This is a sermon I preached at Easton Church of the Brethren 12/19/21
I’ve always been an artsy kid, particularly with music and drama. This is why Christmas resonates with me so deeply. There is so much music and so many movies and plays about Christmas, and I think that plays a big role in why I feel Christmas is the most powerful Christian holiday of the year. But as a performer, I know full well what goes into preparing for the Christmas pageants and the winter concerts. Usually, as soon as school starts in August, these groups begin rehearsing to present these works of performative art by December.
I almost have to laugh at the argument that arises this time of year about how early is too early to celebrate Christmas. I think I was desensitized to this at an early age. Christmas preparations started in August. That just makes sense. There is so much to do and get ready for that if you wait until after Halloween or Thanksgiving to prepare, that is far too late. I also find it hard to believe that it is ever a bad thing to spend extra time contemplating the miracles of God and the origin story of the savior of the world through the Virgin Mary.
From a young age, I remember being very impacted by the story of Mary. At that age, I thought the Bible was like a history book. It didn’t have an ending, it was still being written, and stories from modern times would eventually be added to the Bible. I was very excited at the thought of how God could use me in “the Bible”, and what story could be written in history about how I served God. One Sunday in Sunday school, we were talking about Adam & Eve, the original sin and the curse on humanity. I heard this, and fantasized about breaking the curse, like in a fairytale. Curses were broken by slaying dragons, a royal encounter, or a kiss. On my way home, I asked about the curse, and how it could be broken. In my head, I was casting myself as the lead in this fairytale, ready to break the curse and be written into the Bible “fairytale” when my mom responded, “the curse has been broken!”
I’m not going to lie; I was a little disappointed. I really wanted to see the curse broken in this day and age in my generation, and I was ready to take on the task of making that happen, if necessary, but someone else beat me to the punch. I asked how the curse was broken, and she told me it was through Jesus. Many prophecies foretold his coming, he was born from a virgin, and He died on a cross to save us from our sins, thus breaking the curse.
This sounded great and all, but I needed to know more about this Mary character who stole my fairytale!
As I read more and learned more about the Bible, I grew a great respect for Mary. This story became more than a “fairytale” to me. It became real, and Mary became real. In my teenage years, I contemplated what she did and how impossible it could have seemed. I wondered if that were something I could do, and when I thought honestly about it, I didn’t think I could. So, I’ve got to give God credit where credit is due. He cast the right girl in the leading role.
One song that stuck out to me during musical preparations for Christmas was “Mary, Did You Know”. The idea of this song centers around one question, repeated over and over, talking about various things Jesus went on to do in His ministry, and if Mary, in her confusing and vulnerable state of an unexpected and impossible pregnancy, if she knew the full gravity of what she was doing in that moment. When I thought about it from Mary’s perspective, I would have had a very difficult time in that pregnancy if I didn’t know the reason it was happening to me.
Of course, this circumstance is very different from the position Mary was in. Her birth was miraculous, not biological. In fact, it defied logic. This added another layer to what Mary was going through. The ultimate surprise pregnancy. It’s hard to comprehend what she may have been thinking or feeling in this circumstance, since it is quite rare.
The closest modern interpretation of this I have seen is in a show called “Jane, The Virgin”. It follows the story of a 23-year-old girl engaged to be married, finishing her undergrad in Miami, with her life meticulously planned out. Her mother had her from an unexpected pregnancy in high school, and as a devout Catholic, although she was close with her mother, Jane planned her life around avoiding that mistake, and saving herself for marriage. But the unthinkable happened. At a doctor’s appointment, she was accidentally artificially inseminated and became pregnant with someone else’s child. In a light-hearted way, the show explores the drama she endured for 9-months as she tried to wrap her head around what was happening, how to prepare for the unexpected, and how this would change her future forever.
There are many things in Jane’s story that parallel Mary’s story. An engagement, a surprise pregnancy, the social stigmas, the life-changing reality. But there is one thing that Mary had that Jane didn’t: a promise from God.
