Luke 1:26-38----Advent Possibilities and Surprises

 

Luke 1:26-38----Advent Possibilities and Surprises

"The greatest thing about Christmas  is the surprises. When else in life do you get to pile 10, 20, 30, 40 sometimes 50 surprises all together and sit for an hour enjoying each of them? One after another, surprise after surprise. Christmas  is wonderful in that way. I can remember still today the way I felt as a child, the amazement, the astonishment of Christmas morning.

Chuck Swindoll writes, "surprises come in many forms and guises: some good, some borderline amazing, some awful, some tragic, some hilarious. But there's one thing we can usually say -- surprises aren't boring." Surprises are woven through the very fabric of all our lives. They await each one of us at unexpected and unpredictable junctures.

I like the story about a professor who sat at his desk one evening working on the next day's lectures. His housekeeper had laid that days mail and papers at his desk and he began to shuffle through them discarding most to the wastebasket. He then noticed a magazine, which was not even addressed to him but delivered to his office by mistake. It fell open to an article titled "The Needs of the Congo Mission".

Casually he began to read when he was suddenly consumed by these words: "The need is great here. We have no one to work the northern province of Gabon in the central Congo. And it is my prayer as I write this article that God will lay His hand on one - one on whom, already, the Master's eyes have been cast - that he or she shall be called to this place to help us." Professor Albert Schweitzer closed the magazine and wrote in his diary: "My search is over." He gave himself to the Congo.

That little article, hidden in a periodical intended for someone else, was placed by accident in Schweitzer's mailbox. By chance he noticed the title. It leaped out at him. Chance? Nope. It was one of God's surprises.

This morning we focus on one of the greatest surprises that ever there was, the surprise that took place when an angel by the name of Gabriel appeared to Mary...." from  www.sermons.com Sermon Resources for DEC 24.

The Annunciation beginning from Luke 1:26 is given a special day in some churches, March 25. At the heart this is a record of Mary who hears a perplexing message from an angel. He is named Gabriel. Was he the same angel as in vs. 11 when “an angel of the LORD appeared to Zechariah” announcing the birth of John the Baptist? Apparently so. He identifies himself to Zechariah in vs. 19 ,” I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news.” Gabriel is also mentioned by the way in the Book of Daniel 8:16 & 9:21. People that have trouble believing that a virgin could have a child also have to deal with angels.

Mary at the heart of the message hears this encouraging word ,” For nothing is impossible with God.” 1:37. The same words are used in Genesis and Matthew. In Genesis 18:14 we hear said to Sarah who was well beyond child bearing years, “ Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Jesus uses the same words in speaking about the rich man entering heaven in Matthew 19:26 “with man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Another translation I looked at said it , “ with God everything.” I imagine all of the things Mary could have said. I imagine all the things she was thinking. Some of those things are written in Luke for us. “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” 1:29 “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The LORD is with you.” 1:28 I think we can identify with being troubled . Things may be going along fine in our lives and then we come to a perplexing problem we cannot understand. Then we come to wonder why we are in this kind of situation. We certainly did not ask for it.

Something beyond Mary was going on and it would involve a miraculous birth that never happened before. There were other women who bore children such as Sarah late in her age and in many ways Mary’s predecessor Hannah “ My heart rejoiceth in the LORD..” I Samuel 2 who would also have a child although she could not seem to have one before. In Mary’s situation we have a new circumstance that God brought a child to a virgin . Mary said, “ How shall this be , seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” 1:34-35

Mary had choices. She could have rejected this message. It was perhaps hard to do coming from an angel, but others had. At least they had to be brought to a place of believing it after their many objections. Gideon asked for a sign. Judges 6:17 He was a little hard of hearing even though an angel of the LORD appeared to him. Moses was not so ready either. He asked for more help ,” Behold they will not believe me….for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. “ Exodus 4:1 So God gave him the rod that turned into a snake. Still he protested, “ O my Lord, I am not eloquent…but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” 4:10

Mary said, “ Behold the handmaid of the LORD; be it unto me according unto thy word.” Luke 1:38 The key to her understanding was “with God nothing shall be impossible.” The part we try and argue with is “with God.” We have our own ideas and ways that we have already planned . But we forgot to ask God for His will and direction. Mary came face to face with Gabriel and had choices as well. “With God everything”. With just ourselves, we are on our own.

Today is the 4th Sunday of Advent. Now we have not said too much about it really other than we have talked about the Advent wreath and the four weeks that lead up to Christmas. We have talked about hope, preparation, joy and today is love. Where is the path we have taken? Did we skip any? We like hope but sometimes our hopes are not God’s. We have to re-orient our thinking. Preparation involved new ways of thinking , and yes repentance, i.e. a change of mind. 

Now we have made some very detailed plans and everything is going according to our schedule, but then there is a problem, event, tragedy of some kind and now we must think again. It is not easy to think out of the box of our own perception. It is perhaps even harder to get ourselves into God’s box where we think we are hampered in and our freedom is curtailed. Or is it? A few Sundays ago we looked at Isaiah 64 which was a primer on hope. Hope begins with our cry, “ O that thou would rend the heavens , that thou would come down.” 64:1We recognize our need and inability to do things without help, i.e. God’s help. We lit the Candle of Advent, the Candle of hope and saw its light . “ “ Neither has the eye seen , O God, beside thee, what he has prepared for him that waits for him.” 64:4 It is good to have hope and without it we are in total darkness. A new way of thinking-----I like what one friend wrote in his Christmas letter which I received on Saturday, “ Christmas is a time of new birth, new beginnings and the best gifts are not necessarily wrapped in festive paper, ribbons and bows.”

What changes did we make in this Advent season? How can we be ready for Christmas if we have not made them? It will not be anything different . We just go through the motions and wonder why Christmas seems so routine when it comes. “ Those who most firmly believe in the promises of God, submit most patiently to his providences; they see the glory which will succeed the gloom.” Charles R. Erdman, Luke.

“Everything is possible with God.” Mary knew that and acted on it. She had choices. She listened to the words of the angel and then said ,” be it unto me according to thy word.” 1:38 It was not her plan. It involved humiliation to be with child when you weren’t supposed to have one yet . Then she had to face Joseph and tell him all of this . She was believable because all along she had been following God’s Word. It was not a new thing when she faced a crisis. She overcame her doubts, fears and uncertainties realizing that God was in this .

All of us face such times in our lives as well. Against our will we are shown a new way that involves a different way of thinking and a new way of living. We too make choices. Like Mary we are challenged to not just live but to have an abundant life that is here now in Jesus. Can we see this in our situations despite how desperate they are and have become? “ Be it unto me according unto thy word.” I am thankful for such devotion on Mary’s part to doing the will of God. Are we like her?