Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

Most of us don’t particularly like surprises.  Infants seem to love to play peek-a-boo, where they are intentionally surprised, but to really surprise – to startle – an infant will immediately start them crying.  It seems to just be an inherent part of our nature to NOT like surprises.  An angel showing up inside my house to tell me the future – whether it’s my future or someone else’s – would be a surprise that I am not sure that I would handle with the smoothness that Mary appeared to have in our Gospel lesson.

The appearance of an angel in the Bible is usually at a pivotal point in history.  Abraham and Jacob were visited by angels.  Moses was told to go back to Egypt and free his people by an angel.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were protected in the fiery furnace by an angel.  For an angel to appear to TWO people – Zechariah was told about his son John and now to Mary – in such a short space of time points to an extraordinarily eventful time.  May YOU live in interesting times!! 

After many years of seemingly deserting the people of Israel, God has sent His messenger to announce His eternal plans.  Through this angel God has told Mary –

I’ve got a surprise for you!!!!

God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.”  The background of this narrative might seem small and insignificant in the big picture of things - where Mary was living and who she was engaged to.  But this engagement was all important, as it connected her to a greater promise made long ago through the prophet Jeremiah” “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.” (23:5) Even though Mary was a seemingly insignificant young lady living in a small village, God was going to use her womb to turn the whole world upside down.

Gabriel said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.”  Notice, first of all, Mary’s initial reaction to the angel’s greeting.  She was “greatly troubled” and “wondered” what kind of greeting this might be.  I think at this point I probably would have panicked – that surprise thing!

The angel had literally told Mary that she was about to be the recipient of an undeserved gift of God. What kind of a gift would this be? Why was this angel appearing to HER, a simple and sinful servant of the Lord? Something big was about to happen - but she didn’t know what. So Gabriel went on: you will be with child and give birth to a son. The whole concept of giving birth is a miracle in and of itself. If you’ve ever seen pictures of how a sperm and an egg unite and then quickly form into eyes, ears, legs, and the whole human body is a miraculous thing. It’s what we call “pregnancy.” But here, Gabriel was telling Mary ‑ a virgin ‑ that she was going to have a son. That right there would be enough to absolutely put any woman into shock. Think of the embarrassment to the family!  Think of the town gossips having a field day!  Not a pleasant surprise at all!  And Gabriel wasn’t done!!!!!!

When a woman becomes pregnant, one of the fun things to do is to measure how big the child is. Sometimes she wonders whether she is going to give birth to twins.  I would imagine that most mothers who find out they are having more than one child would be overwhelmed at such a thought.  But this news of Gabriel was far beyond that.  Imagine what Gabriel was telling Mary here.  You are going to give birth to not just a ten pound son ‑ to twins or triplets ‑ but the Son of the Most High ‑ God Himself.  God was going to be put into her womb and start growing in there.  How would a God who fills the universe be able to fit into Mary’s womb?

Gabriel wasn’t done.  Mary wouldn’t even get to pick His name, because His name was already picked out – Jesus – Yeshua in Hebrew – meaning ‘God is Salvation.’  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  This son that she would have - God - would be the Savior of the world - long foretold! 

What would this Savior end up doing?  “The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.” Many women have given birth to kings.  Some of them have had the pleasure of seeing their sons be crowned.  Others have had the sorrow of seeing them dethroned.  Mary’s Son, however, would reign over forever.  His kingdom would never end.  Who would he reign over?  The house of Jacob.  When God used the name Jacob, he was referring to the fact that the offspring of Abraham were sinful - but they also had believed and prepared for the Savior to come for many years.  So her Son would rule over sinners who believed in the Messiah to come, the spiritual descendants of Jacob - the true Israelites.

What an unbelievable surprise this was! God was going to send His Son to come into this world and take over this world through the womb of Mary - a lowly virgin from Nazareth! You would expect him to come in with both guns blazing - a mighty and powerful army of angels - overthrowing governments and throwing evil people out of this world. But instead, he comes in the flesh and blood of a helpless little boy!

Mary never asked “why,” if you’ll notice. As a descendant of Jacob, she knew why.  She had read of the curse that mankind had been under from the fall of Adam and Eve.  She knew that the world was under a curse of sin.  She knew from the religious rites and regulations of sacrificing sheep and the Passover - that a Savior had to come to save them from their sins.  God had promised Abraham that “through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.”  (Gen 22:18)  She knew WHY this had to happen - because she was a sinner and the world was full of sinners in need of a Savior.  She wasn’t even in awe over what her Son would be - the eternal King of the universe!

What she didn’t get was the question “how”? “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” This wasn’t a question of doubt - but just a question of mechanics. That’s not the way God made man and woman - to have kids without sexual intercourse. It just wasn’t natural.  Mary was about to experience the fact that God doesn’t always do things NATURALLY.  He does do them SCRIPTURALLY, however. Isaiah had promised the heathen king Ahaz 700 years before that - the Lord himself will give you a sign: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)  So the angel Gabriel explained to Mary God’s way of it, His mechanics so to speak. “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”  He said the Holy Spirit would “overshadow” her.  That same Word that is used in the Greek translation Exodus 40:34 and 35 “the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.” When God led the Israelites in their journey to Israel, he appeared through a pillar of cloud by day - as a sign to them of his protection and his presence.  In the same miraculous way, the Holy Spirit would enter Mary’s world and miraculously achieve the previously impossible - making a virgin pregnant without sexual intercourse.

