The Cost Of The Call

The Cost Of The Call

Jeremiah 1:4-9 Luke 1:26-38 10/31/2019

Let me ask you something and try to be as honest as possible, when you hear the word East Cleveland, what comes to mind? Poverty, abandoned houses, crime, bad streets, dilapidated buildings, shootings, or place I don’t want to live.

Or perhaps you have a slightly more favorable impression thinking Rockefeller Park, the pond, Shaw High School Marching Band, the place I grew up or even the place where I live. I think if you asked God today, what comes to mind when you hear East Cleveland, God would say, “Behold, that’s the place I chose to send my spirit to one who is highly favored and has my call upon her life.”

For even before my child was in Madeline Martin’s womb there on Forest Hill Avenue, I called her and appointed her to be a prophet to the nations. For I intended my Spirit to fall upon Antonia Martin to preach the good news to the poor, to proclaim hope to those who have none, and to serve as the hands and feet of my Son Jesus Christ in this world.

Aren’t you glad today that God is able to see diamonds where others only see broken pieces of glass. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was from the town of Nazareth which didn’t have much of a difference of a reputation as a city, than the city of East Cleveland has from which Antonia came out of. As a matter of fact Nazareth had such a bad reputation, that it almost cause one person to not to even consider listening to Jesus.

In the gospel of John in the Bible, a guy by the name Phillip had run into Jesus just as Jesus was starting his public ministry. Jesus had told Phillip “come follow me.” Phillip began that journey. Phillip was so excited ,he had to go and tell one of his best friends. He found Nathaniel and told him, we have found the one Moses said was coming, and the one the prophets have written about.

At this Nathaniel started smiling and his eyes got big. They had been waiting for hundreds of years for the Messiah to come. Could it be. this guy might really be the one?

I can see him saying, “Who is it, who is it.” Phillip said. “It’s Jesus from Nazareth the son of Joseph. At that, Nathaniel face dropped and the joy left from his eyes. “Are you kidding me, Nazareth? Nazareth, can anything good come from there?

I’m so glad we serve a God who is not limited by where we come from, how old we are, what we’ve done, or how bad we’ve been. God’s grace can more than make-up for the failings that we have in our lives because all of us have failed, and none of us deserve the love and mercy that God offers to us all.

God offers us His grace and His mercy because He has a call and a claim upon each of our lives whether we know it or not. When God looks at us, God sees far more than we can think or imagine.

When God called Mary, she was basically a nobody. She was probably poor. Her family was not that significant. She came from Nazareth, a place that the Jewish people avoided because of the Roman Garrison that was stationed there. You may remember those soldiers who ordered you to carry those bags for a mile. Nobody wanted to go to Nazareth and get trapped.

Mary was not a prophet or a priest. She was not a worker in the temple. There were young women who practically lived at the temple in hope they would give birth to the Messiah. Mary was simply at home, in Nazareth planning the details for her wedding. Nobody was more shocked that God wanted to use her than she was.

And yet here she is, and God sends the angel Gabriel to her. First of all to see an angel was frightening enough, but to hear the words, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Must have been somewhat overwhelming.

The angel explains to Mary that she is going to have a Son who is to become the Savior of the world. He will become Great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord will give him the throne of David and his kingdom will never end.

Mary tries to explain this can’t happen because she is engaged, and she is a virgin so that rules out any kind of pregnancy. The angel explains to her, “that’s no problem because the Holy Spirit is going to come upon you so the one born to you is going to be called the Son of God. Nothing is impossible with God.”