"The Choice of Mary and Mary's Choice "Dr.
James L. Mayfield
Text: Luke 1:26-38 We Protestants seldom talk about Mary or even think much about her. I suppose we do not want to appear to equate the role of Mary with the role of Jesus. We want to be clear the Messiah is Jesus - not Mary, and we do not want anyone to be confused and think we do. But we Protestants have much to gain from thinking about this teenager who gave birth to Jesus and grew to become the mother grieving at the foot of her son's cross. Today I want to talk about the choice of Mary and Mary's choice. In the passage we read, Luke wrote that Mary was troubled by the presence of the messenger from God. I think all of us have been troubled in that way; we just did not recognize the one who was troubling us was a messenger from God -- except in the rear view mirror as we look back on our lives some years later. Here are at least two ways I am aware of being uncomfortable in the presence of a messenger of God. First, there are some people who have been for me God's messengers. I doubt any of them are aware of the role they have played in my life. They are individuals I respect, because they seem to me to be so much more the way I think God intends us to be than I am. When one of them calls and I sense he or she is going to ask me to do something, even though I do not know what it is, I know it is going to cost me (and usually cost me in more ways than one). I know whatever this person is going to request is going to be related in someway to doing what will please God. It is then I feel something similar to what Mary may have felt when she was aware she was in the presence of a messenger from God. Another way I am aware of being in the presence of a messenger from God is when I become aware of a need I know could do something about and in my heart I know I should, but I also know it is going to cost me to become involved, and I begin to feel anxious, sometimes even a little afraid and sometimes upset or even angry. I am disturbed, not unlike Mary. I am aware of being in the presence of a messenger with a message I had rather not receive, and I am uncomfortable. The messenger from God appeared to Mary and she was disturbed, perplexed -- so much so, the messenger says: "Mary, don't be afraid." I have learned that when someone says, "Now, don't be afraid," it is something like their saying, "Now, this is not going to hurt much." In the passage we read, the messenger went on with the message that would have been rather frightening to a teenage girl in first century Nazareth. "God sees you as special, so you are going to have a baby; his name is going to be Jesus, and he is going to be the Messiah." Mary's next response was a questioning response. "But how can this be? I'm a virgin." I know what it is to raise all sorts of questions when the messenger of God, be it some other person or the voice of my conscience, is giving me an assignment that seems impossible. "What do you mean? I can't do that." Yet even while I am saying words such as these I still feel both the claim on my conscience and the discomfort that claim is causing. "I can't tell my friends that the way they talk prolongs racial bias and prejudice in the society." "If I do what I know in my heart is right, it is going to make such waves, I may lose my job." "What do you mean asking me to do that? I can't do that." We know what it is to question the claims of God on our lives. We can understand what Mary was going through. There was the biology problem, but there was also the social problem, and in first century Nazareth, that was the big one. To be pregnant before marriage was worse than a social "no-no" in those days. She could be shunned; even stoned to death. Her family would be embarrassed by her condition. And what about the man she was to marry, Joseph? "How can this be?" Mary asked, "I'm not married; I'm a virgin." "Don't worry about that," the messenger said. God will take care of things. You remember your cousin Elizabeth? You know she is well past menopause, well beyond the child-bearing age. Well, she is going to have a baby boy. As a matter of fact, she's six months pregnant. You have to remember, nothing is impossible with God." To those of you who have done some reading in the Book of Genesis, these words may sound familiar. This is about the same thing messengers from God said to Sarah, the wife of Abraham, when she laughed in disbelief when they told Abraham she would give birth to a baby boy in her old age. "Is anything too hard for God?" they asked. Throughout the Bible there is story after story of God using human beings to do what they did not think they could do. And by themselves, they were right. But by the grace of God, they were wrong. Nothing is too hard for God. Sometimes we will say these same words: "Nothing is too hard for God," but what we mean is not what the messenger to Mary meant. All too often what we mean is "Nothing is too hard for God to do for me." And so we put God on our pay roll to deliver what we want. But this is not the what the passages in Genesis nor in the story we read from Luke declaring the announcement that nothing is too hard for God. When it comes to our doing what God wants us to do nothing is too hard for God. In doing what God wants us to do, nothing is impossible for God. Of course the key phrase is, "in doing what God wants us to do." Up to this point in today's story about Mary, I think most of us can more or less identify with her. We know what it is to feel uncomfortable and somewhat anxious when we sense we are about to be confronted by what we know in our hearts God wants us to do. We can understand Mary being troubled by the presence of the messenger from God. We can also understand her questioning the message she was given. Who of us has not called into question those callings, those requests, those needs, those expectations, those actions we know in our hearts are God's message addressed to us personally. We know what it is to say as Mary said: "How can this be?" Now we come to what sets Mary apart from many of us. Although she was somewhat anxious, and did not see how God could use her, Mary said to the messenger: "Here I am, a servant of God. Let it be with me as you say." More often than not, when I am confronted by troubling messages I know in my heart I ought to do something about, I usually hide behind by calendar, saying (at least to myself): "I am already doing more than I should." And I avoid asking whether what is using up my time and emptying my bank account is as important as the need that has caught the attention of my conscience. But Mary said, "Here I am. Let it be as God wants." It was Mary's way of saying and living: "Thy will be done." This is the woman who changed Jesus' diapers and held his hand and played with him the way mothers play with their babies. This is the woman who helped him learn to walk and talk and taught him all that mothers teach their sons until he became a young man. And when this young man began his ministry as the Messiah, he taught us that living as God intends involves living the prayer Mary prayed: "Thy will be done." On the night of his greatest crisis it was the same basic prayer his mother had prayed that he prayed: "Not my will, but Thine be done." God must have seen something special in this teenage girl God chose to mother the Messiah. I am convinced the special something God saw was her willingness to live this prayer: "Thy will be done." God, when we find ourselves troubled by what we know we ought to do, help us follow the example of Mary and declare: "Here I am; Thy will be done." Amen. Pastoral prayer: Let us thank God for the gifts and blessings we have received. We have come here with a variety of concerns and problems. Let us ask God for guidance and help. God, as we move closer to December 25, help us move closer to the reality of Christmas. As we prepare for the holiday, help us be sensitive to that which is holy. As we celebrate the coming of Christ, enable us to be aware of Christ coming into our lives. May Christmas not only be something we celebrate but also a reality we experience. God, it is easy for us to get sidetracked this time of year. Some of us are so excited about getting together with our families, the birth of Christ get lost in the activity and noise of family reunion. Forgive us; help us include Christ in our family. Some of us are less happy about our families getting together; others of us are painfully aware of the absence of family or the empty chairs this year at the Christmas table. Others of us are struggling with other kinds of problems. God it is easy for us to become so focused on our heartaches and problems that we overlook the gift of Christ - the gift of grace that can bring healing into our lives even in the midst of troubles. God, help us be aware of the coming of Christ into our lives. As we move closer to December 25, God help us move closer to an awareness of Christmas happening in our lives. This we pray in the name of him who came and will come, the one who taught us to pray: "Our Father...."
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