Sermon. The Birth of Jesus Foretold

Transcription

1 Sermon The Birth of Jesus Foretold 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. [b] 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? [c] 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 [d] will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 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. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God. 38 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. ( Sermon 1 P a g e

2 Joy overcomes doubt! So, what exactly is joy? What about doubt? Let s talk about doubt to start with. As a noun, doubt is defined as a feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction. It is this form, we can see in the words of Mary How can this be, since I am a virgin? I am sure she is feeling uncertain about this whole God wanting her to be the mother of the Savior. And yet if nothing else, Mary did not show a lack of conviction to her call. Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word. As a verb, this is something we can all do easily question a truth/ fact or just disbelieve. We do this all-day long. Do we really believe the commercials on TV? How about the news we hear on the radio or TV or the internet? Of course, not. We doubt because that is in our nature to question things, even things that for all intents and purposes are real and true. Maybe this is why doubt is such a powerful enemy we use it so much. We are programmed to doubt. God made us this way to protect us from harm. But doubts can get away on us. For some of us, doubt and its emotional brother fear become the controlling influence in our lives. We have only to look around us these days to see the effects of doubt and fear. Politics, finances, weather and so on are all things which weigh heavy on our minds. All the technologies flooding us with events and innuendo. How do we sort out truth from fantasy? Doubt reigns over all of us. So, it should 2 P a g e

3 come as no surprise that doubt was surely on Mary s mind that day. I really like the picture chosen for doubt because it shows the cover of a book with the title ripped off. We must make a judgement about it being good or bad. It raises doubts. So enough about doubt for a moment and let s move over to joy. Joy is much easier to talk about. We are happy when we talk about joy. Joy the noun is defined as a feeling of great pleasure or happiness. I think we can all think of things, places, people or events which just the memory of them brings great pleasure and happiness to our hearts. A marriage, a child, a home or a special Christmas gift. Instantly, a smile comes to your face and you begin to feel warm and fuzzy inside. And that is just as a noun. Can you imagine if we put joy in to action as a verb. Well as a verb, joy is rejoicing. And although we do not use it very often this way, it is ok to feel joyed at someone or something. In the gospel reading today, we can only imagine the joy that Mary would have experienced at this wondrous news. She was talking with an angel and it was telling her of something fantastic that was going to happen. Mary, the young lady was going to be a mother and not just any mother but the mom of the Messiah. She would have heard of the coming Messiah from her faith teachings but never in a million years 3 P a g e

4 would she have ever expected to be the mom to the Messiah. Joy overwhelming. Take a look at the overhead and see if you can find anything on there that describes Mary s joy or even your joy at something good that has happened to you. There should be something there for everyone. We know this story so well that it is hard for me to find something to tell you about that you would not have heard a couple of dozen times before. But I want us to think about how joy overcomes doubt in this lesson. It might not be obvious but it is there nonetheless. Every time someone sees an angel in the bible, the same phrase is used Do not be afraid! The angel knows that for anyone to have this experience there is definitely going to be fear. We can only believe that Mary would have experienced it also. So, Gabriel s declaration of Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Would have brought a sense of relief and joy to Mary s heart. Joy overcame fear and doubt about what was happening. Gabriel goes on to tell Mary that she was going to conceive and that it would be by the power of the Holy Spirit. This would have calmed Mary s concern about the process of conception and the fact that it was not being done by a human man. See she was betrothed to Joseph and having another man cause her 4 P a g e

5 conception would have been a terrible sin and a shame. Having the Holy Spirit move in an act of creation similar to the creation story she would have learned as a child would have given her much joy to be part of creation. Her doubts were diminishing. What I find the most interesting and we don t spend much time on it is the next thing she is told and that is the report of her cousin Elizabeth being six months along. Mary knew Elizabeth had not been able to conceive so it gave her great joy to hear that this miracle had been done for Elizabeth by the power of God. So, if this was true then for sure what the angel was saying was true. She was going to be a mom. I want to point out that Mary was not the only one in this story that experienced the freeing power of joy in wiping out doubt. Think about Elizabeth!! She was very mature, was never able to conceive and was dubious when told she would have a child and yet, there she was carrying the one who would prepare the way for the Messiah. Her joy would have been palpable. I would imagine she would not be able to contain it. Her doubts were vanquished. Her faith was strengthened. God kept His promise. She was blessed. So where do we see joy overcoming doubt in our lives? Do you see it happening all around you? It is easy to miss but it is happening. Maybe that phone call you received from family or friends. My favorite the credit card bill that comes in lower 5 P a g e

6 than expected! Or how about the price of gasoline going down again. We can find joy in our lives through the smallest of things when we remain focused on having Jesus as our Lord and Saviour. You see at this time of the year we are looking forward to the birth of Christ not for that event per se but because it begins the life and subsequent death and resurrection this birth enabled. Our joy is found in the Christ who calls to us in our weakness. He beckons us to believe in Him when everything else around us fills us with doubt. Jesus loves us even though we are sinners and do not deserve Him. That is surely something for us to find joy in. This joy is made full and complete with Jesus death on the cross on that hill in that far away land so long ago. Even back then, He knew you and was willing to take on your guilt and shame so that you would be made right before God. Jesus rising on the third day is the basis for our joy, our faith in Him. Jesus rising fulfilled all the promises of God and wiped away the doubts and fears of all. This gift of joy was given to us by God through the gift of grace so that we might believe and have everlasting life with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen. When we look at the story of Mary, we can imagine the joy she would have felt in her heart as she heard the words of the angel and the announcement of what was to transpire. She for sure would have had doubts but her joy in God, her very faith in His promises, would have moved her through the doubts and 6 P a g e

7 fears to a place of true happiness and peace. That is my wish for you my brothers and sisters: your joy in believing in the risen Christ will bring you and those whose lives you will touch, hope and peace in the days ahead. There will be times of doubt and fear, but our joy in the love of Jesus will carry us through. I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overcome doubt and overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13 NLT) Amen. 7 P a g e