Christmas Through Mary’s Eyes
Series: Christmas Through Their Eyes
Chuck Sligh
December 15, 2019
NOTE: PowerPoint or ProPresenter presentations are available for this sermon by request at chucksligh@hotmail.com. Please mention the title of the sermon and the Bible text to help me find the sermon in my archives.
Some thoughts borrowed from two sermons by T. Michael Crews and Jonathan McLeod on SermonCentral.com.
TEXT: Luke 1:26-38 (TO BE READ LATER)
INTRODUCTION
People look at Christmas through different eyes.
• Christmas through the eyes of little ones usually involves something about a big fat man who rides a sleigh pulled by flying reindeer, you know…logical stuff like that.
• In the more enlightened kids eyes you can see visions of…not sugar plums, whatever that was…but visions of toys, toys, toys, toys and more toys. – Yay for toys!
• What others see in Christmas are times of family gatherings, the repetition of decades-old family traditions, delicious food around a table with loved ones, football games, and for the children, more toys, toys, toys. – Yay for toys!
• But many see Christmas through the eyes of loneliness and sadness, with no memories of happy gatherings—just sad memories of a broken family or alcohol or drug abuse, or depression or mental illness.
• To those of us who are saved, we look at Christmas through totally different eyes: We see an added dimension, the spiritual realm, where we’re reminded that one day God became a human and was born as a baby who grew up to be the Savior of the world!
But what did Christmas look like through the eyes of the participants? First of all, they didn’t even understand how they fit into the drama we now call Christmas. They just knew some really amazing things were going on, like strange visions, and the appearance of angels, and being told of fulfilled prophecies through them, and a strange birth in a strange place with strange supernatural occurrences surrounding the whole affair—like an angel army heralding good tidings to some shepherds who then show up at the door of their stable or cave to worship the baby.
Even today we see the amazingness of it all, but we know the rest of the story. What was Christmas like to Mary and Joseph in the early stages of the drama, before it all made sense; before “the rest of the story” was even played out? To Mary and Joseph, it must have been exciting, but also very confusing and scary. Let’s look at Christmas through Mary’s eyes and have a Mary Little Christmas this morning.
I. FIRST, MARY SAW THAT NO MATTER WHO SHE WAS, GOD COULD USE YOU. – Verses 26-27 – “And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, 27 To a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
Illus. – Do you remember the last time you filled out a job application? You had to give all your personal data, and summarize your background, your education, your experience, and so forth. One question they often ask is, “What is it that makes you uniquely qualified for this position?”
Now, how do you answer that question without coming off as a snob? Employers assume your AVAILABILITY, but what they really want to find out is 1) your LIABILITIES—what would make you UNSUITED for the job, and 2) your ABILILITES—what skills and talents will HELP you do the job.
But God doesn’t operate this way. Mary came to see that no matter who you are, God can use you! God isn’t as interested in your ABILITY as He is in your AVAILability.
Verses 26-27 paint a picture of an ordinary girl with some serious liabilities:
1) She was YOUNG.
Remember that in that day, it was not unusual for girls to be betrothed as young as 15 years of age (around the time of reaching puberty). Mary could well have been as young as 15 or 16 when Gabriel visited her.
You and I might think this girl is too young for God to use her, but apparently God didn’t think so.
2) Also, Mary was POOR.
We read in Luke 2:22-24 that Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the temple to be circumcised. To do so, they were required to bring one of two offerings: either a lamb for a burnt offering, or if the parents were too poor to bring a lamb, they could instead bring two doves or pigeons for a sin offering. Mary and Joseph brought two doves, indicating they were poor.
You and I might have thought this family was too poor to provide for Jesus, the King of Heaven, but God didn’t think so.
3) Mary was young, and poor…but also, she was FROM NAZARETH.
Nazareth was a town with a bad reputation. In John 1:46, when Nathanael learned that Jesus was from Nazareth he said, “…Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”
You and I might have thought No way. No telling what this girl grew up seeing and hearing in a bad town like that. But God didn’t take this into consideration in choosing Mary to be mother to the Son of God.
Mary was young, poor, and from Nazareth—all characteristics that we might have thought would make her seem unusable by God. But God chose Mary for one of the most important callings anyone ever received—to carry God in the flesh in her womb and bear Him into the world , and rear Him to adulthood and watch Him die. Through God’s choice of Mary, we see that NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE, THE LORD CAN USE YOU.
You might think you’re too young or that you don’t have enough money or talent or training or preparation for God to use you. You might think your background or past mistakes might make it impossible for God to use you. Don’t limit God!—He CAN use you if you trust Him!
Out of all the queens, princesses, and daughters of the wealthy and influential, God chose a poor teenager from a town with a bad reputation to be Jesus’ mother. Mary had some negatives, but she had two things God looks for: humility and faith. She knew she wasn’t worthy of the honor God offered her, yet she still believed God could use her if she trusted Him.
