Advent 4B, 2008

The Rev. Patricia Templeton
Advent 4B
December 21, 2008
St. Dunstan's

Saying Yes to God

I imagine that is probably started out as just another ordinary day.

Mary, a young Jewish girl, perhaps as young as 13, is doing her chores, the same routine that she follows every day – getting water from the well, working in the garden, helping her mother prepare the day’s meals.

The work is the same almost every day, but lately it has taken on new meaning for Mary. She is engaged to be married to Joseph, a young carpenter in Nazareth. They are already betrothed, legally committed to one another. Their parents have already worked out the marriage contract.

Mary doesn’t really know Joseph that well. They are never allowed to spend time alone together. But he seems like a kind and gentle man and she senses that she will grow to love him.

Now, as she does her chores, she often thinks about the day she will be doing these things in her own house, for her own husband.

But on this day, Mary’s dreams are interrupted by the abrupt arrival of a strange creature. He looks like an angel – or what she has always imagined an angel might look like.

“Greetings, favored one!” he proclaims. “The Lord is with you.”
Mary almost drops her water jug as she jumps back in fright. Who is this and what is he talking about?
Gabriel realizes that he has surprised the young woman. “Do not be afraid, Mary,” he quickly reassures her. “For you have found favor with God.”

But his next words are anything but reassuring.

“You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

“How can this be?” Mary asks.

But then she responds, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let is be with me according to your word.”

We have heard this story so many times, seen it romanticized so often, that its outcome is undisputed. It is easy to overlook the amazing import of this moment, to underestimate what God is asking of this young woman, this girl, and what it means for her to say “let it be with me according to your will.”

Of course, Mary says yes to God. Who could imagine it any other way?

What we forget is that Mary did have a choice, and there were many reasons for her to say no to this strange request.

First and foremost was the culture in which she lived. A woman who was pregnant out of marriage could legally be stoned to death.

That was an extreme response and rarely carried out, but even in the best case scenario, Joseph could break the engagement, could in effect divorce her before they had ever lived together.

And once that happened, she could expect that no man would ever be interested in her again.

How would she raise a child without a husband? What kind of shame would she bring upon her family? Would they let her stay? Would they, too, cast her out? If they did, how would she and her child survive?

And even if all of those questions were resolved, how could she, an ordinary Jewish girl, bear the Son of God? Who was she to agree to such an awesome task? Who could believe such a thing?
Surely all of these questions raced through Mary’s mind as she stood before Gabriel. Surely the reasonable answer would be no.

And yet, when Mary opens her mouth to respond, she hears herself saying yes.

With amazing poise and confidence, this young girl replies, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

Mary is often portrayed in culture as submissive and passive, the one who let things happen to her, the one who was blindly and unquestioningly obedient.

But I think Mary was a girl, and later a woman, of great courage, who knew what the consequences of her actions might be, but who deliberately and willingly chose to do what was asked of her.

Mary did not know how things would work out. She knew that the path she was choosing would most likely not be an easy one, that the life she had dreamed of for herself would be forever changed.

And yet with great faith and trust and courage, she said yes.

She would do this amazing thing, she would carry the Word of God into the world.

It is easy to hear this strange story of angels and virgin birth and God made flesh and think that Mary’s long ago life has little similarity, little to do with our own lives and times.

But angels don’t have to wear haloes and wings. An angel is any messenger from God. And the truth is that God sends messages to us all the time – through our dreams, through something we hear or read in the news, through the words of a friend or a total stranger.

All of us are called to carry the Word of God into the world.

Or as medieval theologian Meister Eckhart observed, “We are all called to be mothers of God because God is always waiting to be born.”

We, each of us, may bring God to birth in the lives of others by the response that we make to God’s invitation to us.

May we, like Mary, have the courage to say yes.

Amen.

Readings

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

Now when David the king was settled in his house, and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him, the king said to the prophet Nathan, “See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent.” Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan: Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?” Now, therefore, thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel; and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

Romans 16:25-27

Now to God who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages but is now disclosed, and through the prophetic writings is made known to all the Gentiles, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith—to the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever! Amen.

Luke 1:26-38

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 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.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “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. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.