Madonna and the Margins
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Introduction
Introduction
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from 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. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And 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 bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. 39 In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, 42 and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” 46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” 56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from 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. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And 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 bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
LK1.26-38
Let me tell you about an unexpected encounter and conversation that I had almost two months ago. I was flying from Washington Regan Airport to Orlando, FL to teach a seminary course. And I was able to use some of my frequent flyer miles to upgrade my seat to first class.
Now some people, when they fly, are very conversational. They say “hi” to the person sitting next to them, and try to strike up a conversation. That’s not me. I’ve got my headphones on before I sit in my seat. I’m either going to watch a movie I’ve downloaded, or I’m going to listen to music while I read a book. And I don’t have little earbuds in my ears, I’ve got headphones that cover your ears so that the message is clear.
And for some reason I thought to myself, “First class is going to be nice. I know nobody’s going to want to talk to me. I’ll have peace and quiet.” Well, guess what happened? The gentleman sitting next to me reached out his hand and introduced himself. “Hi, I’m John.” I shook his hand, “I’m Irwyn.” I think to myself, “This is polite and innocuous. It’s not going to be a problem.” Then he said, “What do you do Irwyn?” Internally… “I’m a pastor.” “Oh. I’m a minister too.”
Turns out that John was flying back home following his participation at a roundtable meeting of evangelical leaders with President Trump at the White House. The majority of the flight was him extolling to me the virtues of the President and his policies. At the top of his concern was protecting the church in America through policies and legislation.
Now, I’m for religious liberty. But I attempted to press on this point and said, “I’m not afraid for the church in America based on who’s president, because Jesus is the one who promised that he would build his church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. And, in fact, the history of the church is one of growing and flourishing under persecution.” He said, “Well, I don’t know about that.”
The message in Scripture that God rhythmically beats throughout is that the human condition is one of weakness and vulnerability; that true strength for people doesn’t come from our mental and physical fortitude. No. God is the source of all true strength, and we experience it through our absolute and utter dependence on him.
The message in Scripture that God rhythmically beats throughout is that the human condition is one of weakness and vulnerability; that true strength for people doesn’t come from our mental and physical fortitude. No. God is the source of all true strength, and we experience it through our absolute and utter dependence on him.
The experience of strength comes through our proximity to God. What stood out to me most in my airplane conversation with John was his utter sense of satisfaction in being in close proximity to the power of the presidency. He said, “We’ve never had access to the President and the White House the way we do now.” And that proximity brought with it, for him, a sense of confidence that things would go well legislatively and judicially. And, in the course of our conversation, he was able to be dismissive of the president’s moral and ethical failings.
Let me make this point. I don’t really care what your political persuasion is. You’re missing it, if you think that’s the point. Because whether we are on the left or on the right politically, we’re human. And to be human is to prefer to be situated in proximity to power as if the blessings are found in being in positions of worldly strength and not in being weak and vulnerable.
One of the themes that runs through our passage today is the power of God. But, it’s the power of God on display at the margins, where Mary is. I want to share these three points with you from the passage, Grace at the Margins, Glory at the Margins, and Gratitude from the Margins.
Grace at the Margins
Grace at the Margins
Why is this story even here? Why do we get to talk about Madonna and the Margins this morning? The gospel writers don’t give us every detail about the facets of Jesus’s life and story. In fact, it’s only Matthew and Luke who tell us of Jesus’s birth, Mark and John leave those details out of their gospel accounts. Here’s my point. Luke tells us at the beginning of this book his reason for every detail that he’s including. He writes to Theophilus in vv.3-4, “it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you…that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”
I want you to understand that this is here so that you and I can have certainty about the way the grace of God reached down and continues to reach down into the margins with saving power to lift high the lowly. And this is our first point, Grace at the Margins.
Luke tells us about a young teenage virgin girl named Mary, who lived in a nowhere city named Nazareth. Nazareth is the opposite of Washington, DC. Nobody is trying to move to Nazareth. It’s about as far from the center of power, influence and industry as you can get. Matter of fact, the common attitude about Nazareth is given to us by Nathaniel in . Phillip finds Nathaniel and says, “We found the one Moses, the Law and the prophets wrote about, Jesus of Nazareth.” Nathaniel says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” That’s what people thought about Nazareth, and that’s where Mary lived. A young woman at the margins in a city at the margins of society.
As Phil Ryken writes in his commentary on this passage,
It is doubtful whether Gabriel could have found a more unlikely person to greet anywhere in Israel. Mary was among the lowliest of the low...She was a poor, uneducated peasant girl living in a small country town far from the center of power...Mary was also a female in a culture that discounted women. From a merely human perspective, she was totally insignificant.
