Luke 1:26-38 (NLT)
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a village in Galilee, 27 to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. 28 Gabriel appeared to her and said, “Greetings, favored woman! The Lord is with you!” 29 Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. 30 “Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favor with God! 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 And he will reign over Israel forever; his Kingdom will never end!” 34 Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” 35 The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. 36 What’s more, your relative Elizabeth has become pregnant in her old age! People used to say she was barren, but she’s now in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” 38 Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her.1
I couldn't help but think of all the other stories of Mary (some made up or speculative, some real) that I have heard or made up. There is the scene in a movie where Jesus is at work building a table and Mary insists that he stop and wash up for lunch. There is the story of Mary answering the prayer of a save journey to Africa and the great escape from a local rebellion there. There is Mary searching frantically for Jesus after the feast of the Passover in Jerusalem (think of that, looking for the true Lamb of God at eh celebration of the shadow of the event that was to come, taking Jesus life so that we may live) and how Mary treasured all of these things in her heart, as only a mother can. There is Mary watching her firstborn unfairly murdered. And I think of Mary fixing a dinner for the disciples, watching them eat and thinking to herself, “So. These are his followers. I wonder if he knows what he is doing. Maybe if I pray and ask God, He will get the greatness thing going.”
Many more scenarios go through my mind, too many to list here. But it is obvious why she is revered and almost understandable that she is prayed to. She is the mother of God. She was visited by an angel, many shepherds, a few magi, fishermen, and more on account of her son. She watched as the crowds grew, both hungry and angry. She watched as her son died for nothing and for everything all at once. She saw him alive again. “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” That's a saint if I ever saw one.
But she did not know what would happen to her, if she would be stoned for adultery. She was sure to shame her family, her husband to be, and herself. There was the uncertainty of it all: Mary asked the angel, “But how can this happen? I am a virgin.” I think the same fear, the same uncertainty – am I doing the right thing, does God really know what He's doing – flows through us with each step we take with God. I think it will lessen as we continue on and get used to God doing His will through us, but I think not knowing will always be a bit scary. I think that is why angels often start out by telling people not to be afraid (yes, I am an angel, yes you have work to do, but God will take care of His own). The saintliness of Mary is in that she still allowed God to work this way in her life: Mary responded, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” It doesn't matter, any of the rest of it, God knows what He's doing, though I do not. And I think this carried throughout. Seeing the great miracle at Cana, meeting the raggamuffins Jesus lived with, seeing Him welcomed to Jerusalem and seeing Him killed days later. “God, I don't get it, but I am the Lord's servant.”
I think that all of us, at least all us the guys, long for adventure. We want something great to happen through us, to go and achieve great things. We read books or watch movies of great deeds, be it King Arthur or the latest save the earth from giant aliens flick. And we long for that, somehow. We want to save something, to fix something, to rescue someone. (And women, I think, want to be rescued, to be secure. Now, please don't take my over general statements and hate me forever. I just think that, as I look at the model given to husbands and wives in Ephesians, that it's supposed to be that way. That we are built that way, even if we think it is Neanderthal or sexist). The thing we forget or don't notice is that at the time of the adventure, things look bleak. If we look at the saints we see that they were not thinking of their greatness, they were just hanging on. Mother Theresa called herself the chief of sinners, as did Paul. Patrick was a slave trying to escape with his skin. The disciples ran away and left Jesus to die. Later they were flogged and killed for this radical new life they lived. We forget that the saints were normal people, scared people, sinful people. Look at the people God used throughout history – drunks, liars, adulterers, cowards, weaklings, orphans, widows, fishermen, carpenters, slaves, and on and on. God does not expect us to be great. We are all loved thoroughly by Him. He just wants us to be willing, to say, “Okay God. I don't get it, but I will do it.”
And Joseph did just that. God spoke:
Matthew 1:18-25 (NLT)
18 This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. 19 Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. 20 As he considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. 21 And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22 All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet: 23 “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’ ”
And Joseph did it:
24 When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. 25 But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.2
He also listened when God told him to go to Egypt to save the boy's live. He raised a boy not his, taught him how to work, how to live with very little. He taught him, I believe, the ways of God, the stories and the promises. He taught him to be a man, an ordinary man, so that he could become the Son of Man. God spoke and Joseph listened. Simple as that. I have a couple things to say about this. First let's read:
James 1:21-25 (NLT):
21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls. 22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.3
This was a part of your homework at some point, but I want to look at it again. Mary and Joseph heard from God, got the map and followed the Way. I, too often, think that if I had a huge task set before me, that if I knew what to do, if I knew the exact way to to go I would go on it. But look at what James says. You don't know what to do? Do what the Word is telling you to do. Pray. Listen. Love. These are huge things. Don't merely listen about them, talk about it. Do them. And God will speak to you. He will tell you what to do next and, as long as you keep doing it (and even when you mess up and don't) He will keep telling you. It may not be popular or logical or fun, but you can walk in the Way the very way that God desires you to. God can use you, will use you. Just allow it. Seek it, and do it.
Chewie and I had an intro to Bible reading this week and it was fun to read out loud, to ad lib a bit, to hear the same stories a new or different way. We just picked somewhere, ended up at Joshua and read the first few chapters. It was fun and funny and good. I want to invite all of you to join us this Wednesday at 6:30pm at someone's house, maybe ours, to read the Bible out loud. It is fun, honestly. Anyway, we read and came to the conclusion (not definitive in any way) that Joshua was timid and small. Now he was not the coward I am, he did God's work most of the time, but they kept having to tell him not to be scared, both God and the Israelites. I just envisioned this little guy with a high voice leading the army of God. But God used him, anyway. In my mind He used Joshua because of this, to prove His power was all that was needed. God uses scared, weak, scarred people. In other words, God uses ordinary people to do amazing things. I have a heart for the ordinary man lately. I want to reach the working person, the paycheck to paycheck parent, the normal American and watch God give their life hope, something bigger to work for, to work joyfully for. I am ready to see God move in the ordinary people and watch Him do great things. I don't know how that looks yet, but I think God has some big things in store for normal people that are willing to do His work.
Normal people like Mary and Joseph were normal. They followed God's Way the way He desired, even though it was illogical. And they watched Jesus' life unfold and did not, I'm sure understand what God was doing. But thanks be to God, they did it anyway. Now we can enjoy the grace of Christ, the love of God, the freedom to be God's slaves. The raised the very Son of God so that we can have the chance to know God and be with Him. Two ordinary people, a carpenter and his wife to be, changed the course of redemptive history. It is easy to see why they are saints in those books of Christian heroes, but they were simply people willing to say yes to God. I don't want to immortalize them, to make them out of reach to us. They are no better than us, just as Adam and Eve were no worse. They were people as we are. We just have to choose what way to go, who to follow, what is worth standing for.
1 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
2 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
3 Tyndale House Publishers. (2004). Holy Bible : New Living Translation. (2nd ed.). Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers.
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