Mary's Song

0:00 Good morning, everybody. Today is all about babies. And I was greatly encouraged yesterday to hear that a couple, I don't know them, but a couple in England have decided to call their son Gilbert. We are making a comeback. There are some stories that the more they are told, the less they are heard. They pass out of history into legend. The facts are altered, the details lost in folklore and sentiment, the more they are treasured culturally, the less real they become. And this is one of those stories.

0:56 Loved, treasured as part of all our childhoods, but like the tooth fairy, disappears when touched too closely. A story with angels, A virgin birth, how absurd. According to many, the 19th century was the last time when it was possible for an educated person to admit to believing in miracles. And yet, here I am, moderately educated, I hope. I'm not sure if I ever believed in the tooth fairy, although there was a time when it was very much in my interest to pretend I did. But this is different. I was told this story as a child. I was embarrassed by it as a teenager.

1:52 I was taught in school to demythologize it, was the N word at the time. To bring it into what then, of course, was the 20th century. Because after all, Luke and the early Christians lived in a primitive, pre-scientific culture where people didn't know the laws of nature. But then I started thinking, could it possibly be true that people in the first century didn't know the natural processes and laws governing conception? Of course it wasn't true. Of course they knew them. Otherwise, what would have been so exceptional about the birth of Jesus? In order to recognize something as a miracle, you have to know the corresponding regularity, what normally happens in order to realize that something exceptional has happened in this case.

3:03 And then I thought more and wondered, what would have been the motive for making it up? So many had given their lives, for example, for insisting and believing that this Jesus was raised again from the dead. Why would they do it if they knew it wasn't true? So I did what for many is unthinkable. I set aside what the story had become in popular imagination and actually read it for myself. You know what they say, don't let the facts get in the way of a good story. But I actually read the facts.

3:56 and I'd like to read them to you. The facts are set down by Dr. Luke as he was putting together his research for his friend Theophilus so that Theophilus would know the truth of what he had been taught. And we find this in Luke chapter one and verse 26. And I'd like you just to listen to the details. You'll probably hear bits of this story in songs, in Christmas events, and so on. But just listen to the way Luke relates it. In the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. and the virgin's name was Mary.

4:55 And the angel went to her and said, Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. And Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, Do not be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob's descendants forever.

5:40 His kingdom will never end. How will this be? Mary asked the angel, since I am a virgin. And the angel answered, the Holy Spirit will come on you. The power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the Holy One to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth, your relative, is going to have a child in her old age. And she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.

6:15 for no word from God will ever fail. I am the Lord's servant, Mary answered. May your word to me be fulfilled. And then the angel left her. And at that time, Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leapt in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit but in a loud voice she exclaimed, blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear. Why am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leapt for joy.

7:04 Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord will fulfill his promises to her. And Mary said, my soul glorifies the Lord. and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed for the mighty one has done great things for me. Holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm. He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

7:44 He has brought down rulers from their thrones, but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things, but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors. And Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home. Does this sound like once upon a time to you? Well, it didn't to me. The way Luke writes it, the absence of hype, this isn't the language of myth and legend. It reads as matter of fact history.

8:33 And in particular, it was the small details of the story that I found compelling and the psychology of it. We learn later that Luke, who wrote this, was a medical doctor. And that makes sense. For he begins his account as any good doctor or midwife would, or mother for that matter, with a reference to the all important issue of timing. In the sixth month the story begins. That was when the angel made the announcement to Mary. Well, in the sixth month of what? Well, we're told it's the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy.

9:31 that he has just been telling us about. He's very careful with his timings. He tells us that the announcement was made to Mary and she immediately went to see Elizabeth, who was six months pregnant. She stayed with Elizabeth for three months and then returned home just before Elizabeth had her baby. Now, before Heather and I had children, I must confess, I paid very little attention to details like this. My wife, on the other hand, knew all about their importance. And those whose babies have been up at the front today will know all about the importance as well. The details of the timings of these pregnancies are precisely the kind of details that a historian who was also a medical doctor would be interested in.

