I.The whole Christmas story is really a love story with several main characters.
A.I am truly aghast at the fact that the Christmas story is being total forgotten this year.
1.There was a time when NBC showed Amal and the Night Visitors every year on TV.
a.It was a tradition.
b.Today the TV traditions are Rudolph, and the Grinch that Stole Christmas.
2.Every where we go it is “Happy Holidays” or Seasons Greetings.
a.Where is Merry Christmas?
b.People are so afraid to offend, stores bend over backwards to focus on the secular meaning of Christmas.
3.I am so happy that Kings Chapel is having its Drive Through Nativity and advertising it all over the Community and on the local transit buses.
a.We need to put more displays in our front yards with manger scenes and less with Santa Claus and Reindeer.
B.People and especially Children today are truly ignorant of the Christmas Story which is really the Greatest Love Story ever told.
1.We begin with Mary, the woman who love her husband, her son, and God.
II. Mary was a woman who loved her soon to be husband.
26 Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee, called Nazareth,
A.When God’s love story begins with a young peasant woman in a little forgotten town with a bad reputation.
1.It begins with the archangel Gabriel who was the messenger of God to Daniel, to John the Baptist’s father Zacharias and now to Mary.
a.All appearances of Gabriel recorded in the Bible are connected with the promise about the coming of the Messiah.
b.In Christian tradition, Gabriel is sometimes identified as the archangel whose voice is heard at the Second Coming of Christ <1 Thes. 4:16>.
2.The name NAZARETH means watchtower was where Mary lived.
a.For centuries Nazareth has been a beautifully secluded town nestled in the southernmost hills of the Lebanon Mountain rang.
b.Nazareth was not an important part of the national and religious life of Israel.
c.Nazareth had a rather bad reputation in morals and religion and a certain crudeness in the Galilean dialect, prompted Nathaniel, when he first learned of Jesus of Nazareth, to ask, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth?"
B.27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
1.It was critical for Jesus to be born of a virgin because He must be conceived by the Holy Spirit and therefore not have the stain of original sin.
a.Isa 7:14 "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel. (NAS)
b.Matt 1:23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel," which translated means, "God with us."
2.Virginity was a necessary part of a Hebrew marriage.
a.The law said a priest must not marry a widow, a divorced woman, or a prostitute, but only a virgin.
b.For a woman to lose her virginity was to jeopardize her chance to get married.
c.She was tainted since marriage was contract between two families which certain obligations.
d.For the husband to find his bride not a virgin was a breech of contract and therefore the marriage or betrothal would be annulled.
3.Mary was betrothed or engaged to Joseph which was a mutual promise or contract for a future marriage.
a.A betrothal was a contract between the bridegroom and the parents of the bride.
b.It was customary for the bridegroom to place a ring, a token of love and fidelity, on the bride's finger.
c.A betrothal usually lasted for one year.
d.Frequently people married at a young age, a fact which made the parents' choice a practical matter. Mary could have been as young as 12 and Joseph as young as 13.
C.Although romance before marriage was not unknown in Old Testament times, it played a minor role in the life of teenagers of that era.
1.They did not marry the person they loved; they loved the mate they married.
a.Love began at marriage.
2.And Mary loved Joseph and was willing to follow him any where he took their family.
a.She would follow Joseph to Egypt with their newborn because he said he had a dream that Herod was after them.
b.How many of you women would go to a strange land because your husband had a dream?
IIIMary would love her son very much.
28And coming in, he said to her, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
29But she was greatly troubled at this statement, and kept pondering what kind of salutation this might be.
30And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
A.The word in the Greek for “favored one” means one who is well-off, one who has received special grace, and indued with special honor.
1.Every mother who loves her child feels greatly honored to raise her offspring.
2.This angelic greeting would elicit feelings Mary would feel over and over in this child’s life.
a.The word in the Greek for “troubled” means to be greatly agitated like water which has been stirred up.
b.Mary pondered or as the Greek word says she had an argument with herself weighing all the implications of this visit.
c.This is something she would do often as Jesus grew.
d.Luke 2:19 But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
e.Luke 2:51 And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth; and He continued in subjection to them; and His mother treasured all {these} things in her heart.(NAS)
3.The angel’s response is sort of absurd considering the fact that his very presence was awesome and overwhelming.
4.But if she was frighted would not that be a healthy and reverent response.
a.The word again in the Greek means not only fear but reverence.
b.Prov 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. (NAS)
B.31 "And behold, you will conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus.
1.Imagine women, being told you will have a baby whether you like it or not?
2.In this modern day world of women’s rights over their body I wonder how many women would tell Gabriel to get lost.
