Plans Have Been Made
Luke 1:26-38
Not all birth announcements are the same. When royalty have children, it is a big deal. When Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge became pregnant with what was to be the third in line to the Royal throne of Great Brittan it was announced when she was only 12 weeks pregnant. The Royal family announced it to keep it from leaking out, because clearly this was going to be big story. Headlines with the breaking news, were in newspapers and on televisions and radios around the globe.
On July 22, 2013, their son George, a healthy eight-pound, six-ounce boy, was born at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, England. The arrival of a would be King was a highly anticipated event, hundreds of people and reporters with cameras were camped outside of the hospital to get the first glimpse of the child.
A much more important birth announcement with much less fanfare is the subject of our lesson day. From our scripture today we see a significant contrast to the announcement of the impending birth of the King of Kings was low very key. A single angel by the name of Gabriel visited a young girl named Mary and told her that she would carry the Son of God. There were no reporters or livestreams.
There was no trumpet fanfare or thousand-voice choirs. It was a simple announcement to a humble girl about the greatest news ever. Mary heard the announcement with trepidation but quickly submitted to what God had called her to do. Then, the angel left her. What else was there to do, the Plans Have Been Made for the arrival of a different kind of King!
Over the past four weeks we have been reading and learning from the Old Testament Prophets Ezekiel and Isaiah, who were telling the displaced Israelites that despite God’s judgement of their disobedience, they still have His favor and, in fact, He would be sending a Messiah to bring them back into their homeland and back into a right relationship with Him when the time was right.
So today we move back into the New Testament, into the first chapter of Luke and that God has determined that the right time has come to send the Messiah that he has long promised to His chosen. He has been making plans to send His son to be the Savior and our young woman is to be part of The Plans that Have Been Made!
The angel Gabriel is sent to this young Jewish girl by the name of Mary. Gabriel tells Mary that she also has been favored by God and that although she is only 14 or 15 and unmarried, she will become pregnant with the One that will come to bring salvation to the nation of Israel and ultimately to the world. She has been chosen to deliver the called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David, he was to be named Jesus. Not surprisingly, when Mary was told this by the angel, she was afraid!
The Bible uses two different meanings for the word fear. The first meaning is that we should “fear” God, which suggests profound reverence, respect and awe toward God. But the second meaning of fear is the one that pertains to the subject of our scripture for today. That meaning is “an emotion of dread or alarm caused by danger, to be fearful or apprehensive about an unwanted or uncertain situation”.
Three times God sent angelic messengers to the earth with messages connected to the birth of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Each time, they brought big news, news which initially troubled the hearts of their hearers. However, they also came with a message of peace and trust. Three times angels appeared, three times they spoke the words, “Fear not.”
In our lesson today we will see how Mary dealt with her fear of the unknown and uncertain situation in which she was being placed and see what we as Christians can learn from her transformation from a fearful, ponderous, and doubtful teenager to becoming an obedient and hopeful servant of God which was full of peace in her unexpected situation.
Gabriel then tells her the big news that she’s going to be pregnant with a son, but not just any son, the Son of the Most High, no less, from the lineage of David, with a never to end kingdom. OK. What? “How can this be?”
“How can this be since I am a virgin?” She rightfully raises the impossibility of what God is going to do. How can she, who has never known a man, have a baby? The answer, of course, is through the power of God. The Holy Spirit will accomplish this miracle! It is nothing that Mary has done or will do; it is simply the favor of God.
The name “Jesus” would have special meaning for her and all Israelites because it is derived from a Hebrew word that means “savior” and signifies the promise of one who saves God’s people. As a good Jew, she would have heard Isaiah and the other Prophets talking about a Messiah.
So not only will Mary conceive a child in a way never heard of before or since, but the child will play a divine role in the salvation of all God’s people. This is all the more reason that Mary is worried about her worthiness and her ability to deliver the long-awaited Messiah.
The next wonderful exchange between Mary and the angel Gabriel continues to express God’s pure and simple gift to Mary: “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”.
When Gabriel makes His announcement to Mary, her life is immediately turned upside down. Mary is called upon to bear shame, reproach and humiliation for the glory of God. In that time and in that place her physical condition carried with it a tremendous social stigma. But Mary is to be afforded the greatest honor ever afforded to any woman in the Gospel story. The final response of Mary in our text for today finds peace in the young mother and chosen one of God, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” With that assurance, acceptance of her calling to be the mother of the King of Kings, the angel left her.
Despite the shame that was sure to come her way, despite the humiliation she would bear, Mary had found peace in the words of Gabriel and was willing to submit her life to the will of the Lord. In doing so, she sets an example of obedience and surrender that every child of God needs to take to heart.
In this lesson we see that through faith and trust that Mary finds the peace that allows her to go from “How can this be” to “Let it be with me according to you word.” It moves her from the absence of God “How can this be?”, to the presence of God, and the fulfillment of the promises of God! Somehow, someway, through the peace of God we will see a radical transformation in only three short verses, from peasant girl to prophet, from Mary to mother of God, from denial to discipleship.
In a very real way, this is the appropriate. As we know Advent is a season of preparing for the favor of God on all of us. Just as Mary had a season to wait to see the favor of God physically present in the birth of Jesus, so too we are waiting for the favor of God to be fully present at the arrival of Jesus. We can take these cues from Mary that acknowledge God’s favor and that will help us to respond faithfully.
You and I would do well to learn to submit to the will of the Lord in every detail of life. We need never fear the providential hand of God, for He will never do us wrong! Regardless of what may come our way in life, we can rest assured that God is going to use it to glorify Himself and to help us learn more about Him.
You see in the coming of Jesus at Christmas, “God incarnate” is the end of fear; and the heart that realizes that He is in its’ midst… will find peace and quiet in the middle of alarm.” ~ F.B. Meyer
God incarnate is what the Christmas story is all about, the arrival of the one that sent by God to bring us salvation. Do not be afraid of what you do not know but rather trust in what you do know. Like Mary find peace in your faithfulness to God and find peace in the love of God which has come down to dwell among us and to deliver us from our bondage.
Hear to Good News my friends………
Despite all of the reasons why Mary could have rejected the words of Gabriel she chose to overcome her fears and doubts to embrace her calling as the teenage mother of the King of Kings. Look at Mary’s words: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
In saying these words, Mary was forsaking whatever dreams and desires she had in life. She was saying, “I trust in the Plans That Have Been Made God, you know best. I will act and trust in you.” Empowered by the peace that passes all understanding Mary was forsaking every other plan in life, even her own plan, to say “Yes” to God and the Plans that Have Been Made by Him.
We can look at the example that Mary set for us and consider how we can also thrive against the backdrop of the fears and doubts that encumber our lives. Do we all have fears? Absolutely! Do we sometimes question what is God doing in our lives? Are we sometimes afraid of what God is asking of us?
But are we able to put our own comfort and desires aside and say “Yes” to God and His plans? Are we willing to look into our faith in God and find the peace and trust of young teenage mother to be and say “I will act and trust in you God”? Surely nothing is impossible with God.
Friends we are coming to the end of our Advent journey, the next time we gather will be Christmas Eve. But please know that like Mary we don’t have to understand what we are being asked to do, we don’t have to believe what is going to happen, we just have to trust the One that is calling us, leading us and preparing us because the Plans Have Been Made! Amen.