What Is This? (Christmas Eve morning service)
By Rev. Heidi L. Barham | December 24, 2023
Click here to listen to the service
Read Luke 1:26 – 38
We have come to the fourth Sunday in the season of Advent, and our attention is drawn to the pinnacle of all that this season is based on… and that is LOVE.
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
The hope, joy, and peace that we have focused on over the last three weeks leading up to today are wonderful gifts indeed, but as 1 Corinthians 13 reminds us:
If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing… And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:1 – 3, 13)And let us not forget what we find in the first epistle of John which reads, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8).
I think it is absolutely fair to say that love is the greatest gift of all.
But on this Christmas Eve morning, our New Testament lesson takes us to the point in time just before that great gift of love came down to earth as a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger because there was no room at the inn or anywhere else for that matter…
Now, as I reflected on this passage from Luke’s Gospel, I have to confess… I heard this voice in my head that soundly strangely like Sophia from “The Golden Girls” saying, “Picture it… Nazareth in Galilee… a young girl named, Mary, was engaged to a carpenter named, Joseph. All of a sudden, an angel appeared out of nowhere and told Mary that she was going to have a baby… the angel even told her what she was supposed to name the baby. But here’s the thing, Mary was a virgin. I know, sounds impossible, right? That’s what she thought… But this angel, Gabriel, told her that nothing was impossible with God… and get this, he said that even Mary’s much older cousin, who was barren, was actually six months pregnant. Can you believe it?”
It does seem rather unbelievable and yet, here we are roughly two thousand years after the fact… preparing to celebrate the birth of that baby… a baby who came from seemingly impossible beginnings… to make all things possible for those who would believe.
Now, as we think about this story in our text this morning, I want to invite our attention to a fairly simple question: WHAT IS THIS?
WHAT IS THIS story that defies all logic and reason… a virgin becoming pregnant through the Holy Spirit? WHAT IS THIS narrative supposed to teach us as we hear it, time and time again, during the Advent and Christmas season? And perhaps an even better question… WHAT IS THIS all going to mean after the presents have all been opened and the decorations have all been put away for yet another year?
Let me suggest that there are at least three lessons we can take away from this story today… lessons that will serve us well in this season of Advent and beyond.
The first lesson is this… God can use us, if we trust Him.
Mary seemingly had three strikes against her coming into all of this. She was young, she was poor, and she was female. Back in her day, any one of those three things would have made Mary an unlikely candidate to be used by God.
But Mary had one thing working in her favor that superseded everything else. She had a willing and obedient spirit. She did not hesitate to acquiesce when the Angel Gabriel explained what was to come. She simply said, “I am the Lord’s servant… May your word to me be fulfilled.”
In spite of the impending ridicule from the people in the community and the prospect of divorce from her betrothed, Joseph, Mary understood that God had an assignment for her to fulfill… and she accepted that assignment willingly.
And the lesson for us is clear. Do not try to impose human limitations on God. God does not see us and judge us the way we see and judge ourselves and one another.
Even when we think our lack of experience, our educational background, or our skills and abilities don’t measure up… and we believe that we are not fit for the task at hand…
Or when others tell us why we are not qualified… rest assured that it is not about what we or anyone else things. God is the One who has the final say and God can and will use us any way He chooses… if we trust Him.
As we read in Proverbs 3:5 – 6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.” Or as it reads in the Message, “Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.”
Mary trusted God… and God used her to be the mother of His Son and our Savior, Jesus the Christ.
And in the same way God used Mary, God can use us… if we trust Him.
Now the second lesson we can take from this text is that we should offer ourselves to the Lord, willingly… even when the outcome seems uncertain or even disastrous.
Keep in mind, back in Mary’s time, being a young, unmarried girl was likely to result in horrific consequences. If the father of the child did not marry her, she could quite possibly remain unmarried for the rest of her life.
And if her own father rejected her, she could conceivably have to resort to begging or prostitution to earn a living. And if you couple that with Mary’s story of being made pregnant by the Holy Spirit… let’s just say there was every likelihood that folks would think she had some type of mental health issue.
But in spite of those potential risks, Mary said, “Let it be with me just as you say” (MSG).
God is looking for willing vessels to say yes to the call to do whatever God is calling us to do… even when we do not know how things will turn out… make that especially when we do not know how things will turn out.
That is what it means to trust God… to have faith… “the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1).
Or in the words of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase.” Doing that requires us to trust… to have faith that either there will be something solid for us to stand on… or God will teach us how to fly.
And so, in the midst of uncertainty and even potential disaster, we must still be willing to offer ourselves to be used by God, just like Mary did.
And that brings us to the third lesson which is simply: accept that God can do the impossible.
