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The Weight of Glory (Luke 1:26-38)

I. Wisdom from a Wizard I suspect that God truly is in control and all powerful. I find it amazing what God can speak through and how He can teach us in subtle yet effective ways with the most unlikely resources at His disposal. His ability to take everything in our world and make it work for Him is supernatural. Everything, from love songs to country music, from disaster to joy, from sunshine to thunderstorms, it all seems to serve as a bridge that links us directly to the heart of the living God…if we dare to cross it to, of course. Paul himself spoke about this in his letter to the Romans when he wrote, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him.” We can find inspiration and leadership from the one true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…the God of and the God who was Jesus… in the most unlikely of ways. It seems God’s just has those kinds of skills. B. Order of the Phoenix A couple of years ago the movie Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire came out, and though it was and probably remains still terribly unlikely that I would suddenly find a divine truth from a movie, God taught me something in that movie. I gained wisdom from a wizard, so to speak. Now, I’ve used this quote before, but at the very end of the movie, Dumbledore makes a comment to Harry that I find speaks directly to the heart of Christian life. He remarks, “Dark and Difficult times lay ahead, Harry. Now is the time that we must choose between what is right, and what is easy.” This is the Weight of Glory. It is the sacrifice of that which is good for that which is best, the death of that which is easy so that which is right may live on. Family, friends, visitors of this church, allow me to echo to you Dumbledore’s comments today. Dark and difficult times lay ahead and the time is coming, the time has already come, when you are going to have to choose –perhaps for the first time in your life –between what is right and what is easy. Ironically, the decision between what is right and what is easy is infinitely more difficult than the choice between what is right and what is wrong. The lines that separate what is right from wrong are very easily seen and quite observable by the amateur. However those lines that separate right and easy, the lines that separate the good from the best…these lines are faint and not so easily observed. Bow your heads with me as we go to our Lord in prayer for wisdom. [4:00] II. Luke 1:26-38 A. Luke 1:26-38 “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 born1 will be holy; he will be called Son of God…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.” B. Mary’s story in our Christmas A story that we often look past during Christmas and advent is the story of Mary the mother of Jesus. We as Protestants have a tendency to revolt against all catholic traditions. As such, we revolt against the veneration or reverence that the Catholic Church has for Mary. Now to be fair, we generally give lip service to her and her life in the Protestant churches; but we usually only do it in passing, as if she were simply a bridge to cross or a necessity in order for us to get to Jesus –who is of course the real story. This, however, is unfair to whom Mary was, because she was indeed a woman of paramount faith; but more importantly it also robs us of a very very deep understanding of God and how those closest to God seem to be forced to choose between what is easy and what is right. So today we talk about Mary. III. Mary, the News, and the Problem A. Introduction to Mary There seems to have been nothing outwardly spectacular about Mary or her life. She, in no way, is hinted to be anything more than your average woman who is to be wed to a simple carpenter other than the fact that she has found favor with God –an attribute which is not explain at all by the angel. However she finds herself in a very peculiar and terrifying position. Mary is approached by Gabriel one of the great archangels, one of the most powerful beings in existence. He is the angel that serves as the voice of God in our realm often times, the angel that serves as God’s personal messenger to humanity. It is only news of the utmost importance that Gabriel brings to humans, and he comes toMary, presumably from the throne room of God…from the side of God Himself with news that will change history. B. The news Now the news he bears is almost incomprehensible for us. The archangel of God tells this young, unspectacular woman that she is going to give birth to a baby and that this boy will be the Messiah. Mary’s society, in nearly every aspect, has been waiting since its creation for this Messiah to come take the throne of David and to rule for all eternity over Israel, setting them free from any and all spiritual, emotional, physical, mental and governmental bondage. This messenger comes to her and tells her that this is going to be her son’s fate and Mary is forced to comprehend the idea that she is going to be giving birth to God on Earth. Mary, being the woman of wit that I suspect she was and not terribly dull either asks the obvious question at this point –a question that shows her keeping a watchful eye on the cultural stigmatisms and rules set forth by her culture. She asks, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” It is at this point that this news from God becomes a bit of a problem for Mary. It is this problem and how the girl deals with it that I want to focus on today. You see Mary was a Jew. She was raised in a Jewish world, she was raised in the Jewish educational and familial system, she was raised under Jewish laws –as well as a few Roman ones –, and she was raised with Jewish traditions, customs, culture, and understanding of morality and marriage. Her life and her world view, the way she lived and how she understood things would have been distinctively and remarkably Jewish. So when the angel points out that it will not be Joseph’s baby, that the baby to be birthed by Mary will not be the biological son of the man she is to spend her life married to, it would present a problem in her understanding and in the understanding of her culture. In the minds of those around her it would indicate adultery. C. Adultery Adultery in ancient Israel was when a woman who is married or who is set to be married to someone engages in sexual intercourse with a different man, and having