SERMON – DECEMBER 24, 2006 – REV. JAY VETTER:
The next hymn we’re going to sing is based on part of the story from the gospel of Luke. Only Luke and Matthew tell the Christmas story and they approach Christmas from two different directions. Matthew approaches the story of Jesus birth from the prospective of Joseph and also from the prospective from kings and palaces and wise men who visit from the east. Luke tells the story more from the prospective of the people who lived, if you will, kind of on the underside of life. Those with less power in the culture. So instead of, for example, in a patriarchal culture that they lived in telling the story from Joseph’s prospective, Luke tells it from Mary’s prospective.
Instead of telling us that
the birth of Jesus was announced to some wise men from the east, or some
astrologers, Luke tells us that the birth was announced to shepherds out in the
field who were watching their sheep at night.
That had to be one of the least attractive jobs in
One of the themes of Luke is that Jesus came into the world especially for the hungry and the oppressed and the imprisoned and the sick and the broken and the lost. One of the themes of Jesus was the restoration of wholeness to a broken world.
Luke also tells us a little more about Jesus birth and childhood than any of the other gospel writers and also gives us a little insight into the birth of John the Baptist. Jesus and John the Baptist were related.
In the first chapter of Luke
we’re first told about Zacharias having a vision when
he was in the temple working, he was a priest, and seeing in that vision that
he would have a son, and that son would be John the Baptist. Sure enough, his wife Elizabeth became
pregnant. Luke marks time by the
pregnancy, which is interesting. I think
maybe you women understand that a lot better than I do, what it means to mark
time. In the sixth month is when Luke
introduces us to Mary, and he means the sixth month of
I’ve noticed that a lot of women mark time that way in the world by when their kids were born. If they want to figure out what year something happened they think was that before or after Junior was born, and then they know the time. So in the sixth month of the pregnancy we’re introduced to Mary.
In the first section of it were told about this visit from the angel Gabriel and the son that we’re going to sing, “To A Maid Engaged To Joseph” comes directly out of that scriptural passage. So, let’s sing it and we’ll get a little bit of the story of how Mary came to be a part of Luke’s gospel.
“To a Maid Engaged to Joseph”
1. To a maid engaged to Joseph, the angel Gabriel came. "Fear not," the angel told her, "I come to bring good news, good news I come to tell you, good news, I say, good news."
2. "For you are highly favored by God the Lord of all, who even now is with you. You are on earth most blest, you are most blest, most blessed, God chose you, you are blest!"
3. But Mary was most troubled to hear the angel's word. What was the angel saying? It troubled her to hear, to hear the angel's message, it troubled her to hear.
4. "Fear not, for God is with you, and you shall bear a child. His name shall be called Jesus, God's offspring from on high. And he shall reign forever, forever reign on high."
5. "How shall this be?" said Mary, "I am not yet a wife." The angel answered quickly, "The power of the Most High will come upon you shortly, your child will be God's child."
6. As Mary heard the angel, she wondered at his words. "Behold, I am your handmaid," she said unto her God. "So be it; I am ready according to your word."
That song tells the story right from scripture of the drama that was acted out in Mary’s life. The drama that introduces us to her, but also tells us of the struggle she went through to decide to accept this part that she was asked to play in Gods’ great salvation history. It must have been an interesting thing for a young women who wasn’t yet married to have this ecstatic experience of a visit from the Angel Gabriel.
The first visit from the Angel Gabriel addressed probably what was happening in Mary’s life and heart at that moment. The first message was “fear not”, don’t need to be afraid. Quite often in scripture that’s the first message of Gods’ messenger, to whoever they visit.
A little bit later in the story in Luke, we’re going to read it this afternoon and this evening in the services, when the angels came to the shepherds. Don’t be afraid. Things happen in our world and in our lives that scare us. I believe this fear is a universal human experience. There are times when all of us are fearful. Fearful about the present, fearful about a threat that we perceive that may or may not be real. Fear about whether or not we are worth anything, whether we are accepted. Fear of that which is different, we have all kinds of fears.
Many worldly powers, they’re often referred to in scripture as powers of principalities, there are many forces loose in our world that play on our fears. That attempt to get us to do whatever it is they want us to do based on our fears.
So Gods’ first message to almost every human being that God wants to enlist in Gods’ cause or in Gods’ kingdom, don’t be afraid. Now that’s an easy thing to say, it’s a hard thing to live, but that’s the first reassuring message.
I think that that’s the first message of Christmas for all of us. That we needn’t fear life. We needn’t fear death. We needn’t fear God’s presence in our lives. God is with us. That’s a cause for faith, not for fear.
But Mary was fearful when she experienced Gods’ presence in her life and wasn’t sure what was going to happen, or what ought to be done. So as the angel continued the conversation the angel had a message for Mary and that message was one that would scare almost anybody. Some of us have maybe experienced it in our lives. The message was “you’re pregnant”.