And yet, it is to her God sends the angel Gabriel. Gabriel says to her in v. 28,
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
Mary is shaken to her core. She’s deeply troubled. She’s afraid. And she’s trying to figure out what’s happening here. Then, Gabriel says to her in v.30,
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
The verb in v.28 and the noun in v.30 translated as “favor” is the same word for grace. “O favored one,” that’s in the passive voice. To be a favored one is to be a recipient of God’s grace. To have found favor with God is to be a recipient of God’s grace. The grace of God has found her at the margins. It’s not as though there’s some special piety at the margins that makes her somehow deserving of grace; because the grace of God is always something that is undeserved, not merited.
In a recent article titled, Protestants Need to Talk More About Mary, Wheaton College professor Amy Peeler writes,
The fact that God became incarnate through a woman shapes all of Christian theology.
I would modify it a bit to say the fact that God became incarnate through this woman shapes all of Christian theology.
Here’s the deal. First, God always sees those who are at the margins. He always sees, particularly with eyes of compassion, those who are at the margins. And his seeing is connected to his acting, to his doing. We’ll get to this in a minute, but this is what Mary says in her song of praise, “He has looked upon the low estate of his servant” (v.48). And his looking leads to his doing. She says in v.49 “The Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name!”
This presses us because unless you find yourself at the margins—lacking resources, unable to pay bills, unable to afford health care, unable to live securely in your home, desperately seeking a better life somewhere else, unless you find yourself physically, or materially or emotionally at the margins—you and I are prone to not really see the margins at all. And God’s selecting Mary and bestowing his grace upon her reminds us that he always sees at the margins. And if we’re to be his people, we have to see the margins too. Byran Stevenson of the Equal Justice Initiative says in his book, Just Mercy, that his work with incarcerated people on death row has taught him something. Almost all of these individuals come from impoverished, marginalized contexts. He says he’s learned that the opposite of poverty is not wealth. The opposite of poverty is justice. What people on the margins are regularly excluded from is the experience of justice in this life, and if we’re not on the margins, we’re often blind to it. But God is not.
Secondly is our next point. God’s Glory at the Margins.
Glory at the Margins
Glory at the Margins
We get two unexpected and incredible declarations from Gabriel. Not only is God’s grace showing up at the margins, his glory is coming to and through the margins. Do not fear, Mary, for you have found favor with God, Gabriel says,
LK1.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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.”
Hundreds of years prior the prophet Isaiah said that a child would be born, a son would be given, upon whose shoulders the government would rest. He will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. There would be no end to the expansion of his kingdom on the throne of David. He would establish and uphold his rule with justice and righteousness forever.
And Gabriel says to Mary, this son is coming to the world through you. The glory of God in Jesus, the King was not coming through the queen in the palace. He was coming into the world through this precious young woman, Mary, of no social consequence, living at the margins. Why? Because this is where we all live! Can I tell you something? It doesn’t matter how much money you have. It doesn’t matter how good your health is. It doesn’t matter how much physically strong and capable you are. It doesn’t matter what your level of education is. God knew and God knows that the human condition is not only one that is weak and vulnerable. It is one that is thoroughly beset, permeated through and through with sin and rebellion against God. With respect to God, the human condition is a condition of life at the margins, without any hope unless he did something about it!
Phil Ryken:
To rescue us from our sins and lift us to glory, Jesus first had to enter into the misery of our lost and fallen condition…God’s grace is for the lowliest of the low.
Do you remember what Jesus says when he is asked why he eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners? In , Jesus answers their question this way,
31 And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
This is why Jesus comes in through the margins, the glory of God veiled in human flesh, born from a poor woman from a nowhere town. It’s because we’re all desperately in the camp of the sick, needing a physician. The apostle Paul put it this way,
2COR8.9
9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
The glory of God showing up at the margins. And when Mary hears this message from Gabriel, the fear is gone, but it’s replaced by confusion. How is this going to happen? I am a virgin. She’s betrothed to Joseph but their marriage ceremony has not taken place and their union has not been consummated. In his reply, Gabriel points us to the other aspect of God’s glory at the margins in this passage; the power, presence and work of God the Holy Spirit,
LK1.
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren.
LK1.
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
The Holy Spirit makes the invisible God visible to us in Jesus. The Holy Spirit is the one who fully and permanently united God the Son to our humanity. The Holy Spirit put flesh on God for us. The powerful work of the Spirit to bring Jesus into being in Mary’s womb declares to us that our flesh matters to God.
Let me tell you what I mean. There’s an OT allusion here in Gabriel’s words here when he says, “the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” In the Greek translation of the OT, the Septuagint, the same verb is used in , when Moses could not enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. The Septuagint says the cloud overshadowed the tent and the glory of the Lord filled it. The presence of the Lord in the person of the Holy Spirit overshadowing the tabernacle to dwell with his people was just a foretaste. Now the glory of God overshadows Mary at the margins to declare that God’s presence with humanity was permanent. Jesus’s conception was miraculous, but his gestation was normal.
The Spirit gave him a body like ours to secure our future with God through faith in his name. As Professor Michael Horton put it recently, “Because Jesus still has a body, material and ecclesial, we still have a future.” God in the flesh tells us that our flesh matters to God. God is not simply after some disembodied spiritual life for humanity that doesn’t have an impact on the physical aspect of our lives and the lives of our neighbors.