Jane was in the position of many women who become pregnant, regardless of the circumstances. But Mary didn’t have to wonder. She knew everything about what this child would be. Not only did she have the assurance of the angel, but she had the assurance of numerous prophecies from the Old Testament, which she clearly was familiar with as she references them in the Magnificat:
✓ Isaiah 43:6 - Would save our sons and daughters?
✓ Isaiah 35:5–6 - The blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dead will live a-gain. The lame will leap, the dumb will speak the praises of the Lamb./Will give sight to a blind man?
✓ Luke 1:33 - Is Lord of all creation? / Will one day rule the nations?
✓ Luke 1:32 - That sleeping child you're holding is the great I am/When you've kissed your little baby then you've kissed the face of God.
When we encounter Mary in this scene in Luke 1, there are two parts: her receiving the news from the angel, and her reaction to this news, and I think Mary’s reaction is the beautiful part of this story. She humbly accepts this divine assignment, and She goes to visit her relative, and together they worshipped God for what He was doing in their lives, both fully aware of the work of God beginning in their lives that would change the world,
But the thing I find most amazing is in Luke verse 1:56 “And Mary remained with her about 3 months and returned to her home”. It’s easy to look at this story and think this was a one-time visit, like when you make a pregnancy announcement. She visited her friend, they celebrated together for a little bit, and she went on her merry way. But that’s not what happened. We only see what appears to be the initial reaction, but they exhorted and encouraged each other through their pregnancies for 3 MONTHS! Just imagine the glory of God that surrounded those 2 women in those 3 months. At that time, they were the only people in the world that understood what the other was going through, and what an incredible blessing that God gave Mary a comforter in Elizabeth during this time. God was compassionate enough for Mary’s state that He did not say “Here’s a baby in your womb, figure it out”, but he gave her Elizabeth to help her and comfort her. Although this was Elizabeth’s first time, too, together they could glorify God and remember His promises being fulfilled in their lives. Together, in peace, they prepared for God to change the world.
The theme of this 4th Sunday of Advent is peace. If we think about the story of Jane, or any other pregnancy for that matter, it is often far from peaceful. There are many preparations that go into having a child. You must get all the supplies needed, prepare a place in the home for the child, make arrangements and announcements to the family. It can quickly become a very stressful situation if you lose sight of the miracle of life.
I think we encounter a similar thing around Christmas. A lot of people dread Christmas because it can be such a stressful time. You must get presents and decorations, you need to prepare a tree and places for family to gather and celebrate, and you have to spend time gathering with family. It can all become overwhelming if we forget the miracle we are celebrating.
Mary had peace because she knew the promise of God that was being fulfilled through the miracle in her life. We have been told this story time and time again, and we know the miracle of Christmas and the even greater miracles that came after it. So, like Mary, we don’t need to respond to this season of preparation and celebration with stress. Rather, we should seek to remember the glory of God through this story and encourage our neighbors and prepare our hearts for the miracle that started the greatest story ever written; the story I so envied growing up that would lead to Jesus breaking the curse of sin and death forever. We should look at Mary’s peace and reflect that in how we handle this season. I think Isaiah 54:10 holds the most pertinent reminder of how to hold onto this peace in difficult and stressful times:
Isaiah 54:10 – “Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.”
God had made this covenant to bring a redeemer to Israel in ancient days. That covenant remained through Mary’s conception and birth of Jesus and remains to this day. Even though her world was shaken by this miracle, through God’s love and compassion, she could hold onto peace. This is a peace we all have access to because of Jesus’s sacrifice to break the curse. We can have peace knowing that we no longer have to work and toil on our own to achieve perfection and righteousness in God’s eyes, but Jesus took that burden for us so we could live in peace if we accept Him in our hearts and seek to love God and love others in our lives.
So, did Mary know? Yes, she did, and so do you, and that’s why we can have peace! So, remember God’s promises in your life, and let Him give you peace through the Spirit of Christ within you, and let that peace guard your heart during this season of Christmas.
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