Mary's Faith

Sermon on Luke 1:26-38

Introduction
The Announcement of Jesus’ birth has been told to us in two Gospels, Matthew 1:18-25 and Luke 1:26-38. While Matthew looks at the announcement of Jesus’ birth from Joseph’s perspective, Luke looks at it from Mary’s. Today we shall look at Mary’s angelic encounter with the angel Gabriel and her role in the birth of Jesus.

Who is Mary? The Catholics calls her, “The Blessed Virgin Mary”. She is known to be the mother of Jesus Christ, the mother of God. For centuries, there has been much controversy surrounding the status of Mary. Some Christians accused Catholics of worshipping Mary. This is incorrect. Instead, the Catholics believe in the veneration of Mary, rather than the worship of Mary.

St. Augustine (City of God X.2) distinguishes two kinds of servitus (service): "one which is due to men . . . which in Greek is called dulia; the other, latria, which is the service pertaining to the worship of God". Mary falls in between the two. They call it hyperdulia, the veneration offered to the Blessed Virgin Mary. She is honored lower than the status of God but higher than any saints because she is the mother of God.

The difference is between the Creator and the creature. We only worship the Creator, but for fellow highly esteemed fellow creatures, we can only pay an honor to them. Whether or not, it is theologically accurate to venerate saints or hyper-venerate Mary will be a continuing question for theologians. But biblically, the Gospel according to Luke does paint a certain esteemed picture of Mary which we ought to learn from. Who is Mary in the Bible?

Luke tells us that she is a virgin girl from Nazareth, a small town of Galilee (v. 26-27). The people in Judah disdained the Jews in Galilee and claimed they were not “kosher” because of their contacts with the Gentiles there (Matt 4:15). They especially despised the people from Nazareth (John 1:45-46). But yet God in His grace chose a girl from Nazareth in Galilee to be the mother of the promised Messiah!

In those days, it is typical for girls at the age of 13 to be engaged for marriage. It is called a betrothal. During this period of engagement they are not allowed to engage in any sexual relations, the couple were considered husband and wife but they still stay with their respective parents until the bridegroom brings the bride home to consummate their marriage a year later. Betrothal is a very serious affair, not entirely to be equated with the modern concept of engagement. Only divorce or death can break a betrothal.
It is likely that Mary was about 13 when she was pledged to be married to Joseph, a descendant of David. Can you imagine her state of mind at that tender age when the angel Gabriel visited her in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy? Not only was Gabriel’s visit supernatural, the message which the angel brought to her was even more unbelievable.
Angelic beings have been interacting with humans as God’s messengers since the beginning of biblical history. It began with a customary greeting, but what was unusual about this encounter was that Gabriel told Mary that she is highly favored. This is rare among most angelic encounters. This was repeated again in v. 30, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.”

Mary was bestowed favor from God not because of any special virtue she possesses, but because she has been specially chosen by God to give birth to Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God. In short, she is to be the mother of Jesus. Such an honor is granted to no human other than Mary. All of which was a fulfillment of the prophecy in Isa. 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself will give youc a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, andd will call him Immanuel.” Even though Luke did not quote from this reference like how Matthew did in his Gospel, it is clear that the announcement of the birth of Jesus parallels the prophecy in Isa. 7:14. However, traditional Jews do not interpret this verse in the same manner. Today, they are still waiting patiently for their Messiah.

“Immanuel” means God with us. Another name for “Jesus” is” Joshua”, which means “God saves”. In this passage, the angel told Mary to name her child, Jesus. “Jesus” is a popular name during those times and even in many Latin and Hispanic countries. Just like Joshua is a popular name for us Christians today. And so in this prophecy, we can understand that in the name of Jesus, God is with us and He intends to save the sinners of this world.

In vv. 32-33, the angel told Mary that the child “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 the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end”. The name, “Most High” is used interchangeably with “God”. We cannot insist on the deity of Jesus from the title, “Son of the Most High” alone, for in Luke 6:35, we find “sons of the Most High” which refers to followers of Jesus or Christians. But in Jewish thoughts, a son is a “carbon copy” of his father. And so, Mary could not have missed the significance of such a title. The fact that her baby was to be called the “Son of the Most High” pointed to His equality with Yahweh.

Two other attributes were also given to him. The child will be given the throne of David and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever. Firstly, it confirms Jesus as a descendant of David, and secondly as a king of Israel. Jesus is the legitimate successor in the line of King David and his kingship is not temporal but eternal. His kingdom will never end. Jesus will be the last and final King of the Jews!