What do you think about the Holy Spirit? You think he’s only concerned with the immaterial, ethereal things? No. The second verse of the Bible tells us that at creation the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. The Spirit was active in the creation of our physical world. The Spirit gave the Son of God a body. How does he do it? What’s this overshadowing like? It’s a mystery, and we’re not called to understand it. We’re called to believe and rejoice! To believe with Mary what Gabriel says to her in v.37,
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
It’s like what John Calvin says about the mystery of the Lord’s Supper. “I would rather adore the mystery than understand it.”
The Holy Spirit is the giver of life. He’s the giver of physical life, and therefore, matter matters to God.
Gratitude From the Margins
Gratitude From the Margins
And Mary responds to the beautiful mystery that she will give birth to the Messiah with a song of gratitude and praise from the margins. She visits her older relative, Elizabeth, and the baby in her womb leaps for joy at the presence of the baby in Mary’s womb. Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, pronounces a blessing on Mary. And Mary sings a song for the ages that will live forever.
She declares in her song that God is perfect in his care, he’s perfect in his power, his mercy, his justice and his faithfulness. And her gratitude is not just about her personal experience! She’s rejoicing over what the Lord is doing for her and for others.
He’s perfect in his care:
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
LK1.46-
He’s looked upon the humble estate of his servant. He’s seen her at the margins, and that looking is a loving look. But it’s not just for her.
52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
What my Savior has done for me, she sings, is a picture of his plan through the Messiah to exalt the humble and lowly.
The Lord is perfect in his power,
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And the declaration of his power is about his ability to execute his justice. The Mighty One is at work on her behalf, but not only for her,
51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
LK1.
The power of God is so infinite that he can cause her to conceive without having had any relation with a man. Then, she remembers how he’s shown his mighty arm in the past on behalf of his people as a way of declaring what he’s going to do through his Messiah. But Mary rejoices because she sees that God is a just God. And while it may seem that those who are arrogant and haughty and proud and rich as a result have no worries, get away with oppression, and live pain free, God is strong enough to execute justice in his own time and way.
51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; 52 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
LK1.51-5
The power of God is so infinite that he can cause her to conceive without having had any relation with a man. Then, she remembers how he’s shown his mighty arm in the past on behalf of his people as a way of declaring what he’s going to do through his Messiah.
Lastly, he’s perfect in his mercy and faithfulness,
He’s perfect in his mercy,
50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
LK1.46-
LK1.46-
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy,
54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
The one thing that those who fear the Lord can know for sure is that God’s mercy is for them. Notice that his mercy is from generation to generation to those who fear him. She is praising God for an ongoing mercy. It wasn’t just that the generations before her could count on God’s mercy. The perfection of God’s mercy is that it never runs out.
LK
The one thing that those who fear the Lord can know for sure is that God’s mercy is for them. Notice that his mercy is from generation to generation to those who fear him. She is praising God for an ongoing mercy. It wasn’t just that the generations before her could count on God’s mercy. The perfection of God’s mercy is that it never runs out because he’s faithful to keep his promises. He never forgets.
The one thing that those who fear the Lord can know for sure is that God’s mercy is for them. Notice that his mercy is from generation to generation to those who fear him. She is praising God for an ongoing mercy. It wasn’t just that the generations before her could count on God’s mercy. The perfection of God’s mercy is that it never runs out.
This is how God is, Mary sings for us. He always exalts the humble and resists the proud. He always lifts the lowly and brings down the lofty (Ryken). He does this by the power of the Spirit through the Lord Jesus Christ. He works like this with individuals. He works like this with churches. He works like this with organizations. He works like this with nations. Is it any wonder that we hear Jesus offer this invitation?
28 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
MATT
Is it any wonder that when the apostle Paul was explaining the gospel to the Corinthians, he said to them
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.
1CO1
Let me close here with another quote from Amy Peeler’s article. She writes,
Like a multifaceted jewel, at times the Magnificat comforts us when we feel downtrodden; at others it calls us to champion the oppressed. When conversations about race and poverty are politicized and fraught, the Magnificat is our centering tether. And when we are tempted to become self-righteous in the idea that we are on the right side of history, it challenges us to ask in what ways we are the mighty, the full and rich who need to be toppled.
You see, Gabriel’s announcement to Mary and Mary’s response of praise is about the coming of King Jesus to establish his kingdom and reign. And, as one writer puts it, “the coming of the kingdom of God brings the ordinary life of mankind into line with the will of God.” That is, it brings people, and the things that people do, and the institutions that people inhabit, in line with the will of God. So, we are always confronted with the questions, “Where is he calling us to repent of striving to be in line with the proud, whom He resists?” “Where is he calling us to repent of we missing the margins, whom God sees?” And how is he calling us as his agents of his kingdom to demonstrate our complete dependence on him, living by grace, for his glory, with all gratitude, especially at the margins.