Most Highly Favored Lady
A sermon
delivered by Rev. Peter T. Atkinson
December 9, 2012
at Gordonsville
Presbyterian Church, Gordonsville, Virginia
Luke 1:26-36
Let us pray,
Help us to see despite our eyes
Help us to think outside of our minds
Help us to be more than our lives
For your eyes show the way
Your
mind knows the truth
Your
being is the life.
Amen.
Luke 1:26-36
26
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin
engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s
name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored
one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his
words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel
said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31
And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name
him Jesus. 32 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. 33
He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there
will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since
I am a virgin?” 35 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. [1]
Do you all recall the comedy skit
that Bill Cosby used to do about Noah? Well in it Noah would be going about his
daily life, and then this bell would go off, and then the voice of the Lord
would sound, deep and echoing, "NOAH." Then Noah would look around a
little bit. Then same ding, and, "NOAH." Somebody call me?
"NOAH." What, what do you want, he'd reply. Then God would tell him
about building the ark, and Noah's response was always, "Right." As
if the whole encounter hadn't really set in yet.
I picture a similar encounter here.
You can even see it in the Biblical Text. Ding. . . "Greetings favored
one." Now how often do you get addressed like that. The text is so funny,
in case you missed it, "but she was much perplexed by his words, and
wondered what sort of greeting this would be." You can see her saying, "Right,
what's wrong with you, who talks like that?" And then the angel says, and
for the first of many times in the gospel you hear these words, "Do not be
afraid." Why is it that these encounters with aspects of the Christ story,
when people enter into it all the first words spoken to them is exactly that,
"do not be afraid." You wonder should we put up a sign on the church
doors or something, "Do not be afraid." Because here you see it,
Jesus repeatedly tells his followers the same, after healings, on boat rides,
while taking a stroll across the lake, again and again and again, finally the
last one beyond the rolled away stone in the empty tomb. . . "Do not be
afraid." We often forget after years of church attendance and study just
how frightening it all, angel annunciations, miraculous healings, miraculous
notion challenging actions, resurrection, can truly be. So try to put yourself
in Mary's shoes, visibly shaken enough for Gabriel to tell her not to be
afraid, but then as if the look on her face was, are you talking to and about
me, then Gabriel removes all doubt, going beyond favored one and calling her by
name, "Mary." Like Noah in the Bill Cosby skit, it takes twice. . .
Umm me? "Yes You, favored one, you have found favor with God." Then
Mary, "Right. . . favor, what does that get me?"
Hmmm favor, it gets you from a
practical human point of view some shadowy overcoming encounter with the spirit
followed soon after by a teenage pregnancy, out of wedlock, with no teenage
pregnancy case worker assigned, and thankfully no planned parenthood hotline,
no MTV's Teen Mom contract to sign, no instead just nine months of hormones
being out of whack, growing larger, having to try to eat for two, swollen feet
and fingers, your hair starts falling out. You have uncertainty as to whether
your betrothed husband will still marry you, still talk to you, or worse, have
you stoned, and all that works out, but then when you are close to the birth, you
get to take a long over land trip, perhaps on the back of a donkey, all to your husband-to-be's hometown, so the
occupying foreign government can count you, giving you your number as a person,
so that you though not a citizen can pay your taxes to that same occupying
foreign government, but then when you get there, the city is busting at the
seems with people also travelling to be counted and taxed, so there was no room
anywhere to stay, and it would appear that your husband to be forgot to call
ahead and make the reservations, again nine months pregnant, a little short,
cranky, not in the mood to deal with such adverse circumstances, but then a
kindly innkeeper takes pity on your plight and gives you a corner suite in the,
yeah you guessed it the stable, lodged somewhere between the goats and the
cows, so now you are ready for the labor to start, with no doctor, not even a
midwife, no epidural, no birth plan, no what if scenarios taken into
consideration, no optional emergency C-Section, just you your husband the
animals, and your newly born son, for which you have no crib, no cradle, no
specially designed and approved car seat, nothing but the stable's feed trough,
and then visited by the animal stink of shepherds and their sheep, and some
other foreign kings, but if that wasn't enough you get word that your king, your country's puppet ruler feels
threathened by your little miracle, so
you need to flee into the deserts of Egypt to hide out for a while, a
long while, until that king, called Herod, dies. And with all that behind you,
your new family gets to raise your son, living a life of underground non famous
private family bliss for a time back home in Nazareth. Everything is great. You
love your son. You love your husband. You have other children together, but
then the time comes when your son must leave to go do his work. And so he goes,
you see him from time to time, and you hear stories of the wonders he performs,
three years you follow his career as a proud mom, but then it all starts to
fall apart. He ventures out of Galilee and goes to Jerusalem. You've heard the
stories, you know that all prophets must go up to Jerusalem, up Zion Hill, and
you also know what happens to them there. Your son is no different. He's
betrayed, arrested, abandoned, tried, sentenced, beaten, flogged, forced to
carry a cross through the jeering spitting crowd, across town to Golgotha in
Aramaic, Calvary in Latin, and in English the place of the skulls, there to be
nailed to the cross, and crucified, hung out to die slowly and painfully as
you, "Son behold your mother, mother behold your son," look on
completely powerless, but then your son
is resurrected, you become a saint, highly favored by all, prayed to,
worshipped, Songs are written about you, Theologians make up words to describe
you, like Theotokos, one who carries God, but then comes the Reformation and many of
your statues are taken down, some destroyed, these new denominations throw you
out with all of the other Saints, and this is what it means to be "Favored
by God." As Psalm 1 puts it, one might rather be like the chaff who are
blown away by the wind. Most Highly Favored Lady, gloria.
