The Mother of Mary November 28, 2021
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Introduction
Introduction
Can you imagine being Mary’s mother?
Can you imagine being Mary’s mother?
Can you imagine what it might have been like to be the parents of Mary? The Bible doesn't actually mention these two parents but it's a reasonable assumption to think that they like you and I are intimately connected to the future of their child. I have high expectations for the life I hope Christina and Isabelle live.
The same was even more so true in the 1st century Jewish culture. They like us wanted their daughters to grow up to be wives and mothers but even more so than us there was this idea of honor in the community. There was this idea of righteous living before God.
But differently from us there really was this sense where Jewish women look forward along with Jewish men to the coming of the Messiah. And that meant that Jewish women dreamed of being the one that would give birth to the Messiah. And of course if it wasn't going to be one woman then perhaps her daughter might be the one period they lived as a culture that lived and looked to the past for their identity but they continuously looked to the future because they expected a Messiah to come save them.
And this hope for the future... this dream that many Jewish young women had... came true in the life of Mary.
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.
we don't actually know how Mary communicated this message to her parents. But I can imagine the reactions portrayed in the video we watched today had to be close to accurate.
I can imagine all the emotions that went through this mother's mind. First of all there's shock that her daughter Mary who from all accounts we can see that she was a good child she was a good kid and Joseph was a righteous man from all accounts these were good kids and yet something happened and there's only one way that this something normally happens.
But in the same vein if indeed she had raised a good child in Mary Ann Mary came to her with this story of the Angel coming to her then it would have taken a few moments for the news to settle in. You know, it probably would have taken a few months for that news to settle in.
But if God could do the miraculous work of putting a child inside of Mary an Immaculate Conception then certainly God could do the work of changing the hearts and minds of Mary's parents.
And certainly what the Angel shared with Mary was true not just for her but in many lives and situations.
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Perhaps one of the greatest impossibilities in Mary's perspective early on was not the Immaculate Conception. Perhaps one of the greatest things that God did in her life was to allow her mother to finally believe her in the story of Jesus birth.
When you think about it leading up to the birth of Jesus Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem and then they quickly had to escaped to Egypt it might have been several years before Mary's mother actually met and held her grandchild.
If Mary's mother got to meet her grandchild, Jesus, what do you think her reaction would have been?
How would she have felt? What if she could see everything that was going to happen in the life of Jesus? What if she could see the miracles the cross the ascension? What if she could see everything that God was going to do?
God was in the process of doing something extraordinary through Mary. And Mary was only a teenager. And yet Mary's parents had to see their child and trust their child to God and trust that God was doing something that only he knew through their child.
The reality was that what God was doing was bigger and different then Mary's mother or Mary could have imagined!
Look what look what the new church looked like only a few decades later…..
You might say as another author put it what God was doing was bringing the ultimate gift a grandmother could ever ask for …. check it out:
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold
35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
Did you see the gift here?
It's OK if you didn't see it. Because it's not what we normally think of as a gift. But what would you wish for each of your grandchildren if you have them? I imagine the greatest wish that a godly grandparent would have is that their child or grandchild grows up to be a good and godly person who invest deeply in caring for others and is serious about their faith. Someone who lives with good community around them. The greatest gift a grandparent could wish for is that their child grows up to be the kind of person described in this passage in acts.
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
There were many times over this Thanksgiving week at both parents houses that my children were not of one mind and soul :) I want them to grow up to love and care for each other period I want them to grow up to be the kind of people described in acts chapter 4.
One heart and soul. If we raise our children to believe in an live for the one who came to earth this Christmas then the rest of their life actually falls into place. It's like we have been learning in the book of proverbs, if we pursue wisdom above all else then all else falls into place.
You know the Jews understood this idea of having one heart and mind loving God. They had this practice this phrase that every Jewish person would know called the shema. Every Jewish man and woman would have this committed to memory:
4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.
7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.
9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
If you were a Jewish parent in the 1st century you wanted to raise your child to know and keep the shema.
if you follow God with one heart and soul and everything else in your life fell into place. That's what honoring God and living rightly looks like. Look how many times this concept shows up throughout the rest of Deuteronomy:
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
13 “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,
16 “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul.
And then Jesus reminded us of the importance of the Shema during His ministry:
28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?”
29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.
30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’
31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
But Jesus said is that the greatest commandment is to love God with all you have period and the reality is if you align your heart loving God with your heart soul and mind and everything else in life falls into place. The reality is if you love God as Jesus calls us too then you become the kind of person described in acts chapter 4... let's look at it again
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold
35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus,
37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
moms, dads, grandparents isn't this the kind of person that we want our children to grow up into?
We want to raise our children to be generous, caring, loving men and women.
I know the nature of my children is to say that's mine! Their nature is to lookout for themselves. Therefore our responsibility really is to teach them to share with others.
When we model generosity and then we teach our children and grandchildren to share we have the opportunity to also be pointing them to Jesus.
People who follow Jesus early on had a single heart and soul and a great sense of responsibility for each other. It wasn't something they were forced to do. It wasn't a government program. It came out of a love for each other. It really captures what Moses taught in the law way back in deuteronomy:
4 But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—
5 if only you will strictly obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all this commandment that I command you today.
The early believers in the church consider themselves in a certain sense part of Israel and as part of why they're probably so Invested in caring for each other. Serving God with a single heart and mine met living in community and eliminate in poverty through generosity. God wants his people to be about a sharing and caring for each other not about guarding what is theirs
as writer Michael green says in his book 30 years that changed the world:
"A feature of the lifestyle of these early Christians was their generosity. The gospel made an enormous difference to their bank balance,
"A feature of the lifestyle of these early Christians was their generosity. The gospel made an enormous difference to their bank balance,
and people in western culture sit up and take notice when they see Christians making major financial sacrifices for Jesus Christ."
and people in western culture sit up and take notice when they see Christians making major financial sacrifices for Jesus Christ."
What might it look like for you if you are a follower of Jesus to sacrifice financially for Jesus? Maybe it's not just putting a $20 bill into the offering plate even though that might be significant for some people.
What about tithing 10% of your income?
What about tithing 10% of your income?
What about contributing above and beyond that 10% to send someone on the mission field?
What about contributing above and beyond that 10% to send someone on the mission field?
We hope to be sending a team to Hungary next year.
What if you took part of your income tax refund that some of us will be getting and helped a family with medical debt or helped someone else in need?
What if you took part of your income tax refund that some of us will be getting and helped a family with medical debt or helped someone else in need?
What if you simply chose to stay in a lower income job because you feel that God is calling you too influence and love on the people around you?
What if you simply chose to stay in a lower income job because you feel that God is calling you too influence and love on the people around you?
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
They lived in a unified community of believers believing in and investing in each other. They cared for each other with their words and their money.
45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
The generosity in the scripture is never communism or socialism, it's simply generosity. His men and women who owned their own property and responded to the needs they saw around them.
The reality is the church in the book of acts is a group of believers who lived like they believe God wanted them to live. They were building the Kingdom of God on earth. Needs were met, lives were cared for, and the gospel was not only shared it was lived out.
Perhaps it's just like Mary's mother said in the video let's see what God can do.
So today as you leave here know that God calls you to love him with one heart and soul. And to love your neighbor as yourself. Perhaps as you love God with one heart and soul God will do the work of transformation in your life leading you to become the kind of person described in acts chapter 4 and chapter two.
And whatever you do, live believing that God