The Fourth Sunday of Advent ---- 21 December 2014

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 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. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 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. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God." 38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

"Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

• The story of Mary, the mother of Jesus is woven so tightly into the Advent-and-Christmas story that you can't seperate them. Actually she and Joseph are far more active than Jesus is in the stories of the season. Of course, the fact that Jesus is a baby has a lot to do with it.
• Since Jesus came to live among us, there had to be a means to get him into the world. I imagine he could have just appeared like lightening does, with the accompanying thunder and terror. I imagine he could have arrived as a conquering king with angelic armies, blast of trumpet, and the sounding of battle cries. However these and others possible ways were not chosen. When Christ came among us, he arrived as we all did. That “ususal” way requires a mother.
• No one disputes that Jesus' mother was Mary of Nazareth. All four of the Gospels attest to that. Matthew and Luke speak of Jesus' birth and naturally, place Mary there. Mark only mentions Mary twice. Although John does not tell of Jesus birth, he does emphasize Mary in a few places, in particular, at the foot of the cross. In the Acts of the Apostles, Luke has Mary with “the brothers” of Jesus at at least one gathering of the disciples after Jesus' Ascension. These writers appear to have a special place for her.
• Let's lay aside the ideas and the veneration and all the saintly things that have become a crust around this person. Let's try to look at what she was about.
• Luke introduces her his way: In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. There are a number of important points here. Mary is named and is identified at the young woman pledged to marry a man named Joseph. They live in the rural back-water of Nazareth in Galilee. Gabriel, the special messenger of the Most High, comes with a special message. She is to have a special role in the salvation of the world and the plan of God.
• Why Mary? Theologians have argued and theorized and contemplated that question for many, many years. The truth is we don't know; God chose and hasn't told us why. In the same way, we could ask why God chose each of us to be Jesus' disciples. We don't know that either; all we know is that it's true.
• She's told not to fear, that she is chosen, and that God will see to it that all the obstacles will be overcome, the first being the fact that she is a virgin.
• Now think of this for a moment – What if she had said “No.”
• There doesn't appear to be a back-up plan here. There is no understudy for the role, no relief pitcher warming up the bullpen. God seems to have bet it all on one roll of the dice. Some rather poetic writers have said that all heaven held it's breath until Mary spoke again.
• We all know what she said: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Older translations say something more like “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done unto me according to your word.” With that, all that God planned moved on into being. Jesus took on our nature and our lot, became truely human as our Creed says, and salvation began to break into our world.
• Listen again to what Mary said to Gabriel when he gave her the mysterious news: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." That is the response of a disciple. Despite confusion and incomplete understanding, she says “I will do what you ask.”
• If we lay aside all the theology and the poetry and the icons, we see a woman who was willing to be what God asked her to be, even though she could not concieve of nor fully comprehend all this would require. We might call her the “Mother of Jesus”, the true and less-than-controversial title the Lutheran documents and hymnal prefer, but even that phrase misses the mark for us.
• Mary was mother for Jesus. For us, she is the first Christian. For us, she is the embodyment of a disciple's faith in action. She does what God asks even if it means problems for her. Remember Joseph almost broke the engagement and had resolved to send her away. In many ways, he too is and example of a disciple's faith.
• This Sunday however, we talk about Mary, the young woman of whom God asked a huge thing and who lived her life from then on as a life of faith and fidelity. formed by belief and trust in Jesus whom she knew as her son and whom she knew all along and yet came to know as the Christ.
• Some Christians call Mary Theotokas, “God Bearer.” Her faith in God and God's grace made that a reality. The truth here for us is this: by grace and faith, we too are called to bear God into the world daily.