The Paradox Of Blessedness

“The Paradox of Blessedness”

Luke 1:39-56

Two weeks ago, we read about how the angel Gabriel visited Mary and told her that she would become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and bear a son, and He will be holy and be called the “Son of God.”

And even though she said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word,” it doesn’t mean Mary wasn’t confused and terrified.

I don’t know about you, but when I am confused and terrified, I need to talk about it with someone.

I need to tell someone who will listen with a sympathetic ear; someone who is wise and can hopefully give me some advice on how I can best cope with what I’m facing.

Can you relate?

Gabriel had mentioned that Mary’s relative Elizabeth was expecting a child, which was itself a miracle given that Elizabeth was thought to be beyond her childbearing years.

So, most likely, before Mary even told her own parents or Joseph for that matter, about her pregnancy, she went to find Elizabeth knowing that if there was one person who would understand, it would be Elizabeth.

After what scholars suggest would have been nine days of difficult travel, Mary finally got to Elizabeth’s house.

She went on in and said, “Elizabeth, it’s me, Mary!”

And when Elizabeth heard Mary’s voice, the child she was carrying leaped in her womb.

“And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!”

Can you imagine how relieved Mary must have felt when she was greeted like this by Elizabeth?

Elizabeth said to Mary, in essence, “Listen, Mary. You don’t have to be afraid.

You’ve been blessed.

Blessed!

Don’t you see it?

You are going to be the mother of the Messiah.

God has chosen you.

You are so blessed.

And blessed is the child you will have.”

In the short passage from Luke 1:42-45, Elizabeth used the word blessed three times.

With Elizabeth’s excitement and her insistence on driving home the point Mary saw what William Barclay called “the paradox of blessedness.”

Sometimes we might think God’s blessing involves becoming rich and powerful.

Being blessed is often associated with a life of comfort and ease.

When we describe our blessings they often include our homes, our jobs, our health, and wealth.

But Mary’s blessing didn’t have anything to do with those kinds of things.

It wasn’t the blessedness of security or physical well-being.

Mary’s blessedness came from being a part of God’s plan—to be used by God for God’s purposes.

Have you ever thought of yourself as being a part of God’s plan—to be used by God for God’s purposes?

If you haven’t—you should because you are.

In Ephesians 2:10 Paul tells us: “we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

God has a plan—a good plan for all of our lives, but God won’t force us to accept God’s plan.

It comes by grace through faith—it is a gift from God which we will either accept or reject.

It brings with it a peace and joy that the world can’t provide, only God can give us this.

It transcends understanding.

It’s beyond description.

And it has nothing to do with ease or comfort or security that comes from possessions, from stuff!

Far from living on “Easy Street” Mary was going to face the whispers of those who would know she became pregnant out of wedlock.

She still had to tell Joseph, and she had no idea what he would do.

She would face the struggles that would come from being the mother of Jesus—fleeing to Egypt because Herod wanted to murder her child, watching helplessly when the religious leaders tried to destroy His ministry, and finally standing by with a heart so broken as He was mocked and crucified.

This is what blessedness looked like for Mary.

“The piercing truth,” says Barclay in a wonderful line from his commentary on Luke, “is that God does not choose a person for ease and comfort and selfish joy but for a task that will take all that head and heart and hand can bring to it.”

Abraham is a perfect example of this.

God told him, “I want you to leave behind everything you’ve ever known and go to a land you’ve never seen before.

You’re blessed, by the way!

Now go and be a blessing to all the nations of the earth.”

It seems upside down and all mixed up…

…but that is because we seem to have things upside down and all mixed up.

My mother-in-law sent me an article entitled: “How much more money buys happiness?”