Do you believe God can use you?—Or do you think you’re too insignificant, too young, too poor or too weak or too unworthy to be used by Him? Betty Reese wrote, “If you think you’re too small to be effective, you’ve never been in bed with a mosquito.”
Listen—God is searching for humble, fearless people to take part in His amazing plans! Mary saw herself as a nobody, too unworthy to be the recipient of God’s special grace. She was, for we’re all unworthy, but she learned that God can use ANYBODY!
II. SECOND, MARY SHE SAW THAT NO MATTER WHAT PROBLEMS SHE FACED, THE LORD IS WITH HER. – Verses 28-33 – “And the angel came to her, and said, ‘Greeting, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.’ 29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. 30 And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary: for you have found favor with God. 31 And, behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bear a son, and shall call his name JESUS. 32 He will be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David: 33 And he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
In verse 28, the first thing the angel said to her after saying she was highly favored is “The Lord is with you.” That was the most important thing she needed to hear.
There are some things you just don’t want to go through alone. Christmas, for instance. I don’t know of anybody who likes to spend Christmas all by themselves. It’s natural to want to share the celebration with people near and dear to us.
But we don’t like to go through TROUBLE alone, either. If you get sick with nobody to comfort you, you’ll probably be more miserable. When you lose your job, or your spouse or your child, you need somebody with you to help you make it through.
The one Person you need more than anybody else when you face problems is the Lord. Mary saw that no matter what she faced, as one of God’s children, God was with her.
The angel said in verse 30, “Do not be afraid”—but we wouldn’t blame her if she were!
Besides an angel appearing to her (which is pretty scary; the number one thing all angels say is “Don’t be afraid”)…but besides that, imagine the fears she would have anticipated knowing that she would be pregnant before marriage:
1) First was the very real possibility that Joseph might DIVORCE her.
Joseph and Mary were actually “betrothed,” which was as legally binding as marriage itself and could only be dissolved by a bill of divorcement. Joseph at first assumed that Mary had been unfaithful to him.
I mean, really…what else WOULD he have thought?— She’s pregnant, right?—And Joseph knew HE wasn’t the father! So, he decided to divorce her quietly, and would have, were he not told in a dream that Mary’s baby was, in fact, conceived by the Holy Spirit and that he should marry Mary. But at this point, Mary didn’t yet know how all of that would play out. But she was assured by God that He would be with her, whatever Joseph did, and that was enough.
2) Mary would no doubt have also feared of possibility of family REJECTION.
¿Did Mary’s family believe her story that the baby inside her was the Messiah, or that she had conceived by the Holy Spirit without a man? There’s no record that Mary’s parents received the same kind of dreams or angel appearances as Mary and Joseph did.
So seriously, would YOU have believed it if your daughter told you that story? We’re never told anything about Mary’s parents’ reaction to her pregnancy, but I can imagine that they didn’t believe a word of her story! But Mary was assured that God was with her, no matter how her parents may react, that was enough.
3) Then I’m sure she had a legitimate fear of certain RIDICULE by her community.
Imagine the gossip that must have circulated in a little town like Nazareth with only about 1800 inhabitants at that time! The people of Nazareth would have automatically assumed she had been guilty of adultery—a sin that was not looked on lightly as it is today. It’s likely that Mary was shunned by those who had once been her friends. But Mary had the sure assurance that God was with her, even if her friends abandoned her and that was enough.
So, Mary’s fears were well grounded. You see, the message from the angel totally changed her life. She was getting ready to be married and live a normal life, but her life would never be the same again! How could she be calm and courageous as she faced all of the problems her unplanned, unexplainable pregnancy might cause? She must have clung to Gabriel’s words in verse 28: “The Lord is with you.” The Lord would BE WITH her; He would HELP her; He would give her the strength and courage to face anything.
The same Lord makes that same promise to you and to me.
• In Psalms 118:6 the Psalmist declared, “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do to me?”
• God promises in Hebrews 13:5: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Mary’s story teaches us that no matter what problems you face, the Lord is with you if you are saved and one of His kids. Mary faced all these scary things—but she knew that the Lord would never abandon her.
One of the titles given to Jesus was “Immanuel,” which means “God WITH us.” One of the great themes of the Old Testament is that of God living with His people. Jesus is our “Immanuel”—He is “God WITH us.”
Ingrid Trobisch said, “Immanuel, a name for Christ, means ‘God with us.’ Human life was meant to be dramatic. We are meant to be God-inhabited. Our religion is not organized around keeping God at a distance. It allows us to go see him when we want. If I really want God to be with me, then my life will be extremely different from ordinary human life.”
I like that: “…we are meant to be GOD-INHABITED. Our religion is not organized around keeping God at a distance.” Jesus came to make God’s presence a conscious, living REALITY in your life.
Whatever the PROBLEMS you’re facing right now—whatever WORRIES and FEARS are harassing your heart—if you know that Christ is your Savior, DON’T let your problems and worries and fears discourage and defeat you. No matter what you’re going through, the LORD IS WITH YOU! Bring those problems to Him and trust Him to work them out or help you work through them—and He WILL, just as surely as He worked them all out for Mary.
