Possibilities Within Us

Familiar Story

This is a familiar story to many of us. The angel Gabriel announces to the virgin Mary that she will give birth to the Son of God.

Contrast this to the big reveals trends of today. People go to great lengths to make very public announcements to reveal a pregnancy or the gender of a child. But God chose to reveal the coming of his Son without fanfare. The angel spoke only to Mary.

Gabriel said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

Mary was perplexed at the greeting.

She could have been perplexed that

(1) Outside cultural customs, an unknown man was directly addressing her.

(2)she was an ordinary teenaged girl living in a village in the countryside- Nazareth; an unknown without power or privilege.

‘favored one’? how? what does this mean?

It is not extraordinary that this ordinary girl or any ordinary person might be curiously confused by such a greeting.

We don’t know in what form Gabriel appeared to Mary. We can assume, his form was not out of the ordinary and that Mary was hospitable though perplexed.

Hebrews 13:2 ~ Do not neglect showing hospitality to strangers; some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Gabriel senses her puzzlement but reassures her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God,” and presses on with the message.

31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him 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 ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Not only does she have favor but she will bear the Son of the Most High who will reign forever on the throne of David!

These words exceed any common speculations about the Messiah or a Messianic kingdom of limited time.

Gabriel’s announcement connects Jesus, the child Ordinary Mary would bear, directly to the kingdom of God which has no end.

WOW! Words of wonder! [reminds me of the old Batman episodes - POW, BAM]

What an extraordinary announcement to an ordinary girl from Nazareth, a village far from the center of political, economic, or religious power. Nazareth, at best, was a town out on the margins. When Andrew told Nathaniel they had found Jesus of Nazareth, Nathaniel quipped, “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

What is God doing in the margins?

Right now, while the world focuses on power struggles, purchasing power, wrapping or shipping presents, proper precautions for gatherings, what is God up to that is away from what is at the world’s center of attention?

What is God doing in the margins of this world?

What is God doing in the margins of our communities? our families?

What is God doing in the margins of our lives?

What is God doing that we have yet to perceive, recieved or believed?

Have we dismissed God’s angels, ignored God’s messages due to the distractions and distrust in our world?

Regardless of the distractions or distrust that crowd our calendars or cloud our hearts and minds, God is patient and particular enough to meet us where we are and to work within us wherever and whenever there is an opening in our hearts and minds, no matter the size.

God is Particular - Consider:

God sent Gabriel at a particular time (six months into Elizabeth’s pregnancy, to a particular place (a town called Nazareth in Galilee), to a particular girl named Mary- a virgin engaged to a man named Joseph, of the house of David.

Gabriel delivered a particular message to Mary about this coming birth of Jesus.

God has a particular purpose for each of us that will be revealed at a particular time and a particular place by a particular messenger of God’s choosing.

What will you do with what God’s speaks into your particular life?

Hearing that she would bear a son, Mary questioned, “How can this be, [How is this possible?] since I am a virgin?”

We might ask, how can this be?

I have no experience in that field? I don’t know how to do that?

I don’t know anyone in that organization, city, state, or country.

I don’t have the money to get to that place to speak to those people or to sing to those people.

The questioning is fine.

We were created by an all-knowing God to be curious co-creaters and curators.

Curiosity can be constructive when our hearts and minds are receptive to possibilities.

Mary’s questions seemed more curious that critical as she remained open to hear Gabriel out.

Mary listened…as the angel provided the answer.

35  “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 holy; he will be called Son of God.

WOW! What?! That’s even more incredible!

Further allaying concern over this incredible promise and process, he says:

36 And now [even as we speak], your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.

37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” [WOW! BAM!]

Mary, simply because you are a virgin does not mean God cannot bring forth life through you.

Application: For any and all of us, even when we are called to unknown, unfamiliar, or ‘virgin’ territory, God can birth new life through us.

God will use whomever God chooses.

It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are, what you have done or are doing, inexperience is not an excuse to decline a call. Here’s why.

When we come to our end, God begins.

We witness God’s strength in our weakness. 2 Cor 12:9 ~

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in [your] weakness.”

If we will say ‘Yes’, God will bring us to and through the rest.

Whatever it is that you think is impossible; know that nothing is impossible [that is aligned] with God’s will.

This is the One who creates by speaking.

The one who took ordinary dust, formed humankind and breathe life into our being.

This is the One who does the extraordinary through the ordinary.

God brings the extraordinary through the ordinary

Gabriel announces an extraordinary birth that will come through an ordinary girl.

So What?

Ordinary Mary is the focus of this text.

God and the Holy Spirit are extraordinary by nature. The miraculous nature of the immaculate conception is in the realm of holy mysteries that engender the wonder that causes our souls pant for God as the deer pant for streams of water (Psalm 42:1). Once we begin to drink of the Living Water God provides, there is no other source that nourishes so deeply and satisfies so completely.

Mary’s ordinariness is the extraordinary part of this text.

An ordinary teenage girl will become God’s agent to help change the world.

Birth, an ordinary event, gets elevated to the highest significance through Mary and Elizabeth- virgin and barren women.

In a culture that highly valued the ability to bear children; the virgin and barren women were among the lowly because they had not or could not perpetuate a lineage. Yet, God chose from the least to bear John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ.

The more ordinary an object, event or being, the more faith is required to perceive its sacred potential and miraculous qualities.

Mary was "ordinarily sacred." - simple, unassuming from nowhere-Nazareth.

Her ordinariness provides the perfect contrast to the extraordinary work of the Holy Spirit in her life.

It was in her quiet, upright day-to-day life that Mary "found favor with God." No unusual feats; just simple living.

After listening to Gabriel, Mary responded:

The New Revised Standard Version The Birth of Jesus Foretold

Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Mary expanded her simple hospitable, living to self-giving. She surrendered all to the LORD.

What about her being engaged to Joseph [How would she explain her pregnancy to her betrothed, to her parents, who would believe a voiceless, vulnerable teenage girl? We know that God handled that.]

God’s calls do not typically come with clear details. That’s where faith comes in. Faith is willingness to take the first step without seeing the full staircase. [Abraham, Moses, and others were sent without the full picture]

There will be consequences to answering our calls. There are costs to answering God’s call but the eternal reward is a worthy prize.

Mary was open-mind and open-hearted; Gabriel departed and God got started. We know the rest of the story as we celebrate the birth of Christ each year during the Christmas season.

If Ordinary Mary can be integrally included in the work of God, what about us?

We are ‘ordinarily sacred’ like Mary.

All of us ordinary folks are of sacred worth and can be used by God but we must make space for the grace of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, our minds and hearts.

Mary received, believed, and conceived the Promise.

As we await the coming of the Lord,

are you open to receive, believe and conceive God’s promise through your life ?

are you open to allow God to grow the possibilities within you?

God is always at work in our margins because God knows the possibilities within us.

Now is the time to re-center to God, to listen for God’s messengers, to ask God

‘God, what are the possibilities within me? Show me.’

‘God, what God will you birth through me to help change the world?’

As you begin to hear the promise, I pray that you will be a curious rather than critical; and simply respond,

“Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.

May it be so. Amen

Benediction

May the Creator who gives birth in the heart of a servant give birth within and through you.