Scripture | Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
DO GOOD, FEEL GOOD CHRISTMAS – TRUST
Pr. Thanael Certa-Werner
Over the last two weeks, we have been looking at what it looks like to be a part of the Christmas awakening. We’ve been looking at Acts and at a man named Cornelius. In the first week, we talked about how Cornelius is a Roman living in a feel-good-chasing Roman culture. He looks around and decides to make the essential shift from feel good to do good. Last week, we talked about how it would have been easier for Cornelius to keep his faith on the intimate level, but that he chose to let his faith be a part of all levels of his life. This week, we’re going to talk about trust and its role in Christmas. To do that, we’re actually departing from the Acts story for a week and talking about Mary as a great example of trust. But before we do, let’s practice our memory verse: depart from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it. – Psalm 34:14
China is a huge country with all kinds of land masses and geographic phenomenon. One of the most impressive aspects of this sprawling country is its mountains. In the Yongding District, at the heart of China, sits Tianmen Mountain. This mountain is famous around the world for not only its beauty but because of its unique bridge and walking areas. Hiking around this mountain and its neighbors entails walking across bridges and platforms made completely and entirely out of glass. So, hiking this mountain means walking on glass thousands of feet above sea level with nothing else supporting you underneath. To make matters worse, in some areas, they have added in screens which make it look like the glass cracks every time someone walks over it. If you aren’t afraid of heights, I think you might be after an experience like that!
As you can imagine, this trek can be hard for many people, especially those who are afraid of heights. But for many children it is even worse. To be so high off the ground and to see straight through the floor to an abyss below can be downright terrifying making the hike an almost impossible task for the parents. For these children, walking across these sheets of glass thousands of feet above the ground is an exercise of trust, not just in the fact the glass won’t give way but also in their parents and the guidance which their parents give them.
In our text for today, we meet another child – well a young teenager by our standards today. Young Mary is a fourteen-year-old girl living in ancient Nazareth. Now we know that this story takes place right before the change from BC to AD, and the culture about 2,000 years ago was that young women Mary’s age would be betrothed to a man and this is the case for Mary. She is set to be married to a young man name Joseph who is part of king David’s family. The crazy thing is now a days, we don’t even trust 14-year-olds to drive, but Mary was not only betrothed but was considered to be an adult. This means that she would have chores to do to help keep her family going and to prepare her for married life. An important aspect of this betrothal was that Mary was a virgin. This was essential to the religious culture of the time. All this information points to the fact that Mary was just an average girl living an average life for her time.
In the midst of this normal life, in steps an angel. Now, Mary is a Jew, which means that she follows the God of the Old Testament. She would have been a part of a very religious culture and had an upbringing which revolved around the Jewish faith. Seeing an angel of the sovereign God was surely incredible, but not something which was impossible, especially in the eyes of the Jews living in Israel at that time. So, into this ordinary, mundane life of a young woman steps this angel, a messenger from God, who greets Mary and tells her that she – a fourteen-year-old girl from backwater Nazareth – has found favor with God.
But even this is normal compared to what the angel is about to tell Mary next. Verses 31-33 say, “And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” If you need a moment to take that all in that’s fine because I can only imagine that Mary did. Let’s recap. This young girl, who is not married and has never had sex with any one is going to have a baby and this baby is not going to be just an average everyday baby, but called the Son of God and is going to reign on David’s throne. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Not only is this impossible, but there are major implications to this. Mary is unwed. Everyone living in Nazareth is going to think that she conceived this child outside of marriage which means that they have the right to kill her by stoning her to death. And even if they don’t do that, Joseph can cancel the wedding without any guilt because Mary has this child. Mary’s whole future is on the line as well, so she asks the very valid question, “how can this be?” Gabriel, the angel with her, tells her that the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, will come upon her. The power of God, the Most High God, will come over her and because of this power, she will conceive a child. The angel is specific, this child will be Holy – special for God. The impossible is about to happen in Mary’s life and to further the theme of impossible things happening because of God, the angel tells Mary news of her cousin, Elizabeth. Elizabeth is an older woman who was thought to be barren. Barren women, especially in this time, were thought to be continually punished by God for having sinned. Many people believed that their inability to have children was the punishment for sin. Despite that all, Elizabeth is pregnant and will have a child as well. For God it does not matter that Mary is a virgin, nor Elizabeth old or barren. For God, nothing is impossible.
If I were Mary, I would have a thousand questions by this point. All of these impossible things are happening around me and are about to happen to me. As a person who likes to have a good amount of control in my life and as a person who has a five-year plan in motion at all times, this would not bode well. I would be the one to ask to speak with the manager to correct this obvious mistake. But none of these reactions are how Mary responds to this. Mary, in verse 38, replies with, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” And that’s it. The angel leaves and the conversation is over. Mary asks no more questions, doesn’t try and get out of anything, she says, “Here am I” and moves on.
Something we don’t remember at this part is that none of Mary’s impending problems are solved by this explanation, at least not at first glance. Joseph is still going to find out that Mary is pregnant, and this is still going to happen before they are married. For all Mary knows, Joseph will still call off the wedding. Or even worse, the threat of death is still present. Mary’s future is still seemingly up in the air. Gabriel gave no assurances that she would still be married, or that she would have a livelihood, or that she would live. Only that God would make things that are impossible happen. But Mary’s response is one of complete trust that despite the clear issues that could arise, despite the worries which could be understandably present, she will trust in God’s leadership in her life. This is an incredible lesson for us today.
There are many times, especially in situations like the one we currently find ourselves in, when it seems impossible to move forward or to look towards the future. Even when God is present and revealing God’s will in our lives, it is not easy to be able to trust that it will work out. Let’s be honest, for some of us, the present realities are ones of life or death. Some of us have problems mounting and issues which seem to be flooding our lives and threatening to drown us. Worse yet, this pastor keeps telling us that Christmas, and life, is all about do good in a time of feel good. A lot of what we talk about here is not easy. The whole point of a sermon is to challenge and to guide the people who hear it! But listening can sometimes be difficult because living into the challenge is difficult. Making the switch from feel good to do good requires trust and isn’t easy. But Mary’s story gives light to a new solution which is as old as time itself: trusting in God despite not seeing the future well. Sitting here, 2,000 years after the fact, it is easy to say that it was clear from the start that God was going to take care of Mary. But in that moment, she likely felt many of the same fears and anxieties which we are fighting today.
Mary’s response is powerful for our lives because it highlights the fact that God guides those who trust in God. In other words, when we choose to trust what God is calling for us to do – when we let God take the reins – we may still have fear and anxiety, but we also are secure in the fact that God is leading and that God’s wisdom and view on things is much greater than anything we could ever achieve.
Standing 4,690 feet above sea level with nothing more than glass beneath your feet can be terrifying and when the glass looks like its cracking, all we can do is cling to the side railing and hope that we don’t fall. In the same way, life can be terrifying. Looking around, it can seem that danger, uncertainty, and fear surrounds us. When things give way a bit, we can get stuck, clinging to where we are, unwilling to go forward. But just like the children who cross Tianmen Mountain, we have a choice to trust our Parent’s direction and wisdom in our lives. Their view is bigger, Their understandings are deeper, and They know how to get us safely through the mountain. Mary’s story reminds us that when we do put our trust in God, when we allow for God to shape our stories and lead us despite our fears, that we will be okay and that God’s wonders will be done through us. We may not all be asked to bear the Savior of the world, but we may be asked to bear what seems like impossible tasks. When we trust God, that which is impossible becomes reality.
Amen? Amen.