Luke 1:26-38
December 24, 2023
There is a legend that claims
that Gabriel visited several young women with his announcement that they would
be the favored one, the theotokos, the God-bearer. But these other young
women said “no.” Discouraged but not defeated, Gabriel appeared before a young
woman named Mary. Just as he had with the others, he greeted Mary saying,
“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is
with you.”
And then he told her that she had
found favor with God, that she would bear a child, that the child would be
holy. There was a name already picked out – Jesus. And this baby boy would not
be just any baby boy, but the Son of the Most High and he will be given the
throne of his ancestor David.
I don’t know if the legend specifies
at what point in this encounter with Gabriel the other young women made their
apologies saying, “No. No thank you. Not for me. I don’t think I’m ready to be
the mother of God this year, but maybe next year we can talk again.” But unlike
the other young women, when Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her what would
happen Mary said, “Yes.” Mary said yes.
Obviously, this is just a legend. I
don’t know where it comes from and certainly, if there were any truth to it, it
would be impossible to prove. But what I think is interesting about this is
that it makes the point that there was a choice involved. Where others said no,
Mary said yes.
Even if the legend isn’t true, Mary
said yes. Why? Why did she say yes? Was it because she was predestined to say
yes? Was it because Mary was the only one who could?
Today’s story is known as the
annunciation. The angel, Gabriel, shows up on Mary’s doorstep and announces
that she will bear the Son of God.
“Greetings, favored one! The Lord is
with you.”
Mary is understandably confused by
the angel’s words. In fact she’s more than confused, she’s greatly disturbed by
his words. In the story of Zechariah, which immediately precedes our story this
morning, Zechariah is described as disturbed by Gabriel’s words. But he isn’t
as disturbed as Mary is, yet his questioning of Gabriel results in his
inability to speak for the length of his wife Elizabeth’s pregnancy.
What
does this mean? Mary is a young woman, a young girl really. She does not have
an exalted family lineage. She comes form a non-descript little town. She is
not rich nor is she royalty. She is just Mary. But here this angel of God comes
to her and calls her favored. He announces to her that the Lord is with her.
Not only is the Lord with her, but she has found favor with God. God has sought
her out to bear a son who will be named Jesus. This child will not be just any
child, but the Child of the Most High. He will sit on the throne of David.
“He
will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end.”
This
is incredible news. It’s strange and confusing news. Mary is one of the lowly,
but she is greeted by an angel who calls her “favored.” I won’t say that she
argues with Gabriel, but she does question the news she’s given. “How can this
be?”
Her
reason for why the angel’s words are impossible is sound. She is a virgin. She
is betrothed to Jospeh, but they aren’t living fully as a married couple yet.
While the word virgin in Greek can also be translated as young girl,
it is clear that Mary is not in the right circumstances to conceive a child.
And that reality means that this pregnancy will be scandalous. Scandalous!
Gabriel tells Mary that the Lord is with her, but Mary surely knew that others
would not be. Her reputation, and more seriously her life, would be on the
line. Matthew’s gospel records that when Joseph heard the news that Mary was
pregnant, he wanted to end their betrothal. He wanted to do it quietly, true,
to keep her from any disgrace, but he was ready to end it because of the
shameful implications and potentially damaging and detrimental consequences of
this unlikely pregnancy.
Joseph
knew this. And Mary knew this too. Mary might have been young, but I doubt that
she was naïve enough not to realize what an unmarried pregnancy would mean for
her, her child, and their lives.
So,
understandably, Mary was greatly disturbed by the angel’s words, by this
life-altering news that he brought. Perhaps to help convince Mary that what he
said was true, Gabriel tells Mary of another unlikely, improbable, and
impossible pregnancy. Her cousin, Elizabeth, who is an old woman and has been
barren for years is also pregnant with a son. Then Gabriel echoes the words
spoken to Abraham by another divine messenger when he was told that Sarah would
bear a child in her old age, “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Mary
hears these words, hears about her cousin Elizabeth, and without anymore
hesitation accepts these strange and impossible tidings.
“Here
am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Here
am I. Here I am. Mary said yes.
We
Presbyterians believe both in predestination and in freewill. Free will
suggests that Mary indeed could have said no. She could have said no because
she was more than just the quiet, beatific looking figure in our nativity
scenes. She was flesh and blood. She had a mind and a heart. She had hopes and
dreams, just as we do. She had a will. She was not just an empty vessel or a
pawn to be manipulated by others, not even the divine. Could Mary have said no?
Yes. But Mary didn’t say no to the news the angel brought. She said yes. She
said,
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it
be with me according to your word.”
That
sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It sounds like the answer that Isaiah gave when he
was called by God. Mary was called too. This is not just a pregnancy
announcement; this is a call story. She was called to be the theotokos,
the God-bearer, the Mother of God in this world. Mary said yes. She said yes to
God’s call. She said yes to God’s purposes. Mary said yes.
But
what finally convinced Mary to give her affirmation? Gabriel spoke lofty words
to her. He called her “favored one.” He told her the Lord was with her, that
the Lord would do great things through her, that this child would be the Son of
the Most High and would reclaim the throne of David. This child would be God in
the world, the Messiah. This child was the one they had all been waiting for,
for so, so long.
And
all of this is amazing and wonderful and scary and thrilling, but it wasn’t
what convinced Mary. What finally convinced her? One biblical scholar pointed
out something that I had not considered before. What finally convinces Mary is
not the exalted promises that Gabriel shared with her, but rather the information
that her cousin Elizabeth was also pregnant. Her cousin Elizabeth was going
through this too.
Now
maybe this convinced Mary because Elizabeth’s pregnancy was as unlikely as her
own. But maybe it also gave her reassurance that she was not alone. That there
was another person in the world, in her life, who understood exactly how
amazing and scary and wonderful and thrilling this was. I realize that some of
Gabriel’s first words to Mary were that the Lord was with her, but how is it
that we see the Lord with us in our lives? Maybe some folks see angels, but for
many of the rest of us we see God in our lives through other people. We see God
with us through them, through their eyes, their hands, their hearts, their
love.
Mary
saw God working in her life because God was working in Elizabeth’s life. This
does not diminish Mary’s courage in saying yes. And she was courageous.
Answering a call from God, no matter how small or large that call may be, takes
faith and trust and courage. And Mary had all of that, but maybe just maybe,
her courage was amplified, magnified because she knew Elizabeth was with her
too. She was not alone. She would not be alone. Mary said yes.
Mary’s
song of praise, the Magnificat, which is the second part of our story today, is
sung after she goes to Elizabeth, after the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaps for
joy at the sound of Mary’s voice, the mother of his cousin, the mother of God.
Mary sings this amazing song of praise about this new and wonderful thing God
is doing in the world through Elizabeth, and through her.
God
is bringing down the powerful from their thrones and lifting up the lowly. God
is filling the hungry with good things and the rich are walking away
empty-handed, God is keeping the promises God made with the ancestors, with
Abraham, with Moses, with David. God is with me, Mary sings, and from now on
every generation will call me blessed. Yes, yes, and yes!
Mary
said yes because she knew that she was not alone. God was with her. Elizabeth
was with her. And she would bear Emmanuel, God with us, into the world. Mary
was not alone. She did not go through this alone. Neither do we. Whatever our
calling is, there are people with us, people who remind us that God is with us.
So, let our answer to God’s call be a resounding yes! Let our answer to God’s
call be here am I. God is with us. God is with us in hope, peace, joy, and
love. We are not alone. Yes!
Let
all of God’s children shout out, “Alleluia!”
Amen.
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