Advent Week 2 – The Bethlehem Candle of Humility: Mary
This week is an exegetical sermon looking at Luke 1:26-38,46-56 focusing on the character of Mary. The sermon is titled, “Confessions of the First Christian” and looks at the faith, trust, servanthood, submission, worship, joy, God, and savior of Mary. This sermon was originally preached by Pastor Duane Smets on December 6th, 2009 at The Resolved Church in San Diego, CA.
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The Resolved Church
Pastor Duane Smets
December 6th, 2009
ADVENT | The Christmas Story Descends
Week 2 – The Bethlehem Candle of Humility: Mary
“Confessions of the First Christian”
Luke 1:26-38,46-56
I. The Faith & Trust of Mary (v.26-34)
II. The Servanthood & Submission of Mary (v.35-38)
III. The Worship & Joy of Mary (v.46-48)
IV. The God & Savior of Mary (v.49-56)
Introduction
Well it’s the second week of Advent. Advent means “coming” or “arrival” and throughout the years Christians have celebrated the coming and arrival of the God-man Jesus, who came into the world as a humble little baby and who will come again as a powerful and glorious warrior. This year for our Advent sermons I’m doing character studies of individuals from the Christmas story. Last week we looked at Zechariah, this week we’re looking at Mary.
I’ve titled today’s message, “Confessions of the First Christian” and we’re going to be working through Luke 1:26-38,46-56 so you can open up your Bibles there and follow along with me. The first thing we’re going to look at today is the faith and trust of Mary.
I. The Faith & Trust of Mary (v.26-34)
We get introduced to Mary in verse 27. And before we even find out her name we find out details about her life at the time, who she is. Check it out. Verse 26-27, “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.”
So before we even find out Mary’s name we find out what time it is, the sixth month, Elul in the Hebrew calendar, sometime in August or September. We find out where she lives, the city of Nazareth. We find out her sexual history, she’s a virgin. And we find out her marital status, she’s betrothed to a dude named Joseph. That’s a lot of information.
A couple of things. First a nerd point. The historical time reference. You don’t get that kind of thing with made up myths. There are a ton of ancient myths about various deities and what not, even in other “gospels” not included in the Bible. There’s even one that goes into great detail about the early life of Mary, the Gospel of James. But it wasn’t written until 2-3 hundred years after Jesus and the start of the church and was readily recognized and dismissed as dubious. None of the other ancient records have historical time references. You don’t do that because then it can be proven wrong and spurious.
So anyway, it’s a nerd point. I get excited about little phrases in the Bible like “in the sixth month.” I know the existence of angels is a big pill to swallow but you got that butted up against historical validation. All this goes down in the sixth month of one of the early years of Herod the Great’s reign. It’s kinda like a police report that could be called up in court. The written report has the date, time and location of the incident.
Okay, second thing here is that we’re told Mary is a virgin. Some people, who have trouble with the Bible have seen this and come out and tried to say oh, well this word virgin here, “parthenos” can simply mean young girl. Yes, it is true, sometimes, in some uses “virgin” can mean “young girl.” But apparently these cronies and bandits who like this idea, guys like Rob Bell and friends, apparently they don’t know how to read.
They don’t know how to read because “parthenos” can mean a young girl or more specifically, a girl who has not had sex. And Luke here goes out of his way to show that a girl who has not yet had sex is the kind of virgin he is referring to.
Look at verse 34 with me. The angel tells Mary, the virgin she is going to get pregnant and conceive. Mary has a problem with that. What’s her problem? Verse 34, “How will this be, since I am a virgin.” She’s not married yet and Mary knows there is only one way humans get pregnant. Sexual intercourse. They didn’t have in vitro fertilization yet back then.
Now Mary is a young girl. Our culture is so different then Jewish culture in the first century it makes it hard for us to fully wrap our minds around what is going on here. Mary is a young girl who is betrothed to Joseph.
Betrothal does not simply mean engaged. Here’s what’s going on. Every young girl would get betrothed to a man to be married, sometime between the age of 10 and 13. 10 was the earliest and it would be rare and a cultural shame if you did not marry your daughter off by the time she was 14.
When a betrothal took place it was a deal made by the parents. Yes, sometimes the kids would likely give their input and desires. But a betrothal was a legal deal. A legal deed was drawn up. The parents of the young man would pay a bride price to the girls parents.
