Sermon for Sunday, December 24, 2023 || Advent 4B || Luke 1:26-38

(I was off yesterday, so no sermon from December 31st, but I preached two different sermons on December 24th. Last Monday, I posted the Christmas Eve sermon. Here’s the one for the Fourth Sunday of Advent.)

The reading we just heard from the Gospel According to Luke is one of my absolute favorite passages in the Gospel. I find the character of Mary so utterly compelling, so much a model for our inspiration. She only shows up a handful of times in the story, so let’s take this opportunity today to talk about Mary and about how her interaction with Gabriel sheds light on our lives.

The church calls the event of Gabriel coming to Mary the “Annunciation,” with a Capital A. This event gets its own feast day on March 25th (conveniently, exactly nine months before Christmas). Few events in the Bible have been painted more often by artists than the Annunciation. If I were laying out the story of the Gospel like a novel, then the Annunciation would be the Inciting Incident of the book because Mary’s “Yes” at the end of the passage sets in motion the rest of the events of the Gospel.

Imagine in your mind’s eye Mary, a young woman of Nazareth, going to the well early in the morning to fill a jug with water. A stranger approaches her, which is odd in Nazareth because it’s a small town and she knows everyone. But there’s something familiar about this stranger, something inviting. Mary remembers the stories of her ancestors in the Bible, how several of them, like Rebekah and Rachel, had life-altering encounters at the well. The stranger comes up to her and says, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”

The narrator tells us that Mary is perplexed by this greeting, probably because she doesn’t consider herself favored. She’s just Mary, coming to draw water at the well like all the other young women in town. Perhaps the confusion shows on her face, because now Gabriel remembers the normal flow of dialogue from God’s messengers. Usually, angels open with, “Do not be afraid.” Indeed, in the other two encounters with angels in these first chapters of the Gospel that’s exactly what happens. Both Zechariah in the temple and the shepherds in the fields hear those words first: “Do not be afraid.”

But to Mary, these words are the second thing Gabriel said. It’s as if, in his excitement to speak to Mary, he forgot the order of his dialogue! “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” The fact that Gabriel misorders his dialogue is actually a happy accident. Notice that the sentence about fear falls in between “The Lord is with you” and “You have found favor with God.” Taken in this order, Gabriel’s message surrounds the idea of fear with the idea of God being in relationship with Mary. Mary has no need to fear because the Lord is with her and God is honoring her. And if this isn’t enough to show that God’s relationship with Mary triumphs over fear, the angel does something that is always powerful in the Gospel because of its rarity. Gabriel says Mary’s name: “Do not be afraid, Mary.”

In this opening message Gabriel establishes God’s intimate relationship with Mary, a connection that drives out fear. But Mary isn’t a Biblical superhero. God extends this same relationship to each of us. Listen for the words of God speaking each day into our hearts: “The Lord is with you. Don’t be afraid even if God gives you a daunting task because God honors you with such work, and God will see you through.”

And the task Gabriel gives Mary sure is daunting. Not only was she going to carry and deliver a child, a dangerous prospect for the laboring mother. Not only was she going to bear a child out of wedlock, risking her own security and future prospects. Not only was she going to have a crazy story about a miraculous pregnancy as her only defense. Not only all of this, but also her son was going to grow up with a target on his back. Mary knew from early on that she would outlive her child. A daunting task, indeed.

And yet.

Unlike Zechariah, Mary doesn’t ask for evidence of God’s power. She’s confused by Gabriel’s greeting. Her question is about the mechanics of pregnancy. But she doesn’t need proof to corroborate what the angel is telling her. However, Gabriel provides some anyway: “Elizabeth wasn’t supposed to be able to have children, and look, she’s finishing her second trimester!”

I wonder if this proof of the following statement, “For nothing will be impossible with God,” sways Mary. I wonder at what stage of the conversation she makes her decision. Is it the moment the angel mentions the baby? Is it after hearing of his kingdom? Is it when her cousin’s pregnancy comes up? Part of me says Mary is just waiting for Gabriel to stop speaking so she can say “Yes.” The other part says Mary takes a moment when Gabriel is done. Perhaps she asks the angel to pray with her. In the next chapter, we find that Mary “ponders things in her heart,” so perhaps she does that now.

Mary could never have known what she was signing up for. Not really. Even the thought of normal babies makes the future so unclear. Imagine being told that your baby is to be the Son of God – that his very name will mean “God saves!” (To be sure, “Jesus” was one of the most common names in Israel, but still.) I can’t help but think Mary finishes pondering with no answers as to what her decision will mean for her life or her family’s lives. All she has is faith. Faith and the courage to trust that nothing is impossible for God, not even the act of sustaining Mary through what will surely be a hard life.

Today, I pray for the faith and the courage to answer God with Mary’s words. I invite you to do the same. What life decision is hovering in your future, in which the outcome is unclear? Can you echo Mary’s words in your prayer about it? Trust that for God everything is possible. Trust that God’s creative imagination is without limits. Trust that God will guide your feet upon right pathways all the days of your life. In whatever God is calling you to do, let go of the need to know the outcome of your decision, and say with Mary: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

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The banner image is of a stained glass window depicting the Annunciation at the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth, taken by my friend Jaye on our pilgrimage in 2019.