trials, remember these words. Luke 2:36, tells us about an old and barren woman, not Mary but her relative, Elizabeth, can bear a child. Can Mary, conceive?
Again, the God of the impossible tells of the impossible with the Christmas story. The Lord can enter into human history via a young woman’s womb as a child. From a tomb can come resurrection and life, and the Holy Spirit can empower the world, from a church where there is none, and reach out to the world. Who could have believed that there is such redemption, such a hope for sinners, who could have dared dreamed of this fantastic story of God’s love? Indeed, nothing is impossible with God!
Are you facing some difficult decisions this Christmas season, without much hope, or joy or peace? Hear the words of God again! Now we have heard this Christmas story before. We have heard it so many times that its novelty has long since faded away. That often causes us to lose sight of how remarkable this event really was, that God would enter human life with all its violence and corruption, to bring us hope, to rescue us from our sinfulness, to send a teenage girl to have a baby named Jesus to be our deliverer.
We need to remember that God made you because he loves you; he loves you no matter who you are; he loves you no matter what you have done, or where you are. God gave his Son for you. Jesus came to be born among us. If ever there was a Christmas message that we need to hear it is that nothing is impossible with God. When Gabriel finished delivering the message, he had come to give Mary, after he spoke of the miracle that was to happen and did his best to explain how this miracle would happen. Mary said? “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” You see, I think young innocent Mary accepted being favored by God on faith. The Bible says that she went on and pondered all that happened in her heart. So must you.
She could have said “no”. She could have rejected God’s invitation. It could have passed to some other girl. She could have said, “Gabriel, you got the wrong Mary, wrong address, different postal code, there is this other Mary just down the street; she is a virgin too.” She did not. Mary knew that what makes Christmas is God’s desire to enter into the lives of ordinary people. Christmas is about God entering our messed-up world, and the willingness and openness of ordinary people to let God into our lives.
I wonder can we grasp a hold of how different that first Christmas was. I wonder can we understand, just a little, the magnitude of the impact Gabriel’s message had on Mary’s future, and the magnitude of the impact it has on ours today, that it would mean blessing for the whole world. I wonder can we understand, just a little, what it took Mary to commit to the path. I wonder can we comprehend the enormity of the commitment she made. I wonder can we follow her lead, even if in a small way. To know that being favored by God means God is with us, especially in the trials that are bound to come in the future. I wonder. I hope we can.
Conclusion: 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, consist 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 that you are highly favored.
Extraordinary to think about, right? Here is 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 do not 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 do not feel joyful. By choosing to love even the most difficult person in our life, we share the favor. By forgiving even when it is not fair and asking for forgiveness even when we unintentionally hurt someone.
A middle-aged man’s mother had health problems, but his father was able to take care of her. In spite of the health problems, they were very happy. Then, the man’s father died. The man just did not know how to take care of his mother and decided to send his mother to old age home. She chose a place with few amenities. He visited his mother to the old age home once in a week. One day he got the call a dread call, his mother was seriously ill with only a few hours to live. He went immediately to see his mother. His heart started feeling bad for himself that he had not treated his mother the way she has always treated him. He asked his mother, if he can do something that would make her last day a little happier. His mother replied, yes, living here has left me with a goodly sum of money. Here is how I want you spend it. As there is not a fan in any of the rooms of this home, install at least one fan in every room here. Also, buy several refrigerators for the old people living here. Fill them with goodies every week. The son, being perplexed, asked why you are asking me for all these today when you have only a few hours left in your life. Son, it will make me happy to know that I have left this world a little bit better place. I have to believe that Mary felt that same way. Praise God.
