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This month as we celebrate the coming of our King I want us to focus on the characters of Christmas.
The true story of Jesus’ birth is compelling, inspiring, and eternal.
And in the birth of Jesus we find characters whose stories not only capture our attention but also sound very familiar to ours.
In the newsletter we briefly looked at the Shepherds and wise men.
Next week we’ll look at Joseph’s story.
And on the 21st we’ll conclude with Jesus’ story.
Mary’s story is one we have all heard to some degree.
She was a very important part of Jesus’ life.
She was even with Jesus at the cross.
Mary was not only the mother of Christ she was a believer.
Mary was probably the person on earth who saw the majority of Christ’s life: His birth, His growing up, His Ministry, His death, & His victory over the grave.
Her life story is probably one many of us would love to sit and listen to.
She saw things that were amazing on a regular basis.
Mary’s Story is a story that can touch the heart and change a life.
Luke 1:26-37
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.
The virgin's name was Mary.
The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored!
The Lord is with you."
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.
You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.
He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.
The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.
So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.
For nothing is impossible with God."
Let’s set the stage for this story.
There was a sense of urgency that filled the country.
A general expectancy was in the air concerning the long expected Messiah.
Many Jews looked back to Old Testament Prophecy and in particular the book of Daniel concerning their present day and many of those people felt that the time was drawing near.
For 400 years foreign troops had occupied Israel and the feeling was that this Messiah would deliver them from their oppressors.
They were ready for the Messiah.
They were ready for a change.
And it was in this setting, this hotbed of expectancy that we find Mary’s Story.
Who was Mary?
As you looked back at Mary’s life, Mary seemed to have a great deal of limitations that might rule her out for being used by God.
The first limitation was Mary’s age.
Mary was very young at the time of this event.
The second limitation was Mary’s affluence.
Mary was from a very poor family and they had little standing.
The third limitation was Mary’s anonymity.
Mary was a woman who had no rights and no voice, and was probably unknown.
It would seem that Mary would have little to offer the service of the most high God.
A young woman, just entering her teens, is confronted by heavenly messenger who says, “Hail, O favored one, the Lord is with you.”
It’s a strange scene to be sure.
Doesn’t it seem to be a rather preposterous plan?
Does it strike you as ludicrous that God’s plan of salvation should depend upon the willingness of a young woman living in an obscure village of a remote province?
It’s not the plan anyone would have imagined.
We know about Rome; we even know about Jerusalem; but what and where is Nazareth?
We know about Augustus Caesar.
We even know about old King David of ancient Israel.
But who is this Mary?
Mary seems like the first person to be eliminated from a prospect list to be the mother of Christ.
Mary’s linage is not the strongest.
Mary was an ordinary, as common as anyone of us.
No great accomplishments, no great history.
She is an everyday Nazarene.
Picking up V28 in our scripture it says that Mary was highly favored.
Now some would believe that Mary’s status mentioned here had to do with Mary.
But this merely means that Mary was a recipient of God’s gracious choice.
Mary is described as obedient and faithful but she was chosen by God’s grace not by merit.
Like all of us, Mary was indeed chosen by God.
This fact is all that really matters because when God chooses He also will provide all that is needed.
Many may have believed that Mary was unable to do anything great for the Kingdom of God but God reveals time and time again that He works through the lives of ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things.
God acts through ordinary human beings, like you and me ordinary human beings, that trust God enough to undertake extraordinary missions beyond their capabilities or imaginings.
Most of the time, God comes to us in ordinary ways, through ordinary people.
It is even true in the case we have this morning.
Although God chooses the extraordinary means of sending the Archangel Gabriel, God still announces that the divine plan for our salvation is to come to us through the body of a peasant girl from Nazareth.
Of course this plan will work only if she is willing to surrender to God’s will; only if she can find the faith she needs to trust God’s preposterous plan.
Gabriel’s Message
We see in verse 29 that Mary was afraid: “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”
The simple fact is that angelic visits were very rare in those days and it was indeed a special event.
There was some uncertainty as to why the angel had come to see her.
This was an event of awesome proportion and one that would change Mary’s life forever.
The reason for her fear was the simple fact that angels did not always bring good news and it could be a message of God’s judgment coming to her.
But Gabriel came with a message of confidence.
Gabriel immediately begins to calm Mary’s fears by his opening statement.
"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.”
This was going to be a message of good news and Mary was chosen for a great purpose.
Gabriel came with a message of hope.
Gabriel brought the message of the coming miracle birth that would bring hope to the entire world.
God was going to redeem His people and bring them back to Him.
Gabriel tells Mary to name the child Jesus.
The name Jesus literally means “The Lord saves.”
This miracle child was going to be the source of salvation for the entire world.
Gabriel came with a message of power.
Gabriel goes on to tell Mary about the character of the child she will give birth to.
Jesus will be great and mighty in this world and He will be known as the Son of God.
God is keeping His promise to His people because Jesus is the Messiah.
The Kingdom that He will establish will be eternal.
Mary’s Response
Wow, if Mary had been a little confused by the Angel’s initial greeting think of how she felt now.
“Hey, don’t worry Mary, because God loves you, you are going to have a baby, and not just any baby, you’re going to have the Messiah!”
That must have been reassuring.
I mentioned earlier that there was an air of expectancy in the Holy Land at that time concerning the coming of the Messiah, but I’m not particularly sure that Mary thought he would arrive via her.
Does it strike you as at all odd that Mary’s response was to ask the bewildered question: "How shall this be?"
And she airs what she thinks might be a minor problem, in Luke 1:34.
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