“Mary’s Question” (Luke 1:26-38) - Hope Is on the Way II –

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

One time I had a chance to read about the traditional Native American’s coming-of-age celebration. When a boy turns to 13, his father teaches the son how to fish and hunt. On his 13^th birthday evening the boy is brought to the middle of the dense forest and left alone throughout the night. He ought to spend the whole night alone. Whenever the wind rises and makes noises, he gets overwrought. After a never-ending night passes, as morning dawns, the boy watches the sun come up. Now he begins to see trees and flowers around him one by one. And then he finds one man who stands with bow and arrow in hand only a few feet away. The man is the boy’s father. In fact, the father did spend the whole night with his son. The son was not alone. The father was there with him all night!

Sometimes we feel like God is silent. We feel like God has moved away. We even feel abandoned in our trial. But the truth is, no matter how we feel, God is here with us always. He watches over our lives from the beginning to the end. Advent is a time to remember this truth. Almighty and everlasting God broke into our lives by making himself nothing and becoming human. He came into our lives to live among us and to save us from our distress, ultimately from sin and death. God did come to us and become our hope. This is the Gospel: “Immanuel,” “God with us.” John Wesley’s final words were these: “The best of all is, God is with us!” This is an eternal truth. Our question is: How do we experience this Immanuel God in our lives, especially in our distress? Mary is a right person to answer this question.  

Humility: Mary’s Question

In today’s scripture, Mary says only two words. But those words reveal Mary’s noble character. Her first words are the question to the angel. When she hears the announcement, instead of doubting or mocking the impossible, she humbly asks in verse 34, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” She was ready to believe that she might give birth to the Christ, but that she might give birth as a virgin was beyond comprehension. But her attitude was humble and open. She knew that she came from humble and agrarian roots in Nazareth. She was asking herself, “Who am I to hear this great news?” The first thing that we need to experience the Immanuel God is humble of heart. St. Augustine said, “If you should ask me what are the ways of God. I would tell you that the first is humility, the second is humility, and the third is humility.” We cannot have faith without being humble first. We ought to ask the same question that Mary did, “What am I?” “Who am I?” The answer is that we are human beings who desire perfect happiness, but we cannot achieve it because of our limitations. We need someone who is above us to give us the power to achieve that goal. Lydia and Abe know they need a father to guide them to ride a bike, to bring them to school, to give them food to eat, and to survive. We must see ourselves as nothing without him. Humility is nothing more than seeing reality. Jesus says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Mary knows that she is honored by God not because of her own merit or because she has done anything, but simply because she is the chosen vessel only by God’s grace. In verse 47-48 she praises, “My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” Mary’s “humble” state here may refer to her social or financial status. But more fundamentally, it refers to her spiritual status. Mary did hunger and thirst for righteousness. She was poor in spirit. The gospel is for everyone. But there is one condition. We need to be humble. Jesus Christ came to the world as a Savior of all people. But, those who claimed themselves to be healthy and righteous rejected him, and only those who admitted they were sick and broke received Christ (cf. Mk 2:17). How is your soul today? The Bible says the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit. God does not despise a broken and humble heart (Ps 51:17). In Isaiah 66:2 the Lord says, “This is the one I esteem: he who is humble and contrite in spirit, and trembles at my word.” Are you poor in spirit, you are blessed! Do you feel like your heart is cold and dry? Then, let us pray fervently: “Lord, I need you! Come, give me a broken and humble heart!” Without being humble we cannot experience God.

  

Faith: Mary’s Answer

Mary is not only the humble mother of Jesus, but also an example of faith. Her second words are the answer to the angel. In verse 38 she says, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” Here Mary is saying, “Lord, use me as you will. I will not refrain from serving because I do not feel qualified or it’s possible.” Faith is not feeling but willing. True faith rests upon the character of God and asks no further proof. It is enough that God said so. Peter was a professional fisher man. He was fishing for a living. All through the night he caught nothing. But Jesus said to Peter, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” And let us pay attention to Peter’s response. He said, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets” (Luke 5:5). This is true faith. And the Bible says when Peter did so, he caught such a large number of fish that his nets began to break. Without faith we cannot please God. Without faith we cannot experience God (Heb 11:6).

John Wesley is another good example of faith. In his early years of ministry he did not have saving faith. One day he seriously considered leaving off preaching. He asked his mentor, Peter Bohler whether he should leave it off or not. Peter said, “By no means!” Wesley asked, “But what can I preach?” Peter said, “Preach faith until you have it; and then, because you have it, you will preach faith!” Wesley was reluctant to do it, but he began to preach faith. He preached salvation by faith alone to a prisoner under sentence of death and many others. Later, one evening he encountered the living God. In his spiritual journal he said: “I went very unwillingly to a society in Aldersgate Street, where one was reading Luther’s preface to the Epistle to the Romans. About a quarter before nine, while he was describing the change which God works in the heart through faith in Christ, I felt my heart strangely warmed. I felt I did trust in Christ, Christ alone, for salvation; and an assurance was given me that He had taken away my sins, even mine, and saved me from the law of sin and death.” Wesley now experienced God not simply intellectually, but also in terms of his tempers and affections. His heart as well as his mind now belonged to the Immanuel God. Pastor A.W. Tozer, in his book “Man: The Dwelling Place of God” points out that the complacency of Christians is the scandal of Christianity today. He exhorts us how to experience God in our lives. He says, “Strive to get beyond mere pensive longing. Set your face like a flint and begin to put your life in order… Begin to tithe; institute family prayer; pay up your debts as far as possible…; make restitution as far as you can; set aside time to pray and search the Scriptures; surrender wholly to the will of God. You will be surprised and delighted with the results.” Faith is a verb. When we do the word as well as hear the word, we will experience the Immanuel God.

Christ Reborn

Recently I read one poem about Christmas written by Germen Poet Angelus Silesius. I would like to share it with you:

“Though Christ a thousand times

In Bethlehem be born,

If He’s not born in thee

Thy soul is still forlorn

The Cross on Golgotha,

Will never save thy soul;

The Cross in thine own heart,

Alone can make thee whole!”

Yes, indeed! Even if such a wonderful and mighty Savior were born a thousand times in Bethlehem, unless He is born in us, our soul is still abandoned, desolate, lost, barren, and alone! The birth of Christ must become our personal experience. Mary helps us to learn how to experience this. So let us conclude where Mary does, “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said!” With humility and by faith, let us say, “Lord, I am your servant; take me; use your almighty power to put me where you want me, when you want me there, doing what you want me to do!” And let us live what we say. Then, the Christ will be truly reborn in us and dwell within us, and we will experience God each and every day. Amen.