Luke 1:46-55 WHEN GOD TURNS YOUR LIFE UPSIDE DOWN
The 2004 Olympics have just begun. Athletes from all over the world have been preparing for this moment. Imagine all the time and effort and sacrifice that must go into getting ready to compete in the Olympics! And you know why these athletes have to prepare so hard – the level of competition is so high – the challenge is so great – you have to be completely prepared, physically and mentally, for the Olympics.
Imagine if this is how the Olympics worked – every Olympics, right before the opening ceremonies, the US Olympic committee would choose one person, out of the general population, and asks that person to participate in the Olympics with everybody else. Imagine if that was just part of the program – no matter how young or old you were, no matter how out of shape or unprepared you were – one person gets the call from the Olympic committee to join the team and compete with everybody else. Imagine if last week, the phone rang, and you were told that the Olympic committee has randomly chosen you. That very day, you are supposed to fly over to Athens, put on your tank top and your shorts, and get ready to compete in the 100 and 200 meter hurdles, with all the other athletes of the world.
Would you go? Or would you say, “I can’t go – I have to work.” “I’m not in shape – I’d look foolish running those races.” “I can’t just get up and leave – I have things going on here.” “I’m too old.” “Why don’t you pick someone else who’s more prepared?” Would you try to get out of it, if you were suddenly asked to compete in the Olympics?
That’s not how the Olympics works, but that is how God works. God picks people, regular, ordinary people like you and me, and he asks us to do great things. And it doesn’t matter if you have to work, or if you’re busy, or if you’re too old or too young, or if you’re not ready. There are times when God interrupts what you’re doing and says to you, “I want you to do something great for me.”
That’s what happened to Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was a regular, ordinary girl, probably in her middle teens, living in a small village. She was a peasant who believed in God – nothing special. And then, one day, God told her – you are the one that will be the mother of the Messiah. I have chosen you. How Mary responded to this teaches us how we can respond, when God challenges us, when God turns our lives upside down and asks us to do great things for him.
Now Mary didn’t go to a special school that trained women on how to mother the Son of God. And Mary wasn’t holy. She had sin, just like everybody else. The Bible portrays her as a regular, ordinary, peasant girl who believed that someday a Messiah would come and take away her sins. And then, God turns her life upside down, and tells her that nine months from now, she was going to be the mother of the Messiah.
I’m sure this was a big shock to Mary. She wasn’t part of the upper class of society. She had no experience being a mother. This was inconvenient for her – she was engaged, and this would cause a great deal of stress between her and Joseph. Socially, this wouldn’t look good – an unwed Jewish teenager who is pregnant. I’m sure Mary was wondering to herself, “Why me?”
What God did to Mary is similar to what God sometimes does to us. Sometimes, God interrupts your life and says to you, “You’re the one I’ve chosen to do something big,” and then you say to yourself, “Why me?” Maybe God does this to you in your personal life – he places a huge challenge in front of you – the challenge of taking care of an aging parent, or the challenge of loving difficult relatives, or the challenge of being the strong one in the family. And you’re not ready for that challenge. But God says to you, “I’ve chosen you.” God does this to churches too. He has placed a huge challenge in front of us – the challenge of reaching out to our community – we don’t have the luxury of Beautiful Savior of being lazy, like other churches might have around here. And God has placed in front of us the challenge of building a church that glorifies his name. Maybe you say to yourself, “I’m not ready for this challenge.” And God says, “But I’ve chosen you. You have no training. It’s very inconvenient. I know you’re not ready. But I’ve chosen you,” God says.
How did Mary respond? We see her response in the words of her song, called the “Magnificat.” And as we read through this song, you can see three things. You can see, first of all, that Mary responds to God with humble faith. Mary believed that God would do this great thing through her: “From now on, all generations will call me blessed,” Mary said. Mary believed that she wold be the mother of the Messiah, even though it seemed unbelievable to her. And Mary responded to all of this not just with humble faith, but also with humble obedience. As you read through her song, you can tell that Mary wasn’t resisting. Instead, she calls herself God’s “servant” (48). Mary was going to obey, and walk the road that God had placed in front of her. And as she thought about this, Mary also responded with joy. She says “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” She was happy that God had chosen her, a small and insignificant person, to do such a great thing.
I wish I would respond to God’s challenges like Mary. When God turns your life upside down, and asks you to do great things for him, how do you respond? With humble faith? Or do you say to God, “God, I don’t think you know what you’re doing. You’re wrong God, you’re wrong!” When God turns your life upside down, do you respond with humble obedience? Or do you say, “No God, I don’t think so. I’m not going to cooperate with you.” When God turns your life upside down, do you respond with joy, like Mary? Or do you complain and grumble? When we look at Mary’s life, and how Mary responded when God turned her life upside down, we are humbled, because we realize that we sin. We doubt and resist and complain.
But our God is a God who loves sinners. He came to Mary, not because she was so perfect, but purely out of his grace and mercy. And that same God comes to us. Mary called God her “Savior,” and he is your Savior too. God did great things for Mary, and God also does great things for you. Instead of condemning you for your sins, God sends his Son, who takes your sins away. Instead of condemning you, God has mercy on you, and forgives you, just as he had mercy on Mary.
One of the events that interests me at the Olympics is the decathlon. Each athlete in the decathlon has to compete in ten events, from shot put to high jump to javelin throwing to hurdles, to sprints, to long jump – ten different events. Imagine that - you have to excel at all those different events, in order to win the gold medal. When Jesus was here, he had to excel in all different kinds of events, in order to win for us our salvation. Just think about that – he had to fulfill all the Messianic prophecies from the Old Testament, perfectly. He had to keep God’s Ten Commandments, perfectly. He had to teach and train his disciples. He had to reach out top the unbelievers of first century Palestine. He had to endure all the sufferings of the cross, as a sacrifice for your sins. He had to rise from the dead. All these things Jesus had to do – it makes the decathlon seem so small, compared to what Jesus accomplished. And those are just some of the mighty deeds that God has done, that Mary sings about in her song. God has done great things for you.
And trusting in that God, that Messiah – that’s where Mary found the strength and courage she needed, to move forward, as the future mother of the Christ. Ultimately, what happened, was the God turned Mary into a person that she had never planned to be, someone that all generations would call “blessed.” And if you were to ask Mary if she would change anything, I’m sure she’d say no. God turned her life upside down. He asked this small peasant girl to do a big thing. But God also gave her faith, and strength to obey, and joy, as she carried out God’s plan.
Remember this, when God challenges you, when God turns your life upside down. God loves to ask small people to do big things. And when God does that to you, remember that he will also give you faith, and courage, and joy, as you carry out God’s plan in your life. Ultimately, God is working on you, turning you into a person that you had never planned to be. That’s how God works. May He bless you, just as he blessed that young, surprised, peasant girl Mary, many many years ago. Amen.
