Title: It Will Be Okay!
Text: Luke 1:26-38 (Matthew 1:18-25)
Thesis: If God is in it and we are in it with God… it will be okay.
Introduction
The McDonaldization of Society was written by George Ritzer and published in 1995. In his book, he asserts that society tends to take on the characteristics of a fast food restaurant. The idea is to rationalize everything down to the most efficient way of doing something… moving to more predictable and ultimately controlled outcomes.
He cites four primary components to McDonalization:
1. Efficiency or the optimal method of accomplishing a task. Note the salad bar or the ATM in which business gets the customer to pay to make their own salad and conduct their own banking.
2. Calculability or the ability to quantify outcomes rather than subjectify them. Reference Big Mac not Good Mac. Sales…
3. Predictability or standardization. Reference movie plots Die Hard, Rambo, Pirates of the Caribbean, Mission Impossible… the underdog wins and the villain loses, the guy gets the girl, the ending is happy.
4. Control or standard and uniform employees or replacement of human by non-human technologies. Reference computerized programs and robotics in production. Merchandisers are busy replacing people with technology. Area big box stores like Home Depots and King Soopers, have eliminated clerks and cashiers, replacing them with scanners which simplifies their lives but complicates our so that we pay for the privilege of scanning, swiping, making our own change and bagging our own purchases.
The fast food industry still uses people, but they leave little to human initiative or decision. When I order, the human simply hits the button for the breakfast burrito meal with a medium iced tea with light ice. The order is flashed on a screen to the person on the line as well as the person who dispenses the drinks. The computer calculates the cost and dispenses the change, which the cashier hands to me through the window. The person on the line pours a pre-measured amount of egg product from an egg product container, adds a pre-measured crumble or two of sausage product from the sausage product container, some cheese from the cheese product container and wraps it in a soft tortilla shell and tosses it into the bin. The bagger drops in two napkins, a straw, and the burrito, hits the light ice button on the dispenser and fills my cup, snaps on a lid and hands it to me through the window. The server doesn’t even have to decide how much ice constitutes light ice. This is all done, in less time than it would take me to fry an egg at home.
No matter where I go in the world… if I order a burrito breakfast at McDonalds, the process from point A to Point Z is the same. It is efficient, calculable, predictable and controlled.
As a rule, I like predictability. I like it when the sun comes up and sets. I like it when I turn the key and my car starts. I like it when I adjust the thermostat and the house warms up. I like it when my debit card works at the gas pump. I like it when John Madden is the analyst for the NFLs Monday Night Football. Predictability is usually a good thing.
And, as a rule, we assume that God has an appreciation for the predictable, the planned and the well ordered. However, when it comes to some things, God casts McDonaldization aside and goes with what seems to be the least efficient, most unpredictable and out of control ways of doing things. In our story today, God opts to fully engage and go with the human element as the primary method of accomplishing his plan.
I. You can expect that God will do the unexpected.
In our story, an angel appeared to Mary and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” Luke 1:28
Out of the blue, without any warning, an angel pops into Mary’s life.
This simple scenario could not have been all that simple. I can’t believe Mary was a ditzy valley-girl type. I can’t believe that Gabriel just popped in and said, “Hey, you’re gonna have the Son of God!” And then, Mary just flipped her blonde hair, smiled with glee and said, “Whatever!”
What was Mary doing when the angel appeared? Was she waking up after a night of sleep? Was she carrying laundry down to the creek to do the weekly wash? Was she coming home from the market? Was she swinging on a swing at the city park? Was she putting on her make-up? Was she listening to her i-Pod? Was she sitting with her bible opened on her lap… waiting for an angel to appear?
Why Mary? Do you think God placed a call down to Human Resources asking that they select a few candidates from among human kind whom he might consider to be the mother of his “only begotten Son?” Do you think most organizations would have chosen a newly engaged to be married peasant girl from a quaint little village in the hills of Galilee to be the mother of God’s Son? Surely, there were more striking bachelorettes with better brains, beauty and breeding for this high and noble cause…
What do we learn about Mary’s character in this initial greeting?
Mary was willing to be interrupted. Unlike most of us…
A teacher was telling the story of how Lot and his wife were escaping from Sodom and Gomorrah and that Lot’s wife had looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. She asked the class, “Do you think it is possible to turn into a pillar of salt?” One little hesitated just a moment and then said, “Yes, I do. Yesterday my mother looked back and turned into a telephone pole.”
