December 24, 2023 Fourth Sunday of Advent The text is Luke 1:26-38.
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26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32He 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. 33He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
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May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to You, O Lord, my rock and my Redeemer.
Grace, mercy, and peace are yours from God the Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
I’m sure many of you remember the old Sci-Fi television show, The Twilight Zone”. It first ran in the 1960’s, but the episodes can still be found on several platforms. At the beginning of each show the host, Rod Serling would set the stage for what was about to happen, by saying “Imagine, if you will”, followed by asking the viewers to put themselves in the position of the person the story was going to be about.
So I ask you this morning, the following; “Imagine if you will that you are a poor peasant girl, around 15 or 16 years old, and that an angel has just informed you that you will become pregnant by the Holy Spirit and that you will give birth to the Messiah of the Jewish people”. God has favored you and the child which you will carry, even though you have never engaged in any behavior that would result in a natural pregnancy, will nonetheless be God’s Son.
Next, imagine if you will, how you are going to explain this to Joseph your fiancée; and equally as important, how will the community react to this miraculous news? Imagine, if you will the fear, disbelief, and bewilderment that you experience, as you find yourself overwhelmed by this, quite frankly unbelievable pronouncement. Now, I’ll give you a moment to ponder this; imagine, if you will, what you are going to say to this angel, how you can possibly respond to this revelation which is about to unimaginably upend your entire life. Odds are none of us would reply the way Mary did; simply acknowledging the situation and affirming that we’re fine with it. “So I’m going to have God’s baby; that’s okay, whatever God wants me to do, I will, gladly”.
Nevertheless, this is pretty much what Mary said to the angel, although in a much more reverent, faithful tone. “Imagine, if you will”? In truth, I can’t possibly imagine Mary’s almost immediate agreement to this situation. We must therefore imagine also that Mary was a young girl of great faith, an understanding of Jewish tradition and prophecy, and a deep-seated desire to serve her God. That said, it’s still challenging to think that she was able to respond in such a positive way to news that would have had such a negative impact on the lives of Joseph and herself. And it’s the extremes of the situation and her response to them and the tension that resulted, that bear greater scrutiny. Mary was one of the least valued of all people in Jesus’ time; she was female, young, and poor. She was pregnant and unmarried, and facing public shame and humiliation. Yet, overcoming her initial fear she rather quickly accepted the angel Gabriel’s announcement and proclaimed her willingness to do God’s will.
Here are a couple of the extreme contrasts we encounter in this interaction between Mary and God’s messenger. Young virgin teenager is pregnant without ever having had relations.
Her initial response to the news of her carrying the Son of The Most High was, “how can this be?” After some additional explanation by the angel, this now became, “Let it be with me, according to God’s word”. The impossible is replaced with possible, through the action of the Holy Spirit. She is transformed from peasant girl to prophet. She is no longer simply, Mary, but the mother of God. Her initial denial changes to discipleship; fear and disbelief are transformed into faith and willingness. Again I ask you to “imagine if you will”, that you were this young girl in Nazareth, facing this situation; would you have said and done what Mary did? Would you have so faithfully, willingly, and obediently made these same transitions?
Beyond the theological importance that Mary’s story holds, and the repercussions of her act of faithful obedience; that is, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the One whose birth we will celebrate this evening, there is also the invitation to follow her example. Imagine, if you will, that you are who you are, now, here in this time and place. We too find ourselves dealing with issues and situations that require that we respond to them in appropriate ways. We are called to faithful obedience to the will of God, we are challenged to accept that which our understanding tells us should be impossible. We face fear, denial, and disbelief at what we observe happening around us, and what we experience in our own lives. We must also accept that we are called to transformation, from what and who we think we are, to what and who God calls us to be. We can choose to ignore the call to discipleship and servanthood, or we can answer as Mary did; “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Jesus calls us to act as he did, as his disciples in service to others. Perhaps we might better answer this invitation if we first emulate the obedience and faith of Mary. She was transformed from who she thought she was into who God chose her to be; from what she thought she could do, to what God knew she was capable of doing; from the life she intended for herself, to the life God intended for her to live; one of faithful trust and obedience. So, once again I ask you to; imagine if you will, that that you have answered this same call to discipleship that Mary did. Granted, no matter what it might be that you find yourself called to accomplish through your willingness to follow God’s word, it’s highly unlikely that it would come close to Mary’s situation.
The truth of the matter is that we do not need to imagine that we have answered as Mary did; “Here I am, servant of the Lord”, for our presence here attests to our Christian discipleship. Each of us has already confirmed that we acknowledge that God knows us better than we know ourselves. We only need to be as confident as Mary and imagine yet again that God knows better than we what we are capable of, and that it is God’s will that we live lives of obedience, faith, and trust.
So, as we approach the end of the Advent season, and the long wait for the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas is at hand, it might be advantageous for us to review what the gospels have revealed to us over these last few weeks. Jesus has taught us that when we serve “the least of these” we actually serve him. Thus we are called to be Christ’s hands, and feet, and heart in the world. We have also been instructed to be Jesus’ voice, declaring the salvation of God’s children, as first proclaimed by John The Baptist. And this morning we encounter Mary, the mother of Jeus, and we are now called to follow her example of unwavering discipleship.
These combine to teach us that we should emulate all the different ways in which our Christian faith may be displayed. We must be willing, obedient, trusting disciples; our voices must be heard, proclaiming the Good News of the coming of the Christ; our service to others must mimic that of Jesus himself. There are many roles that we have been called to fill; that of John, and Mary, and as imitator of Christ. And as Advent transitions to Christmas, let us pray that God will grant us the strength, faith, trust, and obedience to play our parts with willing hearts, helping hands, and voices that speak the truth.
Will you pray with me? Good, and gracious, and Holy God, you called Mary to bear your Son Jesus, incarnate in the world. She responded with obedience and faith. Help us to live our lives of discipleship with the trust and willingness she so readily expressed. And we pray these things the name of Jesus Christ, the One for whom we wait, the One who brings light to the darkness. The One who is Savior to your people. Amen.
God is Good, all the time. All the time, God is Good. Amen.