So document and money exchange. A betrothal would last about one year, which would usually be celebrated by a week long marriage and festival, concluded by the consummation of the marriage, sex. And the girl then leaving her parents house and going to moved in with the young man and creating a new house together. That’s the Bible’s order.
During the betrothal, it was a legal commitment that could only be broken by death or divorce for infidelity. So this is a big deal. We’ve got it so backwards in our culture. For most of us when we hear this, we’re like what!? This whole thing is crazy right?
It really isn’t though. This is still practiced in many parts of the world. I think our feelings of thinking this is crazy is because we have become inoculated to an idolatrous approach to marriage, where our own personal feelings, desires, and decisions are chief. They are god to us and no one better dare not take that away from me. This is the attitude that says, “No one better tell me who to marry!”
This model here, with Mary and her parents, presents a view of life and marriage that is very communal and very family oriented. The model is that daddy loves her most and knows best…that a young girl’s fleeting emotions are not a good guide to finding a spouse. The model is that kids are capable of marriage when they are capable of being able to have children. The model is that parents prepare their kids for that instead of teaching their kids that they don’t need to grow up and think about that until after college.
Let me give you some history on the current form of dating in our culture. The word “dating” itself was not introduced into American culture as a form of pursuing marriage until the 1930′s. Prior to that it was a slang term used to refer to prostitution. “Dating” was a euphemism for paying for sex.
Until then, the way you got married was through a “calling.” A calling was where a boy would be called into the house of girl’s family to present himself and have dinner. If the boy proved himself of being worthy of his daughter, then a daddy would perhaps consent to a marriage. This ensured the involvement of the entire family, enabled daddy to keep away the wrong kind of men, minimized the opportunity for pre-marital sexual interaction, and kept marriage as the goal rather than co-habitation.
Now I could easily just preach a whole sermon on marriage and dating because it’s something I’m passionate about. I would be delighted to marry my daughter off to a godly and capable man by the time she is 18 or 19 and any “dates” will occur under my supervision in my home. We talk about this every night with her. We pray out loud for her every night that she would love Jesus and that God would give her a good godly husband that loves Jesus and daddy likes. I know that sounds crazy to a lot of you and you might think I’m nuts. But history and the Bible is on my side! 
I know most of you are well beyond the stage of life where your parents can hook up a marriage for you. I get that. So I guess mostly I’m talking to the parents and future parents. But for those of you who are single and of marrying age and you are already out of your parent’s house, I would submit that your church family ought to be a good guide and help in finding a mate. The principle of having the godly people in your life that love and care about you most, your family, help you in this area…that principle can be provided through a church family that has good people to trust and turn to.
Well we better get back to Mary or I’ll just keep on raging about this. I remember when Amy and I first started dating back in 1997 and neither one of us believed that the other was a virgin. All the people we had ever dating prior to each other were not…so it as hard for us to believe. It ought not to be that way. And I’m on a mission to do something about it. I love my daughter too much.
Okay, so Luke is a great narrarator. He’s doing some things here literarily that are quite amazing. If you were here last week, you’ll remember the story with Zechariah. An angel comes to him, tells him that he and his old wife are going to have a baby who will prepare the way for Jesus the Messiah. But Zechariah does not believe. He essentially says, no, I’m too old. So the angel strikes his mouth and makes him mute.
Now comes Mary. An angel comes to her, tells her she is going to have a baby who will be Jesus the Messiah. And Mary believes. Right away. Her only question is how. You see when Mary says, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” She is not saying, “No way, that’s impossible.” She is saying, “Okay God, how are you going to do this, what should I expect?”
I believe Luke here is intentionally contrasting the response of Zechariah and the response of Mary. By this time, Mary knew and had heard what had happened to Zechariah because his wife Elizabeth was her cousin and she goes to visit her when she hears she is pregnant.
Look at verse 29 with me. “She was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.” Mary’s one of those people who wants to figure everything out. I think most moms must be like that. I’ve never seen my wife read more than when she was pregnant. She got this huge ole’ book bigger than the Bible called “What to Expect When You’re Expecting” and read it from front to cover. “Trying to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”
What I love about Mary’s response versus Zechariah is her immediate trust and faith in God. We’re going to see more of this in Mary’s character in a minute but right away we see an initial readiness and excitement in her for what God is about to do.
There so much we can learn from her, from the faith and trust of a young girl. When God promises us something in his word, is there a trust and an excitement or do we start heaping up the reasons and the difficulties for how it really can’t be true or isn’t going to work?