We all live very busy lives… so busy that it seems it takes a telephone pole to get out attention. Sometimes we need to remind ourselves to be open to interruptions… God may be trying to get our attention or bring us into a situation in which we can be of some use. I like the way one person twisted the old adage, “Don’t just stand there, do something!” to “Don’t just do something, stand there!” Mary stood there.
Mary was humble. The bible says that she was confused and disturbed by the greeting of the angel who had just referred to her as a “favored woman” and told that the Lord was with her… Mary was baffled by this business of being favored and blessed of God. She was wondering, “Why me? Mary was no Paris Hilton or Brittney Spears… she was not a person of privilege. She was no society debutante or Hollywood celebrity. She was like any young woman who might be sitting among us this morning.
Mary’s life was about to be turned upside down but even then she seemed to know that God was at work.
II. Even in the most convoluted, unexpected events, God can be present and at work.
“Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. ‘Don’t be frightened, Mary,’ the angel told her, ‘God has decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son, and you are to name him Jesus.’” Luke 1:29-30
What were the implications of this announcement?
In our culture we speak to birth control and planned parenthood… imagine what it must have been like to be told that she would be blessed with the birth of a child… not of her own choosing or time.
Former surgeon General Everett Koop tells of a conversation he had with a woman who delivered a severely handicapped infant. He asked her, “What is the worst thing that ever happened to you?”
She said, “Having our son born with defects that required 37 operations to correct.”
Koop then asked, “What is the best thing that ever happened to you.”
She responded, “Having our son born with defects that required 37 operations to correct.”
Mary was about to experience the worst thing and the best thing that could happen to her.
Mary was a young woman engaged to be married. What would her fiancé’ think about this good news? What would her parents think? What would her relatives and neighbors think? What would anyone think when she told them an angel told her she was going to carry and deliver the Son of God?
Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean… “How can I have a baby? I am a virgin.” This was no walk in the park for Mary.
What can we learn from her response after she had thought about Gabriel’s message?
III. When God has turned our expectations upside down… our role is to hang-in-there.
“Mary responded, ‘I am the Lord’s servant, and I am willing to accept whatever God wants. May everything you have said come true.’” Luke 1:38
What does Mary’s response say about her? She could have said, “NO WAY!” But, she said, “Okay. I’ll play. I will accept whatever God wants.”
Mary had a servant spirit. She knew if God was in it… it would be okay.
Conclusion
A soccer mom tells a story about the first practice of the new soccer season. Her 35-pound, 5-year-old daughter would be playing Micro-League for the Bombers. As we walked to the first practice on a cool summer day, she was anxious to see who the coach would be. Would his focus be on making the game fun and a team experience, or would he focus on goals and winning? As practice began, she met the coach. She said her first impression of Ray was that he was a good man and that any doubts she might have had were soon dispelled.
As they began, an olive skinned little boy, whom she later learned spoke no English, wandered from the playground equipment over to the sidelines of the game. He watched. He waited. Moments later, I looked for him again, but he was gone. Then I noticed there were now thirteen Bombers running up and down the field. The boy, perfectly camouflaged in blue shorts and a white t-shirt, had joined the white team. He ran, he passed, and he kicked. He smiled.
No one seemed to notice that he wasn’t a part of the team. No one yet said, "He hasn’t paid the fees! The proper forms and releases have not been signed!" Soon, however, a ball rolled into a mother’s lap, and as the new boy ran to fetch it, the mom innocently said to the coach, "He’s not on the team." The kids, who had not even noticed that a new friend was on the field, stopped. The coach looked down at the now very dirty boy, saying, "He’s not? Hmm."
There was a pause as the boy looked up at Ray, who held his soccer fate. Finally, Ray made his judgment. He put his hand on the boy’s small back and said, "Come on! Let’s play soccer!"
None of us deserves to be on God’s team. We haven’t earned it. Nor have we have we paid the price ourselves. Yet, in his grace, Jesus chooses us.
This is ultimately a story about God…
This story is about God. A God who lets us play even if we are unlikely players or don’t deserve to play. . A God who chooses to risk inefficiency, unpredictability and questionable control by working with and through people. A God who makes his Son known this Advent Season through people like Mary… people like us. A God who knows it will all be okay.