Just ask Abraham and Sarah…
Now, according to the Book of Genesis, Abraham extended hospitality to three men who had been standing near his tent. As the story is told, the Lord spoke to Abraham and told him that Sarah was going to give birth to a son in the next year. Sarah heard this proclamation which caused her to laugh at the notion that she would have a child at her age. (See Genesis 16).
Now, I am not sure whether I would have laughed or cried at the prospect of having a baby at Sarah’s age… but I can almost imagine her asking, “WHAT IS THIS? … this foolishness that these men are talking about… that I am going to have a child?
Nevertheless, as impossible as it may have seemed to both Abraham and Sarah at the time… and in spite of the fact that Abraham was 100 years old and his wife, Sarah, was 90… she gave birth to their son, Isaac.
God had indeed fulfilled the promise He made and Abraham became the father of many nations.
And let’s not forget Hannah… another barren woman who prayed for a child…
The Scriptures tell us that year after year Hannah and her husband, Elkanah, along with his other wife, Peninnah, and her children would go up to Shiloh to worship and make a sacrifice to the Lord. And while they were there, Peninnah would taunt Hannah about her inability to conceive… reducing Hannah to tears… to the point that she was unable to eat.
However, one year, Hannah began praying even more earnestly… so much so, that the priest, Eli, thought she had been drinking. Reading about their initial interaction, it was almost as if Eli might have been asking, “WHAT IS THIS? This woman is wandering around outside of the temple and she appears to be drunk.”
But, after hearing Hannah’s story, Eli blessed her and told her, “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him” (See 1 Samuel 1). And after she and Elkanah returned home, Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son she named, Samuel.
Once again, God had done what had seemed to be impossible.
And God did not suddenly stop doing impossible and miraculous things after the time of the Old Testament.
In fact, we need only look back to the verses preceding our New Testament lesson for today to find the story of Mary’s cousin, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was another woman who, along with her husband, Zechariah, the Bible describes as being well along in years. I guess Luke may have been too polite to simply call them old. Nevertheless, the angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah and told him that his prayer had been heard and his wife was going to have a son… and he was to give this son the name, John.
Now, there is no indication given in the Scriptures as to when Zechariah had initially prayed for a son… but suffice it to say, it must have been quite some time earlier because Zechariah was very surprised by the angel’s announcement.
He asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years” (Luke 1:18). In other words, “WHAT IS THIS? How can you possibly say what you are saying? I am old and my wife is, too.”
But yet again, God did what seemed to be impossible and Elizbeth did give birth to a son… a son who Zechariah did indeed name John. A son we probably know better as John the Baptist… the one who came to prepare the way for Jesus… something that we are all called to do… particularly in this season of Advent as we wait for Jesus to return.
Now, it should not be lost on us that many of the seemingly impossible things that God did in biblical times involved women giving birth…
Sarah, Hannah, and Elizabeth were all said to be old and/or barren… meaning that they were past their prime and they were incapable of having children…
Mary, on the other hand, was a young virgin… she was neither barren nor old… but she had never done anything that would have made it even remotely possible for her to give birth.
And yet, despite all odds, each one of these women did give birth.
So, WHAT IS THIS all about? What is the point that I am trying to get across to us on this fourth Sunday of Advent?
Well, you can rest assured, I am not for one minute suggesting that most of us are going to give birth… at least not in a literal sense.
But I do believe that there is something inside each one of us that is waiting to come out… some idea that God is waiting for us to breathe life into… something that God is preparing us to do… something that we have been uniquely chosen to do… regardless of our circumstances.
And so, I want to encourage us to consider Mary’s story and take hold of those three lessons from our text:
First, remember that God can use us, [like He used Mary] if we trust Him.
Second, we should offer ourselves to the Lord, willingly… even when the outcome seems uncertain or even disastrous.
And last but not least, we should accept [and even expect] that God can and will do the impossible. After all, God has been making the impossible possible since the beginning of time.
The story of a young virgin giving birth sounds impossible but it became possible… because God made it so.
And when the impossible became possible all those centuries and generations ago, we became the beneficiaries of the greatest gift we could ever imagine… a Savior who is Christ the Lord.
Salvation is the gift of grace that God gives to us… not because of anything we have done or ever will do to deserve it…
It is simply because of God’s great love for us… His unconditional, everlasting, wondrous love for us… love that was willing to go all the way to a cross at Calvary… so that we can spend eternity with Him.
Now, I can scarcely imagine what must have been going through Mary’s mind when she first heard that angel tell her what was about to happen… but to see the face of her baby boy… that must have filled her heart with a love that defies explanation… to see God’s promise come to fruition…
Mary’s story offers us encouragement in this season of Advent… in this season of anticipation and expectation and preparation… that we, too, will see God’s promises come to fruition as we eagerly look forward to the day when God’s wondrous love comes to earth when Jesus returns for us all… and what a glorious day that will be!
Amen
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