The Wonder of Christmas - The Love of Mary
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Luke 1:26-38, 1 John 4:19, John 3:16, Jeremiah 33:3, Matthew 7:7-11, James 4:8, 1 Peter 5:6-7, Romans 8:31
Luke 1:26-38, 1 John 4:19, John 3:16, Jeremiah 33:3, Matthew 7:7-11, James 4:8, 1 Peter 5:6-7, Romans 8:31
Intro:
Intro:
People are notorious for being curious at Christmas time. Some even sneak into closets and into the gift hiding spots. Curiosity can be good, however. Being curious is one of the traits that can help people experience the love of God and enjoy a relationship with Him. Staying curious when we read and hear the history from the Bible, such as the Christmas passages, can open new perspectives and understandings of the Wonder of Christmas. Let’s read the announcement narrative again and begin to open our “spiritual eyes of curiosity.” Let’s see how God may want us to experience His love this Christmas from a different point of view.
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”
34 Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”
35 And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.”
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
1.Compelling Curiosity
1.Compelling Curiosity
In todays video, the angel actress was preparing for the Nativity scene. She modelled some wonderfully curious questions that engage our minds and hearts to the Christmas story we do not normally consider.
How did Mary share the news of her pregnancy with her parents?
How did such this divine message from the angel to this teenage mother-to-be impact the way she related to her God?
How would it change our thinking and feelings to be called “highly favoured” by an angel? v 28
While this is an announcement to Mary, how do you raise a child to be all the things mentioned in verses 32-33?
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
What did a command not to be afraid really do to her internal fears that Mary must have been experiencing in those days of pregnancy?
These are all curiosities that we can relate to when we remember the humanity of the people in the story. This kind of thinking can impact how we relate to God.
God had asked His people to be curious and ask.
11 Thus says the Lord,
The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
“Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons;
And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.
2.God made the first move!
2.God made the first move!
One of the observations we can see is that the Wonder of Christmas is expressed through the fact that God has always made the first move. He made himself known in the O.T. He told Mary what was about to happen to and in her. He loving sent us His only Son named Jesus. The Apostle John wrote about the love of God.
John 3:16 says,
16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
Later John wrote:
19 We love Him because He first loved us.
The love of God compelled Him to make the first move in manifesting Himself in the form of a baby. The prophecies called Him Immanuel, which means, “God with us.” The God who loves us is the God who came in the person of Jesus. He came because He wanted a relationship with us that would enable us to love Him back. He desires to be loved by His most precious creation: human beings.
God made the move to choose Mary, in part, because she could be trusted with such a task, but also because of the way Mary must have loved God with all her heart, soul, mind, and strength. She loved God back with her life. God’s love was revealed to Mary, in startling moment when the message was conveyed to her by the angel Gabriel.
Mary, who was called “highly favoured”, must have been one who engaged in the prayer. One of the most natural and normal ways to cultivate that relationship is through communicating with each other. Part of the nature and character of God is that He longs to be communicated with those whom He loves. The infinite God wants to hear from the finite creation of humanity. And if we as humans are to have an authentic, growing relationship with God, we must be able to ask our curious questions about life. Questions are not off-putting to God. Rather, calling out to God to solicit a response from Him is what we see God has invited people to do.
Jeremiah 33:3 says:
3 Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.
The previous verse, Is 45.11 said much the same thing.
God desires for people to communicate with Him. Call on Him with our questions and curiosities through life. This is where our love is bound to grow as we ask and wait for His response. When we feel uncertain, perplexed, afraid, annoyed, defeated, discouraged, and unsure about the next steps we are to take in life, we are invited as His creation to call on Him as our Creator. God wants to hear from us. We are invited to ask questions and curiosities that are occupying our lives. God wants us to reach out, connect, convey, and wait to receive from Him.
We see this same part of God’s nature and character being offered in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew chapters 5-7. Notice what Jesus says.
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. 9 Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? 11 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Jesus is talking to the people about stepping closer into the desired relationship with God the Father that He created people to have and enjoy. Mary experienced this:
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
Stepping closer to God through communication is what Jesus’ brother, James, invites people to do in his letter.