Mary saw that no matter who you are, God can use you and no matter what problems you face, God is with you.
III. FINALLY, MARY SAW THAT WHATEVER GOD PROMISES, HE CAN DO IT! – Verses 34-38 – Then said Mary unto the angel, ‘How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35 And the angel answered and said unto her, ‘The Holy Spirit shall come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you: therefore the Holy One that who will be born shall be called the Son of God. 36 And, behold, your relative Elisabeth…in her old age has also conceived a son: and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For with God nothing will be impossible.’ 38 And Mary said, ‘Behold the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.’ And the angel departed from her.”
Illus. – A little boy asked his mother where he came from. His mother gave him a tall tale about a beautiful white-feathered stork.
The boy ran into the next room and asked his grandmother where his mom had come from and received a variation on the stork story.
“How about you, Grandma?”—and he got the same answer again.
He then scurried outside to his playmate and said, “You know, there hasn’t been a normal birth in our family for three generations.”
The Bible records several instances of out-of-the-ordinary births.
• God sent a son to Abraham and Sarah long after normal childbearing age. (She was 90 and he was 100!)
• In Judges 13, an angel of the Lord told Manoah and his childless wife that they would have a special son they would name Samson.
• Samuel, the first prophet and last of the judges was the answer to the faithful, persevering prayers of his godly mother, Hannah—well beyond child-bearing age.
• John the Baptist’s mother, Elizabeth, was probably in her sixties when she gave birth to the prophet.
But NONE of those special births was as amazing as the birth of Jesus Christ! His birth was a VIRGIN birth! In other words, Jesus was conceived in the womb of His mother Mary by a miraculous work of the Holy Spirit without sexual relations with a human father.
Now that didn’t sound any more usual or likely back then than it does today! But look at Mary’s reaction in verse 38 – “Behold the servant of the Lord [which is biblically flowery language for “here I am for service, Lord” and she goes on to say…]; let it be to me according to your word.”
Even though the angel’s news was UNbelievable, she BELIEVED it! Mary didn’t UNDERSTAND it, but she also DIDN’T DOUBT it. She didn’t know HOW a virgin birth could even happen, but BELIEVED IT. She believed that no matter what God promised, GOD CAN DO IT!
Even after all these centuries, Jesus’ miraculous conception and virgin birth remains impossible to understand by human reason alone. God chose not to explain the details of it to us. The real issue is NOT whether a virgin can conceive; but whether ANYTHING is impossible for God.
But why was Jesus virgin-born to begin with?— Only through the virgin birth was it possible for God to dwell with mankind as a human being Himself and pay the penalty for our sin. The virgin birth made possible the uniting of full DEITY and full HUMANITY in one person.
Illus. – The well-known talk show host Larry King was once asked, “If you could select any one person across all of history to interview, who would it be?”
Mr. King answered that he would like to interview Jesus Christ.
The questioner followed with, “What would you like to ask him?”
King replied, “I’d like to ask him if he was indeed virgin-born. The answer to that question would define history for me.”
He’s right.—The virgin birth of Christ is tied both to who He is and what He came to do. As Malcolm Muggeridge put it, “[As] man alone, Jesus could not have saved us; as God alone, he WOULD not. Incarnate, he could and did.” [Malcolm Muggeridge in “Jesus,” Christianity Today, Vol. 36, no. 15. (Emphasis mine.)]
Mary knew that a virgin birth is impossible in the natural course of events, but she also believed that “nothing is impossible with God.” Whatever God promises, He delivers; no matter what He promises, He will do it.
What promises of God are you tempted to doubt?
• Maybe it’s Jesus’s salvation promise in John 11:26 – “And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
• Or Paul’s statement in Romans 8:28 – “…all things work together for good to them that love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.”
• Or God’s promise about tithing in Malachi 3:10 – “Bring…all the tithes into the storehouse…and put me to the test, says the LORD of hosts, if I will not open to you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there will not be room enough to store it.”
• Or maybe it’s 1 John 5:14 – “And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
Do you ever read promises like these and say, “Yeah, right! Like THAT’S gonna’ happen!”? But those promises are made by GOD. What you have to do is what Mary did: BELIEVE GOD’S WORDS! Say to Him, as she did, “Let it be to me according to Your Word, O Lord.”
Someone has said, “LITTLE faith will bring your soul to heaven, but GREAT faith will bring heaven to your soul.” That’s how it worked for Mary, and how it’ll work for you, IF you’ll believe and obey.
CONCLUSION
I don’t know how you see Christmas. I can’t see Christmas through your eyes. But Mary’s Christmas prophecy was frightening. But by faith she began to see Christmas through the eyes of faith.
If she were here this morning, she would tell you this…
• No matter who you are, the Lord can use you.
• No matter what problems you face, if you belong to the Lord, He will be with you.
• No mater what He has promised, the Lord can do it.
May God burn these truths into our hearts this Christmas.