Now whether you’re planning for pregnancy or not, and Mary wasn’t, that’s kind of a scary message. Some of you know a lot more about it than I do. Probably we should have had one of the mothers preach today on this passage instead of the only male pastor on staff.
I remember what it was like as a young man to find out that I was going to be a Dad, and that’s a awesome and terrifying thing and it must have been that way for Mary. I suppose the experience of being pregnant is a reminder that there are things going on that we can’t control. Sometimes we try to control the outside world and we just try to do it by imposing our will or we practice denial. We say if I don’t accept that this is a reality then it’s not a reality. I don’t think you can do that with pregnancy. Not for very long.
So Mary, being reassured, first of all to not be afraid, but secondly something even more powerful was communicated to her and that is, God is involved in this. God’s a part of this. God has a part that God wants you to play. God wants you to give birth to a child who will be embodiment of Gods’ love in the world. I happen to believe that every child is that to a certain extent. We would all be better parents if we understand that. That children who are born to us are the embodiment of Gods’ love in our lives and in our world.
I read that story and I often wonder, do you suppose Mary could have said no. You think she could have said no? Well the story kind of reads like she’s already pregnant, but you know I think she could have said no. I think she could have said, I’m not going to accept this. I’m not going to go along with it. She would have still been pregnant, she would have still had to deal with all that, but she could have done it in a way where she wasn’t cooperative with God.
That’s an awful chance God took, wasn’t it? To depend upon a common ordinary maiden named Mary from an obscure village. I happen to believe that God still works that way in the world. It’s you and I that God depends upon to say yes to Gods’ love in the world. To say yes to Gods’ presence in a way that brings forgiveness and love. In a way that brings peace and joy and fills us with hope. I believe that the everyday things of our lives, that God is in ‘em, and that when we chose to have the advent faith that Mary chose when she finally said at the end of that little encounter in the 38th verse, I’m your hand maiden, I’ll go along with it.
That’s a familiar sounding
prayer, isn’t in? Jesus prayed almost
the same prayer in the
What do you suppose that Mary did next? It didn’t show up in the song, but one of the things that happened was when Mary said I don’t think this can be. I’m not sure about this. The angel said to her, “Remember your cousin Elizabeth in the country who was thought to be barren? She’s pregnant too.” I’m going to start reading with the 39th verse, see what Mary did next, after she said I’m your handmaiden:
“In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the
hill country where she entered
the house of Zachariah and greeted
When
Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry,
blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruits of our womb. And
why has this happened to me that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For
as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting the child in my womb leaped
for joy and blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment
of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
I don’t blame Mary, do you? She probably the next day after she had this
visit from Gabriel was trying to figure out whether she made it all up, or
whether it really happened. She was
probably trying to think, oh my gosh
did I really believe that God is in my life in some special way. I’m going to need some help with this. I think that’s why the Angel Gabriel told her
about
That’s one of the reasons that we gather together to worship, because we need the encouragement and affirmation and support of one another. It’s one of the reasons that many of us join small groups, because we need to be with other people whose faith journeys are similar to ours. Whose stories we can share so that we can be strengthened. The reason that a lot of people join 12 Step groups is to be with people who are fighting the same battles in their faith and in their lives.
There was a bond between Mary
and Elizabeth that strengthened Mary and Elizabeth both. I’m still trying to figure out how
It might be a fine line between joy and struggle. There might not be much difference in the way the leaps go except in how we accept and interpret them. It may be that people of faith find joy in things that don’t seem very joyful to others. It may be that when we come to believe God is in our lives, that God is with us, that the decisions that we make are important to God and that we are bearers of God’s love to the world, it may be that if we approach life that way, we can find joy in almost anything.
It may be that when we have the faith of advent that we can take the light in the world and we can know the joy of belonging to God and being the bearer of God’s love to the world. We know that at the end of that visit, or right after that, Luke tells us Mary was able to sing an old song of their faith, and we’re going to read it together, and sing the responses on page 199 in the Hymnal. We know it as the Canticle of Mary, sometimes it’s called the Magnificant. It’s been set to music a lot. It’s a song of joy.
“Canticle of Mary”
RESPONSE: The glory of the Lord shall be revealed; all flesh shall see it together.
L: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
ALL: My spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
ALL: Who has looked with favor on me, a lowly servant.
L: From this day all generations shall call me blessed:
ALL: The Almighty has done great things for me
ALL: And holy is the name of the Lord,
ALL: Whose mercy is on those who fear God
ALL: From generation to generation.
L: The arm of the Lord is strong,
L: And has scattered the proud in their conceit.
ALL: God has cast down the mighty from their thrones
ALL: And lifted up the lowly.
L: God has filled the hungry with good things
L: And sent the rich empty away.
ALL: God has come to the aid of
ALL: Remembering the promise of mercy,
ALL: The promise made to our forebears,
ALL: To Abraham and his children for ever.
RESPONSE: The glory of the Lord shall be revealed; all flesh shall see it together.