Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:26-38 says:
26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to
Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27 to a
virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The
virgin's name was Mary. 28 The
angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The
Lord is with you." LK
INTROThere
is a great deal we know about Christmas. But there’s a lot we don’t
know. Christmas is shrouded in mystery and part of it just doesn’t seem
to add up!
FOUR FACTS ABOUT THE
CHRISTMAS MYSTERY:
1.
THE
CHRISTMAS STORY IS DOMINATED WITH ___________________(FEAR).
The
gospel of Luke describes the series of events beginning with a heavenly
messenger, the angel Gabriel, Gabriel's mission is to inform Mary that she will
give birth to a special child, a son, who is to be named Jesus.
The
angel’s first words to Mary are, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you” in (V. 28).
Mary
is “greatly troubled” by what she is told. Gabriel senses Mary’s fear and
says in V. 30:
“
Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God” (V. 30)
·
We can
understand Mary’s fear. After all, if any of you ladies were sitting at
the kitchen table one afternoon, having a sandwich for lunch, or if you’re in
your office, working hard at the computer, and suddenly see an angel sitting
across from you – I imagine you’d be a bit unsettled.
·
…And if his
first words to you were like the ones he spoke to Mary, “Greetings, you who are
highly favored! The Lord is with you!”…
·
…Your anxiety
level would probably go through the roof! It’s understandable that Mary
was afraid, that fear would be her dominant emotions.
·
V. 29 says: “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered
what kind of greeting this might be”.
·
She was very
confused and taken back. But then add to the anxiety and fear the next words
spoken by the divine messenger in verses 30-33:
“Do not be afraid, Mary,
you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a
son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be
called the son of the Most High. 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.” Vs. 30-33
·
Some women,
upon learning that they’re going to have a baby suddenly cry. Some women
laugh. Some women laugh and cry at the same time.
·
But can you
imagine what reaction would come if any of you woman where told by an angel you
were going to give birth to “the Son of the Most High” – the Son of God?
·
Let’s add to
the facts that Mary is a virgin. She has not been sexually involved.
·
How do you
figure it? Mysterious, to say the least. Spooky. Frightening. Disturbing.
Anxiety producing.
·
We don’t
usually see the anxiety of Mary portrayed on Christmas cards or in other forms
of art like the nativity scene we have outside.
·
Even in music,
Mary, the mother of Jesus, is most often presented as serene, with a gentle
smile on her face.
·
She’s
peaceful, happy, the picture of all being right with the world.
·
It seems to
me, however, more appropriate to show Mary’s eyes very large with fear – the
whites really showing, her face drained of color, her mouth wide open in
disbelief.
·
This news
she’s just received is very disconcerting. This is a time when fear
dominates the scene!
2.
THE
CHRISTMAS STORY IS A VERY ____________ ____________________(UNEXPLAINABLE
EVENT)!
·
Mary is going
to have a child, and its going to happen in an unusual fashion, to say the
least.
·
Mary is engaged
to Joseph – promised to him in marriage – and Mary is a virgin.
·
Luke uses the
word (virgin) twice, perhaps in an effort to make sure the readers get the
message.
·
Mary begins
to ask questions like: “How will this be…since I am a virgin”?. V. 34
She is told by the angel
in verse 35:
“The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the power of the most high will overshadow you. So the holy one of God to be born will be called the son of God”.
V. 35
·
Try to
explain that to your family and friends when they ask, “How is that you’re
going to have a baby?”
·
Mary replies,
“The Holy Spirit will come upon me, at least that’s what an angel told me, and
the power of the most high will overshadow me.”
QUESTION: Can you see the
eyes start to roll and hear the sound of snickering getting louder?
·
This event
simply defies explanation. It leads to all kinds of questions and
comments around
·
I imagine
women shopping in town, and one of them saying, “Did you hear about Mary?
·
You know she’s the one engaged to Joseph. She
says she’s going to have a baby.”
