Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 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. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 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. 36 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. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 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.
I think I can speak for at least some of the church, both this church and the church universal, that while we're grateful that we're not where we were a year ago :( unable to worship in person, with Christmas plans significantly truncated or curtailed), we're also not where we hoped and expected to be by now. There's still a heaviness in the air. It's a heaviness in the church, at our places of work, in our homes, regular gatherings of friends and family and even public places like supermarkets. The reason? We're not through the pandemic yet. We're anxious and we're unsure of this current variant and what it means for our short and our long-term future. And, likely, for many of us, this is not the only burden or burdens we are contending with at the same time. So now, more than ever, we are in need of a message of hope. Now more than ever we are in need of even a brief vacation from all that weighs so heavily on us--individually and corporately. We are all in need of a glimmer of hope, let alone something that just lightens our load and reorients us. Like an angel that comes and visits us and tells us, “It's going to be all right. Do not be afraid. Trust me.”
Angels are not only harbingers of good news in the New Testament; they were all over the Old Testament as well, especially revealing themselves to the high and the mighty and the righteous. You know…like us. Now more than ever, we need angels to visit us. We need an angel to visit us in the daytime and in our dreams, foretelling good news; reminding us of God's presence and God's power; showing us and showering us with some grace, especially in the places where we are unable or where we are out of steam or patience. We need grace when we're sidelined by illness, (our own or one other someone else’s); sidelined by grief or even aging.
So the first piece of good news is that God showed up through an angel and announced to Zachariah, who was righteous and faithful, that even though his wife Elizabeth was barren and they were “getting on in years”, they would conceive a child. They would have joy and gladness, and many would rejoice at his birth. (This is the birth of John.) But Zachariah, although he was faithful and righteous, he didn't believe it. He didn't trust it. Gabriel's words of, “Do not fear. Your prayers have been heard and all will be fulfilled,” literally fell on deaf ears. He was literally shut up and unable to speak until the birth of John.
And, if we're honest, how many times do we also not trust God’s promises? How many times do we act like Zachariah? We're proud of our faithfulness, but we don't entirely trust God's promises until we see them fully realized.
Now more than ever, we need to go deeper into Mary's story, because there's hope there, as well as a call to action on our part. Unlike the wonderful and miraculous gift that Elizabeth and Zachariah receive, who are held in honor and righteousness and “living blamelessly”, Mary is just the opposite. She's unremarkable. Completely unremarkable. She's just a young woman preparing to marry and in fact, ‘marry up’. She is marrying up into the lineage of the House of David. Yet God's favor comes to her unknowingly, not as a reward for anything that she has done or who she is. This gives us all a strong message that there is hope for the rest of us. Why? Because it didn't happen because of something that she did. God comes to her through an angel and extends to her favor, blessing and compassion without any merit at all. It's not tied to performance. It's not tied to her worth or perfection (which so many of us drive after). The gift arrives as profound grace.
This story is crucial for all of us to hear because it’s actually the turning of the tables that gives hope, not only for the righteous; but for the rest of us, who on any given day are struggling to be faithful--even a little bit.
Now more than ever, we need to know that, not only the righteous and the privileged, but everyone will have a visitation of grace from God.
Now more than ever, we need to be reminded of God's activity and God's power that worked through those who were unable, like an old barren couple in Zachariah and Elizabeth, (Abraham and Sarah many years prior) and to an unmarried peasant girl.
So what's our response to the good news, friends? Now more than ever we are invited to truly respond, because then this didn't just happen to Mary. She had a choice. She could have said no, but she chose to be in partnership with God's plan and God's purposes.
So the invitation is to respond like Mary, no matter what is going on in our lives--how unprivileged we may feel, or how sad, or how much we struggle. But when God shows up, the response is not, “I'm a little busy right now,” but instead “Here I am, servant of the Lord!”. This should be our response even without knowing what the promised outcome is going to be; without knowing the consequences or the benefits to us. Now, more than ever, we need to think and act differently about God and God's planned activity--without doubt and without expectation.
Because we need to remember who the initiator is; to remember who God is and that God is in charge; and that God is the only one who has the power and the grace to save us, even from ourselves. Now more than ever it’s the time to say to God, “Let it be with me, according to YOUR word.” May it be so. Amen.