10:31 This is not the detail that you'll find in Once Upon a Time. This is the kind of detail you'll find in a real story of real life. It's too real, it's too personal, and it's the kind of detail that could surely only have come from personal research and conversation with Mary and the others involved. That was the first thing that impacted me was just the attention to detail and the timing. The second thing that impacted me was the psychology. Because Luke focuses his attention on Mary's reaction to the announcement. There was no singing at first. And she was troubled, not by the angel and the experience of that, what that physically was like, we are not told.

11:26 But that wasn't the thing that bothered her. The thing that bothered her was the content of what was said. It was the nature of this greeting. This was something that deeply shook her. The message then, as it gathered information, shook her even more, that she was to conceive. But that wasn't simply it. That was a big enough and shocking enough thing to hear. But to conceive and bear a son who was to be and would be the son of God, the son of the Most High, the one born to be king and of his kingdom, there would be no end.

12:20 And as she thought that through, there was a difficulty. A certain girl said, oh, that's wonderful. Sure, bring it on. Her reaction, deeply troubled, deeply disturbed. And eventually she comes out with it. How will this be since I am a virgin? She was young.

12:48 It was still physically possible for her to become pregnant. That wasn't the issue. It wasn't a physical problem she had. Elizabeth, her cousin, and Zechariah, they had a physical problem. They were far too old to have children. Their issue was physical. But here the issue is moral. How is this possible?

13:15 What exactly are you suggesting here? She is deeply troubled at the moral implications of what was being said. And so it was explained to her that it was to be a supernatural conception because the child to be born would be no ordinary child. "the divine Son of God, fully human, and yet fully divine." That dealt with the immediate moral problem. God was going to do this by his Spirit. But Mary was no fool. We discover through this story and later on she was a deeply thoughtful young woman.

14:03 She had the habit of taking what she heard and storing it up in her heart and thinking it through and she would have seen the implications very quickly when the physical signs of pregnancy began to appear. Who would believe her story? How would her fiance react? Wouldn't he just call off the marriage? Wouldn't the family just kind of hide her and put her away? Wouldn't she just be ashamed in the culture of that day, very different from the culture of her own day? She was facing disbelief, condemnation, being ostracized in society. And as it turned out, lifelong stigma and ridicule that followed her right through her life.

14:55 And yet once the moral issue was settled, the remarkable thing is that there is no more protest. I am the Lord's servant. Let it be to me according to your word. Fulfill your word in me. That's an amazing thing for anyone to say. For a young girl facing this daunting prospect to bow before God as sovereign king and say to him, God, whatever you want to do, You do it. You are God, I am not.

15:39 I am your servant. It's impressive, it's remarkable, it's moving, it's challenging. Would you have said that? Do you say that? Is that the position of our life before a sovereign God. When the angel had gone, Mary was now alone. So how was she going to cope with the enormity of what she had been told? What was going to happen?

16:26 The final bit of information the angel gave her was the news that Elizabeth, her old relative, was pregnant. God was doing something remarkable there too. It is often forgotten that there are two remarkable births in the Christmas story, not just one. And this is more than a hint that Mary should go and see Elizabeth. And so that is what she did. Can you imagine what was going through her mind when she traveled? What was she going to say? How would she explain it?

17:01 How would Elizabeth react? It's an older woman. And in the end, the detail of the story is fascinating because Mary didn't have to say anything to explain her visit. God's Spirit took care of that. The six-month-old baby in Elizabeth's womb jumped for joy, reacting to Mary simply saying hello or whatever the greeting, shalom. was. And Elizabeth by the Spirit knew why. Blessed are you among women.

17:40 Blessed is the fruit of your womb. It is such a big thing to tell someone who hasn't told you that they're pregnant, especially if you're not a doctor or a midwife, and the person's standing in front of you, and you just say you're pregnant. Have you ever made that mistake? Oh, I see that some of us have. This is a very big thing to say in any culture. It is a massive thing to say to an unmarried young girl in that culture, especially when there was absolutely no physical sign that Mary was pregnant. You say, how do you know that?

18:32 Well, from the timing. Dr. Luke has been very careful. He includes these details so we can see that after the announcement was made, Mary must have gone immediately to Elizabeth because Elizabeth was already six months pregnant. Mary stayed with her for three months. Six of three makes nine. Elizabeth had her baby after Mary had gone. So Mary must have gone immediately to see Elizabeth when there was no physical sign that she was pregnant. And Elizabeth stands and says, fantastic.

