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Each of the characters of the Christmas story has their own journey. Mary is no different. In spite of being a very young girl from an average family in a small village, God tells her she has a role to play. She humbly accepts. Join us this weekend as we investigate Mary's role and look at the role God might have for us to play in our own journey.

 

Thanks to Jennifer and to Paige for song exploring Mary’s feelings.

Our scripture today, comes from Luke 1, verses 39-56.

Let’s read.

We talked with the children that the characters of the Bible may often seem unreal, or mythical, but they were real people with great joy, real problems, seeking God, just like we are today.

The first Christmas was full of angst, danger, and intrigue and real people. It was a journey that all the characters of Christmas were on. They were on their own journey to find God, and all that God offers including peace, purpose, and joy. The question for us this Advent season is how can we join God on the journey?

Mary was an average person, just like us. Just a young teenager, possibly even as young as 13 or 14, she came from a poor family in a small village of Nazareth and was living her life - when something changed. God came to her and told her through the angel Gabriel that everything would be different. The movie “The Nativity Story” is a good reminder of the reality of the situation of the characters of the Bible.

In this 3 minute clip, we’re going to see how Mary is approached by an angel then what her reactions are after that encounter.

We read in Luke 1, almost verbatim, the encounter Mary had with the angel. Mary in Luke 1, listens for God to speak. We, too, can listen for God to speak just as Mary did.

As we saw in the movie clip, Mary listened carefully to the angel. I would too. But we also have the opportunity to listen for God’s voice. This fall, Chris Malott spoke about ways that God reveals himself to us. He does through creation, through his word, through others. And God speaks to us even through his Holy Spirit in our own hearts.

Mary has two responses. She asks a clarifying question. She doesn’t doubt the angel, but asks, “How will this be?” We can ask the same. If you are unclear on what God is saying to you, ask for more help. You can pray and say, “God, this role you are asking me to play, how can this be? Why are you asking me? How can I fulfill it?” Listen for God to answer. Gabriel answers Mary and gives her confidence. When we don’t hear God directly, we might take what we think God is saying and test it with scripture – does it align with God’s Word? Then take it to other trusted Christians – do they think what you are hearing is from God?

Then we see Mary’s response. She answers: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38). We can have the same answer. We need to get to the place in trusting God to say, “Lord, I am your servant. May it be to me as you have said. I will do what you ask.”

This answer in faith is not always so easy. It might come with sleepless nights, with some fear, with some anxiety, with more questions. We know that when the angel spoke to Mary in verse 29, she was “greatly troubled.” Then the angel in verse 30 says, “Do not be afraid.”

In the movie, we see Mary waking up at night, not being able to sleep, asking God, How can this be? Who will believe me?

When I was working at a small private school after college, I told some of my fellow employees there, that I was thinking about going to seminary and becoming a pastor, because I felt God was calling me to do so. I could see some of their questioning looks, like – “Really? You want to be a preacher?” Then they would say, “That’s nice.” One of the men I worked with laughed out loud. But it didn’t really bother me. I felt by then it was God’s call on my life, and it was being confirmed by others, by leaders in my church, and I was following what I believed God was telling me in my heart, through his still, small voice.

After Mary thinks about what God has called her to do. She remembers that the angel told her about her relative Elizabeth. So she goes to stay with Elizabeth.

Mary then goes where she is called. She gets support. We need to do the same.

Elizabeth, filled by the Holy Spirit, in verse 41-42, blesses Mary. This relationship of someone who could understand what Mary was going through, gave her support and confidence. Elizabeth was also pregnant, and miraculously so, in her old age. She could understand in some ways how Mary was blessed by God – and in her older age, could offer advice, and wisdom. We too need to look for someone who understands us, who knows God, knows our story, and has advice and wisdom we can trust. This is role we play for each other as the body of Christ.

After Elizabeth has greeted Mary, Mary responds in this passage of Luke, a praise song to God, called the Magnificat in Latin.

Mary gives praise to God for his call on her life. Luke 1:46-55. We are called to do the same.

In verse 48 of this song, Mary says two things which might not seem to connect. She says that God, “has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed.”

Is she humble, prideful, or both? Scholars believe God gave her the words to say here. In her humility, she accepts her role and the gift God has given her and what she is to do. If she was prideful, she might have refused God’s gift or taken credit for what God was going to do through her baby son. But she uses the word “blessed”, meaning God has blessed her. It is not something she has done, but that God has blessed her, a poor average girl, to carry the son who will be the Son of the Most High God. It is God who has done this and not her. She realizes that she is blessed so that she may bless others.

In this song, Mary uses several phrases which are directly or indirectly from the Psalms. In the same way, we should look to God’s Word for confidence. (Psalms 34, 138, 71, 103, 98)

She is full of praise to God. Giving praise to God is one of my favorite reasons to come to worship with you on these weekends/Sundays. We come to praise God. We gain confidence for His call on our lives from scripture. Mary is doing that here. By claiming the truth of the Psalms, she is giving credit back to God and remembering his promises. We can do the same. By going back to the source of our confidence, we can gain strength. We can look to God’s word for help.

