Sermon for December 21st

Last week we talked about how important it was to realize that Jesus’ virgin birth has a lot to do with Jesus being truly divine. While the “virgin birth” has often been criticized for being just a silly doctrine or outdated, it is, in fact, extremely important to understanding who Jesus was and is for you. As I said though, many people do not like the idea that Mary was truly a virgin and so they figure that they can just not believe it while still believing in some kind of social revolutionary Jesus.

But while some people want to criticize Mary’s virgin status at the conception of Jesus, there are also others that place Mary on a high, high pedestal in the church and the reasons and the consequences for this are just as bad. The reason for their devotion to Mary is, in fact, found in this same text that we studied last week, but you’d almost miss it if you weren’t paying enough attention. Remember the story, the angel Gabriel had come to Mary and told her that she would become pregnant with a child by the Holy Spirit and that she was to name him Jesus. Then, at the end of all the explanations, at the end of all the amazing and miraculous prophesying about Jesus, Mary says this, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” And THAT, my friends, is what all the fuss is about.

“Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” There are many who see this statement of Mary’s to be a crucial aspect in the birth of Jesus Christ. They argue that Mary was a very special person to allow such a thing as the virgin birth to occur. She was going to become pregnant before marriage for goodness sake! She was going to be dealing with a lot of stigma and suffering on account of this peculiar situation and yet, instead of arguing with Gabriel, instead of asking a bunch of questions, she says, “ok. Sounds good to me.” This response, on Mary’s part, is one of the biggest reasons for how much respect and devotion she gets.

Now, believe me, I think Mary was probably a wonderful woman, but I have a couple of questions to ask before I spend too much time in awe of her statement. My first question is this: what other choices did she really have? I mean, God had sent an angel to tell her she was going to be pregnant. If she had said she didn’t want to be pregnant, do you think that would have made much of a difference? Remember Moses? Moses made up several excuses when God called him into ministry and yet he ended up becoming the most celebrated leader of the Israelites. Moses didn’t want to lead, he said he couldn’t speak, he said he wasn’t the right one for the job, but God had other plans.

Do you remember Jonah? God called on him to preach about repentance to the Ninevites, but Jonah didn’t agree. Jonah bolted. God had to send a whale to spit him back on shore in order to get this guy to say even a little peep. Jonah didn’t want to do what God said, but God found a way to convince him. Then there is the famous Saul, who was persecuting and killing Christians before God knocked him off his horse and caused him to go blind briefly in order to change his life and make him one of the most celebrated apostles in the history of the church. Saul became the apostle Paul even though he, if you’d of asked him at the time, probably wasn’t too thrilled with the possibility.

So, back to Mary, should we really give HER all the credit when it comes to being the mother of Jesus? Was it because she was so humble and obedient to God’s will that she became Jesus’ mother? No. I’m happy that God blessed her with a strong faith willing to endure the hardship of a surprise pregnancy and then of motherhood, but whether she “willingly accepted” at the time, or argued till she was blue in the face, I don’t believe it would have made any difference at all. What was the angel supposed to say? Oh, you don’t want this to happen. Ok, I’ll tell God to pick someone else. No. God was the one in charge. He had the plan to carry out. Gabriel told Mary she was blessed, and so she was, but we don’t need to make Mary out to be any more amazing than any person when they are blessed by God. When God chooses you, you are chosen—like it or not.

This is important for you and I to remember at Christmas time. This time of the year is really a special time in the world where the sacred becomes intensely intertwined with the secular all over the place. It might be easy to feel a little bit of pride, or feel a little arrogant when we see thousands of people lining up in WalMart and Target to get presents when “they don’t even seem to understand what Christmas is about!” Christmas is about Christ, right! Christmas is about baby Jesus being born. Not about presents! Not about overeating! Those are great and fun to do, but it’s sometimes so easy to feel like Christians are so special because we believe when, really, Christians are special because they have been blessed, given an amazing gift, and that is it.

The celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas morning is truly amazing. The fact that you believe in his name, if you do, is also truly amazing, but it doesn’t say that much for you does it . . though it does say a lot about God. In John’s gospel, Jesus puts it quite bluntly, “You did not choose me. I chose you.” In other words, as Jesus puts it later, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and no one will snatch them out of my hands.” God, that is Jesus himself, is the actor and subject of all of those verbs. You are his object. That’s definitely something to celebrate, but it’s not something to be arrogant about. We are celebrating what God has done and not what we have done.

As you have the opportunity to share with others this Christmas season, keep this in mind. Christmas is about God giving himself to people who don’t deserve him. We are simply receiving his gifts. So, when it comes to telling others the story of Jesus Christ just give it to them. Don’t expect a pious response. Don’t expect a faith upbuilding conversation. You can’t expect everyone to come to church even if you nicely invite them. But even if they refuse, argue about it or reject God’s call on their life over and over again it isn’t something God hasn’t dealt with before. He is used to his sheep getting lost. He is used to his people disobeying. He is used to his prophets complaining.

This is also important when you stop thinking about others and realize that you are not much different. I bet if you asked Mary, she wouldn’t think much of what she said; I mean, what else could she do? I may have told you all this before, but I’m going to tell it to you again, a little conversation I had once will a wonderful woman named Edna. She was taking care of her husband who was dying of cancer and I asked her once how she dealt with a life full of the responsibilities of caretaking. She said, “I love him. What else can I do?” You see, she did have a choice, didn’t she. Just like Mary, I guess, she had a choice. She could have said no. She could have divorced her husband when he became such a pain to have around. But when it comes to love, you don’t really have a choice, do you.

When Gabriel told Mary that God had blessed her with the Messiah, Mary was given something that is very much like falling in love. She was given faith; faith that God had indeed kept his promise to send a Savior for his people. And so, she didn’t really have a choice, did she? She was given faith She gave her Amen to God’s word.

That’s why, as I was preparing this sermon, I realized that what I am doing up here is NOT trying to motivate you to be like Mary. To be a humble and obedient servant. I’m not trying to convince you to be devoted to God and willing to sacrifice and suffer for your faith. Why not? Because God doesn’t show up without giving you his gifts. He doesn’t expect you to make the first move, he does it for you. He sends you a preacher to tell you his promises, “jesus Christ was born and died to forgive your sins once and for all.” He tells you the story and gives you faith that, indeed, on Christmas day, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, your Savior, was born. And not just born to a mother and father, but born to a world, to a nation and, to you, though you didn’t deserve him. It is my job as your pastor to give you Jesus Christ, the promise of his life, death and resurrection, so that the Holy Spirit can create faith. Some people call faith a choice, but how can you really call falling in love a choice at all? For know this, God says to you, “I love you forever and ever.” And my prayer this Advent season is that, within your heart, just as in Mary’s womb, faith is born from God above. Faith in Jesus Christ. Whether you wanted him or not, he’s yours. Amen.