This week we are looking at a
song that was a part of the original Christmas playlist that was written by a
woman named Mary. We know Mary as the mother of Jesus. However, it is in this
song that Mary composed during the very first Christmas that we discover a
timeless truth about Christmas and God's activity in history. However, before we look at Mary's
contribution to the original Christmas playlist, let's look at the
circumstances the led to her song.
Yesterday, we began to look at
these circumstances, which are found in a section of an account of Jesus life
in the Bible called the gospel of Luke. In Luke 1:26-33, we looked on as God
sent the angel Gabriel to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, which was a small,
rural town, located about 60 miles north of Jerusalem. Gabriel was sent to
Nazareth in order to deliver a message from God to a woman named Mary, who was
a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph.
God’s
message to Mary, if it was communicated in the language that we use in our
culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Mary, the reason that
you have nothing to be afraid of is because God is with you and is going to
extend grace to you. God is going to reveal His transformational intervention
and activity in your life in a miraculous way. You see, Mary you are going to
have a child; and this child is not just any child. You are going to have a son
and you are to name him Jesus, or Yahweh saves. And the reason that you are to
name Him Jesus is because He is God in a bod. God is coming to the earth
through you as the Lord God is sending His Son Jesus, who is God, to take on
flesh and fulfill the promise that He had made to bring the Jewish people back
to Him. The son that you will give birth to will rule and reign as He reveals
and establishes the kingdom of Heaven for all eternity".
Today, I
would like us to imagine ourselves in this event from history as Mary. Out of
the blue, an angel of the Lord shows up to tell you that you are going to
become pregnant and give birth to God: What would you be thinking? What would
you be feeling at that point? How would you respond? Probably just like Mary
did in Luke 1:34:
Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
In other
words, Mary is asking “how is this possible?” Now, it is important to
understand that this is not a question of doubt or a lack of faith. Instead,
this is a question that flowed from a desire to understand. Mary is asking “How
am I going to get pregnant and have a child if I have never had sex before? I
mean, usually you have to have sex before you get pregnant. I have not had sex
and I am not married, so how am I going to become pregnant with God?” We see
the angel Gabriel’s response in verse 35:
The angel answered and said to her,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of
God.
To
understand the angel Gabriel’s response, we first need to define some terms.
When the Angel Gabriel says "The Holy Spirit will come upon you”, this
phrase literally means that the Holy Spirit will come and move upon you. The
phrase “the power of the Most High will overshadow you” literally means that
the power of God would cover you.
In other
words, Mary would become pregnant as a result of the supernatural power of God
as displayed through the Holy Spirit, who would creatively and supernaturally
bring about the physical conception of Jesus. In church mumbo jumbo talk, this
is referred to as the Immaculate Conception and the virgin birth.
You see,
Mary did not become pregnant because God had sex with Mary. God moved in a
supernatural and unique way, displaying His power through the Holy Spirit, to
bring the second member of the Trinity into humanity as the only begotten son
of God. That is why Gabriel states that the holy Child shall be called the son
of God. The Son of God in the Bible is not a term that is used to simply
describe one’s place in a family tree. The Son of God is a title that is used
to describe Jesus association with God as the second member of the Trinity.
As the Holy
Child, as God in a bod, Jesus would be set apart as distinct and different from
any other human child. Jesus was fully God and fully man. And Jesus was set
apart and sent to earth with a specific mission, which was to give His life to
provide humanity an opportunity to be rescued from the selfishness and
rebellion that separated humanity from God so that they could receive
forgiveness and experience the relationship with God that they were created
for. And in case that did not fully answer Mary’s question, Gabriel states the
following in verse 36-37:
"And behold, even your relative
Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and she who was called
barren is now in her sixth month."For nothing will be impossible with
God."
In other
words, the angel Gabriel is saying “the reason that you being pregnant by the
power of God through the Holy Spirit is the same reason that your aunt Elizabeth,
who is on the other side of menopause and thought would never be blessed with a
child, is also pregnant. You see Mary, nothing is impossible with God. Just as
God can bring forth life from that which had been unable to bring forth life,
God can bring forth life from what had previously never attempted to bring
forth life”. Luke then records Mary’s response in verse 38:
And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to
me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.
Now when Mary uses the word bondslave, this word was used
to refer to a female slave. Mary is saying “the Lord is large and in charge, I
am willing to do whatever God desires me to do and go through. I place my trust
in God and embrace the role that He has given me”. Luke then reveals for us
what happened next in verse 39-40:
Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a
city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.
After hearing the news from the Angel Gabriel that her
relative Elizabeth had become pregnant as a result of the God’s supernatural
activity in her life, Mary immediately left Nazareth to visit Elizabeth. This
journey from Northern Israel to Southern Israel would have covered between
80-100 miles, and would have taken around four days to complete.
You see, Mary desired to connect with her relative who
shared the similar connection of experiencing God’s miraculous activity in
their lives. However, upon arriving and greeting one another, Luke gives us a
glimpse into how Elizabeth and her unborn child responded to the arrival of
Mary in verse 41-45:
When Elizabeth heard Mary's
greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy
Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! "And
how has it happened to me, that
the mother of my Lord would come to me? "For behold, when the sound of
your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. "And blessed
is she who believed that there
would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord."
Luke tells
us that before Mary could engage in a conversation about what had happened in
her life, Elizabeth’s yet unborn son leaped in her womb. Now when Luke says
that the baby leaped in the womb, he is not saying that the baby kicked in the
womb. Luke is saying that the baby literally leapt in an exuberant springing
motion out of joy.
You see, as
we will discover next week, the Angel Gabriel had explained to Zacharias that
their child would be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s
womb. The Angel Gabriel had explained to Zacharias that their child would
announce the arrival of the Messiah who would bring the Jewish people back to
God and back to prominence in the world.
And as Mary
walked into the room and greeted Elizabeth, John the Baptizer fulfilled the
very words of the Angel Gabriel. John the Baptizer, while still in the womb,
announced to his mother that the Messiah had just entered into the room. John
the Baptizer, already alive in the womb, was already fulfilling the role that
he would have in God’s story by announcing the arrival of the Messiah while
still in the womb.
And as
Elizabeth experienced the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence, Luke tells us that
Elizabeth responded to her unborn child’s announcement and the Holy Spirit’s
indwelling presence and influence in her life by rejoicing in the Lord’s
supernatural activity in Mary’s life. Elizabeth’s proclamation, if communicated
in the language we us in our culture today, would have sounded something like
this: “Mary, how blessed are you to be the recipient of God’s favor and
activity in your life. And how blessed is the child that is within you. And how
has it come to be that I would have the privilege to have the mother of my
Messiah come to visit me!”
Elizabeth
then explained to Mary that at the sound of her voice, her son announced to her
that she was in the presence of the Messiah. And Elizabeth proclaimed to Mary
that she was the recipient of God’s favor and activity in her life as a result
of her placing her confident trust in God’s promise that had been proclaimed to
her by the Angel Gabriel and that had driven her to travel to visit Elizabeth.
Now I want us
to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as Mary. I
want us to place ourselves in her shoes. You travel four days to see your
relative, after an angel tells you that, in spite of the fact that she was incapable of bearing children and was at a place in her life where
children were beyond a possibility, she has become pregnant. Then, as you greet her, and before you can even
tell her why you have traveled so far to see her, she breaks out in worship of
the Lord after telling you that you are pregnant with the Messiah before you
could even tell her that you were pregnant with the Messiah.
You are
Mary. What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling? How would you
respond? Because it is in this context that Mary responds by composing and
singing a song that would become a part of the original Christmas playlist.
Friday, we
will look at this song...
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