Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
In today’s sermon, I want to make three points. Point Number One: God’s unlikely choice of Mary. Point Number Two: God’s unlikely choice of us. Point Number Three: the perfect response to God’s choice.
Point Number One… God’s unlikely choice of Mary…
I don’t want to insult anyone’s intelligence. But if you’re not a football fan, you may not know this. But when a team is behind late in the game, and they need to score a touchdown before time expires, their offense tries to drive the ball to midfield, if possible. And then, on the final play, with only a few seconds on the clock, every eligible player runs toward the end zone and tries to catch a desperate heave from the quarterback. Often the quarterback is basically throwing it as far as he can. But he hopes that one of his players in or near the end zone will be able to catch the pass and score a touchdown. Meanwhile, most of the other team’s players, on defense, are trying to prevent that from happening… often by batting the ball down on the ground for an incomplete pass.
The play has a low probability of success. It doesn’t usually work. But some of us in this room were either crushed or elated when the Alabama Crimson Tide were successful in running this play as time expired in the Alabama-Auburn game this year.
And the name of this play actually originates from today’s scripture: I’m talking, of course, about the Hail Mary pass. Catholics pray the “Hail Mary” prayer, which we Protestants do not believe in praying—there’s no biblical warrant for doing so. But you’ve likely heard the prayer: the first part is “Hail, Mary, full of grace.” And those words come from verse 28: As the King James puts it, “Hail, thou that art highly favoured”—and “highly favored” could also be translated “full of grace”—because to be “highly favored by God” is literally to be “filled with God’s grace.” Our Protestant objection is not so much with the way Catholics translate those words… only with how they interpret them.
Still, the Hail Mary pass has become associated with at least a couple of high profile Catholic quarterbacks over the years. For example, Roger Staubach famously threw a Hail Mary pass to Drew Pearson to win a playoff game against the Vikings in 1975. And even I remember Doug Flutie’s Hail Mary pass in 1984 to lead Boston College—a Catholic university!—to an improbable victory over the mighty Miami Hurricanes. Flutie won a Heisman Trophy in part because of that play!
But in a way, it makes sense that this highly unlikely to succeed play has become associated with Mary in today’s scripture… Because no one in their right mind would imagine that God would choose this young woman to fulfill God’s plan of salvation in quite this way.
Mary herself could hardly have imagined that she would play such an important and necessary role in bringing salvation into the world!
To an outside observer, Mary didn’t have a lot going for her; she was “unlikely to succeed”!
After all, the very first thing Luke tells us about Mary in verse 26 is that she’s from a backwater town in a backwater region of a backwater country, and that town was called… Lavonia. Just kidding. That town was called Nazareth.
We see the general disdain for the town of Nazareth in John’s gospel when Philip tells Nathanael that he’s just met Jesus of Nazareth, and that Jesus is the Messiah. Nathanael responds, “Nazareth? Can anything good come out of Nazareth!”
So Mary’s hometown was one strike against her. And here’s another strike: she was from a poor or working-class family. We infer this, for instance, from Luke 2, when Joseph and Mary present Jesus in the temple forty days after he was born. They have to offer a sacrifice for their first-born son, according to Old Testament law. If financially possible, they’re required to offer a lamb. If they’re poor, however, the Law allows couples to offer two turtledoves—or pigeons. And that’s what Joseph and Mary do. So Mary and Joseph were poor. 1
What kind of Messiah grows up poor—and not from a prosperous, well-to-do, prominent family? No one would expect that!
And here’s a third strike: She was young! I mean probably 14 or 15… That was just the culture! That was the age around which Jewish young women got engaged and married! Joseph was probably only a couple of years older! Yet we would call Mary a child today… She wouldn’t be able to drive a car legally or vote or purchase alcohol if she were American, yet God is calling her to shoulder the heaviest, most important responsibility imaginable: to be the mother of the Son of God!
Well, that’s strike three, but I’ve run out of strikes because I haven’t even gotten to the number one reason that no one would expect Mary to succeed in her mission: And it’s a problem that Luke draws attention to twice in verse 27, not to mention Mary herself in verse 34: She is a virgin. She is engaged to be married, but she hasn’t yet had intimate relations with Joseph—and she’s not going to until they get married, which would be many months from now!
Yet she rightly interprets Gabriel to be telling her that this pregnancy is going to happen right away!
And if that’s the case, then there’s more than one miracle required for God’s plan for Mary to work out: Not just the fact that Mary, a virgin, will conceive a child and give birth, but that her fiancé will agree to stay with her and marry her, even after he finds out she’s pregnant!
I said this last week, but Mary has a difficult conversation in front of her: “Joseph, I’m pregnant… But let me explain!” Even if Joseph believes her story, people would think one of two things happened: Either they slept together before marriage or Mary cheated on Joseph. In either case, people would talk… people would gossip… people would slander. Mary’s reputation would be ruined. And Mary would have to live with that shame. Yet somehow, in spite of all that, Mary is being called by God to be the mother of the Messiah, the Son of Most High God, the savior of the world!