3.But this woman had a love for God and His plan for her life.
a.She did not think of the richest vocation and then ask God to help here get good grades and honors.
b.She first opened herself up to what God wanted her to be and then sought His empowerment.
4.She would not even be given the privilege of naming this child.
a.The name “Jesus” was not an uncommon name.
b.The Hebrew name Iesous (ee-ay-sooce') was the same word for Jehoshua, the name of our Lord and two (three) other Israelites.
C.34 And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
1.Mary was astonished by the Angel’s prophecy.
2.Mary was not some dumb woman who just said Yes and did not think about the consequences and how this all would take place.
3.She love God and wanted to understand His intention.
D.35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy offspring shall be called the Son of God.
1.The word in the Greek for over-shadow is quite a literal translation.
2.Gabriel is in essence saying God is going to overtake your body.
a.We men have no idea what it is like to be pregnant.
b.Men are such an independent bunch.
c.If any man would encroach our we would shove them away.
3.But to be pregnant is to have another human being invade ones body.
a.And Gabriel is saying God Himself would invade her body and grow a living person in her womb.
b.Mary loved God and she would become a great lover of this child.
4.There is a bonding which takes place between mother and child during pregnancy.
a.The heart beat of the child can even be heard, the movement of the youngster can be felt.
b.Mary would experience all these things.
5.Luke 2:7 And she gave birth to her first-born son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
a.The word in the Greek for cloth here means a strap wrapped around.
b.A swaddling cloth was used traditional to wrap a newborn baby.
c.This was believed to ensure the correct early development of the limbs.
d.Thus, swaddling was a mark of parental love and care, while the need for swaddling symbolized the humble, dependent position of the newborn child.
e.Although she could offer Jesus no better crib than an animal's manger, Mary showed her mother's love by wrapping her baby in swaddling clothes.
6.She witnessed the visits of the shepherds and the Wise Men and "pondered them in her heart"
a.Mary so loved God that she was willing to share Jesus with strangers like the Shepherds and the Wisemen.
b.Women can you imagine letting total strangers into your birthing room?
c.I mean after giving birth do you feel much like company?
7.Though Mary was the mother of four sons and an unnumbered amount of daughters, she found time to follow her first son’s ministry.
a.She must of had to lovingly respond to the sibling rivalry between the sons for none of the them followed Jesus before His death.
b.She remained loyal to Jesus ministry and later her son James would become the Bishop of Jerusalem.
8.Mary the loving mother, experience the agony that many parents today experience, a lost child.
a.When Jesus was just twelve Joseph and Mary would lose him on a trip.
b.He was left behind in the huge city of Jerusalem.
c.She would feel the mother’s panic, where is my child?
9.Mary as a very loving and proud mother would be there when Jesus performed His first miracle at the wedding of Cana. John 2:1-12.
a.She followed Him throughout His ministry.
b.But she would feel the pain of all mothers as Jesus ignored his mother for His ministry.
c.But again Jesus mildly rebuked her, declaring that the bond between Him and His disciples was stronger than any family ties
d.Imagine being relegated from mother to just one of your son’s followers?
10.Luke 2:35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul-- to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." (NAS).
a.Simeon prophesied in the temple that Mary would suffer the anguish of seeing her first born tortured and murdered an excruciating death.
b.She would stand at the foot of the cross - John 19:25-27
IV.Mary was a woman who truly loved God.
38And Mary said, "Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; be it done to me according to your word." And the angel departed from her.(NAS)
A.Mary was submissive to God.
1.A bondservant was one who had an indebtedness to a master who then had to work that loan off with labor.
2.The word in the Greek denotes a person who was legally bound or tied to their master.
a.Mary was saying,“I love You God and I am willing to submit to Your authority over my life.”
b.Mary, is acknowledging her indebtedness to God for His love, grace, and favor for such an wondrous privilege of carrying the Messiah.
3.In a spiritual sense, we are all slaves or bondservants of something or someone.
a.People apart from Christ are slaves to sin.
b.To commit sin is to demonstrate that sin has control of one's life
c.Christ can set us free from this kind of slavery
4.We miss so much of what God has for our lives because our relationship to God is a one way street.
a.We expect God to be a big Santa Claus and gives us all we want.
b.But we do not love God and we are unwilling to submit to the one who gives us eternal life.
V.As the first member of the human race to accept Christ, Mary stands as the first of the redeemed and as the flagship of humanity itself.
A.Mary was a true disciple for it is mentioned in Acts 1:14 that she was in the upper room in Jerusalem, awaiting the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
B.She is our enduring example for faith, service to God, a life of righteousness, and love.
