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December 21, 2008
“Mary and Her Son Jesus”
Luke 1: 26-38
December 21, 2008
It was around 7 or 6 BC, and God seems to have been keeping the angel Gabriel busy in those days. God first sent Gabriel to Jerusalem to inform the priest Zechariah that he and his wife would finally have a child. Zechariah had a difficult time believing the angel because his wife Elizabeth was beyond the age when women give birth. But be that as it was, she did conceive and bear a son, John the Baptist.
While Elizabeth was in the sixth month of her pregnancy, God Sent Gabriel to a small town 70 some miles north of Jerusalem to a village in Galilee about 24 miles east of the sea of Galilee. There he was to visit a young engaged woman named Mary. Actually it may be a stretch for us to call her a woman. Most scholars seem to think that she was about 13 years old.
Gabriel’s opening line to Mary is recorded in verse 28. He said: Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you. And, according to verse 29, Mary “…was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” When I read that verse I want to pause and say “Gee, do you think?” Of course she was perplexed. There she was, performing her normal household tasks in the home of her father, or running errands in the streets of Nazareth, and she is met and spoken to by an angel of God. She is afraid and wonders what this is all about.
As it turns out Mary was not to be the only one who would be perplexed about the greeting of Gabriel.
Some Christians, mostly of the Roman Catholic persuasion, have misunderstood the greeting and the human nature of Mary. They read the greeting as saying “Hail Mary, Full of Grace” instead of “Greetings, favored one. Now favor and grace are both legitimate translations of the Greek word here, but in using Grace, the Catholic Church began to misunderstand the nature of Mary. They came to misunderstand that she was a dispenser of Grace and they began to appeal to her for help and blessings and to pray to her.
The truth about Mary is this, She was a totally human person, born of the same sinful nature that we all share. She was not born without sin as their doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary states.
The truth about Mary is more wonderful than that. The truth is that she was a pious and God-fearing young woman/child whom God chose to elevate to the highest honor he would bestow on any human being. She was chosen to be the mother of his Holy Child, Savior of all of God’s Chosen ones.
Gabriel came to Mary and told her that she would bear God’s Son. She seemed to understand that he was implying that she would soon be bearing God’s son, because she raised the logistical problem that she was not yet married. I think this response implies that Mary and Joseph were not planning to marry for quite a while yet.
Gabriel’s reply is given in verses 35-37. He said: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of most high will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And 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. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
I have to tell you that at this point in the Gospel Narrative, my twisted mind begins to think of Bill Cosby. In his early years as a standup comic, Mr. Cosby did a routine about Noah’s conversation with God about building the Ark. In Cosby’s version of that conversation Noah often says the word “right!”. In that conversation, the word right is just a response that Noah gives to let God know that he is still there. It does not imply any understanding or agreement.
I think that there is an element of this “right” in Mary’s response. How could she understand the mystery of the virgin birth of Jesus from the description that Gabriel gave? Many Christians today and some Christian leaders in our time with much more information about it still don’t understand it and some don’t believe it.
Mary did not understand her part in the marvelous Christmas Pageant that God was about to put on, but she trusted in God. She said “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word”. She was saying “I don’t think I understand exactly what God is going to do with me, but I am his humble servant and I am honored to be a part of his marvelous plan.”
What a great lady, what a marvelous servant of God. She is to be revered and honored for her faith and her cooperation with God. She had no Idea what God’s plan for her would do to her upcoming plans to marry Joseph. She had no Idea how God was going to work all of this out, but she trusted in God that he would use her for his glory and protect her best interests.
When we don’t know where God is leading us but know that we need his help we need to remember Mary. She is a good example of Trust in God without complete understanding.
We need to thank God for Mary. She is the one through whom our Savior came into this world. Mary was not immaculate or superhuman, she was a normal fallen human being whom God elevated to the highest degree. I believe that the Roman Catholic doctrine does a disservice to Mary. She was just like us, and God used her to bring his son into the world. How great a miracle is that?
But before I finish, I want to direct your thoughts to the Son of Mary. He was what she was not.
Listen again to the words Gabriel spoke to Mary about her son. In verses 32 –33 Gabriel said about 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. and in the last half of verse 35 he said, “…the child to be born will be holy; will be called the Son of God.
Jesus is God in human flesh. Jesus is The King of all kings. Jesus is the king of God’s eternal kingdom. Jesus is Holy, sinless and eternal. He is the Son of God.
He is also the Savior. His name “Jesus” is the Aramaic equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means “The Lord Is Salvation”.
As Christians, those who believe in Jesus the Christ, we honor Mary. We honor her because she was chosen by God for the highest purpose of being the Mother of God’s Son. Through her God brought salvation and grace for us into our world.
We honor her because she trusted God and chose to play her part in God’s plan without understanding all that would be involved.
We honor Mary, but we Worship Jesus, our Savior and King, our Eternal Master, the Son of God who gave us a part in his eternal kingdom.
Pastor David Horner
Faith Presbyterian Church
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Posted by faithpres at December 21, 2008 02:48 PM