One of the aspects of the Christmas Story
that always fascinates and amazes me
is the virgin birth
of our Lord Jesus
It shows us the power of our God,
that he can change the rules of nature
he can do things that have
never been done before
to accomplish his will
That through the gift of the Holy Spirit
God makes the impossible, possible
God can transform the average
and the everyday,
into the spectacular
Mary was just your everyday
average poor Jewish maiden
until God touched her life
And the same is still true with you and I,
what we do is not dependent upon
how good we are,
or how much we think we know
But rather on how willing we are to open
our lives
and our hearts
to God
It is like the old saying
God doesn’t care about our ability
but he cares about our availability
because it is God
not us
who is going to make
what we do spectacular
**But most of us recognize
that the virgin birth of our Lord Jesus
was truly a miracle from God,
However, I often wonder
if we truly understand how much
of a miracle it was
I often wonder if our 21st Century minds understand
the full ramifications of this event
not to the world
because we know Christ came to save
But the ramification for the virgin Mary
In our society
where unfortunately teenage pregnancy
and pregnancy outside of wedlock
has become common place
And where we see actors and actresses
having adulterous affairs constantly
with little to no consequences
I don’t know if we can truly understand
or truly appreciate
what the Virgin Birth meant to St. Mary
It wasn’t just that Mary
had to carry and deliver this child
though that was enough in itself
for that time period
A period when the infant mortality
was well over 35%
and many women died during labor
or even after labor due to infection
That alone was probably enough to frighten
this child named Mary
that scholars say was anywhere between
14 and 17
But the virgin birth
put a lot more than that at stake
for the young Mary
First, if Joseph did not believe Mary
if Joseph does not believe
that this was God’s child in her belly
that this baby was conceived by the Spirit
Joseph could have Mary brought up on charges
and at that time
the punishment for a women
being found with child
while engaged to another
Ranged anywhere from being
ostracized from the community
to being publicly stoned
If she was ostracized than that meant
she would have had to turn to a life of begging,
of begging for everything she needed
Because their certainly was no welfare system
or social organizations that would help her
and their were no jobs for women at that time
The only two options a women had for employment
was prostitution and begging
and the first we can safely assume
that Mary would not have undertaken
And not only would Mary be begging for herself
but should would also be
begging for her child’s survival
**And of course the other options
isn’t any better
she would have suffered a horribly painful
death in front of the entire community
Can you imagine
being 15 or 16 year old child
and knowing that if your fiancé
doesn’t believe your story
That no I didn’t cheat on you,
but really this is God’s son
that those were your only options
begging or death
And not only that,
even if Joseph believes her
and accepts the Baby as his own
which he does
Mary and Joseph are dirt poor
We are told in the second chapter
of the gospel of St. Luke
that at the presentation of Jesus
they gave turtle doves
which Hebrew law tells us
was acceptable only if you could not afford
the regular sacrifice of a cow
They barely have enough money
to take care of themselves
much less a child
or better yet a child
who is the son of God
Though the Angel Gabriel’s announcement
of the coming birth of the Messiah
God’s Son who comes to save his people
is great news to the world
Gabriel’s announcement to Mary
puts Mary between the preverbal
rock and a hard place
I am sure it was good news to her,
but in the back of her mind
those thoughts must be looming
Knowing that she doesn’t have a lot of options
knowing that there could be a lot of negative
consequences
if things do not go exactly right
Knowing that this could cost her
her life
But despite all of that
true faith is
in today’s gospel lesson
Despite all that could go wrong,
look at Mary’s response to Gabriel
in verse 38 of today’s Gospel lesson
“Here I am”
I love Mary’s response,
she just had a bomb shell dropped on her
and does she complain
does she gripe
does she say there is no way
this could work?
No, she simply says
“Here am I,
the servant of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word.”
She could start to complain,
she could become negative
she could say, “Hey, Lord I really don’t
want this responsibility,
could you find somebody else.”
But this 15 to 16 year old child
simply says,
Here I am, Lord
Because she understands
the awesomeness of our God
because she understand the power
that our God has
She understand what St. Paul wrote in Romans
that if God is for us,
which he is
than who could be against
Or better yet
does it matter who is against
our God is bigger
Mary understands that God does not call us to fail
but if God calls us to a task
he is going to give us what we need
to accomplish his will in the world
Here I am, Lord,
you are calling me to a very daunting task
but I know that you are right here with me
and through your strength
and through your grace
you are going to see it through to the end
This 15 year old child,
somebody who we don’t usually
listen to too much in the church
shows us what true faith is today
Unfortunately too often we think faith means
making sure we have a safety net
before we step out
which anybody could do,
that is not really faith
But Mary shows us true faith,
knowing that if this doesn’t go right
there could be a lot of negative consequences
but trusting that God will make sure
it comes out the way he promised
That is faith,
not waiting on a safety net,
but trusting that through God
we won’t need a safety net
This is truly amazing when you think about it
this 15 to 16 year old
dirt poor Jewish maiden
in a patriarchal society
simply says “Here I am Lord.”
WOW
And I truly believe,
that every one of us here today
could take lesson from Mary
in today’s gospel lesson
That everyone one of us here
should be willing to learn from Mary
to put complete and full trust in God
because after all look how well
Christmas turned out
We should learn from young Mary
to be willing to follow God
where ever he calls us to go
even if it is outside our comfort zone
because he will be with us
giving us what we need
To learn from Mary
that God will never
leave us or forsake us
nor will he call us to a task
outside of his grace
Too often as Christians
when God call us to do something
the first thing we do is make excuses
I can’t volunteer with that I am too busy,
I would like to give more,
but I have all these commitments
I would like to talk about God with others,
but they may not like me
or they may look at me funny
As Mary shows us,
when God is on our side,
we don’t need excuses
because it will work out
“Here am I,
the servant of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word.”
I also think as congregations
we can learn a lot from Mary
in today’s Gospel lesson
Notice that Mary doesn’t get negative
despite all the negative consequences
that could occur
She doesn’t sit around saying
well this could happen
and oh yeah that could happen
and don’t forget about that
As too often
we as Christians do in our lives
and especially in our churches
When somebody comes to us with a new idea,
with something that could be a blessing to the world
the first thing we do is run down
the list of things that could go wrong
And by the time
we finish the list of all that could go wrong
nobody wants to do anything anyway
and then we sit around wondering
why people don’t want to volunteer
Mary looks past all the negative
all the things that could go wrong
and sees the blessing
that will come forth from her
And as Christians
and as congregations
we have to always look to God
and see the blessing that will come out
of what God is calling us to do
As Christians
we should never be negative
because we know that our loving God
has promised to always be with us
providing what we need
And as we see through the birth of the Messiah,
God cannot and will not
ever break his promises
As Christians it is time we stop making excuses
why we can’t
and stop thinking of all the reasons
it won’t work
And realize that through Christ the impossible
is very possible
“Here am I,
the servant of the Lord;
let it be with me according to your word.”