At this moment, let us compare Mary with Elizabeth. There is much to compare between the announcements of the birth of John the Baptist with the birth of Jesus. Let’s begin with their similarities. Firstly, both their names were given by the angel. Both were first born sons! Also, both John and Jesus will be great in the sight of the Lord. In both instances, it is medically impossible for both women to be pregnant. One is a virgin who has never had any sexual relations; the other is medically barren and old, infertile and unable to bear any children. But yet, God often chooses the weak, the powerless and the impossible, to complete His work. He reminds us that His power is not restricted by our human limitations.
God also often interacts with humans to carry out His task. He could have arranged for Jesus to enter this world without the need for human participation but He did not. Instead, God calls for human participation in His plan to save the world from sin. And so, on one hand, God performs the supernatural for a virgin to be with a child, but yet this miracle remains in the natural framework of child-bearing, that a woman, and not a man, is chosen for child-bearing and Mary has to carry the baby for nine months like all pregnant women needed to. I call this “the miracle of the supernatural in the natural world.” According to C. S. Lewis, “Miracles do not, in fact, break the laws of nature.”
C. S. Lewis defines Miracle as the Supernatural interfering with the Natural: “Miracles are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see.”Miracles occur all around us every day, but we take them for granted, and it is up to us to recognize them.

It is important to note that Mary did not seem surprise about the coming of the Messiah, but rather, she was surprised that she was chosen to be His mother since she was a virgin. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin? (v. 34)” Compare this with Zechariah’s response, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years” (Luke 1:18).

Mary’s question is not understood to be colored by doubt in the way that Zechariah’s had been. Zechariah, a well-respected priest serving in the Temple for many years, demanded certainty of God’s promise, while young Mary only sought to ask how the miracle is going to happen since she is a virgin. Zechariah, a supposed servant of the Lord, could not fully trust the angel’s message of hope; but Mary, a mere little girl, calls herself, “the Lord’s servant” and accepts her role in total trust and obedience.

The angel answered Mary’s question, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37 For nothing is impossible with God.” (vv. 35-37)
No one for sure knows exactly how this miraculous conception took place, but the role of the Spirit here is not to be understood like the pagan Greek mythological stories of how deities had sexual relations with mortal humans and resulted in demigods like Hercules. For the Holy Spirit to come upon Mary is a spiritual union rather than a physical one.

The verb “overshadow” is not the same as “overpower”. The word for “overshadow” carries the sense of the holy, powerful presence of God, as in the description of the cloud that “covered” the tabernacle when the tent was filled with the glory of God (Ex. 40:35). It covers and protects but never takes over or controls the person. In short, it is just another way to say that the presence of the Lord is with Mary, and in a sense, extending the meaning of Emmanuel, God with us.

It is important for Gabriel to point out that the Baby will holy and would not share the sinful nature of man. This miraculous conception and the Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ were necessary because of His deity and preexistence. If Mary had not been a virgin, then Jesus would not be sinless. 2 Cor. 5:21 tells us that Jesus knew no sin, 1 Peter 2:22 tells us that He did no sin, 1 John 3:5 tells us that He had no sin.
21 God made him who had no sin to be sina for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Co 5:21)
22 “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1 Pe 2:22)
5 But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. (1 Jn 3:4-5)
As Mary’s son, Jesus would be human; as the Son of the Most High, He would be the Son of God. Jesus was born without the intervention of a human father. Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Only He who is sinless can take our place on the cross and remove all our sins. His birth, his life, his death, his resurrection are important tenets of our faith. Especially as we prepare for the coming Advent by remembering the birth of Jesus, may we also learn something from the woman who was chosen to be Jesus’ mother.

Conclusion
The one thing we ought to learn from Mary is her faith at such a tender age of 13. She trusted in the angel even though she did not know exactly how it was possible for her, a virgin, to be with a child. She obeyed God accordingly, giving birth to Jesus nine months later and naming him, Jesus, as what the angel had told her. She is humble and calls herself “the Lord’s servant” which is synonymous with being a slave to God. And finally, she submits and surrenders to the will of God by proclaiming, “May it be to me as you have said”. In another way, it is as good as saying, “Let it be…according to your word”. For all her faith, she earns the rare opportunity to end this encounter with her last words before the angel left her.

From her example of faith, we learn to trust and obey, and be humble before God and to always submit and surrender to the will of God. She experienced the grace of God and believed the Word of God, and therefore she was used by the Spirit to accomplish the will of God. Mary is an exceptional woman. She is highly favored by God, and she is the mother of God. But the focus of the passage is still the birth of the Son of God. The emphasis is on the greatness of the Son, and not the greatness of the mother. Let us strike a balance in how we view her role as the mother of God. Let us not place her so high above all men that she is to be worshipped like a deity, nor placed her too low which overlooks her special favor from God as the mother of the promised Messiah.

The birth of Jesus is unprecedented even at the highest order. Never has anything like this ever happened before, mortally or otherwise. Let us remember that the emphasis of the text is on the total initiative of God: God’s choice of the messianic Son is not made out of the stock of existing humanity; it is made rather through a unique creative act which brings into being a child who would otherwise never have existed. God acts in history, so that we can respond. Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is Lord.
Let us pray.