In order to “prove this miracle” about to heaven, Gabriel pointed to another miracle.  “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  For nothing is impossible with God.”  If Elizabeth, who was BEYOND child bearing years and barren could have a child through the seed of Zechariah, then MARY also, who never even HAD sexual relations could have a child.  Both are miracles.  Both are possible when God is involved.  So Gabriel basically said, “it’s going to be a miracle - plain and simple.”

Should that have surprised us?  From the fall of Adam, the world was locked by NATURE into sin.  It is naturally passed down from generation to generation.  Therefore, the only way that God could BREAK OUR NATURE would be to miraculously cause a BREAK IN NATURE.  God had broken nature before - in order to give the Israelites a victory - he made the sun stand still for Joshua.  In order to give Gideon assurance that he would win the victory, he withheld dew from the ground one morning.  But in order to save the WORLD, a much greater break in nature would have to take place.  The Savior - as the substitute for sinners - would have to be born WITHOUT sin and die for the sins of the world.  The only way that this could be done is if God became flesh.  God would have to put on skin - something that was not natural or even seemingly feasible.  He couldn’t inherit this sin of man, so he couldn’t have a human father - it would need to be a VIRGIN birth. What a miracle indeed!

Imagine the sacrifice that this would take for Mary.  She would have to subject her body to nine months of some probable sickness, weight gaining, and emotional highs and lows.  She’d have to feed this baby.  Whatever plans she may have had with Joseph would completely changed.  For even a perfect child would demand attention and time to take care of.  She also had to consider her relationship with Joseph - what would he think of this?  And what would Mary tell him? “God made me pregnant?”  “Yeah, right,” Joseph would have said - thinking to himself, “Mary is either crazy or a blasphemer.”  There would be a lot to consider before making such an agreement.

But notice Mary’s simple yet faith filled response to this miracle.  At first she was startled, confused, and troubled at the angel’s greeting.  Yet in the end she said, “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.”  She was created for one purpose - to serve the Lord.  So if the Lord wanted to make a miracle happen through her womb - and through her womb bring about the Savior who would rescue the world from it’s sins - she was glad to have it happen.  She didn’t worry about how to deal with Joseph or her family or what this pregnancy would do to HER body or HER reputation.  Why?  Because she knew that this baby that she was giving birth to was the fulfillment of what God had promised to Abraham and her forefathers - who would one day save HER from HER sins.  (Luke 1:46-50)  In view of this, how could she NOT make such a response?

If God appeared to you tonight and said, “I am going to be born through you - and I am going to use your body to bring the Savior into the world,” would you say - “OK”?  Or would you say, “God, I’m a man - I don’t think that would work so well”?  Or would you say, “just wait for me to finish my career - or get through high school - or get married” - the list goes on.  The sad thing is that our answers are reflected in the way we approach the holidays every year.  If you were to compare how much time you spend shopping to worshiping, how does it compare?  How many Christian parents take plenty of time telling their children about Santa Claus and putting out milk and cookies - but don’t spend one minute telling their children the Christmas story?  I wonder.  When it is suggested to take this extra time during this “busy” season to keep focused on Christ with an extra devotion or what not, we are very jealous of our “time.”  “I don’t have time to work with Christmas recitations with my children.  I don’t have time to have a devotion.”  Mary made the time.

But that’s not why God chose her.  The angel simply said she was “highly favored” - which literally means that she was “graced”.  To be “gracious” to someone means to show them a favor they DON’T deserve.  Mary realized that she didn’t deserve God to choose her, but she was thankful that He did.  Mary wasn’t born sinless as some would believe.  Mary did not live a perfect life.  We are not certain whether the brothers of Jesus are His real brothers and sisters born of Mary, or no.  It simply doesn’t matter.  Mary was a young woman of Israel that God chose to favor – to show His grace to.

When we compare ourselves to Mary, we thank God that he is also GRACIOUS to us.  We don’t deserve for God to choose us.  Yet the whole message of Christmas is about God’s generosity.  The Son that Mary bore did a lot more than what she did.  This God and man spent his WHOLE LIFE - every waking moment - obeying God’s laws in our place.  He took the time to preach to the poor and heal the sick - not just Christmas time.  When He was then called upon to go to the cross, He took the time and the effort to die for Mary, for me, and for you.  Instead of taking a baby in his womb, he took the world on His shoulders, and carried it to the cross.  That’s why we celebrate Christmas.  Not to see how we can emulate Mary - but like Mary to thank God that this baby came to save us from our sins.  Jesus came to remove our guilt from our shoulders and make us righteous in God’s sight - in spite of our sins.  This is what gives us JOY at Christmas.  It’s not about how much we give - it’s about how much GOD GAVE for us - His only begotten Son.

God didn’t want this birth of Jesus to surprise anyone. He predicted how it would happen in Isaiah.  He predicted where it would happen in Micah.  He sent Gabriel to personally tell Mary exactly what was going to happen through her.  Even then, she was still surprised - because it was just such a miraculous event and a wonderful thing - to think that the Savior was coming through her!  You may have heard the Christmas story many times by now - it’s no surprise - but don’t let this wonderful old story stop surprising you.  God became man through a virgin - to live and die for us!  What a wonderful surprise Christmas is!  Open this same present with joy and eagerness again this Christmas.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.

+ SDG +