Sermon Tone Analysis
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Mary's Marvelous & Joyful Secret
12.19.21
[Luke 1:39-55] River of Life (4th Sunday of Advent)
Ideally, when a woman first finds out that she’s going to have a child, she’s excited.
Yes, there’s some nervousness.
There’s some questions.
Even doubts and fears.
All of that is normal.
But ideally, she is excited.
That is what is typical.
But there was nothing typical about this child, this pregnancy, or the way that Mary found out this news.
Luke tells us that (Lk.
1:26) God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth to Mary to make this extraordinary announcement.
Gabriel began by saying (Lk.
1:28) Greetings, you who are highly favored.
The Lord is with you.
Now, anyone who meets an angel is immediately frightened.
But Luke tells us that (Lk.
1:29) Mary was great troubled at the angel’s words.
She wondered what this greeting meant.
But Gabriel continued.
After all, he is God’s messengers and messengers have messages to deliver.
(Lk.
1:30-32) Don’t be afraid, Mary.
You have found favor with God.
You will conceive and give birth to a son.
You are to call him Jesus.
He will be great and be called the Son of the Most High.
Of course—as anyone would—Mary had questions.
The one she asked was (Lk.
1:34) How will this be, since I am a virgin?
The angel answered: God will do a miracle.
The Holy Spirit will come upon you.
The power of the Most High will overshadow you.
So this holy child will be called the Son of God.
Nothing about this was normal.
Women don’t find out they’re going to be pregnant.
Especially not from an angel.
Then Gabriel told Mary something else that was outside the norm.
Her relative, Elizabeth, was already six months along in her pregnancy.
Everyone said she was unable to conceive.
Too old for that now.
But she was with child because (Lk.
1:37) no word from God can ever fail.
Mary’s response to this news was humble, certainly.
But it’d be hard to conceive of as excited.
(Lk.
1:38) I am the Lord’s servant, she said.
May your word to me be fulfilled.
And if we think about her situation for just a moment, we can come up with all kinds of reasons why she wasn’t jumping for joy at the moment.
She was a young woman, pledged to be married to a man.
Would he believe her?
She was a young woman, many guess she was a teenager, who lived in a small town, Nazareth.
Its population was likely in the hundreds.
The kind of small town where everybody knows everybody and nobody’s business quickly becomes everybody’s business.
How would they react?
It doesn’t seem that Mary told Joseph what the angel said before she left for Elizabeth’s house.
Matthew tells us that Mary (Mt.
1:18) was discovered to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit and that Joseph had enough doubts about this pregnancy that (Mt.
1:19) he had in mind to divorce her quietly.
It seems that the first thing Mary did was (Lk.
1:39) hurry to go see Elizabeth.
We know that Elizabeth (Lk.
1:39) lived in the hill country of Judea.
How far the journey was, we can only estimate.
If tradition gets us in the right area of Judea, Zechariah’s home was in Ein Karem.
It was something around 100 miles from Nazareth and a dangerous journey for a young woman to make.
I can’t help but wonder what Mary was thinking as she made that journey from Nazareth to see her relative Elizabeth.
Who could blame Mary, if, in this moment, she felt like nobody would understand?
…Nobody would believe her? …Nobody would support her? Who could blame Mary, if, in this moment, she was wondering: Why me!??!
I also can’t help but be humbled by Mary’s response.
(Lk.
1:38) I am the Lord’s servant.
Because in moments much smaller, under far less pressure, I have not been as humbly willing to serve.
How about you?
It’s not that we’re never willing to be the Lord’s servant.
We just like to negotiate the terms, right?
We’re most willing to serve in ways that come to us easily.
Ways that make us look good or feel good.
We will serve the Lord if we know that what we are going to do won’t be that hard.
If we know that people are going to appreciate what we are doing.
If we know that we are going to experience some sense of accomplishment, we are more inclined to serve.
We’re somewhat less eager to serve in ways that are personally demanding.
It’s not that we won’t do it at all.
We know that, sometimes, serving the Lord comes at great personal cost.
It changes our schedules.
It increases our stress.
It impacts our entire life.
Let me give you three quick examples: Perhaps it is being persistent, patient, truthful and loving with a loved one who has fallen away from the faith.
Maybe it’s serving on a ministry board or committee.
It could be serving as a caregiver for your kids, your parents, or your spouse.
These all can be service done to the glory of God.
But it is still tough.
It’s hard work.
Yet, most of us, when we are put in those positions serve faithfully.
Why?
Because we have to, we’d admit if we were being honest.
But, also because we want to do something important, too.
We know that this kind of service comes with personal challenges, but it also comes with unique blessings.
You grow in faith.
You develop relationships.
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