Christmas – When the Impossible becomes Possible

Christmas – When the Impossible becomes Possible Luke 1:26–38 (NIV84) 26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.” 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” 34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” 35 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. 36 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. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” 38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her. Friends, certainly, for us as Christians this is a really wonderful story, and rightly so. But I would like to invite you this morning to look a little closer. I would like to challenge you to think through what’s really happening here. I cannot pretend that I know how women would respond. I cannot think myself into a young Mary’s shoes. But I’m sure the women among is today can. How would you’ve responded if you were in Mary’s shoes? You’re 13-15 years old. You’ve been a good girl. You’re not promiscuous. You’ve never been with a man. And then you got this visitor with his provocative message: “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. 31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” I don’t know what your family is like or how people respond where you grew up, but where I’m from, if a young 13-15 year old pregnant teenager claimed that an angelic being showed up and said to her that she’s blessed and highly favoured and then claimed that she’s going a baby who is to be called the Son of God and that He would sit on a throne over the nation, people would think she’s a nut job! I mean, think about it. For us today, it would be sort of like a wacko who claim that an alien from outer space showing up and telling her that God is going to supernaturally impregnate her with a baby who will grow up to become a leader who will the Unite the World under one banner, cure cancer, and lead the greatest end-time revival in the history of the world. Oh, and by the way, she’s only fifteen years old when she gets the news, she has no education, and her family is dirt poor. Nuts, right? Mary must have been disturbed enough for the writer of the story to indicate she was greatly troubled. I think she was saying to herself, “Okay, he said I’m blessed and highly favoured. This is good, right?” Can you still remember that old Kris Kristofferson song? It starts like this: Why me Lord? What have I ever done to deserve even one of the blessings I've known? Why me Lord? What did I ever do that was worth love from you and the kindness you've shown? I’m sure Mary also wondered: “Why me? Why this? Why now?” Friends, this Christmas story reminds us that God works in mysterious ways. God’s doesn’t pick people to do spectacular things because they deserve to be picked. God doesn’t love people and show them kindness because they have done something to deserve it. God picks people, loves people and shows His kindness to people because He is God. He is the One who makes the impossible possible! He makes the unlovable exceedingly lovable. He makes utterly useless extremely useful. And in doing so He often turn the world upside down! And boy, did He turn Mary’s world upside down! This brings us to that inquisitive question in the middle of our reading. You can imagine sweet, innocent Mary asking, “How will this be?” Like any 13-15-year-old teenage girl who knows a bit about biology Mary was baffled this announcement of her pregnancy. She knew what she had done and what she hasn’t done. She wasn’t daft. She knew that she was still a virgin! I’m sure Gabriel must’ve smiled when he heard this. I also think that he was tender and patient when he eloquently described how the Holy Spirit would come upon her and cause her to become pregnant. And then he gave her some evidence of the miraculous power he was speaking about when he shared the news of elderly relative Elizabeth’s pregnancy in her old age. Friends, strangely enough, in this account of what happened Gabriel left out almost all the details of what Mary was going to experience. He shared just the bare necessities. It reminds me of a Terry Gilkyson song from Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’: Look for the bare necessities, The simple bare necessities. Forget about your worries and your strife, I mean the bare necessities, old Mother Nature's recipes, that brings the bare necessities of life.” I know it sounds wacky but I think God often works like this in our lives. He sends us a message – just the bare necessities of what we need to know, just giving us a hint of the miraculous with small confirmations here and there along the way, but often He provides none of the particulars of how it will all take place. It seems to me that Gabriel’s account covered just the bare necessities that would cause Mary to understand what Gabriel meant when he told her: “For nothing is impossible for God!” And to Mary that bare necessity, that would cause her to believe, was what Gabriel said about Elisabeth: “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. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” And she responded as follows: “I am the Lord’s servant; may it be to me as you have said.” I think we call this faith. When we come to understand the bare necessities about God, this is how we will respond. Now, I’ve got a question for you: “Have you reached that point in your life when you can respond like Mary: I’m the Lord’s servant; Lord may your will be done in me, and to me and through me!” Friends, if you think that this is just too far-fetched, if you think that God would never use you like He did with Mary I’d like to challenge you to think again. Ask yourself: “Why not? Why would God not use you? What is it that would disqualify you from being useful for God’s purposes?” Old age, anonymity, your gender, your status in life and in society? Remember this: Mary wasn’t someone of particular significance or importance in Nazareth. She was no daughter of privilege, no sister of success, no cousin to royalty. She was just a teenager—a young girl “pledged to be married to a man named Joseph.” An ordinary forgettable young woman who expected to live an ordinary forgettable life. But the Christmas story reminds us God had other plans. He sent Gabriel to deliver the bare necessities of that plan – just a few snippets – but enough for Mary to believe. “You’re going to have a son,” Gabriel said, “and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever.” Friends, even though Gabriel shared so little with Mary, what he shared with her was no small thing; in fact, it’s probably the most important event he could have told Mary about. I’m sure that she would have understood the significance of the language Gabriel was using to describe the son that she’d give birth to – You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32 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, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Yes, she must’ve understood that Gabriel was talking about the Messiah. As part of a Jewish family and community, she most assuredly would have grown up with a deep appreciation of Jewish history and anticipation of a Messiah who would save them from hundreds of years of tyranny. To me personally the amazing thing about Mary response to Gabriel’s message is that in the face of this dramatic, angelic visitation, her eventual response was one of humility and obedience. She did not question Gabriel’s intent and ask, “Why me?” or pause to consider the consequences. She simply