Sunday's Message: Mary

As we move through Advent, we’re looking at the characters of Christmas. During this five-week worship series, we'll focus on some of the main characters of the Christmas story.

• November 27 – Zechariah
• December 4 – Mary
• December 11 – The SPC Youth Christmas Youth Service
• December 18 – Joseph
• December 25 – The Shepherds
• January 1 – The Wise Men

In the second message, we focused on Mary, the mother of Jesus, and considered how she showed faith by her acceptance of the angel's message. A copy and recording of the message is below.

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Well, here we are, the second Sunday of Advent, and you know what that means, right? We’ve officially entered the month of December. Yesterday, Debbie started decorating the tree I set up last Monday. And since Wednesday, I’ve started to play Christmas songs in the office. And I’ll tell you, although I don’t really listen to them during the rest of the year, that’s got to include a heavy dose of Bing Crosby and Andy Williams and Nat King Cole, right? I mean, it just wouldn’t seem like the holiday season if Mel Tormé wasn’t singing about “roasting chestnuts on an open fire” and if Burl Ives wasn’t telling us to have a “holly jolly Christmas,” whatever that means. This is now where we are.

And you know, this is also the second Sunday in a series we started last week, one dealing with some of the characters involved in the Christmas story. And remember, during our last service, we talked about a priest named Zechariah, the one who would be the father of John the Baptist. And using the Gospel of Luke, we looked at who he was and what happened to him and then how he showed faith, you know, how, even though he doubted, he still wound up believing, something we might want to remember as we go about living our own lives. Now that was last week.

And this morning, we’re going to shift our focus to Mary, the mother of Jesus. And I’ll tell you, even though I think almost everyone knows something about her, the stuff we think we know is all over the place. For example, within our society, based on what we see on television and in movies, Mary may be anything from a feisty young activist who’s fighting for justice and who refuses to take any guff from anybody to a shy and retiring young woman who’s almost passive as she travels the ninety miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem, pregnant, sitting on a donkey. Now that’s how she’s presented within our society. And within Christianity, while Protestants, you know, like us, generally stick with whatever cultural vision best fits what we want to believe, good night nurse, our Roman Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters see her as the Queen of Heaven and the mother of God. As a matter of fact, for them, the immaculate conception isn’t about Jesus; it’s about her and how she was born without sin. Now that’s a pretty big difference. But I’ll tell you, this kind of stuff doesn’t just involve us; even in the Bible, Mary wasn’t always presented in the same way. I mean, while she’s pretty important in the Gospel of Luke, in the Gospel of John, she only appeared at the wedding in Cana and at the cross. And according to Mark, this was the only time Mary showed up at all:

Jesus’ mother and brothers came and stood outside. Then they sent someone with a message for him to come out to them. The crowd sitting around Jesus told him, “Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside and want to see you.”

Jesus asked, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” Then he looked at the people sitting around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. Anyone who obeys God is my brother or sister or mother.” [Mark 3:31-35, CEV]

Words every mother wants to hear from her son, right? And so, I think I’m safe in saying that, even though we all know her, what we think we know may not be the same.

And so, with that in mind, this morning, we’re going to look at Mary, our second character of Christmas, using what the Evangelist Luke wrote about her in the first chapter of his gospel. And like we did with Zechariah last week, as we do that, we’ll answer three questions: first, who was Mary, and second, what happened to her, and third, how did she show faith. Now that’s what we’re going to do. And by the time we finish this morning, I hope we’ll see that Mary showed her faith through her willingness to accept God’s will, something that we can also do.

And so, let’s focus on question number one: Who was Mary? And I’ll tell you, even though folks now-a-days may have all kinds of possible answers, the Evangelist Luke was very clear and straightforward. He wrote this, and understand this is happening right after the angel had appeared to Zechariah in the Temple: 

One month later God sent the angel Gabriel to the town of Nazareth in Galilee with a message for a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to Joseph from the family of King David. The angel greeted Mary and said, “You are truly blessed! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was confused by the angel’s words and wondered what they meant. Then the angel told Mary, “Don’t be afraid! God is pleased with you, [Luke 1:26-30, CEV] 

Now that’s what Luke wrote.

