A Possible God
a sermon by Rev. Rebecca Segers
Luke 1:26-38
Psalm 89:1-4
The time is almost here. The time we’ve been waiting for. The time when Jesus is born. The time of celebration. The scripture that we’ve heard read today brings us ever closer to that moment in time when the baby is born in a manger in Bethlehem. This whole idea of time, and of space is important, and opens the scene in our scripture reading. “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee…”
The first two verses set the scene in space and time – in the region of Nazareth in a city called Galilee, in the sixth month. The sixth month refers to the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. The verses preceding these tell the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth, relatives of Mary, who are old and have never been blessed with children. The angel Gabriel has come first to them – or more specifically, to Zechariah – and when he does not believe that his wife will become pregnant, the angel strikes him dumb until the day of the baby’s birth. Then, six months, later, the Bible tells us, the angel makes another trip. A trip to a young woman in Galilee.
The whole point of these first few verses is to locate the entry of God into our world. You see, in the early days, the days of Genesis, thousands of years before, God had been active in history. God walked in the garden of Eden. God came to Moses on the Mountain. But no longer. For many thousands of years, God has been only viewed or seen or known or realized through the words of the prophets. But now, now, now with the birth of these two children, God is no longer simply a cosmic entity – a far-away out-there somewhere God – but a God who is present, an in the world God, a God that can be located in time and space in history again.
Do you see the importance of this? Usually, when we read this story, if we had to list the main characters, we would say Mary and Gabriel. But the central figure in this story is not either of those two; it is God. The gracious God of Israel who has acted in that nation’s history in the past and now once again.
Let’s go now to the story: the angel comes to Mary and speaks to her. Mary, of course, is terrified. Wouldn’t you be? Imagine a huge sort of human-looking creature that was gilded with wings coming to you and saying, “Greetings!” Imagine that. It’s not like angels are running around in her time and place all the time either. No matter what the creature said, just to be in the same room with him it would be enough to make you want to hide under the bed.
Mary was a young teenager, maybe fourteen or fifteen years old. She wasn’t yet married, but was old enough to have been betrothed. According to the ancient customs, Mary’s marriage would have been arranged by her father and she would have then remained home for one year after the betrothal. At that point, the groom would come to take her to his home, and the wedding celebration would have lasted for an entire week. Legally, the marriage was sealed after the engagement. If Joseph had died during the year of betrothal, Mary would have been considered a widow. Also, sexual intimacy between the two would have been accepted if not specifically sanctioned. This is why it is important that later on after the angel also goes to Joseph, he does not set her aside, but takes her as his wife. They would have been the only two to know the truth of Jesus’ lineage in the beginning.
But for now, the angel comes to Mary and tells her she has been chosen to have a child – a very special child. The angel’s voice echoes past promises – “he will be great” refers to a promise by the prophet Nathan in II Samuel’s: “I will make for you a great name” and Nathan’s further prophecy that David’s son would “establish the throne of (God’s) kingdom forever” is reiterated in the angel’s promise that Mary’s child will “reign over the house of Jacob forever”.
Mary may or may not have recognized all the scriptural heritage in the angel’s words; after all, she is a girl, and females are not privileged to learn the Torah the way males were. But for sure, she understands the sign implicit in the angel’s next news. The fact that her relative, Elizabeth, who has been barren all her married years is now with child serves as a indication to Mary that what has been told to her will also come to pass.
Women’s status in ancient days was minimal. They were considered property and valueless within many contexts – for example, they were not allowed into the temple, but remained in the area reserved for men who were unclean or unwhole, such as the crippled and lame. Yet here, women are the two vessels of God’s highest promises. It is not only through two women that God’s plan is made possible, but through two of the weakest and most marginalized – an older barren woman and a young virgin who has not proven her value yet through the bearing of sons.
God chose the lowly through whom to do God’s work – a insignificant woman who had lived out the best years of her life barren, and an insignificant girl betrothed to an insignificant carpenter in an insignificant town in an insignificant province of the Roman Empire. This, I believe, is the first lesson for us today in our scripture reading. God could have chosen anyone, absolutely anyone, through whom to work his will in the birth of Jesus Christ. But God did not go to the palace of the Holy Roman Empire. God went to a nobody nowhere no-how.
? tells a story of running on the beach every day. He went out at the same time for his run and often noticed a woman walking along the shoreline as well. Her timing was not as predictable as his. She was older and her coloring almost matched the beach, as though she had been windswept and bleached like the area she walked. She carried with her a small brown paper bag and he noticed that she would sometimes reach down and place something in it. After weeks of running along the same beach, he realized that she was always walking at low tide, when the water was the furthest out from the shore. Finally, he got up the nerve to speak to her and asked her what she what she was collecting so diligently.
“Glass,” the old woman tersely replied. “People step on it and cut their feet. Ruins their day.”
Here was a woman who was insignificant, performing what looked like an insignificant act. And yet, she was providing a service with love that reached far beyond her own self and her own needs. Never underestimate the power of a seemingly insignificant person. Never underestimate what you yourself can do for good in the world.
