Wednesday, Jan. 1
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
Years ago I read that popular talk-show host Larry King was once asked if he could choose just one person from all of human history to interview, who would he choose?
Mr. King replied that he would like to interview Jesus Christ and that he would ask Him just one question: "Are You indeed virgin born?"
"The answer to that question," said King, "would explain history for me."
I think Larry King was right.
Of all the claims of Christianity, perhaps the most shocking and outrageous is this: God became flesh.
For if this fundamental claim is not true, then none of it, not Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross, not the claim of resurrection from the dead, not the promise that Jesus will one day come again, makes any sense because Jesus would have just been another man among men.
But if, indeed, in Jesus God became man, then everything changes!
It means not only that God exists; and is capable of the miraculous; but that God also has broken into our world. It means that God has made himself visible and tangible to us. It means that we can know who God is and what he is like. It means that God cares enough to enter this dark and dying world to redeem it through his own life, death and resurrection.
It means that Christmas is not only the center of all human history, but also the center of your history and my history.
What we believe about Christmas; what we believe about Jesus, defines who we are now and who we will be for all eternity.
Here’s how the Bible describes God’s interruption into history:
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.
This story is really the continuation of the promise God made centuries earlier to Abraham.
This is the fulfillment of God’s promise that he would bless the world with salvation through the Messiah; not a King who would lead the armies of Israel but a King who would suffer and die to provide the final atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world.
Throughout the story of the Bible, when God wanted to make himself known to the world, he chose people.
He chose Abraham.
He chose Isaac.
He chose Jacob.
He chose Joseph and Moses and King David.
He chose the prophets.
And then, finally, he chose Mary, of all people; a young woman who could be described as an unwed teenage mother.
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
Think of all the objections she could have raised!
“But I’m not married! What will Joseph think? What will people say?”
“I’m too young! I’ve never raised a child before!”
“Please choose someone else.”
God understands her hesitancy and so gives her at least a little more detail.
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
What follows is one of the most powerful and humbling lines in the whole Bible. Presented with the will of God that will change her life forever; faced with a choice that will alter every hope and dream she has ever had in her young life; how will Mary respond?
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
Think about it. There’s so much Mary could not have possibly understood. Her life is about to be turned upside down and inside out and at no fault of her own. Yet she responds with both trust and obedience.
Now, obviously we are talking about the great miracle of the virgin birth here; and in that way Mary’s story is completely unique.
But in another way, Mary’s story is our story.
God comes to Mary; and he comes to us.
God grants Mary his favor just as he grants his favor to us.
God wants to create new life through his Holy Spirit and Mary surrenders to his will with a willing and obedient heart.
How do we respond to God’s approach; God’s voice; God’s will?
Do we listen? Do we make excuses? Do we turn him away?
Or do we say, with Mary, “May it be to me as you have said?”
Pastor Brian Coffey
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