First Baptist Church
December 23, 2001
Luke 1:39-55
Mary’s Song
Have you ever had a simple, ordinary day; and something
extraordinary happens? You didn’t expect it, you didn’t plan for
it, in fact, you may not have even wanted it. Sometimes we aren’t
too sure what to make of these events. Maybe it’s a friend who
helps you out when you’re in need, or someone delivers a meal at
just the right moment, or it could be any of 100’s of ways that we
help one another.
Today I want to focus on what happens when the REALLY
EXTRAORDINARY happens in our lives. It occurs when GOD
ENTERS our world. What do we do when that happens? We
can learn a great deal from the life of Mary, especially as she has
an encounter, an extraordinary encounter with the angel, Gabriel.
We don’t know where Mary was or what she was doing when
the Gabriel came to visit her, but we can imagine what that
conversation would have been like —
Into her relatively uncomplicated life comes someone with wings.
Just like the shepherds, Mary becomes afraid. After all, it’s not
an everyday occurrence to have a conversation with an angel.
Gabriel tells Mary she has found favor, "divine favor" with God.
After Mary calms down, Gabriel wastes no time telling her His
good news — "Hey Mary, guess what? You’re going to have a
baby. As a matter of fact, you’re going to have a son, and you’ll
name him Jesus. He will be great, the Son of the Most High.
And the Lord God will give Him the throne of David, forever;
and His kingdom will never end."
Can you imagine receiving that message? Remember, Mary
wasn’t a mature college graduate, she was only a teenager,
probably between 13 to 16 years old. That was the typical age to
get married. And she was engaged to a carpenter named
Joseph.
At this point, Mary may have interrupted Gabriel and said, "Hey
Gabriel, there’s just one small problem, isn’t it true that this great
and wondrous act can’t be accomplished alone." And Gabriel
would agree. And Mary would say, "Then it isn’t going to
happen because I’m a virgin." Now, Gabriel’s response had to
absolutely floor Mary, "Oh, did I forget to mention the child’s
father will be God."
I’m not sure if Mary was smiling or scared out of her mind. She
might have thought she was on the ancient version of "Candid
Camera." But Gabriel’s response in Verse 37, is one of the great
Bible promises. He says, "For nothing is impossible with God."
Isn’t that a great statement? Nothing, nothing is impossible with
God. I like it. That’s one of those statements you have to love.
Mary’s the child of a religious family, engaged to a respectable
member of the community and now she learns she is going to
become pregnant. And the Father is none other than the Holy
Spirit.
But who’s going to believe her story? Her parents? Joseph?
Her friends? She walks into the house and tells her parents,
"Mom, Dad, you may not believe this, but I’m going to have a
baby." Mom’s and dad’s how would you react? Maybe you’re
not too happy about it, but Mary says, "don’t worry, it’ll be okay
because the daddy is God!" Now I’m sure that each parent here
would believe your teen aged daughter if she told you that. Am I
right, should I ask for a show of hands?
Do you see what Mary was up against? Now add to her burden
that being engaged in that society was far more binding than our
modern engagement. Only divorce could break an engagement.
Even though they were not yet married, if either Mary or Joseph
was unfaithful to the other, it would have been adultery,
punishable by death by stoning.
And now she’s pregnant. Talk about a monkey wrench thrown
into the plans! I mean, what would your fiancee say if you came
to him with some story about an angel appearing to you, and
miraculous conception. "There was no man, honey, honest, God
did it." ‘Yea, sure.’
Joseph was going to do the honorable thing for Mary, he was
going to quietly divorce her. He must have cared greatly for her,
because he wanted to be kind to her. Ultimately, Joseph has an
encounter with an angel and comes to accept Mary’s story. And
we know the end of the story . . . they go to Bethlehem and have
a baby.
We think things get convoluted and complicated, busy and
stressful in our lives! Imagine this is suddenly given to you in the
middle of some weekday afternoon while you’re peeling onions,
or whatever you’re doing.
The wonderful part of the story, is Mary’s response to the angel’s
announcement.
Mary says, "I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you have
said." That’s it. No other questions, comments, concerns. In
essence, Mary simply said, — "Ok." Talk about trust.
Mary’s trust is like my telling Joshua to jump off a 10 foot high
wall and that I’ll catch him. He knows the consequences if I miss
him. When I say, "go ahead, jump. I’ll catch you," he trusts that I
will catch him. But let me tell you something, this is bigger than
that. This is more like tossing your child into the ocean, in the
midst of a hurricane and saying, "It’ll be fine. I’ll make sure of it."
Mary consents. Nothing complicated. No need to fully
understand, or see the whole program, or get a handle on it. Just
a simple, total trust on her part that if God’s announcing it to be
this way, He must know what’s going on. Mary knows if God is
in charge, it’ll work out just fine. End of story.
As we contemplate Mary’s acceptance of God’s plan for her,
what about you? Have you ever heard God calling out your
name, telling you that He wants you to do something? Did you
do it? Do you trust God enough to be faithful to following Him?
