When we were in England, the children's workers in one church had a tape that was used regularly as the background narrative for the nativity play. It began “Mary skipped through the streets of Nazareth.” I suppose it was making the point that Mary began life as a very ordinary girl. And that is where we all start! Ordinary people. Women and men; with our weaknesses, our hopes and ambitions, our hurts and inadequacies. And then Mary met an Angel – Gabriel whom we heard about in connexion with the highly educated senior civil servant, theologian and author, Daniel... And now that same angel was speaking to a teenage girl in a small town in Galilee district.
Faith takes us beyond the ordinary
1. Mary's conversation with Gabriel began with this: "Hail, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!" (v 28). This first thing she had to appropriate – by faith – was this: God's favour. Mary, you have had grace, favour, thanks, delight, poured out upon you. Initially, her reaction was one of panic: she felt troubled. She was thrown into confusion. “But.. what do you mean? Me? Favoured? How?” So much so that Gabriel had to say it again: “It's all right Mary; don't be afraid, you have found favour with God.” Our minds are so set in habits of doubt and self-deprecation, that it is a step of faith to hear Gabriel, or anyone else, say to us “You have found favour with God!” But that is where we need to start.
2. Mary would need faith: she was favoured to give birth to a son who would be called Jesus. "He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High;" (v 32) That word, “most High” was one the Greek-speaking Luke would previously have heard referring to the greatest of the Greek Gods. But Mary also knew it, referring to Yahweh, the Lord God, the only true god. The angel was telling Mary she would give birth to God's Son. And she did give birth to God's son, because she believed this truth even if she did not fully understand it. It takes faith to receive this second thing that Mary received: God's Son. Gabriel goes on to say in verse 35: “The child to be born shall be called Holy, Son of God”. The word “Holy” here means more than a holy man: it means the “divine Son of God.” (it's used in the same way in John 6. 69). Faith is needed to grasp the awesome reality of who He is, the amazing truth that “Lo, within a manger lies He who built the starry skies” that “in the beginning was the Word, and the word as with God and the word was God...The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory” (John 1. 1, 14) We can't prove that Jesus was the Son of God (although there is strong evidence!); we can't prove his identity; we can't even begin to understand how divine and human nature can be perfectly combined or how God can exist in three persons. We receive these truths by faith.
3. Gabriel went on to say "and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there will be no end." (v.32f) Flowing from who he is – God the Son – is what he came to do! We sometimes sing “he was born to die...” Although that's true, it's only half of the truth! He was born to bring God's kingdom – and in order to do that, he had to die. God's Kingdom has broken in to our world through Jesus. Mary speaks of the coming Kingdom in the Magnifacat (the name for her song of praise in verses 46-55): “He has performed mighty deeds... he has scattered those who are proud...He has brought down rulers… but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.” The things Jesus did were evidence of the Kingdom; they were the nature of the Kingdom – they way things are when God's rules apply. There is wholeness, healing, hope. There is justice, integrity, honesty. There is peace, compassion, generosity. Evil – greed, prejudice, violence, pain – are driven out. This is the scope and depth of what Jesus came to do. And we are invited to receive God's Kingdom by faith in what Jesus has done on the Cross.
4. Now Mary needs to know how this is going to happen to her. We'll come back to her question in a moment. But as an answer, Gabriel explains, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (v. 35) By faith, Mary was called to welcome God's Spirit and be touched by God's Power. And in order that we may carry the truth about Jesus within us, in order that we might bring something of God's Kingdom to our world, we need to receive God's Power by faith.
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| Image: G Lilly |
So faith takes us beyond the ordinary. By faith we receive God's favour; God's Son and the truth about who he is; God's Kingdom and the hope it promises; and God's Power by The Holy Spirit to live for him.
That would be a nice place to stop. But it's not where we are, is it?
Faith is allowed to ask questions
We have a shed load of questions. "How come God wants to use me? How can Jesus be God? How can God become human? What is this Kingdom? Why has it not impacted the world more? Why is there bad stuff in God's world?" We have questions.
So had Mary. "How shall this be, since I have no husband?" (v. 34) or "How shall this be, I am a virgin?" (literally, as in the AV “I do not know a man”) What she means is “We were keeping the law, and waiting until we were married. What are you saying Gabriel?” Now Mary didn't have a problem believing it was possible (that was the problem Zechariah had when he was told he and Elizabeth were going to have a child in their old age – see verses 5-12). In a fairly short time Mary and Joseph would be married, and in the normal course of things, children would happen. She could even get married a bit sooner if that were what God was saying. Mary's problem wasn't with believing it but with making sense of it. Listen – faith is allowed to ask questions.
Faith leads to submission in action
When she was told how this was going to happen – the Holy Spirit coming upon her as he had upon the prophets of old, the power of God overshadowing her, the pre-existent, eternal Word of God, becoming flesh in her womb – Mary had no problem believing it. And, remarkably, she had no problem submitting to it. By faith, Mary gave the Lord a submission that was marked by three key words:
1. Transformation "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word." (v.38) It involved her self-image, her plans, her reputation, the whole direction of her life. No arguments; no protests; no complaints about the pain and the cost involved. Just “Let it be to me according to your word.” There are few sentences in the Bible more powerful, and few prayers that the Lord wants to hear more than this one: “Let it be to me according to your word”! I am ready for my life, its direction, its motivation, its ownership, to be transformed.
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| Image - G Lilly |
3. Telling. See verses 46-56. Mary herself had an experience of the prophetic, when she spoke out this wonderful piece of Hebrew poetry that emphasised to upside-down, life-transforming, radical nature of God's Kingdom. “The Lord has done great things, and holy is his Name.” We need to let our faith lead to telling people who God is and what God has done – for us.
- Speaking Gospel: about God's good news.
- Speaking testimony: our story. “The Lord has done great things for me.”
- Speaking prophetically, talking about how God's kingdom turns our world upside down.
So by faith we receive God's favour, God's Son, God's Kingdom and God's power. And by faith we say to God, “Let it be to me according to your word”
© Gilmour Lilly December 2016
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