replied, “May it be to me as you have said.” Later, when visiting her elderly cousin Elizabeth, Mary would witness the confirmation of Gabriel’s message. Rejoicing and celebrating all that God had done for her, Mary expressed a humble thanksgiving to God for choosing her to serve Him in this a rare and powerful way. Friends, even though Mary was merely an unforgettable teenage girl – one among millions – she was also an exceptionally special woman; she just didn’t know it yet. But you and I know that today – she became the mother of God Incarnated – God in the flesh. She became the mother of the Saviour of the world and mankind. Did she experience her extraordinariness? Did it cause her great comfort and joy? Somehow, I doubt it. I think from that moment on till the day of her death her life was upside down. Just stop for a moment and consider what was going on around her. Once Gabriel departed and left her with the knowledge that she’s pregnant, there still was that whole “pledged to be married to a man named Joseph” thing. This was a one-year commitment before marriage that was just as meaningful as Mary and Joseph’s looming marriage. They actually belonged to each other at this point in the story. Picture their first discussion about this. Talk about an awkward conversation. Earlier I said that as a man it’s very difficult for me to think myself in Mary’s shoes. But I can tell you that I’m sure that I could place myself in Joseph’s shoes. I know what I would’ve thought if my fiancé came to me and tell me that she’s pregnant and I know that I cannot be the father because we haven’t been intimate. Joseph must have been so confused: angelic visits, King of Israel, virgin birth? Sure enough, Joseph was more than a little taken aback to discover the woman he was going to marry had suddenly become pregnant. Can you imagine what must have gone through his mind? Well, you don’t need to. It’s recorded in Matthew. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. — Matthew 1:19 We know Joseph didn’t “buy” Mary’s angelic visitation explanation. Matthew tells us that. He believed that she deserved public disgrace. But because he was a righteous man – read that to mean a devout believer – we decided to divorce her quietly. Friends, let’s be honest, he could have responded in anger.… Certainly, he must have been confused, frustrated, and distressed. I know that I would’ve been. But do you see his heart? Notice the depth of character. He didn’t want to expose Mary to public disgrace. Even though his heart was breaking, even though he felt cheated, even though he thought Mary was lying he was thinking of Mary’s well-being first. Yes, Mary’s life was turned upside down, but so was Joseph’s. However, he didn’t use the occasion to make her upside-down life even more unbearable. This says a lot about the kind of man Joseph was and also gives us a hint of the greater challenges that both Mary and Joseph would face if they went through with the marriage. Of course, Joseph didn’t divorce her. Another encounter with an angel helped him see the truth of her story: “But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, ‘Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.’ All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us.’ When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” — Matthew 1:20–25 Again, the angelic message shared only the bare necessities – only what Joseph had to hear in order to believe Mary’s story. And he did! We this from how Joseph responded to the angel’s words: He simply “did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him.” (Friends, Angels clearly can be quite convincing) But this is not all I want you to notice of real significance: it is the way he did it that’s so significant. He honoured Mary, protected her, and took care of her. Notice how he had no union with her until she gave birth and how he kept her from public disgrace. While Joseph had the benefit of an angel’s words to explain Mary’s story, the rest of the community would still have been sceptical at best and accusatory at worst. Friends, perhaps there’s a message here worth pondering – the coming of Jesus the Messiah turned the whole world upside down – that was true for his mother and her earthly husband and everyone else who would one day carry His name. Friends, today you and I should remember that in the birth of Jesus, God has put down the mighty from their seats and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. After the birth of Jesus nothing would ever be safe or normal again – for God revealed to us that He makes the impossible possible – a virgin gave birth – her fiancé accepted her story as truth – and an undeserving world received a Saviour. And yet, paradoxically, this Saviour, we became the greatest revolutionary of all time was not a rebel, but the obedient Son of the Most Holy – Immanuel – God with us. Friends, because of his birth that we celebrate at Christmas you and I can know the bare necessities of what we need to know to believe. Christmas enables us to know “What is God like?” and “What has God done?” The importance of Christmas lies in the incredible insight that it offers. If we had not heard the story so often, our response might well be: “Awesome!” In the midst of all the activity and excitement that are part of Christmas, we truly need some quiet time to ponder the meaning of the day. The Christmas revelation that we celebrate today is that God has revealed himself definitively in Jesus. When we wonder what God is like or when people ask us what is God like, we can say: God is like Jesus. He is the One who forgives us and enables us to move ahead, He is the One who promises us an unmatched destiny. It is small wonder that we give gifts at Christmas; it is because we have been gifted first. When we wonder “What God’s relationship to the world is?” Or “What does God do for us?” the Christmas story of Mary’s pregnancy, her and Joseph’s response to it and the birth of the Messiah, tells us that we believe in a God who fulfils His promises and puts His love to work as He promised. Friends, undeserving as we are, ordinary, insignificant and forgettable as we are, we are caught up in this mystery of humility, of a Saviour born in simplicity to an ordinary unmarried teenage bride to be, and first announced to shepherds. We now know the bare necessities of what God is not like. In him there is no flashy pretence, no puffed up pride, and no self-glorification. And we also know the bare necessities of what God wants: God loves lowliness, submission, and acceptance that both Mary and Joseph displayed. Out this lowliness, submission and obedience our God makes the impossible to become possible – a world destined for destruction is saved. Allow me to close with a quote from John’s Gospel, John 3:16–18 (NIV84) 16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” Friends, Christmas day is our day of remembrance and gratitude. Busy as we may be today with visits, gifts, and meals to prepare, we should stop and remember that two great questions have been answered for us. What is God like and what does He do for us? At the first Christmas’ manger, we stand in awe at the humility of our God who became flesh so that we could become His family. Friend, may the bare necessities of the Christmas story convince you to live responsively like Mary and Joseph did. Mary responded with: “I’m the Lord’s servant; Lord, may your will be done in me, and to me and through me!” Joseph responded by simply doing what the Lord’s anger commanded him. What about you… Amen