a baby would indicate sexual intercourse for any normal situation, obviously. Adultery is considered a supreme offense in the Jewish culture. It is one of the highest crimes in Judaism. You see, Judaism, like ancient but not modern Christianity, holds the family unit to be of paramount importance. It is through the family unit that the Jew finds his or her identity; it is through the family unit that the Jew finds their religion and education. It is through the family that they Jew finds their place in the world; it is through the family unit that so many laws and so many legal proceedings take place. The family unit is the basic unit of society in Jewish culture and adultery threatens this fundamental unit and thus threatens the foundation of society as a whole in Judaism. One rabbi refers to it as the ultimate crime against the family and thus against the entire culture, society, and finally against God. So severe is adultery that, in the Old Testament, the penalty for adultery is death by being stoned. 1. Stoning Now stoning, in the ancient Jewish culture, took one of two forms that are…hard…to deal with; but you need to understand them to understand Mary’s mindset. You see, the person found guilty of adultery would either be pushed from a very high platform onto a stone floor or rocks –as Jesus was once threatened with –or they would be put in a corner or on the ground and a group of people who hurl heavy rocks at them until they died from these impacts. It was a very horrible death, very painful, very difficult to watch, but it was very very common. 2. Mary would be stoned And this was the death that Mary could be faced with if God proceeded through with His plan. IV. The Dilemma A. The unique thing about Mary’s situation is that it is God’s fault. The laws concerning adultery and the penalty for Adultery were created and instituted by God Himself. It was God who set up the Jewish culture with Abraham and then more elaborately with the Levitical law at the base of Mount Sinai. It was God who set up the family unit as a foundational part of Jewish life, and it was God who indicated that adultery was, therefore, one of the supreme offenses against this family unit and against all of Judaism. Furthermore, it was God who came to Mary through Gabriel. It was God who decided that His Son would enter the world as baby through some young lady. And it was not a decision that was made on a whim. God planned it that way. Multiple places in the New Testament indicate that He had it planned like this before time began! The dilemma Mary finds herself faced with is one that God himself causes. Mary finds herself facing death at worst and at best she finds herself faced with the loss of a to be husband and the loss of life as she knows it…all because of the honor of bearing the child of God. “Dark and difficult times lay ahead Mary, times when you will have to choose between what is right and what is easy.” Wisdom from a wizard that breaks the bounds of film and fantasy and reaches into the heart of Christianity and the heart of following God. V. Following God means Death. Paul once wrote to a church in modern day Turkey, “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh along with its passions and desires.” Oswald Chambers once wrote, “If we do not resolutely sacrifice the natural [man in us], the supernatural can never become natural.” True, deep, intimate Christianity that radically alters lives, that radically changes our world, and that heals the deepest of wounds is going to cost the natural man or woman in you everything, not just something. The problem with Christianity today is, as one Anglican Bishop put it, that it is a religion with a vague sense of tolerance instead of a deep understanding of forgiveness; a religion that asks for your commitment but demands no one to respond and to honor that commitment, that promises a change in your life and in your world, but offers only the same old drudgery that you could find anywhere. A relationship with God demands that you give up the way you wanted things to go and the way you always saw things going in your life give in to the way God wants things to go in your life. However, God does not expect us to do this out of shame or guilt or indebtedness to Him. We do it because God genuinely and truly wants your life to glow with joy and He is the only one that navigate that for you in such a dark world. Mary understood this. She understood, I’m sure, what the cultural fallout of her having a baby out wedlock would be. What was she going to do? Tell everyone, “Oh, it’s okay, it’s God’s baby…in fact it’s the Messiah, I’m not sinner for this.” Hahaha, I’m sure that would have gone over really well. No, Mary was willing to sacrifice all that was “good” in her life –a life with a man that loved her, a life as a carpenter’s wife, a life that was respectable, with a normal family, living in a beautiful town in one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen on this earth, and I’ve seen a lot of places and lived in some beautiful countries – she gave this up out of a faith that told her God would bring out the best in her life. She gave up her right to independence, to order her own steps, to make her own decision. She gave up her right to herself and she responded to the angel and to the call of God, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” VI. Closing Today, ask yourself do you have Mary’s faith in God? Do you trust Him enough to allow Him to wreck and kill the life you have for a better life, for a more difficult life perhaps, but one that is ultimately infinitely more satisfying on a deeper level than you ever thought you could be satisfied on? “It is,” one writer said, “not a question of giving up sin, but of giving up my right to myself.” Sometimes following God means defying culture and being face with the prospect of death; however, God protected Mary by sending the same angel he sent to her to her to be husband –the only man who could legally have her stoned. He told Joseph the truth and Joseph protected the girl. Remember, “To get something you’ve never had, you have to do something you’ve never done. When God takes something from your grasp, He’s not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. The will of God will never tae you where the Grace of God will not protect you.” God will protect you, even when you choose to lump the weight of glory upon you, which is right, but not necessarily easy.