Advent IV

Today was a good day at church, though I am quite exhausted. The sermon this morning went quite well and got a good response. Here it is:

"Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered, will soon deliver you."


These words are from a Christmas song that some of you may have heard. Mark Lowry wrote it, but a number of singers have recorded it, including Kathy Mattea who sings the version I know. As I’ve been reading and thinking about today’s Gospel lesson, the words of this song have been popping into my head. I want to travel back in time and ask Mary those questions. Never mind Mary, I want to ask the angel. Gabriel didn’t really give her that much information. How could she make an informed decision?

"Mary did you know that your baby boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will calm a storm with his hand?
Did you know that your baby boy has walked where angels trod?
And when you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God."

Gabriel told Mary she was favored. He told her that God was with her. He told her she was going to have a baby. Here she is, a teenager, engaged to a man with whom she has not yet had adult relations, and the angel is telling her she’s going to have a baby. Do you think she was really able to hear much after that? Mary, you’re going to have a baby. blah blah blah blah blah blah. Kind of like the adults on Charlie Brown cartoons. I’m going to what?

Now seeing that she was Mary, maybe she heard what Gabriel said about the baby being great and being called the Son of the Most High and being given the throne of David and reigning over the house of Jacob forever. But her one question indicated that it was the “having a baby” part that was troubling her. She didn’t ask questions about how all that other stuff was going to happen.

"Mary did you know that your baby boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will one day rule the nations?
Did you know that your baby boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
This sleeping child you're holding is the great I am."

Gabriel answered her one question, telling her that the Holy Spirit would overshadow her and that the child would be holy and be called the Son of God. He explained to her that, “nothing will be impossible with God.” Once her question about how she could have a baby was answered, Mary agreed. “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Only a teenager, huh? Only someone that young could ask so few questions. Even Moses and Jeremiah protested when God called them, but not Mary. Once she learned how she could have a baby without Joseph’s help, she was satisfied. Here am I, Lord. How could she be so trusting? How could she be so reckless?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will anger the authorities?
Mary did you know that your baby boy will be crucified with thieves?
Did you know that your baby boy will die and rise again?
This tiny, helpless child of yours will break the bonds of sin.

Those words aren’t in the actual song. I made them up. They’re the questions I really want to ask Mary. If she had known all that would happen to her son, would she have so readily said yes to God?

Part of me thinks that she couldn’t have known any of what was coming or she never would have said yes. Ignorance is bliss, right? How could any of us bear to have children if we knew the pain that they would one day encounter in their lives?

But another part of me suspects that she would have said yes anyway. God chose well. Did Mary know what was going to happen? Did she have the slightest idea what it would mean to give birth to the Son of God? Could she possibly have understood how her life and the world’s were about to change? I suppose it’s possible, though the text doesn’t indicate that she took much time to consider her response. It seems more likely that she said yes without fully realizing what her choice would mean.

She said yes without knowing what would happen.
She said yes, knowing the scandal that her pregnancy would cause and knowing the possibility that she could be rejected by Joseph and her community if not outright put to death.
She said yes, trusting God to make things possible.
She said yes, “here am I, let it be with me according to your word.” Whatever that word may mean.

Can we do that? Can we believe that with God nothing is impossible, while at the same time not assuming that God will give us everything we desire?
Can we say yes to God, even when we don’t know what will happen because of that choice?
Can we choose God in a world with so many choices that point in another direction?
Can we choose to bear God to the world, just as Mary did? Maybe not in our bodies, but in our hearts, souls, minds and actions?

It is the last Sunday of Advent. We are awaiting the birth of the Christ child. Since we’ve heard the story of Mary and Jesus so many times, it’s easy to get lulled by the familiarity and to forget how important it was that this particular girl in this particular location at this particular time said yes to God. She was as ordinary as you or me, perhaps even more so. Her choice made all the difference.

Mary did you know that talking to an angel would turn your world upside
down?
Mary did you know that saying yes to God would change the world forever?
Mary did you know that your choice would teach us how to follow your
example?
Your willingness to serve gives courage to us all to do the same.

What will you say when the angel comes your way? It might not be Gabriel. It might be a friend, a minister, a book, a still, small voice inside you. It might be a homeless person, a co-worker, a song, a pilgrimage. God speaks to us in so many ways, always calling us to come closer, to say yes.

Greetings, favored ones. The Lord is with you. May you choose as Mary did, knowing that nothing is impossible with God.