Luke 1:26-45
(sermon note: 12-22 sermon note)
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.’ But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.’ Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her.
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
The reading for today reminds me of the one about three dinosaurs who were running across the desert one day when suddenly they stumbled upon a magic lamp. They rubbed it and naturally a genie appeared. “I have three wishes, so I’ll give one to each of you,” the genie announced. The first dinosaur thought hard. “Alright,” he said, “I’ll have a big, juicy, piece of meat.” Instantly, the biggest, juiciest piece of meat he’d ever seen appeared right in front of him. Not to be outdone, the second dinosaur thought even harder. “I know! I’ll have a shower of meat!” Immediately, huge pieces of meat rained down around him. The third dinosaur, certainly not to be outdone, thought harder than the other dinosaurs. “I’ve got it!” he cried out, “I want a MEATIER shower!”
I know, I know, I had to dig deep for that one! There just aren’t a lot of jokes out there that deal with announcements and announcing…at least none that appropriate for our setting. I guess there’s nothing all that funny about announcements and announcing. Go figure! But it’s kinda cute imagining a dinosaur inadvertently bringing about a catastrophic event that would destroy his entire species because of a homophone! Everyone knows ya gotta be careful what you wish for when dealing with genies though. They’re a wily bunch!
Genies specialize in two things: making announcements and granting wishes. Some would argue that genies aren’t all that different than angels. Angels also make announcements but rarely are they in the business of granting wishes. Sure, they announce on behalf of God and sometimes the words they announce are blessings, but we’d be careful not equate those blessings with granted wishes. Contrary to popular belief, God isn’t a wish-granting genie. No, God is more interested in bestowing blessings how and when He desires. Be assured, our God is a good and generous God who bestows a multitude of blessings just not on demand. And angels mainly stick to simply making announcements. Sometimes they’re good announcements and sometimes they’re bad announcements depending on how they are perceived.
Consider the announcement that the angel, Gabriel, made to Mary in today’s reading. For all intents and purposes, it should have been considered a bad announcement. Mary was far too young to bear a child, not to mention being unwed. She had little to no resources to support raising a child and the society around her wouldn’t help to support her either given the nature of the child being conceived out of wedlock. Gabriel’s announcement should have been terrifying to Mary. Good news for the rest of us, terrible news for Mary. Yet how did Mary respond to the news? “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” She responded to the news not with fear and trepidation but with resolution and acceptance. She responded with faith. What could have been considered a bad announcement was considered a good announcement because Mary chose to perceive it through faith. Rather than fear what others might think, fear what Joseph might think, fear over how she would provide for a baby, not to mention complain over the impossibility of the conception, Mary chose to place her trust in God and God’s ability to protect her and provide for her. After all, it wasn’t as if she was pregnant with any old baby. Her baby was God’s baby, and God has unlimited resources to support her! And knowing the goodness of our God helps dissuade any thoughts that God wouldn’t support her. Our God is a good and generous God who provides for all those in need!
Gabriel’s announcement is an important announcement. There are many similarly important announcements in scripture, from God telling Noah to build an ark to God telling Abraham to go into the unknown to God bestowing his Law through Moses to God foreshadowing the coming of Jesus through the prophets Isaiah and Micah. God’s announcements are important in this world, and we’d be wise to regard them as Mary regarded the announcement to her: with confident faith and trust. There are several instances in scripture when God made announcements that weren’t perceived as Mary had perceived her announcement. We heard in our reading that Mary’s relative, Elizabeth, had also miraculously conceived a child just six months before she had. The angel Gabriel had similarly visited her husband, Zechariah, and told him that Elizabeth, too, had conceived a child in her old age. Zechariah chose not to perceive the announcement with faith and trust and the angel caused Zechariah to be mute until the baby was born.
God has made important announcements throughout history and God continues to make important announcements today. How we receive and perceive his announcements are equally important. God makes announcements that demand our faith and trust in him. God doesn’t make announcements that simply give us what we want. No, God’s announcements help us develop and grow. God’s announcements get us to stretch ourselves and become the people we are meant to be. So let us be attentive to his announcements. What is God announcing to us today, this season? Another Christmas is upon us as we celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior into this world. How is Jesus helping us develop and grow? Friends, we all need to develop and grow and not get stuck in a rut mentally, spiritually, or physically. Let us listen and heed whatever announcement He makes with faith and trust. And let us give thanks for it. Thanks be to God!
In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
