Luke 1:26-38
Luke’s gospel reads like the screenplay for a movie.
Zechariah goes into the temple for the routine annual sacrifice – it’s a special occasion but it’s been happening every year for centuries. As far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly the same.
But something is about to happen…
Zechariah is an old man with an old wife. They don’t have kids, but she suddenly finds herself expecting a baby! The villagers are a bit gobsmacked, but they soon get used to the idea. Babies are born all the time. As far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly the same.
But something is about to happen…
Mary and Joseph become engaged! It’s their first time, but hardly the first engagement in the history of the human race. As far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly the same.
But something is about to happen…
The priests and scholars are studying their scriptures, ancient promises about the coming of an all-powerful king, one who will save people from sin and put Israel back on the map. But they don’t know what to make of their scriptures, because as far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly the same.
But something is about to happen…
Read Luke 1:26-38
Mary - no ordinary girl
Traditional church teaching tells us a lot about Mary but the fact is that we know almost nothing about her. She was from Galilee, engaged to marry Joseph, and that is about all. Except that we do know she was extraordinary – look at the way she accepts what Gabriel says – where most of us would suffer a nervous breakdown Mary was composed.
For centuries, art and literature have painted a picture of a serene icon, passively willing to bear the load that God has placed on her shoulders. But this is wrong, Luke tells us that she is confused, disturbed and frightened (29-30) – she is not serene at all. But where most of us would suffer a nervous breakdown, Mary was in control enough to realize what was going on.
I bet she had often told the Lord that she loved him and wanted to serve him with all her heart. Young people do this… it seems like the right thing to say at the time, and though you mean it, you can’t imagine what it might lead to. Now God comes to Mary, and he says, “You know that time you said you wanted to be my servant, the time you really meant it?” “Well, I have a job for you to do… but it’s not going to be easy…”
Mary replies, “I meant it then and I mean it now, I am the Lord’s servant and I am willing to accept whatever he wants.”
Have you ever wanted to be filled with the Holy Spirit? Well this is what it looks like!
Mary is a kind of prototype, a model of what every Christian is called to do; to carry the Lord Jesus within us (see Romans 8:9-11 for a clear statement of this). If you are a Christian, he is there. The question is, are you receptive to him, are you working with him or are you resisting him? Mary’s words give us a model attitude (38), “Let it be to me according to your word”.
If we understood this, we would see that this is what being full of the Spirit is about. Not having some mystical fluid poured into us from above, but allowing the Lord who is already inside us to have our full co-operation as he works his will in our lives, “I am the Lords servant, I am willing to accept whatever he wants”. That is what it looks like to be filled with the spirit!
Do you want to be filled with the Spirit? Well this is what it looks like, are you prepared for this?
As far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly the same.
But something is about to happen… Mary is going to carry God around inside her.
There’s something else here too. Mary is one of those women whom the Lord has placed into strategic ministries in the work of the kingdom. Luke tells us about several more.
- The women who supported the disciples financially (Luke 8:1-3)
- Women were the first to proclaim the resurrection, and the first to be dismissed as cranks and lunatics for doing so (Luke 24:1-11)
- He tells us female prophets, and teachers in the life of the early church (Acts 18:26 & 21:9)
As far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly the same.
But something is about to happen… with the advent of Christ women are going to get fully engaged in the work of the gospel, and we should not jump to conclusions about what they can and can’t do!
Through the centuries, some Christians have turned Mary into an object of worship in her own right, this is going too far. But is it wrong to say that she is highly favoured, that the Lord is with her and that she is blessed among women? I don’t think so. I don’t think we should worship Mary, but I do think we should honour her. Hers was a tough calling and she accepted it with determination and courage.
Let’s honour her by imitating her. She was willing to put her life in God’s hands, to put up with rumor and gossip, to take on the hard assignments. Mary was no ordinary girl, and we need more people like her.