You’ve got to admit… It all seems unlikely. Mary seems unlikely to succeed.
On the other hand, isn’t it just like God to do this sort of thing?
After all, when God first put his saving plan for the world into action, he made a covenant with the least likely person: A 75 year old man named Abraham. God chose this man to start a family that would become God’s covenant people, whose descendants, God promised, would be as numerous as the stars. Never mind that Abraham and his wife were unable to have children back when they were young and of childbearing age. Never mind that they were way too old to be starting a family now. Never mind that another 25 years would pass before Abraham and Sarah would have their promised son.
No worries! As Gabriel told Mary in verse 37, “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
Later, when God wanted his people Israel to go and inhabit the Promised Land, there was only one problem: God’s people were slaves in Egypt! No worries! “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
And when God called Moses to be their spokesman and confront Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world, there was only one problem: Moses had a speech impediment, likely a stutter. And… and… the last time he was in Egypt he was wanted for murder. No worries! “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
Still later, when God needed a brave military leader to conquer the mighty Midianite army, whom does God call? A man named Gideon, who at that very moment was literally hiding in fear from the Midianites down in a winepress—a man who by his own admission was the weakest member of his family! 2 A chicken. A scaredy-cat. A coward. No worries! “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
And you all remember David, the shepherd boy. Probably 13 or 14 years old… whom God calls to stand up to the mighty Goliath. He’s not even big enough to put on a soldier’s suit of armor. Yet this mere child is supposed to do what the rest of the Israelite army was afraid to do? To fight and somehow defeat the mightiest and largest warrior? No worries! “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
Or in the New Testament, how about Paul? Great writer, huh? But listen to what his critics said about him, according to Paul’s own words in 2 Corinthians 10:10: “His letters are weighty and powerful, but his physical presence is weak and his public speaking amounts to nothing.!” 3 Yet this is the same person whom God called to take the gospel to the Gentiles and start churches throughout the known world? No worries! “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
As Paul told the believers at Corinth, “few of you were wise in the world’s eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you. Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise. And he chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful. God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.” 4
So in a way, I guess it makes perfect sense that God chose this very unlikely girl from this very unlikely place to do the unlikeliest thing of all: to bring God’s Son Jesus—God from God, light from light, true God from true God—into the world, to be his mother, to raise him, to prepare him for his future ministry.
Remember the “senior superlatives” in your class yearbook? “Most popular,” “Most congenial,” “Most intelligent,” “Best Dressed,” “Most athletic,” “Most likely to succeed”? One of my children, who shall remain nameless, received the honor of being “class clown”—his picture was in the yearbook right alongside the person “most likely to succeed”!
But my point is, if high school existed back in Mary’s day, literally no one would have voted Mary the young woman “most likely to be the mother of God’s Son.”
And yet… Look what she did!
And this brings us to Point Number Two: God’s unlikely choice of us…
Mary is a remarkable disciple of Jesus Christ. It’s not for nothing that some preachers have called her the very first Christian…. an example of Christian discipleship that all of us can emulate. And not to pick on Catholics, but this is where they often go wrong… They think that Mary’s being “highly favored by God,” or “full of grace,” means that she is some kind of superhero of the faith… some kind of super-saint… that she is extra extra extra ordinary… that she is especially holy… So we think, “I could never be like her!” Especially when you consider the fact that when she conceived Jesus in her womb, there was literally no human being in history up to that point who had ever been closer to God than her! Think about it! She had God literally living inside her! Growing inside her! God was physically connected to her! Because remember: Jesus is both fully human and at the same time fully God.
So by all means, what God called Mary to do, none of us will ever be called upon to do… Her mission was unique. And she accomplished her mission beautifully…
But please consider this: If you are in Christ, you have God living inside you, too! What does the Bible say in 1 Corinthians 6? Your body is a temple for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is God! If you’re in Christ, the Spirit lives inside you! In fact, if you are in Christ, the Bible says that you too are now “highly favored by God.” In Ephesians 1:6, the same Greek word that Gabriel uses of Mary in today’s scripture, translated as “highly favored,” Paul now uses of all of us Christians!
Remember, also, the angels’ message to the shepherds abiding in the field in Luke chapter 2, verse 14: They say, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” 5 And God’s favor rests on us who are in Christ just as his favor rested on Mary.
If you’re a Christian, that means you enjoy God’s favor, too. Just like Mary enjoyed God’s favor!
Isn’t there a lesson here for us? Maybe you were never voted “most likely,” “most popular,” “best looking.” “funniest…” But look out! That only means you are exactly the kind of person God can use to accomplish great things for his kingdom and for his glory in this world. God isn’t looking for great people! He’s looking for normal people, average people, badly flawed people, broken people, sinful people, people who’ve reached the end of their rope. He’s looking for losers and failures and has-beens and “never-was-es”… He’s looking for the least likely… People who are unqualified in every way except one… People who, in spite of their lack of qualifications are nevertheless willing to say yes to God when he calls.
