What is Love? (2)

Intro - (not too deep or needed in setup. Keep it general)

One of my two favorite Christmas readings (this one and next weeks)

One of my favorites, because from a human perspective, this is the most relatable story of the birth of Jesus...at least to me.

[pic here] It is relate-able to me, because of the backstory. You see, there is a lot going on in the text we will read here in a minute, and I want to do it justice and set it up contextually.

That first step is understanding where we romanticize this message...

You see it all starts with a 14 year old girl…

Understand this word from God, this unbelievable blessing to the entire world, it didn’t flow down from God in a plan that had been conveyed to Mary and her family. This wasn’t a planned thing for them! This was just like how God works in you and in me - suddenly, and with the option to accept it and find the beauty in His plan, or to rebel and suffer alone.

If you look back before our text for today you find a story of Elizabeth and Zechariah - a miracle in it’s own right. But following that story, in fact 6 months after that story, we find this 14 or so year old girl - one who had been pledged in marriage…

Now what does that mean?

There is a lot of debate out there about engaged, married, betrothed...too much for us today. But know this, If you read all the synoptic accounts of this event, and you balance the words used, you will find that in this moment, it is pretty clear that this relationship had advanced beyond the “negotiation” phase. They were not yet wed, but when you take Matthew's account into consideration, where the text tells us that Joseph, having heard that Mary was pregnant, sought to “put her away quietly,” when you take that into account, it is clear that the wedding was imminent - at the very least.

So here is this girl, on the eve, in the week of, maybe the month of - no matter what, here is a very young, and likely nervous girl, who is soon to be married; here is this picture of young love if you will. Excited, nervous, but ultimately likely laying awake dreaming of what life will be like, just we all do!

That’s what happens when you are in love, right?

But not just when we are in love, I mean, tomorrow night, we will lie awake just wondering what presents we will get! How much more do we dream of the life that we will have with those God gives us?!

I can imagine her thinking about how many kids they would have...where they would live...what their friends would be like...would she fit in to the community...how would Joseph find work and support them...all the same stuff we think about.

To be young and in love, right?

We can all imagine that can’t we? I mean, most of us remember that!

But then in the middle of all of that, here comes this Angel. This messenger. This blessing to be sure, at least when we view it from our point of view! But when we look at it if it was us, or our daughters who this Angel was speaking with, this message becomes a wrecking ball!

You’re pregnant!!! And not just pregnant, but pregnant with the Son of God!

Imagine telling that news, church.

Not just that, but imagine for just a second how that would feel. The social isolation, the fear, the worry. I mean, everything she knows is flipped on it’s head! Her soon to be husband will think that absolute worst of her! There is no way he would ever believe this! She will be at best ostracized, and at worst stoned to death! This is the absolute end of her life!

BUT DON’T BE AFRAID, the Angel says! You have found favor! You are loved. You are treasured.

It doesn’t feel so loving and special does it? At least not when you think about it in a personal way,

It’s petrifying. And for me, loved is not what I would feel.

Even for Mary, through her brave words, I know she must have been scared. I know that because she didn’t hang around home after she got word! She didn’t go tell everyone around her the great news! She headed out. She ran away to the hill country to be with her cousin Elizabeth.

She just had to get away. And that tells me, that just like us, she had a hard time feeling loved and cherished. She very well may have accepted it, and been bold to carry out that duty, but that doesn’t mean she wasn’t scared. There is a reason, after all, the Angel says “do not be afraid.”

So she goes to stay, in hiding of sorts, with her cousin. She isn’t looking for a miracle. She is looking for sanctuary! She isn’t looking for pity, or support, or anything else, she just wants to go away and let God do what God does!

Luke 1:39–45 ESV

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

So she goes to stay, in hiding of sorts, with her cousin. She isn’t looking for a miracle. She is looking for sanctuary! She isn’t looking for pity, or support, or anything else, she just wants to go away and let God do what God does!

Luke 1:

[read]

Pray

What is love, or more specifically, what does love do? For me, today, in this text, I can see clearly the effect of love. You see, it is Elizabeth speaking through the love of God that cannot be contained - a love that God sent to reach the ears of His chosen servant. Meant to reach the one in pain. Meant to comfort and console the one who through their painted smile was masking fears and doubts and worries.

[picofmagnificat]

I mean think about it, Mary hasn’t seen her much older cousin. And it is she - Elizabeth - that should be congratulated and fawned over! She has a miracle in her life! God has touched her with His Grace and Mercy; He is speaking to His people again!

- side note—included picture because even classic art gets it wrong…in this depiction Mary is obviously pregnant and Elizabeth isn’t…which is exactly the opposite. Elizabeth at 6 and Mary at days if not hours.---back on track

But there in that moment, God reaches down and guides Elizabeth to know what is needed. To know that God is not only with Mary, but that Mary, perhaps just days into her pregnancy, is expecting!

What love that must be. To look beyond yourself, and to instead seek to comfort others and show them how they are loved, and how God is with them!

But how important that is. You see, it was BECAUSE of Elizabeth’s willingness to reach out in love - it was in THAT moment, that Mary is able to finally understand the love that had entered our world!

[picofmagnificat] But how important that is. You see, it was BECAUSE of Elizabeth’s willingness to reach out in love - it was in THAT moment, that Mary is able to finally understand the love that had entered our world!

But how important that is. You see, it was BECAUSE of Elizabeth’s willingness to reach out in love - it was in THAT moment, that Mary is able to finally understand the love that had entered our world!