When God’s word promises things to us like Jeremiah 29:11 ” I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Do we believe it and trust it or start worrying and doubting…yeah but things are bleak right now and I just don’t see how it’s going to get better. We need to be like Mary and say, okay Lord I believe, I trust you…how are you going to fulfill this in my life…where should I put my focus, energy and effort?
II. The Servanthood & Submission of Mary (v.35-38)
Mary’s humility begins to shine in verses 35-38 in her second response to the angel. Let’s look at the “Servanthood & Submission of Mary.” Mary asks, okay…how’s this all going to go down? And the angel responds, verse 35, “And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
This is probably my favorite thing ever recorded about Mary in the Bible. This response. I mean the angel doesn’t really answer her question at all. He answers but nothing he says really makes sense. He essentially gives her a bunch of spiritual mumbo jumbo. “Oh yeah Mary, you see, the Holy Spirit’s going to com upon you, the power of the Most High’s going to overshadow you, so your child will be holy, the son of God.” Make sense?
No. Crazy angels. It’s funny. Whenever we pray and ask God “how” he rarely answers the details question does he? Usually the answer is simply, “trust me.” What we learn here from Mary is that submitting to God is not conditional upon everything making sense to us.
Look at what she says. “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” So often we want to understanding and comprehend and know everything before we will bow our knee and submit to God. Mary here shows us that the only condition is his word. If he said it, that’s enough. He is God we are not and he knows best we don’t.
I mean this was a huge deal for Mary. To trust God’s word and the potential consequences it could bring. She was risking a legal right for Joseph to divorce her and leave her alone, if he didn’t believe her. The gospel of Matthew even tells us that he thought about doing that. If he did leave her, it everyone would think she was sexually unfaithful when they saw that she was knocked up, which not only meant embarrassment and shame but in Jewish law it meant she could legally be stoned to death for adultery. This was a huge deal for Mary.
For her to say, okay God, I’m your servant, let it be to me according to your word…takes huge guts. But God’s word was enough. God’s word was sufficient for her submission.
Notice that she calls her self a servant. I think viewing oneself in this way stabs at the heart of our issue with God as fallen humans. We don’t want to be servants. We want to be kings. We want to be the ones who call the shots and have everybody and everything bow down to us. We want everything to go our way and according to our plans and desires. But Mary realizes that God is king and sees herself in a right biblical perspective, a servant…who simply does whatever she is told. “According to your word.”
I remember when I was first thinking about becoming a minister. I was an art major initially my freshman year of college…but then I became a Christian and I was sitting in my art classes and I started having the overwhelming feeling that I was wasting time. All I was interested in was Jesus and the Bible but I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t want to be a preacher. Worked out well for me huh?
I remember asking God over and over what he wanted me to do and how this sense of “calling” I was feeling would be fulfilled. What do you want me to do? What do you want me to be? The answer was simply “trust me.” There’s still a lot of stuff I don’t understand…I find myself a junctures frequently, on this side of being a minister…how to handle sticky situations, how money will work out, what about buying a house, what about this, what about that…and the answer from God is, “Trust me and my word…you are my servant. Be obedient.”
How’s your servanthood and submission before God? Do you see yourself as a servant to God or do you see God as your servant to make things go the way you want? When God clearly states something in his word or when he tells you to do something do you submit? Or do you fight and resist and come up with excuses or justifications? When something that looks like it will be bad for you happens are you able to accept it as being from God?
May God help us to be like Mary and bow our knees and say, “Let it be to me according to your word.”
III. The Worship & Joy of Mary (v.46-48)
Our last two points for this morning look at Mary’s song, what’s called the “Magnificat.” It’s a song or a poem composed of 6 parallelisms. The Bible doesn’t tell us when she composed it. It seems like it would have taken her some time it is so rich. There are 12 distinct Old Testament references and it is rich with messianic fulfillment.
Look back up to verse 31-33. The angel says four distinct things about Mary’s son that she is going to get pregnant with. The first thing, verse 31, his name will be called Jesus. In ancient times, the meaning of your name was symbolic to your character and life. The name “Jesus” means “God saves.”
The second thing, verse 32, he will be called great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Most High is a reference to God, so he will be the great Son of God. This is clearly a reference to Jesus’ deity.
Third thing, end of verse 32, he will be given the throne of David. So this means he will be the king. The royal kingship had long been desecrated and dismantled. Herod, who served as a political vassal to Rome wasn’t even a Jew. The Jewish hope was for a king like and in the line of David to rule and really rule once again. Mary and Joseph were both part of that bloodline…who was secretly waiting and hoping.