19:10 The mother of the Lord has come to me. Blessed is the fruit of your womb. How does she know? Well, of course, it tells us there is only one explanation. That the Holy Spirit had indicated it to her. But what a piece of evidence for us of the veracity of the story. And what an encouragement for Mary. She hadn't made this up.

19:41 She hadn't dreamt it. She wasn't going mad. This is not the story of a young girl finding herself pregnant. And then with her fertile imagination hitting on the idea of a virgin birth and a visitation from the gods as an explanation. She wasn't a Greek teenager brought up in the myths of the gods consorting with human women. She was a Jewess, humble, conservative, brought up in the Old Testament with a strict code of morality. She would never have dared to suggest it, nor would Elizabeth unless. God's spirit had revealed it.

20:27 What an impact it must have had on her. And of course we see the impact because she bursts into song we say. Well she at least spoke the words if not sang the words. How kind of God to provide that kind of encouragement and reassurance to her as she faced this very difficult road. And perhaps for the first time, with Elizabeth, with the confirmation, she finally felt able to give expression to the joy that she felt. And what beautiful words they are. I wonder, could we express ourselves like this? when it comes to the prayer and praise of God.

21:23 Some people have protested that no young person could ever express themselves like this. So this must be an invention written down later, a Christian poem that somebody has imagined, like in our songs, you know, Oh Mary, Were You There, etc., that we kind of try and imagine what she said. But I think that protest is based on a misunderstanding both of Mary and of her culture, her upbringing. Of course, it's unlikely she had taken courses in theology or poetry or creative writing, but she knew her Old Testament. She'd been brought up on it. She'd been brought up to memorize huge chunks of it, just as I was way back in the 20th century. And some of you remember it well. I was even paid money to memorize Psalms and chunks of the Bible.

22:23 And so naturally, when it comes to a prayer language, it's all there. You have it in your mind. Mary had it in her mind. She knew the poetry of the Old Testament. She knew the promises of the Old Testament. This was part of her education, her childhood, her upbringing. mean? Rather than doubt Mary, perhaps we should learn from her and develop our own prayer and praise language.

22:57 She begins by magnifying and honoring God. And then she expresses her great joy at what God has done. It's a really strong word, overwhelming, exultant joy. Her emotions exploding in her heart at God's involvement in her life. And then she talks a little bit about herself. And that little bit is important. She expresses her awareness that from almost total obscurity, she would now be destined to become arguably the most famous woman in history, and that is the fact of it.

23:44 She could see that because she understood at least something of the implication of being the one through whom God's Messiah, God's Son, the King of Kings would come into the world. God. How would you have handled that? Some people find it very difficult to handle big things that happen to them. As we know, looking in the world of sport and other places, that often it destroys people because they begin to believe their publicity, as they say, and it changes them. The remarkable thing to me is that it doesn't change her understanding of herself. Not once does she call herself the mother of God, or even the mother of the son of God. Rather, she calls God her savior.

24:46 She understood her own unworthiness, that she personally needed a Savior. Just because she was going to carry and care for the Son of God, she hadn't for one moment imagined that this was due to her own holiness or sinlessness. She was a sinner. She needed a Savior. She recognizes the enormous distance between her and almighty God, who is totally holy. All people, she said, will call me blessed. But then she doesn't add, because I am the mother of the son of God. They'll call me blessed because of what God has done.

25:32 Because of who God is. And not because of who she is. And then in her song, she basically loses sight of herself completely. What an important thing that is when it comes to the worship of God, that we actually lose sight of ourselves. This is a kind of stage beyond the here I am to worship. It's forgetting the first part of it and just worshiping. And that's what Mary does. She moves from her own unique role to focus on God himself and how he deals with people.

26:15 She's not even in the equation. Yes, God has shown her amazing mercy, but it's just typical of God. That's what excites her. This is what God is like. What an insight. This is what God, he shows mercy to those who fear him and humble themselves before him. He resists pride, but mercy to those who reference him. This is just one more example in Mary's mind of what God has always been like and what he always will be like.