But think of this, Mary did not even have the full Bible that we have. We can look back to the law and the prophets and the psalms and proverbs…then we can also look the gospels the good news of this baby to be born. We can look to the teaching of Jesus as he became a man. We can look to his truth as the Messiah, the son of God, the Christ who is our salvation. Then also to the letters and advice of his earliest followers and disciples who fill out the rest of the New Testament, which God authored through them to be his word. God’s word gives us confidence to follow Him.

Mary came from humble background and continued to speak of being a humble servant in her song. Her words are true for us today.

God calls us to: Be humble. Be obedient. Trust. (Psalm 119:105)

In Ps. 119:105, God says in this longest psalm, “Your word is a lamp to my feet, a light to my path.” Often at night as I drive home, I drive just north of Zionsville along country roads and no streetlights or house lights. It is dark. It is even dark with my minivan’s headlights. But when I put on my high-beam headlights, or brights, I can see about three times as far. I can drive a little faster and feel a little safer.

If I didn’t have brightlights at all, I wouldn’t be safe, and I would have to slow down. And if I didn’t have headlights, it wouldn’t be safe to drive at all.

In Psalm 119 – the writer says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Back in bible times, they didn’t have cars, or headlights, or brightlights, but oil lamps or candles. On a very dark path at night with no other light, an oil lamp might allow a person to see only one or two steps ahead. I believe it is often the same with God. He allows us to see only one or two steps ahead.

Mary trusted God for the next step. If she had headlights bright enough to see 33 years into the future, she might not have taken that first step. Just being obedient did not bring instant success or fame. Being an unwed pregnant teen in 2009 brings some sense of shame. In her day, she could be completely shunned by her family, divorced by her fiancée, and stoned to death for being pregnant. This was the possibility she faced when she said, “I am the Lord’s servant, may it be to me as you will.” In nine months, she’ll give birth in the unfamiliar village of Bethlehem in an area like a stable where the animals live, no midwife, no parents, no friends, just her young husband. Then the two of them with their baby will be on the run from Herod, spending time in Egypt raising their son. If Mary had known that her baby boy would be persecuted, rejected, and eventually crucified about 33 years later, she might not have been able to accept this role.

But she could handle the first step. She trusted God. And her trusting was part of God’s plan to bring about our salvation even today. If you are worried about the future, unsure of what it will hold, think of Mary’s obedience, her hard life, and her trust that helped bring about something great.

Can you handle the first step? We don’t know what the next 20 steps or 20 years will hold, but if God has called us to take step one, we should take it. One step at a time, looking to his word to be a lamp to our feet, a light to our paths each step of the way. Is God calling you to make a phone call or an appointment with someone? Or to take that new job? To trust your spouse with a big decision? To go in a different direction as a parent – that your kids might not like? Can you take the first step?

Is God calling you to save when you haven’t saved before? Or to give where you haven’t given before? Or to invest where you haven’t invested before? Take the first step. Be humble, obey, and trust.

And let God’s word lead you one step at a time.

Mary’s journey was one that is famous, and that God honored. But it was hard, hard. It was also a very real journey, with flesh and blood, and sweat and tears, and laughter and joy. In his book called, “God Came Near,” author Max Lucado says that he would like to ask 25 questions to Mary. Here are some of those questions:

1. Did he cry at his first haircut?
2. Did you ever scold him?
3. What was it like watching him pray?
4. Did he ever have to ask a question about Scripture to you or Joseph?
5. Who was his best friend?
6. Did he ever wake up afraid after a bad dream?
7. How did he act at funerals?
8. When he saw a lamb being led to slaughter, did he act differently?

I’m sure Mary worried about her child as all parents do, and worried about him still as he became a man and became independent. Hers was a wonderful journey, but probably a very difficult one as a mother.

Philip Yancey, in his excellent book, “The Jesus I Never Knew,” tells us some other truths that we can learn from Mary. God allowed the fate of his son and the world’s salvation in the hands of two rural teenagers. God depended on a teen mom for shelter, food, and love. Though the world may be tilted toward the rich and the powerful, God tilts toward the underdog. God is a fan of the underdog – people like Mary, people like us. Because of her obedience, Philip Yancey says, “Mary was the first person to accept Jesus on his own terms, regardless of the cost.” Mary teaches us that God is approachable and real.

Life is messy, as messy as a birth of a baby in a stable, laid in a manger, because there was no where else to go. But God is in the messiness too, and gives us courage to live because he has lived.

As Mary went on her journey to Bethlehem, we too can join God on our own journeys.

Like Mary, life for us is often hard. It’s not often pretty or magical like colorful Christmas lights, or as sweet as our Christmas carols. Life is more difficult and real. Yet just as Mary did, we can answer God’s call on our life by saying, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” We can have courage, look for support, turn to God’s word, humbly give God the credit, and join God on the journey he has for us. And our journey with God, as it was with Mary, will be worth every step – one step at a time - because God is in it.

Let us pray.

Oh Lord, guide us in every step, even the first step. May your grace and mercy sustain us, as it did Mary, in these uncertain times. May we join you on our journey to live the life you have called us to live – even today, even this week. In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – we ask your help. Amen.