Jesus - no ordinary child
The next character in Luke’s script is yet to be conceived! But he is clearly the most important person in the drama. It is hard to imagine how human language could paint a more exalted portrait of Jesus (31-33).
Think about this, when Luke wrote these words there were only a few thousand Christians in the Mediterranean world. These were an endangered species, actively despised by their neighbours and beginning to encounter the first waves of violent persecution.
On the walls of an ancient prison from about that time someone scratched a cartoon of a man being crucified, he has the head of a donkey. Beside the cross stands another man with his right arm extended in worship. The caption reads, “Anaxamenos worships his God”.
The implication is clear; the Christians are a bunch of cranks and slaves who worshipped a Jewish looser who managed to get himself crucified.
Now maybe you are a Christian and you revere Christ and you are a bit offended by that last sentence. Well, I’m sorry but that is what they thought. And it is against this background, when those people were in the overwhelming majority, that Luke wrote “He will be very great, and will be called the Son of the Most High… his kingdom will never end”.
These amazing words must have seemed extravagant and impossible at the time. When you see the way the church has grown since, it is easier for us to see that these words might be true. Now, who do you think is right, the graffiti artist or Luke? My money is on Luke!
But what, exactly, is Luke saying about Jesus?
Well we could pause over the words… great… Son of the Most High… his kingdom will never end. But what are we talking about here, a very great human being or someone greater than this? Woven into these words is an ancient prophecy that you will find in Isaiah 9:2-7 – here the royal titles of this king make it clear that Mary will be carrying the Son of God in the sense that God himself is going to enter human history and live on earth as a child and then as a man.
It is staggering in itself, until you realize that another of Isaiah’s prophecies is in view here (Isaiah 7:14), the angel assures Mary that she will give birth while still a virgin. What is this all about?
The birth of Jesus was both a natural event and a supernatural event. It was natural in the sense that the Son of God chose to enter human existence through the birth canal of a woman. You don’t get more natural than that. At the same time, Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit kick-starting the mechanisms of gestation in Mary’s womb. This means that Jesus is both divine and human at the same time – Jesus is one hundred percent human and one hundred percent divine.
As far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly the same. But something is about to happen… God is going to enter human history in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
Most people in our culture seem to admire Jesus; they recognize him as a great religious teacher who taught us to love our neighbours and our enemies. You often come across people who will acknowledge Jesus as a prophet - someone who represents God in a special way – Muslims are happy to do this. But Luke is telling us that Jesus is far more than this, in Jesus Christ God became human and lived on earth amongst us.
Now why on earth would he want to do that?
Jesus the Saviour
Gabriel told Mary to call her Child Jesus (She would have used the Jewish name, Yeshua). This was a common enough boy’s name in Mary’s day – there were loads of little Yeshua’s running around in the towns and villages. Yet it is a significant name for Mary’s child because it means, God comes to the rescue.
Why on earth would the Son of God come here?
He came because he saw us enslaved to the tyrannical rule of sin and darkness and he wanted to rescue us. Despite appearances and political realities, there are two superpowers in the world today. The world is dominated by the rule of darkness and sin; every human being on the planet is in its grip, we are its slaves.
He came to invite us to change sides. That is what this stuff about his kingdom is about (33). There is a second superpower in the world today, and it is the kingdom of rebels that Jesus came to lead – these are people who reject the rule of darkness and sin, change sides and choose to live as servants of Jesus, the king of kings. These are people who believe that Jesus reign will never end (33).
Let me tell you something fascinating; as the church began to grow people stopped using the name Yeshua (Jesus). Most people stopped because they didn’t want their child to be associated with Jesus; they hated him. Christians stopped using the name because they revered Jesus, they wanted to honour him. After Jesus Christ, the Son of God, only one person could bear that name.
That pretty much sums up the attitudes of the two great superpowers in the world today, the kingdom of God and the dominion of darkness. One honours Jesus as the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us; the other despises Jesus or just doesn’t care about him.
Whose side are you on?
As far back as anyone can remember everything has remained exactly the same. But today something could easily happen… today you could change sides.