Fourth thing, verse 33, he will reign forever. So this son of hers is going to save, he’s going to be God, he’s going to be king, and he will reign forever, with no end, eternally.
No wonder Mary said…”how?” The angel responds by saying that “nothing is impossible with God” and then cites how God enabled Elizabeth to get pregnant in her old age as an example of God being able to do the impossible.
It’s a good clue for us. Often times when we read these fantastic stories with these miracles in them our modern scientific minds have trouble accepting that they really are true and really happened. But listen to the angel’s logic. If there is a God…if there is a being who actually had the power to create everything that exists, is it not possible for him to interrupt things and do as a pleases…isn’t that possible for him? That’s sound logic.
Mary accepts it and bows in servanthood and submission and then she is contemplating all of this. It appears that Mary was a deep thinker. In the next chapter after Jesus is born Luke says Mary, “ponder(ed) all these things in her heart (Lk 2:19).”
This song or poem she writes is the fruit of her pondering. It begins with a declaration of worship and joy. Check out “The Worship and Joy of Mary.” Verse 46-47, “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
She begins in worship. She sees herself as blessed and from the uttermost part of her soul pours herself out to God in joyful worship. Pure unadulterated love of God in worship is one of the most beautiful things a human being can ever do.
Jonathan Edwards is more well known for his sermons on hell, which are phenomenal…but he actually spoke and preached much more about heaven. And no one can quite speak of it like Edwards. Mary’s expression, “my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices” reminded me of in a sermon Edwards preached titled, “Heaven is a World of Love” where he speaks about the worship and joy of saints in heaven. Here’s an excerpt:
“All shall stand about the God of glory, the fountain of love, as (if) it were (the) opening their bosoms to be filled with those effusions of love which are poured forth from (him) (just) as the flowers on the earth in a pleasant spring day open their bosoms to the sun to be filled with his warmth and light and flourish in beauty and fragrancy by his rays. Every saint is as a flower in the garden of God, and holy love is the fragrancy and sweet odor which they all send forth, and with which they fill that paradise. (In) every saint there is as a note in a concert of music which sweetly harmonizes with every other note, and (it) all together (is) employed wholly in praising God and the Lamb. And so, all helping one another to their utmost to express their love of the whole society to the glorious Father and Head of it, (they) [pour back] love into the fountain of love, (from which) they are supplied and filled with love and with glory.”
Good stuff. Do you know what it is like to utter love God from your gut where you can say, “my soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices within me”? It is the greatest joy we can know and experience…to know the greatness of God and his blessing unto us.
Mary was full. Filled to overflowing of the greatness and love of God because of what he had promised her according to is word. We like Mary stand in the same place. The promise of a savior who died for our sins, the savior who is the Son of the Most High God, who reigns as king over sin and Satan and who will return and physically reign over the earth one day.
Mary’s promise is our promise and it is cause for great soul magnifying and great joy.
IV. The God & Savior of Mary (v.49-56)
Our last point for today looks at who this God is Mary worships and trusts in for her salvation, “The God & Savior of Mary.” Mary refers to God by name or pronoun 16 times in this song of hers and she mentions key attributes of God.
In verse 49, she says he is mighty. A core attribute of the God of Bible is that he is all-powerful. If you think of all the power of all the automobiles and all the planes and all the nuclear plants and all the power of the sun and all the power at work in all the stars…God is more powerful than all of it. In Jeremiah 32:17, the prophet Jeremiah was contemplating this and said, “Ah Lord God! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”
In the second part of verse 49, she says God is holy. This is another core attribute of the God of the Bible, that he is holy. In the ocean of his existence, in all that he is and does there is not one single ounce or sliver of imperfection or immorality. He is completely pure and righteous and true. It is his very being. All that is good and right flows out of who he is. This is pretty much the major theme of the whole Old Testament, the whole sacrificial system, the architecture of the temple, the journey of the people…everything is to show that God is holy.
Then in verse 49, 50, and 54 Mary repeats that God is a God of mercy. Mercy implies the opposite of holiness. It’s recognition that we as a people and as individuals are not holy. We fall far short of God’s holiness and because of that we deserve judgment. Mercy is not getting the judgment we deserve. God’s withholding of it. In Exodus 34:6 Moses contemplated this and said, ” “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”
In verses 51-53, Mary counts the justice and the goodness of God. She says he brings down the proud and lifts up the humble and fills the hungry poor with good things and sends the hording rich away empty. Mary knew what it was like to be poor. It could have been the reason there was no room for them in the inn…that all they could afford was a place with the animals to have her baby. She was the one of “humble estate.” That’s how she refers to herself twice.