1 John 4:18 ESV

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

When I read this text, I am reminded of a core truth found in scripture. And that is this: love is powerful. In fact, there is no other human activity that can outmatch love. Love can heal your relationships, your family, our society, our world. There is quite frankly nothing else that we are really seeking in this life! And as I have told you before, it is the one thing that informs all that we do in this life - love, or the lack of it.

You see everything that Mary thought, felt, or was, before this moment, is irrelevant to who she is after it. Because in this moment - the moment that someone validated Mary’s condition and the divinity inherent in it, that all those years of silence from God, all those moments when all the Jewish people wondered if God was really there; THIS is the moment when all those answers come!

THIS is the moment when all that fear, all that doubt, it is all cast away by the perfect love of God!

1 John 4:8 ESV

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.

Because, church, God IS love! And in this moment, we all get a glimpse of the power of love in our lives, and also what love really looks like! Notice Mary, there in that very first word she utters, she tells us what love looks like!

Because, church, God IS love! And in this moment, we all get a glimpse of the power of love in our lives, and also what love really looks like!

Notice Mary, there in that very first word she utters, she tells us what love looks like!

MY SOUL MAGNIFIES THE LORD!

In other words, My soul brings into focus all that God is, all that God does! And if God is love, there in that moment, we see the result and response of love in our lives!

There is no more fear, even if more hard times are coming. There is no doubt of God’s presence. There is no wondering. When Christ lives in your heart, when love lives in your heart and in your life, you will - like Mary - understand that all that you have gone through, and might still go through, is intended to help to magnify God’s love and provision for us all!

Notice that Mary didn’t say that God regarded her great situation! Church, remember her life outside of God was completely in shambles! And there, in the wreckage of her situation, God has given her the hope that not only will she get through this moment, but the joy and peace of knowing that generations will call her blessed!

And that, really, is what love is - or rather - what love does.

I get it, we all wanna know what love is. We do. And while I might not be the smartest man around, I know what love is. And I know what love does.

Listen, I might not be the smartest man around, but I know what love is. And I know what love does.

And all those who delivered presents saw it first hand this past Wednesday.

Love, offered however you can offer it, can make a family feel at home when they are so far away from their own.

Love can break down walls of those who never see eye to eye. It can dissolve distrust, and mend those hearts broken while believing in something or someone - especially those who are thought to be different from us.

Love is that feeling, even if only felt for a moment, that you are not alone. That all might not be perfect, but still, there is someone out there - anyone - who is willing to look at you with favor. To see in your heart, and your life, a life worth saving. A life that would be called blessed, if only we would allow ourselves a moment to listen to God and bless it.

Love is knowing that the difference between a blessing and a curse is what you are looking at.

A very good friend sent me this picture this last week, and I knew I had to put it in the sermon. On top of that feeling, it really summed up everything I wanted to say today. You see, here in this picture, we see the mother of all creation and the mother of our creation’s Savior.

And Eve, at least at first glance, seems so heartbroken. She is clutching the apple to her chest - holding tight to the mistakes that distanced her, and us all, from God. All the while the snake, Satan, is wrapped around her foot, keeping her from being where she wanted to be.

It is a picture of all of us at some point. And for far too many people in and around us, it is their reality. There is always something getting in the way, dragging them down. There is always someone to look at who got what you think you deserved!

But then there is Mary. This one with the blessing. She is holding her hand around her belly - around Jesus - around the only stable thing in her life! Around the only thing that can possibly be considered the difference between blessed and not blessed! YOU SEE IT ISN’T YOUR PAST, OR YOUR FUTURE, OR YOUR MONEY, OR YOUR FRIENDS - IT IS THE PRESENCE OF THE LOVE OF CHRIST IN YOUR LIFE THAT OFFERS YOU THE ONLY BLESSING WE CAN EVER REALLY KNOW!

AND MARY IN OUR TEXT KNOWS THAT, AND YOU CAN EVEN SEE THAT IN THIS PICTURE! YOU SEE, THE LOOK ON MARY’S FACE ISN’T PITY, IT ISN’T FALSE MODESTY, IT ISN’T CONDESCENSION - IT IS THE LOOK OF ONE WHO IS IN PAIN, WHO IS SCARED, BUT WHO ABOVE ALL OF THAT FEELS LOVE! AND EVEN GREATER STILL, YOU CAN SEE HER REACHING OUT IN LOVE - REACHING OUT THROUGH HER OWN CONDITION TO TOUCH EVE, TO SHARE THAT LOVE WITH HER. EVEN IF IN THAT MOMENT ALL SHE HAS IS FEAR AND DOUBT AND LOSS IN HER OWN HEART!

And through that love, church, through Christ - the embodiment of pure love - Mary crushes the snake with her heel in this picture.

It turns out, that love is more than capable of doing that. Love can ease your pain. Love can take away your doubts. Love can tear down walls, and love can bring this world hope!

And love can do all of that, because when you live with love, and offer this world love, you live with and offer everyone Christ. Our hope. Love made flesh. And if I know anything about love, it can only be this.

Love never fails.

Everything we do will fail. We will run out of money. We might not have enough to but presents this year or to pay the bills. But if we love each other, truly love each other, and if we as Christians live out that love in this world, there will always be hope for those who hurt! There will always be someone to care for the homeless, the fatherless, the widows, the infirmed - there will ALWAYS be someone stepping on the head of the snakes that infest the lives of all of us, as long as we love this world just as Christ loved us!

So this Christmas, I pray that our souls magnify the Lord, just as Mary’s did. May we magnify the pure, unyielding image of our Heavenly Father in all we do. I pray that we offer this world a love without qualifiers, without requirements, without recompense. Just like Jesus offers us.

Invitation