26:52 He scatters the pride, those who are full of their own status and importance, full of their own wealth and achievement, but he raises up the humble, those who realize how much they need God and his salvation. This is so counter-cultural, isn't it? When you think of the whole direction of our culture, from the ads, you know, you're worth it and all the rest of it, to, you know, just strutting our stuff on the world. Hey, I'm going to do it my way. Have you seen the ad for Virgin Atlantic? I am who I am and I've got to show the world. This is so different, which is maybe why it sounds so quaint. And yet this is where true meaning is found.

27:46 Taking your place before the majesty of the almighty God. God takes the weak, the humble, He takes what is low, what is despised, and shames the strong and the wise. And this is a teenage girl, we think, saying all this. You know, young people and children are capable of amazing spiritual depth. And adults are capable of amazing spiritual childishness. This is a girl who knew God. Fantastic, powerful, moving.

28:46 And she ends her song by putting what has happened to her in the context of the bigger story of God's plans and purposes in history. And in many ways for me, this is the most powerful thing here. Because in our world, it seems to me and many others that we are facing a real crisis of the absence of meaning, the absence of purpose. And it is no surprise because if you teach people year after year in schools and in universities and through the media that there is no God, that we killed him, as Nietzsche said, we got rid of him, you end up killing humanity as a meaningful being. Because our meaning disappears.

29:58 We're no longer created in the image of God. To know him, love him, serve him, and be in eternal relationship with him, we simply appeared. The excretion of chemistry, physics, and biology without ultimate purpose and reason. And if you keep telling people that, eventually they'll believe you. And we see this crisis of aimlessness, purposelessness, the anger, the frustration, the feeling somehow that we've missed out, that the world owes us a living, the hatred. because we have cut our link with the almighty God. We thought we could find a meaning for ourselves, as one Russian scientist famously said, by getting rid of God, and we discovered that we couldn't. Is that where you're at?

31:18 look in the art world look even in the photography world people trying to discover meaning in music in novels and plays and shows on television desperation to try to find some kind of purpose and it eludes us all we can do is create a series of short term horizons and derive whatever comfort and joy and taglines and straplines we use to govern our life and then death comes and that's it and the whole thing was an absurd joke. Or, Mary is right. This is who God is. This is who he always has been. God has intervened in human history through this young girl remarkable circumstances to bring the world's savior because we all need saving I know that might dent your pride forgive me if I don't pay any attention to your pride you need saving I need saving Mary needed saving

32:43 and that little embryo that fetus that baby to be born the one she would hold in her hand the one that later she would listen to teaching and doing miracles the one she would watch as he was misunderstood and mistreated and he was taken and put on a cross and as Simeon had told her when the baby was still young a sword will pierce your own heart. And it did. But that was her calling. And she humbly bowed before the sovereign God. Be it done to me according to your word. Can you say that? Can I? I'm not called to a role like Mary.

33:40 a hundred years after I die, I doubt whether anybody will be talking about me. That's not what matters. What matters is not making a name for ourselves. That's not what Mary was doing. What matters in life is coming and bowing before the sovereign God and acknowledging that he is God and I am not, that he is my savior and casting myself upon him for the gift of his salvation and then saying, Lord, whatever it is, as a grandparent, as a teacher, as a friend in a neighborhood, as a nurse, as a midwife, as a person working on the tills and greeting folks in the shops, whatever it is, to say, Lord, be it done to me according to your word. In her obedience to God, Mary tilted the earth towards heaven.

34:51 And you and I are given that divine calling that each of us, even in the small, unremarkable things of life, can tilt our world towards heaven. A student friend, a kid beside us in school, the parents we meet at the school gate, the people we care for in a hospital bed, the council we sit on, the board we sit on, the company we run, that tilt the world towards heaven. Let's pray. Lord, we bow before you, sovereign Lord of history. Our prayer is that you take what is left of these lives of ours and use them for the glory of your purposes and plans. Thank you that we have this big story of which this life is merely the introduction.

36:09 It's a story that will never end. It's a story that gives meaning to all that we do. We pray that like Mary, we might embrace your story in Jesus' name. Amen.