We need to see ourselves and God as clearly as Mary did

It’s almost Christmas, the waiting is almost over. Tomorrow we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus. We had our carol service last week, and we’ll be having our nativity service and midnight communion later on today. Today is Christmas Eve, but it’s also the fourth Sunday in Advent and we’ll have to wait a little longer. Jesus is not here yet, at least not the baby Jesus. We are still waiting, and watching and preparing; preparing not just our presents and our food and our decorations, but preparing ourselves.

Today’s reading is the story of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary, to tell her she is to have a baby. I want to look at that story and at the character of Mary. What can she show us about our relationship with God. If we were Roman Catholics I think we’d be a lot less self-conscious about looking at Mary.

Traditionally Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox church have unashamedly venerated Mary and I wonder sometimes if we have a protestant reluctance to look too closely at her. Its worth overcoming that. Of all the women who have ever lived, Mary was the only one chosen to bear the baby Jesus; God made flesh. It’s worth asking, what can we learn from her.

Mary herself said; “From now on all generations will call me blessed”, and she was right, she has consistently been remembered, and honoured by the church. Why? Why did God bless this poor, unmarried, status-less, teenage girl in this unique way?

I want to make three points, and I’m going to list them before we start. Firstly, Mary had an unflinchingly clear understanding of who she was. She knew who and what she was. She had no airs or pretensions. Secondly, she knew who God was. She knew his power and his character. And thirdly, because she knew who she and God were, Mary understood the relationship between them. Mary had a clear understanding about the relationship between them.

So, firstly, she had a clear understanding of who she was. She was nobody, really; nobody of any importance. She had no real status at all. Look at the beginning of Luke’s passage. God sends his messenger Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee. Even that needs to be spelled out because Nazareth is a nowhere place…to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph. The virgins name was Mary. Mary is a young girl, barely in her teens. She is neither a wife, yet, or a mother. Two things that would have given her some status. Even Joseph, the man who she’s not married to gets mentioned before her. Mary, at least in the world’s eyes, isn’t important.

“How can this be” says Mary to the angel when he tells her she is going to have a son who will be great and will be called the son of the Most High, and will be given the throne of his ancestor, David. “Since I am a virgin.”

Now we tend to think that she’s pointing out that she can’t have a child because she’s a virgin, but I’m not sure that’s it. The angel hasn’t mentioned the Holy Spirit or the virgin birth. Mary is engaged to Joseph and Joseph is the descendant of David. I think it would be natural for her to expect her son to be Joseph’s son. I’m not sure that she’s pointing out a technical problem with how you have babies. I think she’s saying “Why have you come to me? Why haven’t you gone to a princess, or someone from an important family? Or why haven’t you gone to Joseph, if he’s going to be this great man’s father. I’m nobody important”

What stares out from this passage is Mary’s faith in God. She knows who God is, and we see that in her great song that we’ve looked at today. She knows who God is. He is her saviour; “My soul rejoices in God my saviour”. She knows about God’s power, “God is the mighty one who has done great things”. He has done mighty deeds and scattered the proud. He has brought down rulers from their thrones.

Mary doesn’t just recognise God’s power. The world if full of powerful people who abuse power, who use power to exploit and belittle others, to take advantage of them, or simply neglect them. We only have to open our newspapers to see examples of that. Mary sees both God’s power and his character.

She sees his mercy to those who fear him, and by fear we’re not talking about cringing fear. We’re talking about something much more like the healthy respect or awe that sailors have for the sea, and people who work with electricity or explosives have for the environments in which they work; a profound respect and an awareness that these things should be approached respectfully. A bit like, and I wouldn’t want to push this analogy too far, a bit like how I used to approach the head master when I was at boarding school.

And she sees God’s priorities. The fact that he cares more for the humble than the proud, more for the poor than the rich, more for the weak than the strong. God isn’t just a mighty God but a loving God.

And that brings me to the third point; it’s only when we see ourselves for what we are; poor, naked but loved by God, and God for who he is. Strong, mighty, the creator of the universe, yet full of love, ready always to forgive those who turn to him. It’s only when we see ourselves and God clearly, that we can have the relationship with God that he wants.

If we have too high a view of ourselves, we don’t see the need for God, because we’re too busy trusting in our own strength, in our own resources. On the other hand, If we don’t see God’s power, and his love, if we think God is week or indifferent to us, we don’t see the point of following God. Let’s be like Mary and see both ourselves, and God, as we truly are.

Tomorrow we celebrate the birth of Jesus. Mighty, loving God, creator of the universe, who gives life to all and who holds the world in the palm of his hand, made frail flesh for our sake, because he loves the world, particularly the poor, the humble and the oppressed. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. This is the God who Mary saw clearly and trusted. This is the child that Mary carried. We can trust him as Mary trusted him, and as Lettie, God bless her, did until the end.

Pause

Amen.