Loving God, you continue to look with favour on the lowly and to lift up those who are bowed down.  Help us to hear your call to us as we gather together today, even as we give thanks for your servant Mary, the mother of our Lord; through Jesus Christ your Son.  Amen.

    When you stop and think about it, there are plenty of stories that we hear this time of year that are pretty fantastical and impossible.  There are the flying reindeer, of course.  There’s the snowman who comes to life and dances all around town.  There’s the old miser who suddenly becomes generous and warm hearted.  There’s a fat man who manages to make it down the chimney.  And then there’s a young girl named Mary, who is a virgin but becomes pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit.  “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk. 1:37).

    No wonder some people have trouble sorting out what is believable and what isn’t.  However, as Mission Impossible 4 is being released, it occurs to me that the “Impossible Mission Force” always manages to accomplish these things that are supposedly impossible.  And so, if the impossible becomes possible in stories like this, how much more should this be the case when we’re talking about the one true God?

    In Mary’s case, we often focus on her great faith, which is most certainly an example to us.  However, a careful reading of today’s gospel reveals that Mary was just as perplexed and confused and full of questions as the next person would be.  In fact, the angel hasn’t said much at all before Mary is perplexed and trying to figure things out.  “Greetings, favored one!  The Lord is with you” (Lk. 1:28).

    Why would I be favoured, thinks Mary.  Why would an angel appear to me and why would God be with me?  I’m not anybody special.  I’m not anybody important.  I’m just a nobody from a nothing little town.  I’m only a teenager.  Why would God favour me?  There must be some mistake.

    However, the angel repeats the declaration of God’s favour.  “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Lk. 1:30).  And then the angel goes on to the great things that God is going to do through Mary.  She is going to conceive and have a son, which isn’t that unbelievable in and of itself.  However, this child’s identity is another story!  He will be “the Son of the Most High” and a king from the family of David.  However, he won’t just rule over Israel.  Instead, his kingdom will last forever.

    As Mary struggles to take all of this in, you can almost imagine the more complete conversation.  Mary would turn to the angel and say, “You do know, don’t you, that I’m not married yet and haven’t been with a man?  How is all of this going to happen?”  It seems that the answers would get harder and harder to digest.  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk. 1:35).

    However, the angel knows that this will not be sufficient explanation, and continues with the message.  He repeats that the child will be the Son of God and identifies him as holy.  He also lets Mary know what else God has been doing lately – how her relative Elizabeth is now almost six months pregnant even though she’s too old to have children.  “For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk. 1:37).

    It is possible that Mary might have recognized echoes from Genesis in this statement.  You might recall the story of Abraham and Sarah, and of how Sarah conceived a son when she was about 90 and Abraham was about 100.  In the midst of a conversation with one or more angels, one of them says to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” (Gen. 18:13-14).

    And so, Mary, aware that God has done impossible things before, finally acquiesces.  “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38).  Most certainly, this is a young woman of great faith!  God has looked on her with favour and will, indeed, do great things through her!

    So – could this ever happen to us?  I don’t mean giving birth to the Son of God, because that one has already been taken care of.  But what about God looking on us with favour and doing great things not only for us, but through us?  After all, Mary is not the only one whom God ever looked on with favour.  And as for doing great things, didn’t Jesus tell his followers that they would do even greater things than he did (Jn. 14:12)?

    And so, I’d like to invite you to take a moment and imagine what God’s favour feels like....  Imagine God looking upon you with favour and being with you. ... Now, it is entirely possible that you might have some of the same objections as Mary.  Who am I, that God would favour me?  I’m not anything special.  I’m not particularly gifted.  Why would God look with favour on me?

    However, it’s not so far-fetched, for God has already loved you and redeemed you and adopted you through baptism into Christ.  God has already claimed you as God’s own precious child through Jesus.  And so, it is more than possible that God would look upon any one of us with favour.  In fact, it is highly likely!  And so, feel what it is like for God’s favour to rest on you.

    At the same time, imagine at least part of the angel’s message being directed at you.  “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (Lk. 1:35).... This, too, is not so far-fetched, for God has already promised the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Jesus and has poured out that same Spirit on each of us at our baptism.  And so, imagine the power of the Most High at work in your life.

    What great thing might God be wanting to do through you?  What is God wanting to do through you in order to contribute to the health of the world?  It might even be a small thing that turns out to be big for someone else.  It might be some small, random acts of kindness for the people with whom you live and work.  Or, it might be something really big where you work with others in order to accomplish it.  You do not have to be Mary, or even Mother Teresa in order for God to do great things through you.  You simply need to be open to the Holy Spirit and willing to say, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord.”  “For nothing will be impossible with God.”

    Today, and indeed in this season, we give thanks that Mary was a willing partner in God’s plan to love and to save and to bless the world.  We give thanks for God-with-us – for Emmanuel -- for Jesus.  We give thanks that God continues to look upon us with favour and to pour out the Holy Spirit upon us.

    God is ready to do great things through us by the power of that same Spirit.  God is ready to work in us and through us for the health of the world.  God is ready to receive us as partners in God’s mission to love and to bless the world.  For with our God, impossible is nothing!  Amen.

Advent 4(B)                                    Luke 1:26-38
December 18, 2011                            Luke 1:46b-55
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

© 2011 Lynne Hutchison  All Rights Reserved