And from it, I think we can say two things about who Mary was. You see, when compared with other people, she really wasn’t particularly special. I mean, Luke never said she had a lot of wisdom nor that she was especially faithful, at least not at the beginning. Instead, she was just a girl of indeterminate age, from a small town, engaged to a guy with a noble ancestor but no contemporary influence. Man, she even had a name that was extremely common in the day. No, there was really nothing that would have set her apart from the crowd, at least not in human terms. But, of course, that wasn’t the case with God. I mean, for reasons we can never understand, because Luke didn’t tell us, she’d found favor with God. You see, she was blessed, and the Lord was with her, and God was pleased with her. Now that’s what the angel said and that was who she was.

And you know, I think that’s really important for us to remember, because I’ll tell you, that’s really who we are as well. You see, whether we want to admit it or not, in and of ourselves, well, we’re really not all that special, in spite of what our mothers may have told us growing up. We’re kind of average, aren’t we; living in the fat part of humanity’s bell curve, trying to do the best we can with what we’ve got. Now that’s just the way it is. But I’ll tell you, that’s the way it’s always been. I mean, just listen how the writer of Deuteronomy described God’s special people:

Israel, you are the chosen people of the Lord your God. There are many nations on this earth, but he chose only Israel to be his very own. You were the weakest of all nations, but the Lord chose you because he loves you and because he had made a promise to your ancestors. Then with his mighty arm, he rescued you from the king of Egypt, who had made you his slaves. [Deuteronomy 7:6-7, CEV]

Now that’s who we are too. Like Mary, by the standards of the world, we’re really not all that special.

But you know, also like both the people of Israel and Mary, we’ve also been chosen by God. Now, don’t ask me why, because I don’t have an answer. But I’ll tell you, I don’t think It’s not because of our smarts or our righteousness or even our dashing good looks. I just don’t know why God chose us. What I do know is this, as written by the Apostle Paul to the Romans:

Christ died for us at a time when we were helpless and sinful. No one is really willing to die for an honest person, though someone might be willing to die for a truly good person. But God showed how much he loved us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful. [Romans 5:6-8, CEV]

You see, we are very average people who are loved and have been blessed by God. And that’s who she was, the answer to the first question.

And that moves us to question number two: what happened? I mean, what happened to Mary after she was told by the angel Gabriel that God was pleased with her. Well, this was what Luke wrote:

Then the angel told Mary, “Don’t be afraid! God is pleased with you, and you will have a son. His name will be Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of God Most High. The Lord God will make him king, as his ancestor David was. He will rule the people of Israel forever, and his kingdom will never end.”

Mary asked the angel, “How can this happen? I am not even married!”

The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come down to you, and God’s power will come over you. So your child will be called the holy Son of God. Your relative Elizabeth is also going to have a son, even though she is old. No one thought she could ever have a baby, but in three months she will have a son. Nothing is impossible for God!” [Luke 1:30-37, CEV]

Now according to Luke, that’s what happened.

And you know, in this exchange between the angel and Mary, I find a couple of things pretty interesting. I mean, think about it; she questioned Gabriel, didn’t she? Of course, what he said about how she was going to have a son and how his name was going to be Jesus and how he was going to be Son of God and a king, man, all that was pretty far fetched; therefore, it would seem that a few questions were in order. Still, to question an angel of the Lord, that took some guts, didn’t it? I mean, just remember what happened to Zechariah. You see, Mary questioned God. But that’s not all she did. She also listened. She listened to what the angel had to say. And she listened even though the answer the angel gave her was about as clear as mud. And so, after Gabriel made his announcement, she questioned and she listened. And that’s what happened.

And I’ll tell you, I think the same kind of thing can happen to us. I mean, even though we certainly don’t want to be known as doubters and to pay the consequences for our doubt, in our relationship with God, questions are most definitely allowed. As a matter of fact, we can still be dedicated and productive children of the Father and ask God whatever we’re thinking and feeling at the time. God has broad shoulders; he can take our questions. And if we have any doubt about whether that’s possible, I think we need to remember Habakkuk, an Old Testament prophet, who approached God with this:

Our Lord, how long must I beg

for your help

    before you listen?

How long before you save us

    from all this violence?

Why do you make me watch

    such terrible injustice?

Why do you allow violence,

lawlessness, crime, and cruelty

    to spread everywhere?

Laws cannot be enforced;

    justice is always the loser;

criminals crowd out honest people

    and twist the laws around. [Habakkuk 1:2-4, CEV]

Now, by my count, that’s four questions in four verses. And just listen to how God responded:

Look and be amazed

at what’s happening

    among the nations!

Even if you were told,

you would never believe

    what’s taking place now. [Habakkuk 1:5, CEV]

You see, like Mary and Habakkuk, we can ask our questions.