It's a tough life, but Mary is not
alone. Look throughout the Bible, you will see many whom are called to lives of
service to God, and in such lives of challenge. We already mentioned Noah,
imagine how his neighbors reacted to him building an Ark in his yard, expecting
rain. Abraham, leaving his homeland, becoming a wanderer, promised a son, and
then asked to sacrifice him. Jacob and his swindling then his conversion
wrestling match, forever crippled by it. Joseph sold by his brothers, Moses
going up against Pharoah, leading wandering through the wilderness, only
getting a glimpse of the promised land, Joshua, Deborah, Gideon, Samson, all
facing the challenges of conquest, being a judge, and trying to keep the
community identity together in the new land. Ruth, Naomi, Hannah, Samuel,
David, Nathan, Solomon, all the other kings, Daniel, Esther, Isaiah, Jeremiah,
Ezekiel, Jonah, the disciples, the martyrs, the church fathers, the reformers,
Mother Teresa, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Martin Luther King, the list goes on and on. All called, all
challenged, all favored? Yes all favored.
As we have seen often in our lives
and in our study of the Bible and Church History, the life of a Christian is
not blessed with ease. Unlike what many seem to expect, especially from the
outside, Christians do not earn blessings by their deeds, they do not go to
church so that their lives will become perfect or simple or uncomplicated,
instead we are called, and called to a life of service to God, an amazing,
challenging, all encompassing distinction. So why? Why Why? Why does Mary
respond to this tall order with the words of the Magnificat?
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and
my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for
he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for
the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His
mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He
has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He
has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he
has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He
has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according
to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” [2]
How can she see the perspective of her
situation, going from fear and disbelief, doubt and confusion, worry and apprehension,
to those beautiful words of faith, confidence, and strength?
I have been reading every poem this week,
listening to every song, anything to get a better concept of Mary's story, and the
one that I found that most seems to get at it is Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven."
In the song, speaking from Mary's voice, the verses are filled with doubt: the first
two verses are printed in the bulletin. The first verse is doubt about God's choice
of her. . .
I have traveled many moonless nights
Cold and weary with a babe inside
And I wonder what I've done
Holy Father, You have come
And chosen me now to carry Your Son
Then a description of her struggle. .
.
I am waiting in a silent prayer
I am frightened by the load I bear
In a world as cold as stone
Must I walk this path alone?
Be with me now, be with me now
Then the last verse
is doubt about her own worthiness. . .
Do you wonder as you watch my face,
If a wiser one should have had my place,
But I offer all I am
For the mercy of your plan.
Help me be strong.
Help me be.
Help me.
If a wiser one should have had my place,
But I offer all I am
For the mercy of your plan.
Help me be strong.
Help me be.
Help me.
But it is the chorus that stood out to me this week about
what made the difference for Mary and what makes the difference for us. The Chorus
goes. . .
Breath of heaven,
Hold me together,
Be forever near me,
Breath of heaven.
Breath of heaven,
Lighten my darkness,
Pour over me your holiness,
For you are holy.
Hold me together,
Be forever near me,
Breath of heaven.
Breath of heaven,
Lighten my darkness,
Pour over me your holiness,
For you are holy.
And the music seems to make the difference. There is strength
in the words and in the music as if the breath of heaven is there with her, and
it is. Again breath and spirit are the same word in Hebrew. She has with her always
filling her life with power and strength the Spirit of the Living God within her,
always, through the labor, through the birth, through the exile, through the good
family times, even through the crucifixion and loss. There is real solidifying strengthening
power, and it makes all the difference for Mary. . . We know it must because when
we think about it there is no way we could do what she does. . . It seems too that before it happens she feels there
is no way she can do what she does. . . and then when it does, she can, there must
be something in the moment that gives her the ability beyond what she feels she
is capable of.
And that same spirit is within all of those other Biblical
Characters, and in those martyrs, reformers and fighters for peace. And when we
are called, in our own way, the same is true for us. We get called to do things
outside of ourselves, called to be things outside of ourselves, and we are given
the strength and presence to do them because to be called is to be favored and to
be favored is to be loved, and to be loved is to never be abandoned. May we have
ears to hear, faith to listen, and be given the will to carry through, all for the
glory of God. Amen.
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