So how was your day?
Luke 1:46-55
Some days I pick up Jason and Keylee at school. Once they are in the car, I usually ask. How was your day? I get grunts and groans. Some time a word like boring and occasionally ok. I don’t recall more than a couple of occasions when there was any excitement in their reply.
It is really easy to take our days for granted. It is easy to take the regular every day patters for granted. But what happens when we have a really good day? Do we actually feel upbeat and happy? Do we sing with the radio, whistle or hum tunes that are stuck in our heads.
Are any of you affected by the Christmas songs that are playing on the radio now. Even the TV commercials have little holiday music in the background.
Does the exposure to Christmas music influence your mood?
Today we are going to talk about a song; some call it the Magnificat other say Mary’s song.
In the scripture before our reading this morning we have this fantastic event. An Angel, Gabriel appears to this young Jewish girl. We don’t know what she is doing. It seems that she is alone primarily because she has no one to support her story.
She is betrothed, or to use a more modern word, engaged. That means that the families got together and agreed that there would be a wedding. A marriage contract was prepared it defined a bride price and terms and compensation if a divorce was required by choice or for cause.
In the Hebrew culture, neither the bride or groom were forced to marry. The prospective groom offered the prospective bride something of value and placed it in or in the case of a ring on her right hand. The smallest value acceptable was of the smallest coin of the day. So for us , the gift could be a penny. The groom says, Be thou betrothed unto me with this ring [or object] in accordance with the laws of Moses and Israel." If the bride accepts, she will move the ring or coin to the left hand and close it. The couple is legally married in all things except living together.
There was a waiting period of a minimum of one year. You might think that it was sort of like buying a hand gun. Except, you could not cool off and just change your mind. Once betrothed, you were legally married. To call it off meant death or divorce and the betrothal contract documents the penalties.
Once the gift was received, you were husband and wife, except that the bride stayed with her folks for the waiting period. If this were a second marriage the waiting period was only 7 days.
It really sounds like people were patient back then.
So this young Jewish girl probably between 13 and 16 is most likely having just an average day. Getting water, pealing potatoes, milking the goats, washing clothes….just a normal chore filled day. Gabriel speaks to her and says things like highly favored and it all sounds pretty good.
God knows who you are…..and that has an uncomfortable good feeling. The waiting for the other shoe to drop kind of feeling…perhaps waiting for the EXCEPT kind of word to creep in and change the tone. He tells her she will have child that is special and what his name should be. She asked how and he gives a vague explanation……
If you asked her, How was your day?
How would you expect her to respond?
How might any of us respond to the news of having a baby outside of marriage?
That is a scary thought even today and I suspect that it was much worse back then.
A quick translation to this conversation, Mary says Ok.
Yes, Ok, What was she thinking? She could be stoned…and I ma not talking about drugs…I am taking about real rocks. Real pain. Real death.
I am talking about people talking behind your back, sometimes just loud enough to know what they think about your – Situation and the “story.” I am talking about an event that would destroy every plan you made in your short life and removing any hope of a predictable future.
She goes to her Cousin Elisabeth’s home in the hill country of Judah. Looking at a map it could be a pretty good distance away where she will stay for about 3 months.
A young woman asked for an appointment with her pastor to talk with him about a besetting sin about which she was worried. When she saw him, she said, "Pastor, I have become aware of a sin in my life which I cannot control. Every time I am at church I begin to look around at the other women, and I realize that I am the prettiest one in the whole congregation. None of the others can compare with my beauty. What can I do about this sin?"
The pastor replied, "Mary, that’s not a sin, why that’s just a mistake!"
If you had a day like Mary, it might be pretty easy to think of your self as something special.
In our scripture that we are specifically looking at for today, we have Mary’s song. It is a song of faith. She does not raise up herself, he actions, her accomplishments … the whole song is about the Lord. She seems humble and reserved.
She answers the question about her day:
"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
She is saying, I am so happy and excited because God noticed me. He has noticed little old normal me.
Her soul is shouting Hallelujah. Not because of her, but because she has had an interaction with the divine and all her joy is to Glorify God. With all the potential problems…she sees this as a great thing! She calls God her savior and he has taken notice of simple old little her. Humble state probably means that she sees her self as being normal or if she is like teens of today she sometimes feels ugly and emotionally there are up’s and downs which are all too often very painful. Now she knows that God actually notices her.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me— holy is his name.
She foresees that for all time – (All generations) people will called her blessed….all because the Mighty One has done things for HER.
The God of Israel picked her. Is it because she was perfect?
