In the early 1980s, an article was published in The Christian Century which claimed Mary as a significant role model for women. One pastor wrote back, saying that if Mary is only a role model for women, “that would be tragic. Half of humanity would miss Luke’s point.” Luke saw Mary as a significant role model for all of us, women and men alike.
And why do we need this? Because every day we find that the world cannot possibly live up to its promises or our expectations. People we trust let us down, situations are not what they seem, and we find ourselves desperately in need of direction and hope.
But Luke shows us someone who is very much like us. He gives us Mary, as the mother of our Lord, and as an example of the faithful trust. Mary heard the angel’s word, she believed, and she acted out that trust in discipleship. She responded to God’s word, both in song and indeed, as she brought into the world a Savior, who we call Christ the Lord. And he gives us Elizabeth, who confirmed Mary’s unlikely story, and affirmed the gift her faithfulness would provide for the world. We all want (or are afraid) to be a Mary, but sometimes our great gift is to be an Elizabeth.
Everybody who has ever given birth to a child has a birth story. Whether it’s going into labor, getting to the hospital (or sometimes not getting there), the circumstances surrounding the delivery, some of the most often-told stories are those about being born. And none of us has a birth story more remarkable than the story about Jesus’ birth.
I imagine it was a pretty stressful time for Mary. An angel visitation, a disturbing message, an unusual burden to bear. And while she was convinced by the angel’s explanation, I’m sure that she needed confirmation to make sure that it was not all a dream. So, after the angel visitation, she took off to see Elizabeth. Maybe she needed to confirm what the angel had told her about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Maybe she needed to say, “You’re not going to believe this, but…”
What
a wonderful trusting relationship to share -- being able to have Elizabeth know
without even being told all that Mary was going through. What a safe place to
stay -- a place to process all that had happened so far and all that would
happen in the future.
Would any of us want to be Mary, knowing that her son would be born in less than honorable circumstances, far away from home? Knowing that her husband would die before her son reached the age of adulthood and that Jesus would leave the family business to become an itinerant preacher? Who of us would be happy to see him followed around by a band of disciples who never seemed to get the point of his teachings?
Would any of us want to be Mary, seeing her son convicted and sentenced to die, then sitting at the foot of the cross, watching and waiting for the angel’s word to be fulfilled?
The circle of trust that existed between Mary and God was not just present as she carried her son and gave birth in that stable in Bethlehem. It was not just lived out as she dressed him and fed him and played with him and educated him in her home. It was a circle that extended out as she and Joseph dedicated him at the Temple, and looked for him when he had gone back to talk to the rabbis. And it went out further as she became a part of his ministry, traveling with him throughout the Galilean and Judean countrysides. And it was fulfilled as she saw that same son, our Savior, die.
And because his life did not end at that moment, in his resurrection, she must have felt and believed more fully those words which rang out even before his birth, “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."
As we draw closer to the day of celebration, we think more about the various characters who learned firsthand about Jesus. They hold a prominent place in our Christmas play. Over the years, we precondition their response to the events without ever wondering what it was like for them. It’s easy for it all to become very familiar. Whether it’s Mary, Elizabeth, or Joseph, the innkeeper, the shepherds, or the magi coming from far away… we assume we know that what they were feeling. We forget that they don’t yet know the end of the story.
There’s a wonderful children’s story – The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson. Boy, did she ever get it right when she told the story of a Christmas play gone horribly wrong. It all started when the director broke her leg a few weeks before Christmas… and the six worst kids in the town volunteered to play all the major roles… there was hitting and cussing and general malcontent. Through the rehearsals, we find out the Herdmann kids had never even heard the story of Jesus’ birth… they just came to church for the donuts. And when their fearless leader, Imogene, found out about all of the indignities surrounding the nativity, she just wanted to go beat somebody up.
But on the night of the play, everyone experienced the story in a new way as these novice players acted out the familiar story right before their eyes. And they knew that the children had really “gotten it” when Imogene as Mary picked up the baby and burped it, when Gladys, the meanest Herdmann of them all, pushed her way through the angel choir shouting, “Hey! Unto you a child is born this day!”, and as the Wise Men, dressed in borrowed bathrobes approached the manger scene, carrying the family’s Christmas ham. In this story, the whole town shows up at the Christmas Pageant to see what havoc the Herdmann kids would bring. But everyone left saying, “I don’t know what it was, but this was the best pageant ever!”
We are rapidly approaching the manger, but before we get there, we need something else. Mary has to say, “Yes.” Yes, to carrying Jesus… Yes, to loving and raising him, knowing that one day she would lose him… Yes, to a God who can make impossible things happen and use anyone to get the job done.
The story of Christ starts with Mary… who was willing to take on this unthinkable responsibility, and she is joined by Elizabeth, who didn’t tell her she was crazy but affirmed and supported her in the midst of a scandal that could go wrong in more ways that we can count. Mary’s song rings forth in the world, loud and clear. It is a song of hope, of faith, and of trust that God will not abandon God’s people. And at the same time, it is a song of revelation and revolution.
This is our song, too. Let us a people who sing “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.” And let us believe it and mean it, and live it out every day.
I don’t know what that looks like for you, but we are reminded in the Great Thanksgiving each week some of the ways to live out this call: working for “that day when justice shall roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream, when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”
The circle of trust begins with Mary, but in these Advent and Christmas seasons, let this trust also be born in us, unbroken from this day and forever more. Amen.
Let
us pray:
be the love that dwells between us.
God of hope, who brought peace into this world,
be the peace that dwells between us.
God of hope, who brought joy into this world,
be the joy that dwells between us.
God of hope, the rock we stand upon,
be the centre, the focus of our lives
always, and particularly this Advent time. In your name we pray, Amen.
Read more at: http://www.faithandworship.com/prayers_Advent.htm#ixzz3MRopvo5n
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