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My
name is Mary. I am younger than you imagined, aren’t I?
Barely fourteen, actually. I am hardly old enough to have a
child, let alone this one. Trust me, it was just as hard for
me to believe that God would ask me—an unwed, teenaged
girl—to be the one to carry God’s new promise into the
world. I admit that I sure don’t seem like a good candidate
to give birth to the new thing God is going to do. I am too
young to have any real accomplishments or identity of my own
yet. I am too poor. I have no way to purchase a place in
society. And I am female, which means that if I had any
accomplishments or social stature, they would probably just go
unrecognized anyway. All this makes me an unlikely candidate
to help God bring peace and justice to the world, doesn’t
it? But you know, I have thought a lot about it these past
nine months, and perhaps because I was an unlikely candidate
in the first place is precisely why God asked me. Because
there is nothing about me that can be what it is apart from
God’s favor upon me. That’s what the angel said to me when
he came. He called me “God’s favored one.” Me—this
lowly, teenaged peasant girl—invisible to the world, yet
favored in the eyes of God. It is amazing. It really is.
Although I
have to admit, amazement was hardly the first emotion I felt
when the angel showed up at my home. Not amazement at all. It
was more like fear, shock and panic that went racing through
every fiber of my body. I mean, have you ever noticed that one
of the first things an angel says when it visits someone is,
“Fear not?” And with good reason, too. Because despite all
the peaceful and comforting images of angels we are accustomed
to, when the messenger of God actually shows up at your door
with a radically different plan for your life, well, fear is
probably the most appropriate feeling one can experience.
Trust me.
But the
story is true. I was visited by the angel Gabriel and he told
me that through me, God wanted bring a new message of hope and
salvation to the world. The angel told me that I would bear a
son, the Son of God. He told me his name would be Jesus. That
name caught my attention right away. In Hebrew, Jesus means
“The Lord will save.” Something revolutionary was
happening here. I wasn’t sure if I had heard the angel
right. Had God just asked this unknown, teenaged girl to
partner with him to bring about a change in the world? The
angel promised me that God would indeed be with me throughout
this—the first real assurance I had received yet.
There is
something in the retelling of my story that often gets
overlooked, something that I think I need to make sure you
understand. I took time to think about it, to ponder the
opportunity that God had given to me. God did not seize or
force me into anything. God did not move ahead without my
consent. I was invited to be a partner in bringing God into
the world in a new way—an invitation that, after much
consideration, I decided to open myself to. “Here I am, the
servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your
word.” In that moment, God entered me and began to grow
within me. In that moment, I became a willing participant in
God’s transformation of the world. As I think back on those
first moments of invitation, I realize that God said “yes”
to me—God’s favored one—before I said “yes” to God.
I guess that’s the way it works. God’s “yes” always
comes before ours.
This
“yes” to God—this agreement to be a God-bearer—has not
come without its share of complications. I had recently become
engaged to Joseph. He is a good man, but my news of a coming
child before we were to be married (before we had even been
together), well, it caused him some anxiety and some strange
looks around town, that’s for sure. You know he didn’t
need to stay with me. He didn’t have to trust what I had
told him, but soon he said “yes” to the way God was
working through our lives. When we met, we did not know what
the future had in store for us, what God had planned for us,
but now we know. We know that we are a part of something
bigger than ourselves, bigger than anything we have known so
far.
These past
months, as I have carried within me the promise of God, I have
come to understand more and more what this child’s calling
is. The angel told me that this son would be a new king, a
forerunner of a new kingdom, a kingdom on earth like it is in
heaven. We have an earthly king, King Herod. Herod is not a
kind man. He is a difficult man to understand. He can be so
cruel to the people. He makes me nervous. My people are poor
people, people of the land. We have never felt safe in
Herod’s kingdom. We have often talked about the way life
could be for all of us if we had a new king, one whose kingdom
was measured by justice, peace and the well-being of even the
poorest of the earth. That is the kind of king this son of
mine is destined to be. He will bring mercy and forgiveness to
the land. I am bearing God’s promise to bring Good News to
the poor.
I know you
sing songs that say that in this moment, all will be calm and
all will be bright. But I am afraid of the fate that awaits
this child. Still, I will hold fast to God’s grace. It was
he who said “yes” to us first. In the difficult times, I
will remember the angel’s promise and the beauty of the
kingdom that is being born. My suffering is small compared to
the suffering God will endure and will alleviate.
Yes, all
things will be possible through this child who will light the
way for the faithful, who will show us the power of love,
forgiveness and grace. Through this child, God will enter the
world. Through this child, God will accompany us on our
journey through life. Through this child, God will invite
humanity, just as I was invited, to be a part of transforming
our world. In his face we will see the face of God.
