Mother to Child

Cast of Christmas

Mother to Child

Luke 1:26–38 ESV

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 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. 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. For nothing will be impossible with God.” 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.

## I. Mary was a normal, Jewish girl.

We tend to place Mary on a pedestal. These characters in the story we treat like they were some kind of superheroes, but just like Joseph, Mary was a normal Jewish girl. She grew up in traditional Jewish culture and was betrothed to be married to a carpenter named Joseph. She was a virgin and had never known a man physically. She was probably around fourteen years old because marriage took place much younger in those days. We do know something about her that was not normal though. She had found favor with God. She was chosen by God. Please understand that there was nothing about Mary that caused God to look at her and decide that she had shown herself to do all of the right things and had earned the right to be chosen. No. That's not what happened. In God's sovereign wisdom, He chose Mary to be the vessel through which He would bring the Lord Jesus Christ into the earth.

This is a foreshadow of the gospel. If you are a Christian, there was nothing good enough or pure enough in us that God should choose us to be saved. But in his grace, mercy, and love, He spoke to your heart and you believed the Gospel. It is His doing. It was His choice to use Mary. It was unmerited. Mary was not perfect. She had a sin nature just like me and you.

## II. Mary experienced an abnormal visit.

It wasn't everyday that an angel came to deliver a message to someone. In fact, prior to the events surrounding the coming of Jesus, the Lord had been silent to His people for about four hundred years. The people were dwelling in darkness and silence. And not bursting forth was an amazing announcement.

Gabriel comes with this message that she has found favor with God. And if that wasn't enough to be amazed by, he tells this virgin young lady that she is going to have a baby. He tells her that the baby is going to be the "Son of the Most High." She was hearing that this baby to be born to her was the Son of God.

This brings me to something I mentioned last week when we talked about Joseph. I believe I also read this last year around this time. Several years ago, a man named Mark Lowry wrote a song called, "Mary, Did You Know?" It is a beautifully written song and became and instant classic for Christmastime. I can still remember hearing him sing it on the video where he introduced it when I was a teenager. One of my touring musician friends even recorded a version of it. To be sure, Mary didn't know everything there was to know about Jesus. But she actually did know some things. The angel told her some of these things. So, many years after the song became popular, Stephen Altrogge, another musician penned an imagined letter from Mary to Mark Lowry regarding his famous song about her. It reads like this:

> Dear Mr. Lowry,

> Can I call you Mark? Do you ever go by “Marky”? Probably not. Unfortunately, that name hasn’t been used much since Mr. Wahlberg and his funky bunch.

> I wanted to briefly comment on your wildly popular Christmas song, “Mary Did You Know?” Given that it was written to me and about me, I feel I may be able to answer the question that you ask approximately 900 times in the song.

> In short, yes, I did know.

> I can’t quite understand why this is so confusing.

> How did I know? The angel told me.

>Remember that part in the Bible? He told Joseph too, which is why he didn’t divorce me (thank GOODNESS!).

> Plus, he told Zechariah, Elizabeth, and many Old Testament prophets. It was kind of common knowledge that the Messiah would do the things in your song.

> Now don’t get me wrong. Every time I hear a church group perform “Mary Did You Know?” as special music (and I hear it A LOT), I feel honored.

> But your song has also caused me some trouble. Every time I make a mistake, some joker will snicker and say, “Hey Mary, did you know?” It’s enough to make me want to slap them!

> And Joseph won’t let me get away with anything. I forget one thing and he mutters under his breath, “Looks like you didn’t know.” It’s not like he’s the sharpest tool in the box, and yet he uses your song as ammunition against me.

> People are always coming up to me and asking me stupid questions like, “Hey Mary, who’s going to win the Super Bowl?” I always smile politely but in my head I’m thinking, Keep this up and I’m going to have my Son come after you.

> So I’m wondering if you could rewrite your song and title it, “Yes, Mary Knew, For The Sake Of All That’s Good and Holy, She Knew.”

> I know it doesn’t have quite the same ring, but it’s closer to the truth.

> I look forward to discussing this further with you.

> Thank you for your time.

> Sincerely,

> Mary

## III. Mary exhibits a faith that leads to obedience

She doesn't understand how this could happen because she knows the way these things happen naturally and she knows that has not been the case here. Yet, even in her incomprehension of what was taking place, her not understanding how it could happen, she submits to God's plan in humble obedience. She believes and that belief is worked out in obedience. Her faith in God, her trust in the plan, moves her to obey. It's truly amazing.

Understand that this was inconvenient for her. It was dangerous for her. And though it had been foretold in the prophets, it was unprecedented.

This was an unexpected plan. She embraced the unexpected plan. Often times we reject unexpected things in our lives and yet here is a young girl, who's life may be in danger, embracing the call on her life. Following God will not always look how you think it will look. Sometimes unexpected things will come into your life and instead of looking at them as inconveniences, step into them with faith that you will serve God no matter what life looks like.

## IV. Mary breaks forth in praise.

Luke 1:39–56 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.” And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

Luke 1:39-56

Now, fast forward to later on in the Gospels and we see that Mary is among Jesus's followers.

## V. The faithful servant becomes a disciple.

If we were to move to the end of the Gospel accounts we would find Mary continuing to trust the Lord this time as a Christ follower. She became a Christian. She believed the Gospel.

The mother of the Son of God became a child of God.

Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, they were all part of the plan. They were characters cast in the unfolding of the revelation of Jesus as the Son of God. They knew that they were not the lead actor. They were not the point of the story. They were window dressing pointing to the real beauty, to the reason for the commotion. They didn't assume it was all about them and what God could do for them. They were aimed at one thing. Jesus. The Son of God. Born of a virgin. God and Man. Born to save sinners from an eternity separated from God.

It wasn’t about her and she knew this. She was part of the story but the main point of the story was Jesus, come to redeem sinners.

What is the main point of your life? The main point is Jesus in all of this. The question is will you repent of your sin and believe

How will you respond when something unexpected comes into your life?

Some of you have that happening right now. Something is going on in your life and you're like, "God, why is this happening?"

Will you respond with humble, obedience?

Will you throw all of your trust and care on Jesus and continue to follow him though you don't know what will happen?