5 But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
Drawing near is a relational step of trust. As we draw near, we can communicate with God by asking about curious thoughts that have been rolling around in our lives. Asking and expecting a response is not only normal, but according to Jesus, it will happen! And the reason is that He is the Good Father; He wants to give us good things. He wants to provide and connect. He wants to respond in ways that will be life-giving because He loves us and wants to hear from us as we come nearer to Him in our relationship with Him.
The three verbs that Jesus articulates: “Ask…Seek…Knock…,” those are verbs that talk about being intentional and lead to relational engagement. The wonder of Christmas is about an intentional first move of love by God with the hope of relational engagement among the people He came to rescue from sin. These verbs are in a very important tense in the original language. They are in the present perfect tense. That means an action happens and keeps on happening.
What Jesus invites His followers to do is pray to God for discernment in a way that starts and doesn’t stop. Jesus is saying: Ask and keep on asking; seek and keep on seeking; knock and keep on knocking. As you do this, you are positioning yourself to receive a response. That response may be “yes.” It may be “no.” It may be “not now.” Regardless, Jesus invites us to more than just an “in the moment” prayer that is nonchalant. Jesus invites us to be intentional about engaging in a process of understanding, of receiving, and of discernment. It starts with intentional, active, and consistent prayer, which is a connects us with the heart of God.
When we are burdened with fears and anxieties not unlike those feelings that Mary may have had when encountering the angel of the Lord, we can count on the nature and character of the God who wants to hear from us regarding our anxieties. He wants to hear from us and wants us to bring our fears to Him because He cares for us and deeply loves us. Remember, He loved us first. Now, we get the opportunity to love God back relationally through communicating with Him our fears, curiosities, and anxieties in our lives. Mary’s statement shows she was willing to do this!
38 Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Notice what the Apostle Peter wrote.
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
Mary was not going to live a perfect sinless life from that point on. No, she was just committed to what God wanted for her life. I believe, for example, she failed when she left Jesus in Jerusalem at the age or 12. She failed again when she and her other children questioned His early ministry.
The love God has for us is strong enough for our failures and fears. God’s love holds up during our curiosities that we bring to God in prayer. As the angel articulated to those shepherds, Jesus is the Saviour who was born for “all people.” That includes the people who would let Him down and cause Him pain through our choices. We can always come back around and reconnect with repentant hearts and lives that will be received by the God who first loved us and always will.
3.Personal Impact
3.Personal Impact
Whether you are a first-century Jewish teenage girl trying to understand how you just were chosen by God to be the mother of the Messiah or you are a twenty-first-century person trying to figure out life with God in your circumstances, know that God loves you this Christmas. He is not afraid of the various questions, curiosities or anxieties in our lives. God knows where we have been, where we are, and where we are headed. He has a plan for our lives and wants that plan to include heart-to-heart communication with Him as our Creator. He wants us to call on Him with all our questions and all our doubts. He will answer, and show us the next steps as we walk faithfully with Him.
The God who came near in the form of an innocent baby that first wondrous Christmas is the same God who desires to be near you this Christmas. He is not only Immanuel, the God who is with you, but also, He is the God who is for you. And as the Apostle Paul once wrote in Romans 8:31
31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
So, sing all the Christmas carols; enjoy all the festivities that are part of this special time of year, and know that in the middle of your anxieties, fears, doubts, frustrations, uncertainties, and even curiosities about life and God, He still deeply loves you! And He wants to connect with you way during this wondrous Christmas season.
Conclusion:
Conclusion:
Take a chance this Christmas and move towards the God who moved heaven and earth to come near to us in the person of Jesus. He wants to be your Saviour. He wants to hear from us. He wants to bless us. He wants to love us in a way that changes our live from the inside out. The wonder of Christmas is waiting for you to experience this love this season.
1. Will you open your heart and life to God’s plan in a profoundly vulnerable way this Christmas? Mary did!
2. Will you give over to Jesus the areas of life that are hurting in your soul, the questions that are going over and over in your mind, the fears that are paralysing you, the hopes and dreams you would like to experience and see fulfilled?