Or are you more apt to dismiss His calling?
Mary had no way of understanding what God was asking her to
do, nor did she really understand what would happen to her little
boy as he became a man and ultimately accepted His calling as
the Messiah. She didn’t know there would be shepherds coming
to welcome her baby into this world, nor did she know wise-men
from 1,000 miles away would bring expensive gifts. She could
not have imagined some deranged king would kill innocent babies
because of her baby, causing them to flee to Egypt. She didn’t
foresee a cross either. Yet, Mary trusted God’s plan.
As a result of this news and meeting with her cousin, Mary writes
a song, which Luke records. It’s commonly called the
"Magnificat." It’s called this because of the first line: "My soul
magnifies the Lord, & my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
I wonder if that’s the song we would have sung? Or would we
have questioned, "Why couldn’t you wait until I was married?" Or
"Why couldn’t you have told everyone, so I wouldn’t have to
bear the shame and humiliation?" Instead of those questions —
Mary sings, "How I rejoice in God my Savior." Mary’s entire
attitude was one of praise and trust, in effect she was saying, "I
may not understand it, I may not particularly enjoy it, and if I was
in charge I very well may have done it differently, but I will trust
that God knows what He’s doing and I will glorify Him."
There’s a huge difference between resigned acceptance, ‘I don’t
like it, but I’ll do it’ and praiseful acceptance, where you’re willing
to take God at His word and believe in His promises. If God
has allowed it to happen than God has a purpose in it, and that
purpose is much bigger then we can usually imagine. Mary goes
on to sing, "For He, the Mighty One, is holy, and He has done
great things for me."
A lesser soul could not have said that. Despised, ridiculed and
gossiped about. Yet, Mary was able to see beyond the present
circumstances to the future promises. Sometimes we get dragged
down by those circumstances.
Within God there were four qualities that struck Mary, that she
sang about. She sang of God’s Holiness, His mercy, His strength
and His faithfulness. Are you singing a song of trust this
Christmas? What’s occupying the prime spot in your mind? Are
you worried about where the money for gifts will come from?
Are you worrying about your exams, traveling, your job? How
about singing a song of trust.
To give you an idea of how incredible Mary’s response is, how
trusting and full of faith she was, all you need to do is look at the
story of the priest Zechariah. While he’s in the temple, he also
receives an angelic visitor with a message that in their old age,
Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth would have a son. Zechariah
questioned the angel and he was not able to speak until the child
was born.
Zechariah had life figured out. He knew what would work and
what wouldn’t. He had his beliefs and his ways of doing things.
And this didn’t fit. And so he was prepared to toss it aside, till he
opened his mouth and found himself unable to speak — sort of a
spiritual detention put on him by the angel on God’s behalf. He
was forced to live out the words of Psalm 46.10, "Be still and
know that I am God."
Zechariah had to learn that if his package for life and God didn’t
fit, then it was the package that would have to change. Not God
or God’s sovereign ways. A lesson for us too, wouldn’t you say?
And then there’s Mary, uncertain of what will come, yet certain of
who will bring it. Her simplicity and trust is juxtaposed to
Zechariah’s stubborn disbelief. Friends, in this journey of faith,
her simple response stands as a marker, a spiritual signpost for
us. We get so busy, busy, busy in Christmas and in just about
everything else in our lives. We make things a whole lot more
hectic and complicated than they need to be; we’re all caught up
in our planning, working and worrying. There’s a simplicity about
Mary’s response, about her attitude of total trust and reliance on
the Lord that jumps off the page today.
Let’s make sure we catch hold of it. My hope is that we will see
what Mary saw, we will see what allowed her to make the
response she did, to step out in faith and take the risk that she
took. Let’s look beyond the packaging, the wrapping and the
parties — to the Holy, Almighty and Loving God who cares
incredibly, deeply about each of us.
How about it? Will we place Jesus as the simple centrepiece of
our celebration? Our God, who loves us, values us and wants
our life to be fully open to Him. He calls out to us, "I know you.
I love you. I’ll care for you. Come to me." He’s looking for a
simple response. For time, for a place in our hearts and lives.
Will He find it?
Those that are racing around in their frantic pace, figuring
everything out for themselves, sorting out, working out in all its
complexities: earning, buying, mending, watching, going, busy,
busy, busy... cards, lists, guests, meals... If that’s what makes up
the core of our life we’re going to be in for a rather sad discovery
one day as it all comes crumbling down in a cloud of dust. That
stuff doesn’t last.
The Lord is not looking for people that have everything all nicely
and neatly put together. He doesn’t want all of our ducks in a
row, he doesn’t want the self- confident and independent.
Remember Mary - the simple, inexperienced teenager chosen to
be God’s mom. Those that stop, just stop and put first things
first; those that are willing to put themselves beside Mary and
humbly say, "May it be to me as you have said, Lord" will find
their lives in good hands, their future secure, and eternal hope
real.
Christmas is here. The Savior is here. stop all the busyness, trust
in Him. Just stop. He’s here. Here for us.