But also like her, we can listen. We can listen for the word of God. We can listen to what he has for us to learn. As a matter of fact, we can become exactly what the writer of the Proverbs talked about when he wrote, 

My child, you must follow

and treasure my teachings

    and my instructions.

Keep in tune with wisdom

and think what it means

    to have common sense.

Beg as loud as you can

    for good common sense.

Search for wisdom

as you would search for silver

    or hidden treasure.

Then you will understand

what it means to respect

    and to know the Lord God. [Proverbs 2:1-5, CEV]

When face to face with the word and will of God, we can ask questions and we can listen for answers. You see, that can happen to us, because that was what happened to her, the answer to the second question.

And that leaves us with question number three: How did Mary show her faith? In other words, how did this average woman who was blessed by God, after she asked her questions and listened for the answers, how did she show that she really trusted the Lord? Well, this was what Luke wrote:

Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant! Let it happen as you have said.” And the angel left her. [Luke 1:38, CEV]

You see, understanding everything that was about to happen to her, man, it wasn’t really relevant to Mary. In the end, she accepted her role in the cosmic drama that was about to unfold. And she accepted it with simple humility. “Mary said, ‘I am the Lord’s servant! Let it happen as you have said.’” But you know, her acceptance wasn’t just humble; it was also done with a lot of energy and enthusiasm. I mean, when we read more of the story in Luke, we find that Mary visited Elizabeth, you know, Zechariah’s wife and soon-to-be-mother of John the Baptist. And while she was there, this was what Mary said about the one that she would deliver:

Mary said:

With all my heart

    I praise the Lord,

and I am glad

    because of God my Savior.

God cares for me,

    his humble servant.

From now on,

all people will say

    God has blessed me.

God All-Powerful has done

great things for me,

    and his name is holy.

He always shows mercy

to everyone

    who worships him.

The Lord has used

    his powerful arm

to scatter those

    who are proud.

God drags strong rulers

    from their thrones

and puts humble people

    in places of power.

God gives the hungry

    good things to eat,

and sends the rich away

    with nothing.

God helps his servant Israel

and is always merciful

    to his people.

The Lord made this promise

    to our ancestors,

to Abraham and his family

    forever! [Luke 1:46-55, CEV]

You see, it was through her humble and enthusiastic acceptance that Mary showed her faith.

And I’ll tell you, I think that same thing can apply to us. You see, when God calls us to live in our world as his own special people, we can accept that call. And we can do it with humility, remembering that James knew what he was talking about with he wrote this:

In fact, God treats us with even greater kindness, just as the Scriptures say,

“God opposes everyone

    who is proud,

but he blesses all who are humble

    with undeserved grace.”

Surrender to God! Resist the devil, and he will run from you. Come near to God, and he will come near to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners. Purify your hearts, you people who can’t make up your mind. ...Be humble in the Lord’s presence, and he will honor you. [James 4:6-8, 10, CEV]

You see, we can humbly accept what we’ve been called to be and to do. 

But you know, we can also respond with enthusiasm. I mean, like Mary, we can be bold in accepting our mission, our jobs as followers of Jesus Christ. And I’ll tell you, we can be enthusiastic regardless of what the job happens to be. It’s like Paul wrote to the Romans:

Be sincere in your love for others. Hate everything that is evil and hold tight to everything that is good. Love each other as brothers and sisters and honor others more than you do yourself. Never give up. Eagerly follow the Holy Spirit and serve the Lord. Let your hope make you glad. Be patient in time of trouble and never stop praying. Take care of God’s needy people and welcome strangers into your home. [Romans 12:9-13, CEV]

I’m telling you, following the example of Mary, we can humbly and enthusiastically accept the role God wants us to play in our world, because that’s how Mary showed her faith, the answer to our third question.

Of course, we might have missed all this, if we didn’t have Mary’s story in the Gospel of Luke. You see, if all we had was the Mary presented within our society or the Mary claimed within different churches or even the Mary offered in the rest of the New Testament, man, if that’s all we had, we might never understand that, like her, we’re a bunch of average people who’ve been blessed by God. And we might never realize that, like her, when faced with the Word of God, we can both ask questions and listen for answers. And I’ll tell you, we might never recognize that, like her, faith can be shown when we accept God’s will with humility and enthusiasm. You see, all this I believe we can receive from Mary, another one of our characters of Christmas.