The Glory of Christmas--Mary

Wow, can you imagine how she must have felt??

This Christmas we are going to look at the Glory of Christmas. This word “glory” also means “weight” it describes something heavy. It also has the sense of something that is important. Christmas may fill up with fun songs and good feelings but at the heart of it is a powerful story full of importance. It’s is a story full of something important, worthy of deference and truly filled to overflowing with the honor and majesty of God.

The truth is that many of you like Mary may be feeling the surprising weight of life this Christmas. 2020 has weighed you down with things you didn’t expect. Life has happened and sometimes it exhausts you. The message I want to bring you is that you have a Good shepherd who loves you and can carry you. I hope this Christmas you can slow down, take a breath and soak in the glory and weight of Christmas.

The Good Shepherd can carry you.

Jesus describes himself as the “Good Shepherd” throughout Jn 10.

You know even without struggles of life we can become overwhelmed and weighted down by Christmas. The expectations, cooking, and activities can weigh you down. I don’t know about you but I can get caught up in this magical sense of what Christmas can be and feel down when a season fails to meet my expectations. There can be a sense of not enough time or money to do what you want to do.

In one sense I’m thankful for how the Pandemic has slowed down and lowered expectations in life.

Don’t lose the Glory of Christmas in the Weight of your plans.

The Good Shepherd is ready and willing to carry you through Advent, the Christmas Season in a way that allows you to experience meaningful hope, peace, joy and love. Perhaps God’s greatest desire is for you to experience the depth of His love, joy and power this Christmas.

Interrupting your plans may be the best means God has for showing you the Glory of Christmas.

Think about our story. Our 31-week Mary had way different plans for her life. She and her husband were planning to invest in house renovations, more time together and more. And now with two children in college she and her husband found they were expecting another child. This certainly changed her plans.

Can you imagine pondering how much your plans would change with a new baby just as you are looking forward to retirement?!

Yet God repeatedly tells us he knows all about plans for our lives. God wants you to know that no matter how heavy your circumstances are you can know He has good plans for your lives. Don’t be afraid. Instead, like Mary did, ponder these things for your life.

Luke 2:19 ESV

19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.

Let’s take a look at some of the passages in God’s word that teach us about the plans He has for our lives.

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV

11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

Romans 8:28 ESV

28 And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Proverbs 16:9 ESV

9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.

Proverbs 19:21 ESV

21 Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.

1 Corinthians 2:9 ESV

9 But, as it is written, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him”—

Isaiah 14:24 ESV

24 The Lord of hosts has sworn: “As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand,

Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

God knows and has plans for our lives that we can only imagine. God also throughout history has a pattern of changing people’s plans from what they expected. You’ve experienced this through your lives.

The truth is it’s not bad to plan. In fact God often works through our plans to accomplish amazing things.

Yet, as one wise person humorously said.

“You have to have a plan so you can know what to deviate from.”

The key in living and thriving through changing plans is to not allow the changes from what you want to crush you. I know some of the most stressful moment in my life are when my plans get changed by someone else. I hate feeling out of control!

But I and we need to remember that Jesus the Good Shepherd wants to carry us through our changing plans.

The question is will you let Jesus carry you through? Will you slow down to take a breath? Will you notice the glory of Christmas by looking again at the story of the birth of Jesus.

God wants to show you His glory all year round and especially at Christmas. sometimes God practically moves mountains to let us know what His amazing plan is. He did that for Mary who is represented in this play.

Let’s read the encounter Mary had that changed her plans and her life.

Luke 1:26–38 ESV

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.

In one day all of Mary’s plans changed with that message from God. All the dreams for the future and how it would look were radically changed. She could worry about everything that would happen or she could choose to trust God.

The amazing thing is that Mary chose to wait and to trust God. She chose to trust God with her husband who himself had to wrestle with God’s plans.

And in the middle of all those worries and plans God brought the full weight of His presence to the world just as He said He would!

Galatians 4:4–5 ESV

4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Isn’t this promise from God epic? That God could work out the plan of salvation through an act of divine conception? In a young Jewish girl who had no idea what it would be like to be a mother? She was entrusted to grow this little one inside her and care for Him. She would give birth to the fullness of divinity clothed in full humanity.

Only God could effect a plan that everyone who calls on the name of Jesus would be saved from their sins.

Only God could work through this work to allow everyone who calls on the name of Jesus to be adopted into His family!!! Sons and daughters of the family of God.

What kind of God would do this? What kind of God would select a virgin girl to be the mother of His Only Begotten son? He’s the same One who would allow a former soccer mom with children in college to be 31 weeks pregnant. He’s the same God who allows dramatic changes in your lives too.

Only God knows the plans, future and more for each of us. We can fully expect for our plans to change based on the future only He knows. But in the middle of all the change we can stop, slow down, and meditate on the Christmas story.

God has plans to bless and care for us. God has plans to give a hope and a future. God wants us to experience the full Glory of Christmas.

Take time to meditate on the Glory of Christmas this week.