The second thing that is important for us to recognize in the story today is Mary’s agency within it. We tend to think of Mary as an unwitting and perhaps even to some degree, unwilling, participant. But that’s not what the Bible says. Mary accepts God’s pronouncement and will in her statement: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Mary says “yes” to God in these phrases.
Now just think about it. What would have happened had she said “no”? Would God have forced Mary to have the child against her will? I asked a friend of mine this question on Friday night and she said, “Oh, my! That would have been like Holy date rape, wouldn’t it?” I don’t think God would have forced Mary. So what would God have done if she’d said “no”? Would God have found another, more willing, individual? Possibly. There are, in fact, legends, of Mary not being the first of whom God makes God’s request, stories about other girls that he visited first who didn’t accept his blessing.
It is just as important that Mary said “yes” as that God offered the opportunity. Free will is very important to us and Mary had it, too. Just as we all have agency in our own lives and our own opportunities. Now let’s look at what Mary had free will to receive. Mary was “favored” by God – that’s what the angel tells her when he comes to her. How was she favored? By being blessed with having a child out of wedlock and having to hide that fact from her community, a child who would later grow up and be the object of great love and great scorn and ultimately be executed as a criminal.
What does this tells us about God’s favor? We have a tendency to believe that when God’s favors one, it is with health and wealth and lives of prosperity and ease. But much as we would like for them to be, acceptability, prosperity, and comfort have never been the essence of God’s blessing. Oh, it’s nice when we’ve got them and let’s thank God when we do, but God’s claim on our lives does not imply that everything will always be easy.
However, everything will be possible. This is what the angel tells Mary and it is echoed again in Jesus’ later declaration in the book of Luke: “What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.” In the angel Gabriel’s promise, it is not even in the present tense: “Nothing is impossible for God”, but in the future tense: “Nothing will be impossible for God” – this is as true today as it was 2000 years ago.
Do you hear that, people? “Nothing will be impossible for God.” Nothing. God can do anything. Anytime. A barren woman can have a child; a virgin can conceive; the Lord can enter into human history, resurrection can come from a tomb and the Holy Spirit can empower the church and every single individual here in this room today.
We can do great things together. We can be Jesus’ body on earth today. I want you to know that this church, this favored community of God on earth, has just had the most successful stewardship campaign that it has ever known in its 176 year history. We have the potential to reach out to a community and a world crying out in need in ways we’ve never been able to before. We have the ability to teach and to lead our children in faith so that they grow up to live lives of faith in action. We have the opportunity to praise God in ever richer and more meaningful ways each and every week. We can celebrate Jesus’ birth on earth 2000 years ago in the present time, in this present space, knowing that we have been favored by God’s richest blessing: that of the gift of Jesus the Christ born to teach us how to live and work and give and forgive and strive and pray and become the people that God intends us to be.
Mary is our perfect example of this in the story that we read today. Because the glory of Christmas doesn’t come from all the sparkle and glitz that we see in the commercial material world around us. The glory of Christmas comes from the willingness of ordinary people to accept God’s claim on their lives.
How will God in Jesus Christ claim you and your love this year? How will you emulate Mary and say “yes” to the call of God upon your life? Will you attend church ever more faithfully? Will you sing in the choir? Will you help to teach our children of God’s love in Sunday School? Will you participate in a Bible Study group or in the Church Brunch Bunch or in the Book Discussion Group or in some other fellowship and spiritual development process? Will you help finish up the dedicated Youth Group Room downstairs? Will you join the Mission Team or the Fellowship and Outreach Team? Will you bring canned and non-perishable foodstuffs and place them in the basket out front in the foyer? Will you read your Bible every night? We’re currently on chapter 22 of the book of Matthew, those of you who’ve been reading the gospel of Matthew through Advent with us know. We’ll finish up with chapter 28 on Christmas Eve enabling us to celebrate the birth and the resurrection of Jesus on Christmas Day. Will you join us at 7:00 p.m. for the Christmas Eve family service or the 9:00 p.m. Candlelight service or will you worship with us at 10:00 a.m. on Christmas Day?
There are so many ways that you can say “yes” to the Lord, and the one who wins in this arrangement is You! During this time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ, let us also celebrate the re-birth of our own commitment to our individual, independent faith journeys. Let us know that we have “A Possible God,” a God for whom all things are possible. Let us take this time upcoming and the new year after it and begin to develop a stronger relationship with that God. Let’s dig in deep, sink our roots into the scriptures and into the relationships and into the pathways that God would have us go and just see where this Possible God can take us in our walk of faith.
This is the nature of Psalm 89: “I will sing of your steadfast love, O Lord, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim your faithfulness to all generations. I declare that your steadfast love is established forever; your faithfulness is as firm as the heavens. You said, ‘I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn to my servant David: “I will establish your descendants for ever, and build your throne for all generations.”’
This Psalm claims the psalmist’s steadfast love for and obedience to the Lord. Did you hear it? Love of God then ultimately results in covenant with God. I ask you this Christmas season, to take a tip from Mary. As you look into your hearts, say “yes” to God’s request. Say “yes” to getting to know God better. Say “yes” to having God play a larger role in your every day, ordinary life. And as you do, I guarantee you this: you will begin to see that our God, your God is a Possible God, a God for whom all things are possible. Amen.