Advent 2: The Response of Mary
Sermon Preached by Reverend Michael Hillier on Sunday, 8 December 2024.
Over the next four weeks, my sermons will focus on Mary’s, Joseph’s, Elizabeth’s, and the community’s responses to God’s plans. Today, I will focus on Mary’s response.
You are familiar with the story of the Angel Gabriel visiting Mary and telling her she is with child. It’s not my intention to focus on the historicity or otherwise of the story; simply to take it at face value. The fact is that something happened.
So, what can we draw from this story that may speak to us today in another age and culture? The deep truths of life always cross boundaries.
The first thing we notice is that God sends Gabriel to Mary. The priority lies with God. This is something He does. Mary has not initiated this; humans haven’t done this. It is something that God does.
I can only speak for myself, but I repeatedly catch myself thinking or acting as though the initiative lies with me and not with God. I can be so slow to learn! As I watch and listen to others, I suspect that this is true for all of us.
Living this way is exhausting because we are always on about me – my plans, hopes, and achievements. And all too often, it becomes like trying to make a round peg fit into a square hole. I can force it, but the fit is always poor.
There are times, though, when I am surprised, and things come together so beautifully, and I know it has not been me. And then there is joy because I know it’s not me but God, with me tagging along like a small child with their parent holding their hand. One of my favourite aphorisms comes from Bernie Siegel: coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.
Maybe then I need to make more space in my life for God, space to listen to what He might be saying to me. It is not so much a spaciousness of time, though it involves that, but more a spaciousness of spirit.
Back to our story. Gabriel arrives at Mary’s doorstep: ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ Eugene Peterson’s translation, I think, captures it well: ‘Good morning! You’re beautiful with God’s beauty, beautiful inside and out! God be with you.’
In herself, Mary is not beautiful. And I am not speaking of physical beauty here. God gives her beauty, and it comes from the inside out.
Paul tells us in Romans 12:11 that we are to ‘be aglow with the Spirit’. That’s a beautiful phrase. It’s the glow seen in the young bride on her wedding day because she knows she is loved and special. And you and I should know, too, that we are loved and unique – to God. That’s why we are aglow.
There is something tragically awry in our society. I don’t see too many people with God’s beauty —this inner and outer beauty. And I don’t think it’s simply because I’m getting older. There seem to be too few people who are givers in life and lots of takers. There seems to be so much cynicism and rampant materialism. God has no place or a limited place in most people’s lives.
To reflect God’s beauty—to be beautiful on the inside and out—is to have a good heart. No technique will give us this. It comes from a life well lived in the presence of God. And Mary had this.
‘Where is your treasure?’ said Jesus. He asks this question of you and me: where is our treasure? There will be our heart.
So, what was Mary’s response to Gabriel’s visit? We are told, ‘She was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.’ (v.29) Eugene Peterson translates it as, ‘She was thoroughly shaken, wondering what was behind a greeting like that.’
I’ll bet she was shaken! An experience like that touches you at the core of your being. You are never the same afterwards. And you couldn’t be! New dimensions of the world, of life itself, have just opened up. God touching your life forever changes you. Where you let it slip by is an immense tragedy.
In the OT, when God touches your life, there is always fear—a sense of unworthiness from being in the presence of absolute holiness to a degree we can’t imagine. And what does God want, anyway? There’s always a cost involved.
God’s visitations can turn lives upside down, lead to new directions, and cause friends to become mockers or enemies. These visitations are often not seen as good news by those concerned—ask Moses, Elijah, or any of the prophets.
Gabriel breaks the news to Mary. She is to have a son. Now we see that inner and outer beauty, that special relationship with God, coming into play. Unlike Moses, she doesn’t whine, ‘But I’m not much of a speaker. Ask my brother Aaron. He’s good with words.’ She’s just a good, practical, down-to-earth peasant girl who immediately sees the problem in all this: ‘I’m a virgin.’
Gabriel, anticipating this, provides the solution: ‘The H.S. will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you …’ And Mary replies, ‘Okay.’ Her response is more extended, but that’s what it boils down to. She sees herself as the servant of the Lord and responds accordingly.
I’ll come back to that in a moment. Before that, I want to say something theological is happening here in our text. In Genesis, the Spirit moved over the face of the waters at the beginning, and creation came forth from this. Now, once again, the Spirit is hovering, and a new creation will emerge, equally as wonderful as the first, with profound implications for all creation.
And in light of that, we reduce Christmas to party hats, presents, and Jingle Bells. It’s not that we shouldn’t celebrate; it’s just that we, as a society, seem to go to great lengths to avoid truly meeting God. Truly meeting Him.
So, why on earth would Mary agree so quickly and easily? She was potentially creating enormous, even catastrophic, problems for herself. To be pregnant in that society when you’re supposed to be a virgin and betrothed was to invite the severest penalty. Do you remember the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery being brought to Jesus? The Law of Moses stated that she should be stoned to death. (John 8:5; Lev 20:10) In some societies, we still see this today.
I don’t think Mary could see a way around that problem of unplanned pregnancy at this moment, though I am sure she would have been acutely aware of the dangers involved. So, why would she agree so easily and readily? The answer lies in her relationship with God before Gabriel’s visit. I think the answer is that she was deeply in love with God, and if you are deeply in love, you always believe what the other is saying. You don’t doubt their intentions toward you.
Mary could not figure out how this would work, but if God said this was how it would be, then it was okay with her. Gabriel departed, his job completed.
I wonder whether you are in love with God. I don’t mean to point the finger or embarrass anyone. But think about it. Are you, like Mary, in love with God? Deeply in love? There are many Christians, and we have all done this, who act out of the worthiness model in their relationship with God. ‘If I do this, I will be worthy of God, and He will love me! He will have to!’
Tragically, much of our religion is built around this model of worthiness. When we play this game of worthiness, we go through the motions. We go to church, say our prayers, try to be good citizens, and so on. It’s called religion.
And when we do that, we don’t really like God because we don’t trust Him and His goodness toward us. Why? Because we can never be worthy! We can never measure up. But then, that’s not what it’s about!
The truth is that the Christian faith is about relationships, not about worthiness. In a relationship with God, you fall in love and seek union. That’s love, and that’s why Mary could say ‘yes’ so quickly and easily. My question to you and me is: Is our relationship with God based on worthiness or love?
So, how do I fall in love with God? Just talk to Him, keep the conversation going, and be natural.
And remember, it is God who reaches out to us. In 1 John, we are told that God first reaches out to us in love, not vice versa. God initiates this relationship of love, and He always wants it.
The baby, the small child, doesn’t naturally love. They learn to love by example. Their parents, by loving them, actually teach them to love. The baby learns that they are loveable and learns to respond by imitating that love.
And sometimes, you know you are being conned – they tell you they love you and then, in the same breath, ask for an ice cream. And we smile, can live with that, and are not mortally offended. They are learning and sometimes getting it wrong, and we can see straight through them. And so can God in His relationship with us as we learn to respond to His love for us. But He doesn’t stop loving us. Never.
You and I are in the most wonderful relationship and on the most incredible journey. We need to open our eyes to see what is really there and continually deepen this affair of the heart.