Through
what is happening in me, I know that God is at work in a new
and powerful way. I have been invited to give birth to the
hope that God has implanted in me. I have been invited to
bring God into the world. I wonder if you are sensing an
invitation to the God-bearing life as well? Just remember who
said “yes” first, and all will be well. Merry Christmas.
*
* * * *
God chose
Mary—an unknown, unwed, unremarkable, teenaged peasant girl
to bring Christmas into the world. It is a remarkable story,
really. Seems impossible when you think about it. God chose
whom? Too young, too poor, never been married. How was this
miraculous thing supposed to take place?
That is why what the angel had to say is so important.
The angel assured Mary that this was God’s miracle and not
hers, and if she was open to the possibility of God to be at
work in her life, then the Holy Spirit could make it happen.
The angel promised Mary that the divine power of possibility
would overshadow her doubts and fears. Mary was reminded that
nothing would be impossible with God.
Mary, the
most unlikely character of all, brought Christmas into the
world. She carried God within her and gave birth to a world of
new life and new possibilities. That is the thing about
Christmas. It is all about surprises. It is all about the
possibility of God breaking into the seemingly impossible
situations of our life. Christmas is the story of the
unexpected entry of God into the midst of life’s most
ordinary people and circumstances.
So, what
does Mary’s story tell us about how God comes into the
world? Mary’s story is a constant reminder that often God
enters into our lives through the most unlikely and
unpredictable ways. Her story reminds us that it is through
the lives of ordinary people that the miracle of Christmas can
come into the world. Perhaps most importantly, Mary’s story
stands as the ineffable testimony of the power of God’s
“yes.” It is God’s “yes” to Mary that makes this
whole unlikely story possible. It is God’s favor upon her
that allows Mary to find the courage to say her own “yes.”
God’s “yes” allows Mary to accept the otherwise
impossible task she has been invited to take on. The Christmas
story always stands as a constant reminder that God’s
“yes” to humanity has always come before humanity’s
“yes” to any heavenly endeavor.
Over these
past four weeks, we have walked this journey to Christmas.
Each week, the world around us has gotten darker. The darkness
makes us long more and more for the light that comes at
Christmas. Mary’s story reminds us that through the
often-dark reality of the human condition, God implants a
single light of promise. I wonder how the Christmas angel, the
Spirit of this season, has come to you these dark days? Have
we heard the messenger of God calling us into the powerful
possibilities of partnership—a partnership with God that has
within it the promise to transform our lives and our world?
Can you find your story and Mary’s story coming together?
We retell
the Christmas story so that each of us may find the seed that
God has implanted within us. The preparation for Christmas is
the time to realize that we, too, are pregnant—pregnant with
possibility, fully expectant for the newness of God to burst
forth from within us to take root in the world. Christmas
presents everyone who hears its story with the opportunity to
be like Mary—to be a God bearer, to bring God into the world
in new ways that allow so many others (innkeepers, shepherds,
wise men, drummer boys, religious leaders, people from all
walks of life) to find their own story wrapped up in God’s.
God’s “yes” has come to each of us first. His favor
rests in every one of us. Our “yes” opens that place
within us for a whole new reality to spring forth.
Tonight you
will be given another ornament that can be placed on your
tree, another ornament that helps keep the story of this
season alive and fresh. It is a gift, a present. It has two
meanings for us. The first is the gift that God gives to each
of us at Christmas. That gift is God himself.
Mary’s story reminds us that God has reached out and
entered into the human condition. Mary’s story reminds us
that God is with us and God is within us. The story of this
unlikely God-bearer reminds us that God is on our side and
that, so often, the Spirit comes to us in unexpected
packaging.
The gift
symbolizes a second message for us to consider at Christmas.
The present also represents the gift that we can give to the
world. Within each of us, God has planted a unique and special
gift that we can offer to others. What is that gift? Well, it
is different for each of us. But no matter who we are, no
matter where we have been, there is no doubt about it. God has
implanted in each of us the possibility to bring his
transforming love to the world. We are the packaging of the
gift of Christmas for someone else. When you take this present
home and put it on your tree, consider the power of this
symbol—the gift of God within us, our gift of God coming
through us.
Remember
these past weeks. We have met different characters and
considered the meaning of this season in many different ways.
We looked for the ways to unlock places in our life and in our
world for the newness of Christmas to be born. We remembered
that the new promise of Christmas comes first to the shepherds
among us and the shepherds within us. We have learned what it
means to wait on God as the days seem to grow darker. And
finally, we have been called to remember the great gift we
have been given, as well as the gift we might become. I hope
that in these final days of preparation, you find that your
story has touched the Christmas story, and that in the weeks
and months to come, you might find ways to help others connect
with the greatest story the world has ever told.
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