I’d like to give you a sneak preview of this year ahead at the new Toccoa First Methodist Church. I feel convicted that we are a church that relies far too much on ourselves and our own gifts and our own abilities. And we feel discouraged because we feel limited by our circumstances. And we look over our shoulders at other churches and feel an inferiority complex. “We can’t do that. We’re not big enough. We’re not young enough. We don’t have this. We don’t have that.”
We, we, we… Us, us, us… And I get it. But, I’m sorry, this is the wrong perspective to have about our church, an incorrect understanding of our church.
I am struck by two glorious words that often show up together in scripture. For instance, in Genesis 50:20: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.” Or Psalm 73:26: “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Or Romans 5:8: “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Do you know what two words I’m talking about? “But God…” Nearly the two best words I can’t think of. Let us stop saying, or thinking, of reasons why we can’t do this or that. “But we… But we… But we…” And let us instead learn to say, “But God…”
“Nothing will be impossible with God.” Do we believe it?
Brothers and sisters at the new Toccoa First Methodist Church, there’s nothing we lack… except faith… more faith… or deeper faith…
Well, you’ll be hearing more about that soon.
Point Number Three… the perfect response to God’s choice…
In verse 38, upon hearing all that God was asking her to do, Mary responds with the most fitting words of discipleship imaginable. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” “I submit to your will,” in other words. “I surrender to your will.”
We Methodists often say something similar, by the way, when we pray the Wesleyan Covenant Prayer:
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
to thy pleasure and disposal.
What is the meaning of that prayer if not a slightly wordier version of, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
Are we willing to say those words, and pray those words, and believe those words… the way Mary did?
A little while ago, a few of us performed the beloved Christmas classic, “Mary, Did You know?” If you’ve been on social media recently, you may have noticed the recent backlash to the song. There are various memes associated with it. One of them shows a painting of Mary and the baby Jesus with the words, “Yes, I knew. Stop asking already.” Another asks, “Mary, did you know?” “Yes, Gabriel told me everything in Luke 1:30-33.”
I was pleased to see that songwriter Mark Lowry, who wrote the words of the song, has a sense of humor about these memes, too.
I get the joke of the memes, but I think they’re mostly unfair to the song. Most of the questions in the song are pretty specific… they certainly aren’t questions that Gabriel answers. Besides, there’s a big difference between knowing something in your head and knowing something from often painful personal experience! And I particularly like the part that goes, “Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?/ This child that you delivered, will soon deliver you.” That’s some eloquent songwriting, in my opinion.
But yes, it’s true that the angel Gabriel shared with her the most pertinent information about her son, about what he is coming into the world to do, and I’m sure she easily imagined some of the many difficulties she’ll face because she says “yes” to God’s call. By all means!
So, for example, when Mary says, “Let it be to me according to your word,” she is saying, in so many words,“Give me all the trouble that I know is coming.” Because people knew how to do math in the first century. And they had calendars. And they could add up the dates. And they knew that pregnancies lasted nine months…”
Mary knew that by answering “yes” she was opening herself up to shame, ridicule, gossip, slander… After all, she told Joseph that she was pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he didn’t even believe her at first. How likely is it that others would believe her?
So when she said, “Let it be to me according to your word,” she accepted all of that trouble.
But the song isn’t wrong: There’s so much about her future that she couldn’t have begun to have imagined. Remember after the birth, in Luke chapter 2, Simeon prophesied about Jesus and warned Mary that “a sword will pierce through your own soul also.” 6 Simeon wouldn’t have to warn her about that if she already knew.
And Mary would begin feeling the sting of that sword almost right away… because in a matter of days or weeks months, she and Joseph and her newborn baby would have to pack up and flee to Egypt in the middle of the night to escape King Herod’s murderous clutches.
No, Mary didn’t know she’d have to do that!
There was so much Mary didn’t know about her future—so much she couldn’t have imagined about her future—when she accepted God’s call.
But Mary knew the God who held her future in his hands…
Listen: It is far less important that we know the future than that we know the God who holds our future in his hands.
Let me repeat that: It is far less important that we know the future than that we know the God who holds our future in his hands.
Will we, like Mary, trust God with our future?
Before we answer, let’s consider this: When Mary was nearing the end of her life—after all the sacrifices, all the trouble, all the fearful circumstances; after Mary felt the full thrust of that sharp sword piercing her soul; after all the pain and suffering that she had to endure for the sake of her faithfulness to Jesus—do you think Mary said, “I wish I hadn’t answered that call! It was way too hard. It wasn’t worth the trouble. I should have told Gabriel ‘no.’”
Do you think Mary thought that?
By no means!
Instead, she would have thought, “It’s totally worth it!”
Brothers and sisters, because we are in Christ—because we are adopted into God’s family through faith, because we have the Holy Spirit living within us—we can know this for sure: on the other side of whatever trouble we face in life, we will be able to say, “It was totally worth it.”