What can Mary teach contemporary Christians about our relationship with God and
discipleship?
Luke
begins his story with the angel Gabriel’s visit to Nazareth, where he finds
Mary and tells her that she has been chosen by God to be the mother of the
Messiah. Mary is described as “a virgin
engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.” (Luke
2:27) At this juncture, we need to be
careful. A marriage “engagement” at the
time of Mary was significantly different from contemporary customs. According to the customs in Mary’s time, a
bride was already considered legally married at the time of her engagement,
even though the bride would continue to live in her parents’ home for a year,
following the engagement. As biblical
scholar Alan Culpepper explains in The
New Interpreter’s Bible:
“Although Mary has not yet married, she
was betrothed. According to ancient
customs, the marriage would have been arranged by her father. She would live at home for a year after her
betrothal. Then the groom would come to
take her to his home, and the wedding celebration would last for an entire
week. Legally, the marriage was sealed
after the engagement. Thus, if Joseph
had died before the wedding, Mary would have been considered a widow.”
Although
as Christians we tend to elevate Mary and put her on a pedestal as the mother
of Christ, the reality is that Mary was not a very special person at all. She was not a powerful queen or rich
celebrity or highly educated scientist.
Probably, the most distinctive thing about Mary was how ordinary she
actually was. In fact, Mary underscores
how ordinary she is, when she tells her relative, Elizabeth, God “has looked
with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”
Further, Mary lived in a small, very ordinary village, far from the
financial, cultural, and governmental centers of the age.
Even
though she is just a normal, ordinary teenage girl, God has chosen Mary for a
prestigious and awesome role. This is
the first thing that Mary can teach us about our relationship with God and
about discipleship: God chooses ordinary persons for extraordinary tasks. This is an important truth about our
relationship with God. God works through
the lives of ordinary people to establish God’s Reign and fulfill God’s Divine
purposes here on Earth. I believe that
all of us “find favor with God.” That
is, I believe that God has a special purpose and goal for each of us in our
lives. Only Mary was chosen to be the
mother of Christ, but each of us is chosen by God for some special purpose.
There
is more about being chosen by God for a special task. When we look at the arc
of Mary’s life after her exchange with the angel Gabriel, we realize that “finding
favor with God” does not result in prestige or power or wealth or
prosperity. There is a misguided
Christian theology, called “prosperity theology,” which teaches that when we
are faithful to God and support our church, then God rewards us with material prosperity
and power. However, this theology is not
biblically based and is a false teaching.
All we have to do is look at the experience of Mary the mother of
Christ. Rather than wealth and power, “finding
favor with God” resulted in added responsibility, extra work, inconvenience and
the pain of giving birth.
The
angel Gabriel announces to Mary that God has chosen her to “conceive in your
womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 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.” ( vv. 31-32) We can be pretty
certain that Mary was not planning on bearing the Messiah. Afterall, she was engaged to Joseph and they
were not yet married and not at all ready to start a family. Joseph and Mary had made plans to live their
lives together as husband and wife, as normal persons with regular jobs.
This
is very important. Through the angel
Gabriel, God asked Mary to go where she had never considered going and to do
something which she had never even dreamed of doing. Yet, after hearing Gabriel, Mary’s response
is straightforward: “Here am I, the
servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” This is the second thing that Mary can teach
contemporary Christians about God and discipleship. Sometimes
God asks us to do something which we have never even imagined doing, and
faithful disciples respond with the words, “Here am I; send me.”
After
the angel Gabriel departs, Mary decides to go and visit her relative Elizabeth,
who lives “in the hill country.” When
Luke describes Mary and Elizabeth greeting one another, he describes a speech
which Mary makes to Elizabeth, in which she paraphrases the Hebrew scripture 1
Samuel 2: 1-10. Known as the “Magnificat” by Christian
theologians, in this paraphrased speech Mary proclaims her deep and absolute
trust in God, beginning with these words:
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior,
for he has looked with
favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will
call me blessed;
For the Mighty One has
done great things for me,
And holy is his name.” ( vv. 46-49)
The third lesson which we learn from
Mary is to put our complete trust in God. Mary trusted God to guide her in a new and
unexpected direction. Mary trusted that
God would be with her and that she would not be alone. Mary trusted that God would give her wisdom
and discernment. Finally, Mary trusted
that God would protect her and promote her well-being.
So, to summarize, Mary offers us
three profound lessons about God and our relationship with God:
1. God
achieves amazing accomplishments through normal, ordinary people. Finding favor with God does not necessarily result
in prestige or wealth or power or prosperity, but God has already chosen each
of us for some special purpose.
2. Sometimes
God asks us to do something that we’ve never imagined ourselves doing. When this happens, faithful followers of
Christ respond: “Here am I; send me.”
3. We
need to put our complete trust in God, who chooses us and calls us to amazing
adventures.
Come, join us this Sunday, December
20th, as we celebrate Mary and seek to learn what she can teach us about our
relationship with God and about Christian discipleship. Christ United Methodist Church is located at
4530 A Street in Lincoln, Nebraska. Our
classic worship services are at 8:30 and 11:00 on Sunday mornings.
Also, consider joining us for:
Ø Blue Christmas Celebration, Monday,
December 21st, 6:30 pm. This
is a special service of healing & hope for all who are stressed, lonely,
grieving, or hurting during the holidays.
Ø Family Christmas Celebration, Thursday,
December 24th, 4:00 pm. A service designed for families with small children, and
concluding candlelight with “Silent Night, Holy Night”.
Ø
Traditional
Candlelight Christmas Eve Service, Thursday, December 24th, 7 pm A traditional service featuring Christ Church
Choirs, with my homily entitled “It,” and
concluding candlelight with “Silent Night, Holy Night”.
Ø
Moravian “Lovefeast”
& Candlelight Service, Thursday, December 24th, 11 pm A traditional service,
featuring the “Moravian Love Feast” and special music ensembles, and concluding
candlelight with “Silent Night, Holy Night”.
(For more information about our Christmas services, see our website:
http://www.christumclinc.org/)
Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.
