ADVENT 4 18th December, 2011 Luke 1:26-38
"In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God
to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph,
of the house of David.
The virgin's name was Mary.
And (the angel) came to her and said,
'Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.'"
Aren’t they terrific words?
We hear them at this time of year, and they send shivers down my spine.
They remind us that Christmas is just around the corner.
There is something amazing about the angel Gabriel surprising Mary.
We know that this is the beginning of the marvelous narrative of Jesus’ birth.
But poor Mary wouldn’t have known what to think.
She was a young girl - not even married.
She lived in her little world––her parents' home.
She didn't stop to talk to men, and men didn't stop to talk to her.
It just wasn't done.
But the angel Gabriel came to Mary saying,
"Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you."
Did you ever wonder what this angel looked like?
His name was Gabriel––a man's name.
We usually picture angels as girls with wings, dressed in white dresses
––but Biblical angels were male
––I can’t think of an exception.
In the Bible, people sometimes mistook angels for ordinary men
––they thought that the person that they were seeing was a man rather than an angel.
Angels were messengers sent by God to deliver God's message
––but God sometimes sent them for other reasons.
God sent angels to destroy Sodom (Genesis 19:13).
God sent an angel to destroy the Assyrian army (2 Kings 19:35).
It's difficult to imagine that the kinds of angels that we put on our Christmas trees could do something like that.
So when the angel Gabriel came to visit Mary, he probably looked like a man.
That would have been disturbing for a young woman like Mary.
When Gabriel came to Mary, where did he do that?
Was it on the street?
Did he intercept her as she carried water from the town well?
Or did Gabriel come to Mary at home?
That would have made Mary very uncomfortable.
The message Gabriel brought was positive.
"Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
But Mary was "perplexed".
The Greek word means “disturbed” or “agitated” or “alarmed”.
This unexpected encounter with Gabriel surprised Mary
––it disturbed her
––alarmed her
––scared her.
Gabriel said:
"Do not be afraid, Mary,
For you have found favor with God.
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."
What a message!
Gabriel was telling this young woman that she would have a child
this child would grow up to change the world.
Gabriel was telling Mary that her child would be God's own Son.
Her child would be so important that history would forever be divided into "Before Jesus" and "After Jesus." (BC & AD)
Did you ever stop to wonder how Gabriel felt
as he delivered this message to Mary?
Frederick Buechner is a Christian author who imagines their encounter this way:
"(Mary) struck Gabriel as hardly old enough to have a child at all,
let alone this child.
But he(Gabriel) had been entrusted with a message to give her, and he gave it.
He told her what the child was to be named, who he was to be,
and something about the mystery that was to come upon her.
'You mustn't be afraid, Mary,' he said.
As he said it, he only hoped she wouldn't notice
that beneath (his) great golden wings,
he himself was trembling with fear
to think that the whole future of Creation
hung on the answer of (this) girl."
We might think, "What did Gabriel have to worry about?
God sent him to deliver this message,
so God surely knew that everything would be all right."
But people don't always answer God's call.
God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to save the Ninevites,
and what did Jonah do?
He ran away.
He boarded a ship going in the opposite direction
––and when God forced the issue,
Jonah complained every inch of the way.
Could Mary have done that?
Of course she could have!
That would have mucked up our Christmas wouldn’t it?,
But Mary didn't run away.
She didn't drag her feet.
She just asked a simple, practical question.
How could she bear a baby when she had never known a man?
Gabriel assured her that God's Holy Spirit would take care of that.
Mary's child would be known as the Son of God.
Then Gabriel told Mary that her Aunt Elizabeth was also pregnant,
even though Elizabeth was an old woman
––far beyond childbearing age.
Elizabeth had been pregnant for six months,
so people were beginning to notice.
How was it that this old, woman was pregnant?
The angel Gabriel said, "Nothing will be impossible with God."
That is important for us to know….
Lets say it together
"Nothing"––––"will be impossible"––––"with God."
"Nothing will be impossible with God."
I would like us to remember those words.
The problems of our world seem so great and we seem so small.
Our problems overwhelm us,
We seem so helpless.
But keep those words in mind the next time you're in a crisis.
"Nothing will be impossible with God."
God is in the business of making silk purses out of sows' ears.
God is in the business of pulling rabbits out of hats.
God is in the business of turning Good Fridays into Easter Sundays.
God is in the business of doing the impossible––because––say it with me––
"Nothing"––––"will be impossible"––––"with God."
At this point, God was demonstrating his power in two unusual ways:
• For his FIRST act,
God caused the old woman Elizabeth to become pregnant with a baby
–– a baby who would be known as John the Baptist.
John would prepare the way for Jesus.
• And for his SECOND act,
God would cause a young virgin to become pregnant with a baby
who would grow up to be known as Jesus,
the Son of God, the Savior of the world.
An old woman! A young virgin!
Two unlikely candidates for motherhood!
But––say it with me––
"Nothing"––––will be impossible"––––"with God."
At that point, the ball was in Mary's court.
It was up to her to respond
––to say yes or no
––to accept her role in God's plan or to run for the hills.
I think that all the spiritual powers in the universe held their breath while they were waiting Mary's answer.
So much depended on this young girl-woman!
I wonder if a tear came to God's eye when he heard her answer.
Here is what she said. Listen carefully:
"Here am I, the servant of the Lord;
Let it be with me according to your word."
No if's and but's! No maybes! No bargaining! No "Check back later." No "I'll do that for you if you'll do this for me."
Mary simply said:
"Here am I, the servant of the Lord;
Let it be with me according to your word."
With those few faithful words,
Mary started things in motion that continue to this day.
We are gathered here today because of the son she bore.
We have come to worship him.
And today, having heard this story about Mary,
we also come to honor her.
Mary's life would not be a bed of roses.
Herod would try to kill her baby,
so she and Joseph would have to flee to Egypt,
they would live there until Herod died.
A few decades later, she would see her son convicted and crucified.
To say that Mary had some tough moments in her life
Is a gigantic understatement.
But all through her life
Mary was faithful,
and in her faithfulness we are blessed.
Isn't that remarkable!
Did Mary understand how far-reaching her faithfulness would reach?
Surely not!
Did Mary understand that people all over the world would bless her name?
No!
But Mary did understand that God was calling her
––and she understood that God never calls people frivolously
––so she understood that God had something important for her to do
––so she said:
"Here am I, the servant of the Lord;
Let it be with me according to your word."
We need look no further for a model for our response to God,
I am your servant…..let it be with me according to your word.
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