Did she have some great faith or some fantastic qualities that no one else had? Was she the only one that God could use?
Did she do something to earn this privilege?
I will tell you that I believe the answer is no on all thoes questions. I think she was just like any of us. She was less than perfect. She was a real human being.
When God chose her…..it was a moment of Grace. God is sovereign and can choose who He wishes.
In Mary’s case she was a good Jewish girl, normal as far as we can tell. She brought salvation to this world in the most amazingly normal way.
A girl will have a baby and his name would be Jesus. (God Saves!)
In the first Christmas song, Mary is singing praises to God for all the things he has done and is continuing to do. She sings of mercy to thoes that fear him…that would be worshipers of YAWH. That his mercy goes from generation to generation…there is no hint of past or future.
She discusses mighty deeds and scattering the proud. Brought down rulers and lifted up the humble. Fills the hungry and sends away the empty. She is singing praises of a fair and just God that has in the same way selected her for a holy task.
Think about it. She understands that she is being used as an instrument of God to bring salvation into the world.
--- Do you understand how important and wonderful that really is?
I don’t believe that she has a perfect understanding of all that will happen but, she knows that it is going to be good.
He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers.
From this song, it is clear that Mary knew scripture. She knew the things God had done and the promises of a messiah and she knew that God has always been faithful to his promises.
She knows that this situation is in the middle of God’s plan and merciful actions.
It could make anyone become excited about their day. Woopee, God actually knows me and cares about me and even trust me.
It would be so great if every day was like that...wouldn’t it?
There are times when the Divine, the holy, OUR GOD speaks to us even today. Personally I wonder why he speaks to me at all. I know who and what I am and yet He has some idea that I can do something powerful for HIM.
Do you realize that a day when you have an interaction with the divine can leave a person with mixed feelings?
When you realize that God spoke to you through, scripture or a person or and Idea provided by the spirit….It is a WOW moment!
Then you realize…oh wait, I have never done anything like that before…..it is inconvenient….it is painful…..embarrassing…..costly….
Suddenly the wow turns into worry or excuses, because we know who we are. We avoid the burning bush because we believe that we have poor speech or weak ideas, perhaps something in our background.
I can’t speak for Mary so I have to use me. If God can use me…HE can use anybody. If he can us ME! It is so much easier to use one of you that have so many special situations. Time Talents, relationships, experience.
When God speaks to you and you get that uncomfortable scared feeling….He is waiting for a yes or a no. He won’t force you into growth in your relationship. He wont force you to take on new responsibility. He won’t force you to do anything because he gives mankind the ability to choose. That chose is a mark of your level of faith. Do you trust God to deal with the problems? He knows what they are better than you do.
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We all need to understand this – If you are a Christian…..not just claim to be a Christian. If you are a Christian you are expected to live for Christ and to say yes to the things he calls you to do. I you are a Christian he is speaking all the time it is all about how much we are willing to listen. When we listen to the Divine we will always have a great day.
Folks, you need to listen to me. You can have a lot more good days than you already do…
First let me tell you why I think we don’t already.
We take the actions of God’s mercy and grace for granted.
-We are so blessed in so many ways we forget what it would really feel like if we were having a really bad day. If we were not constantly under God’s blessings and protection we would have a lot more darkness and tragedy in our lives.
-We take our daily lives for granted and don’t read God’s word, or pray to listen for the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
We live every day with the answer no in our minds and never let the Spirit of God lead us in our decisions.
-- Answer this question, for yourself, and you need to be very honest.
If I asked you how your day was yesterday, what would your answer have been when you came in here this morning?
Let me share one more thing we take for granted. We take the salvation promised by God completely for granted. Here is how I know,
What have you done for the love of God this week? Did you do something for the poor or sick. For the suffering or lost.
Did you do anything for God because you were so excited for all that he has done for you?
Have you said yes to anything God has asked you to do?
How long has it been?
Church family, Christmas is a time when we can let the songs stir our spirits and scratch off the dull covering over our soul and return to the life that is full of the sounds of new life.
- Full of the joy of a baby in the house.
- Full of the power of the Living God.
- Full of the Holy Spirit that speaks to our hearts and minds and tells us that He knows who we are and that He has a plan and that each of us can play a role.
What if Mary let the busyness of her day or the looks of her family and neighbors make her say no? Would she have been blessed? Would she be remembered?
Would she have has a song in her heart that would let her live a life with God?
Let the spirit of God refresh you soul in the coming weeks. He can make all thing new, he can give joy,
He can take a quiet and humble person and use them in the most amazing ways.
All Glory be to God!