After Jesus is born they go to the temple to present Jesus and it says the sacrifice they bring two birds, which is a sign that they were really poor. You were only allowed to bring a pair of birds if you couldn’t afford a lamb. And on top of it…Mary was of the royal line that had been smited and removed and left with nothing.
In Mary’s song she reminds us that God keeps the books. She was of humble estate but she knew that God knows our needs and will make all things right in the end.
Lastly, she recognizes and praises God for the fulfillment of the Messiah who is for all generations. Her whole poem is written in past tense…because in the promise of God to her of Jesus she sees all these Old Testament prophesies fulfilled. Nearly every line is from a prophecy of the Old Testament. Mary knew her Bible, well.
In Jesus she saw the promises of God completed. It’s quite interesting reading this and then thinking about the outcome of Mary’s life as an adult. She pops up throughout all the gospel accounts and even once in Acts.
Jesus first miracle, where he turns water to wine at a wedding is prompted by Mary’s confidence in Jesus as the messiah (Jn 2). Then one time in the middle of Jesus ministry, he’s teaching and preaching and apparently Mary and his brothers come and they want to see Jesus. The disciples tell Jesus and his response is for his mother and brothers to follow him as his disciples and hear his word (Lk 8:19-21).
And that’s what we see Mary do. When Jesus gets crucified on the cross and all the disciples are in hiding for fear that they will be next…Mary is there at the foot of the cross watching the whole thing (Jn 19:25). Then Mary is one of the first ones who discovers the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and she goes to tell the disciples (Lk 24:10). Jesus makes appearances for 40 days and then Jesus ascends to heaven and the church gets started and where do we find Mary? Acts 1:14, devoting herself to prayer with the church on the day of Pentecost.
Mary truly was the first Christian. The first true follower and believer in Jesus. That’s what makes her great. You can go overboard with Mary. Many of our friends among the Catholic Church have done that. There is even a push to deem her co-redemptrix or co-salvificator along with Jesus. But that’s beyond the bounds. Jesus is the savior, not Mary.
But in reaction we can go under board with Mary as well and not recognize her character and the grace of God in her life and learn from it. Mary is a great example of a woman who loved God, who loved the Bible and who believed in Jesus who turned to him for her salvation.
Is your God like Mary’s God? Mighty. Holy. Mercificul. Full of justice and goodness. Are you a follower of Jesus like Mary? One who seeks to learn from Jesus, worship Jesus, and seek the kingdom of Jesus with his church? Mary is such a great example for us in these things.
Conclusion
To conclude today’s sermon I simply want to call your thoughts and your hearts to the gospel. The good news of who Jesus is and what God has done in history for us through him. When Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to be presented there when he is still a baby a man named Simeon, came up to Mary and Joseph.
Luke says that Simeon was a righteous and devout man, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and that God had told him he would not see death before seeing God’s prophesied messiah. When Simeon sees baby Jesus he takes him up in his arms and says to God, “according to your word my eyes have seen your salvation (Lk 2:29-30).”
Then he turns to Mary and says these words, Luke 2:34-35 “And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel…and a sword will pierce through your own soul also…so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
Simeon tells Mary that Jesus will save yes, hearts will be turned, but that in order for that to happen Jesus will be pierced through with a sword and that when he is, a sword will also pierce Mary’s heart.
I couldn’t help but think of that in concluding the story of Mary today. One of the coolest things about a fresh, newly born baby is seeing and feeling their little hands and toes. Mary held the baby Jesus in her arms, played with his hands and toes…but one day she would kneel in front of a cross and see those hands and toes with nails in them and watch her son be pierced through with a sword. It’s an emotionally gripping scene.
But in that act Jesus reveals, gives, and births new hearts. In that act Jesus saves for all who trust in him and his work to deal with our sin. As we close I invite all of us to join Mary at the foot of the cross this morning. To come to Jesus and worship him and thank him for coming into the world and for dying on a cross for our sin.
We like all, like Mary need Jesus. We need our hearts to be pierced through to see how much God loves us and to what lengths he has gone through to demonstrate and extend his love to us. May Jesus work in us this morning as we go to the table to confess sin and to rejoice in our salvation.
Let’s pray.
