The weeks of the season of Advent are a season of pregnancy for us as the Church -- a symbolic pregnancy compacted from 40 weeks to 4. During these weeks of waiting, we recall the events that occurred during Mary’s pregnancy – like most of us, she spent her time of waiting feeling simultaneously afraid and excited and worried and hopeful. This morning, we turn to Mary’s story, as we read Luke, chapter 1, starting with verses 26. Listen now to the word of God:
The Scripture Luke 1:46-55
26 In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,
27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.
31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.
32 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,
33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on 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.
36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.
37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.
42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!
43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
45 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Mary’s Song
46 And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Let us pray...
The Message The Promise of Justice
Put yourself in Mary’s shoes – imagine yourself as a 12- or 13-year-old girl...a girl from a village who spends her days washing clothes in the nearby stream, hauling water from the well, grinding wheat and barley with a mortar and pestle, cooking over an open fire, tending to a garden that feeds her family, watching over her younger siblings and cousins, and listening to her parents and following their instructions. Her days would have been full of chores and duties. She would have been exhausted when bedtime came. She was engaged and probably looked forward to her marriage to Joseph – she was on the cusp of adulthood and would soon have additional responsibilities and joys as she prepared for her wedding and to move in with Joseph’s family. In Israel, sons stayed in their father’s home – Mary would have been preparing to move. Mary was on the verge of adulthood and marriage.
But, then the angel Gabriel appeared. We don’t know where Mary was when Gabriel showed up – Renaissance paintings show her in a room or in a courtyard. The angel tells Mary not to be afraid – but how would that be possible? An angel was suddenly in Mary’s presence, talking to her. And, the angel told Mary very strange things. She was apparently pregnant, even though she had not been with a man, and she was not only pregnant, but was pregnant with the Messiah, the son of God. So, she was going to become a mother before she planned to become a mother, and was given the added responsibility of being the mother of the Son of God.
It was a lot....it was a lot for a village girl who had probably had a relatively predictable life up until this moment. Mary thought her life was going according to plan, and then the Angel Gabriel appeared and changed everything.
When I was a 12 year old girl, I was worried about which bands I liked, which books I wanted to read, how to dress, whether or not I was going to get away with wearing makeup to school, and how to navigate the social waters of middle school – who were my friends, who were my enemies, who did I think was cute. I would have been completely unprepared to take on adult responsibilities. Mary’s world and life experiences were different than mine were, but I suspect most people would have struggled with the job Mary was given. God knew what God was doing, and God knew Mary was the person who could pull off being the mother of Jesus, but I can’t imagine how both scared and pressured she felt.
Fortunately, she had an ally – or two. Mary went to be with her cousin Elizabeth and her husband Zachariah. She spent three months with them. Elizabeth was also pregnant – pregnant in later life with John the Baptist. Together, the woman and the teenager could console each other and commiserate about the aches and pains of pregnancy. Elizabeth helped Mary mentally and emotionally prepare for the work she would face raising the baby.
Mary’s respite with Elizabeth also gave Joseph a few months to get a plan together. When he found out Mary was pregnant, he knew the baby was not his baby. He planned to “dismiss her quietly” -- he didn’t want Mary to be punished for having an out-0f-wedlock baby. But, then Joseph had a dream. In his dream, Joseph himself was visited by an angel. The angel explained the nature of Mary’s pregnancy to Joseph. Like Mary, he was giving a huge responsibility – to care for both Mary and the baby, the baby who would grow up to be the Messiah and the savior of the people of the world. God knew what God was doing when he selected Mary and Joseph to become Jesus’ parents....even though they were young, and poor, and vulnerable themselves, they would be the best fit to become the parents of the Savior of the world.
This story reminds us that even when we feel like the challenges we face are more than we can handle, God knows what God is doing. God chooses imperfect people to do God’s work. God chooses people like us to do God’s work. We are called to listen for God’s calling upon us, to pay attention to the nudges God is giving us, and embrace the responsibilities God is calling us to take on as God’s children. God calls on the people of faith to extend God’s grace to others -- it is our work to tell others about God, to encourage them to embrace teh Christian faith, and to do God’s work in the world. God wants us to treat others with love and kindness, to share generously with people who are struggling, to care for vulnerable people and God’s creation. As God’s followers, we are sometimes given difficult tasks, but God supports us and encourages us as we endeavor to serve God.
God doesn’t make mistakes. God chose young and vulnerable parents to birth and raise Jesus. God calls imperfect people like us to do God work in our world. God challenges us to rise to the occasion and work on God’s behalf in our communities and in the wider world. God blesses us with gifts and talents and energy. Let us work together to shape our world into the world God wants it to become.
Amen.
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