·
“Yes, and did
you hear her explanation?” responds another woman. “That the Holy Spirit
came on her?
·
I’ve never
heard of anything so ridiculous in all my days!”
·
“If you ask
me,” says a third, “she’s obviously using that story to cover up what she and
Joseph have really been doing!”
·
Questions,
comments, innuendoes – and a lot of folks saying, “Uh-huh!”.
·
Most of these
events defy explanation. We need to acknowledge that God works in
unexplainable ways, and that no one will ever be able to explain all of God’s
activities hear on earth.
·
For instance,
no one will ever be able to explain satisfactorily the
·
….Or how it was
that Jesus healed people…
·
Or how a dead
Jesus placed in the tomb late one Friday shows up alive three days later.
·
There is much
in the biblical story that defiles explanation.
Then…
3.
THE
CHRISTMAS STORY GENERATES ______________ _________(POWERFUL
QUESTIONS)!
·
In the
mystery of Christmas there is fear, there is an unexplainable event, and there
are powerful questions.
·
None of them
is more powerful than Mary’s question, “How can this be, since I am a
virgin?” (V. 34)
·
How will old
Gabriel wiggle off the hook on this one?
·
Everyone
understands that a women can’t have a baby by
herself. It takes a women and man together to produce a child.
·
In our time,
there are all sorts of techniques available to help childless couples have
babies.
·
In many instances,
those techniques have been successful and have resulted in couples’ lives being
immeasurably blessed with children.
·
But today’s
techniques were not a part of the situation in Mary’s and Joseph’s lives.
·
Mary’s
question is a legitimate one. “I don’t have a husband. I’m not sexually
active, I’m a virgin. How can I have a baby?”
·
Talk about a
mystery! …This whole business in Luke’s Gospel account is mysterious……
·
Even
Gabriel's answer is mysterious as he talks about how the Holy Spirit will be responsible for
the pregnancy. How can this be?
QUESTION: How are we to
react to all of this? Is it reasonable to think we should keep quiet and
ask no questions at all?
ANSWER: Mary asked
questions. I believe God expects us to ask our questions.
·
Sometimes,
though, we may not get the answer or the response that we expect or want….
·
Sometimes,
like it or not, we simply have to bow before the mystery!
·
Through the
years, I’ve had people say to me, “I’ve got questions, lots of them.
·
Questions
like, how am I supposed to get through Christmas?”
·
These people
have grieved at Christmas time for different reasons...
·
…They’ve lost a loved one to death. They’ve
lost their job, their marriage, or something very important to them.
·
Some crises hangs over their head and they ask, “How can I celebrate
Christmas? There is nothing to celebrate in my life!”
·
It is hard to
console a person in such a desolate situation…
·
…A few times,
though when sensing the leading of the Holy Spirit I have been as bold as to
say” “God will restore your joy during this holiday season – He will give
you an unexpected blessing to remember His love for you!”
·
I can only
say such words because:
·
In the
Christmas message there is an apparent loss and a life changing promise that is
commonly missed.
·
We need to
learn that the mystery of Christmas isn’t always about a big party or a family
gathering…
·
…It’s not
necessarily giving and receiving nice presents.
·
…It’s not
necessarily “dreaming of a white Christmas” or hearing “silver bells ”
·
Near the end
of the passage in Luke 1, Gabriel makes one more statement, and in a little
sentence of just six words in the English, he says a mouthful in v. 37…
“For nothing is
impossible with God”. V. 37
4.
THE
CHRISTMAS STORY GIVES
·
God can take
your horrible, broken past and redeem it to make something marvelously
beautiful out of it.
·
GOD IS A GOD
OF __________________________(POSSIBILITIES)!
GOD’S CHRISTMAS PROMISE
TO HIS CHILDREN: _____________________________(NOTHING)
IS _____________________________(IMPOSSIBLE) WITH ME AS YOUR LORD!
·
With God, Luke’s
birth narrative, proclaims that nothing is or will be
impossible…. “For nothing is impossible with God”.