2. 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. The virgin’s
name was Mary. The angel went to her and said,
“Greetings, you who are highly favoured!
The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and
wondered what kind of greeting this
might be.
Luke 1:26-29
3. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary;
you have found favour 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; his kingdom will
never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel,
“since I am a virgin?”
Luke 1:30-34
4. The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on
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. 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. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered.
“May your word to me be fulfilled.”
Then the angel left her.
Luke 1:35-38
5. And Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
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.
Luke 1:46-49
6. 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.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
Luke 1:50-52
7. 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.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three
months and then returned home.
Luke 1:53-56
8. 1. Who is going to believe Mary’s story?
Mary … Pregnant & Hopeful
2. What are the consequences of God’s action?
3. Where does her help come from?
4. Why does God ask us to do hard things?
9. 1. Jesus said – “In this world you will have trouble.”
Why is life hard?
2. We’re stupid – our own mistakes trip us up.
3. People sin – other peoples mistakes affect us.
4. God’s sovereign – He can give hard things.
But … Kingdom’s Coming!
10. “I have told you these things, so that in me you
may have peace. In this world you will have
trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the
world.”
John 16:33
Romans 14:7 For the kingdom of God is not a
matter of eating and drinking, but of
righteousness, peace and joy in the
Holy Spirit.
Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in
affliction, faithful in prayer.
Editor's Notes
A man’s life can be split into three ages … in the first age, you believe in Father Christmas … in the second age, you don’t believe in Father Christmas … and in the third age, you become Father Christmas.
This is the second in a series of talks that lead up to our Christmas Celebrations.
It is very easy to relegate Christmas to being something primarily for children, and then manage to focus on the seasonal peripherals … and Christmas can become all about, food, presents and parties.
But the truth is that Christmas is not a Children’s story that adults are meant to play along with, like Santa Claus or the tooth fairy.
Rather, Christmas is a fully adult story that we are meant to work hard to make accessible to children … it seems that have done too good a job on this … and we have managed to dumb down Christmas as a consequence.
It is up to us to restore Christmas to its rightful place … that means, we keep as great fun for children … but, lets make it a real grown up celebration for adults as well.
The secret about Christmas, and its an open secret, is NOT that Santa isn’t real … but that Jesus is.
IN these coming weeks we will focus on different people who are recognizably part of the Christmas Story … and look at the grown up version of Christmas for them.
This morning we are going to be focusing on Mary. ‘Mary … Pregnant & Hopeful’ … lets pray
How old was Mary here?
Probably no more than 14 years old.
No wonder she was greatly troubled.
And remember, this ‘request’ arrived after she had been betrothed to Joseph … betrothal was a deeper commitment than being engaged to be married would be today.
If you wanted to break a betrothal, you didn’t just hand back the ring … needed to get a divorce.
Legally, it was a full marriage in all but the final physical consummation … the closest we come to it these days is the short period between you saying ‘I do’ at the altar, and spending your first night together once you’ve left the party.
In those days the gap between those two events was not just a few hours, it was typically months and could have been years.
So Mary is asking a question which has big implications for her.
So, here you have it, Mary had just agreed to become pregnant … and she didn’t really have an opportunity to talk to Joseph about it first. I think we would all agree, this is a pretty big deal!
This is a very recognizable part of the Christmas story …
For the moment, just notice that little sentence there ‘For no word from God will ever fail.’ Because I’d like to come back to it later.
So, having agreed to the call of God … Mary apparently tells no-one (certainly not her parents or Joseph) and instead focuses on the one concrete thing she could grab hold of.
Elizabeth is already 6 months pregnant.
She gains permission to join Elizabeth, her much older cousin who, in a few months, was to give birth to a boy who would grow up to be known as John the Baptist.
Both Mary’s parents and Joseph must have agreed to this trip. We don’t know whether they were aware of Elizabeth’s pregnancy … it is quite possible they didn’t.
Mary travelled to and stayed with Elizabeth, and finds she is pregnant as the angel said.
After catching up with Elizabeth, who immediately realizes that Mary is pregnant … Mary, full of Praise and Hope, ends up giving thanks to God.
So, Mary stays three months… possibly until just after John had been born.
You’ve got to imagine that this must have been a wonderful time for Mary.
She’s with family who love her and some people who know what is happening to her … and believe her.
For Mary, this is a time of preparation … it’s the calm before the storm.
By the time she is ready to return to Nazareth she was presumably about 3 – 4 months pregnant and possibly beginning to ‘show’.
In Nazareth, nobody knows Mary is pregnant.
LET’S SEE THE FILM CLIP
Mary has returned to Nazareth, perhaps a little troubled, but quite hopeful. So far everything the angel has said to her has happened, and the people she has been with have believed her … so what happens next?
Well, Elizabeth and Zechariah obviously … but nobody else apparently, not her parents, nor Joseph. This type of pregnancy had never happened before, and it hasn’t happened since. The Angel only spoke to Mary … but to nobody else.
Mary is in danger. She is likely to be disowned by her family and possibly cast out of the village … humanly speaking, she’s about to lose the only support structure she had ever known. If Joseph accuses her of unfaithfulness … she could be killed.
Ultimately its from God, but primarily its via other people – as we’ll see in the coming weeks there are miracles, but there is plenty of plain hard slog too.
So, this begs the question, why is it all so hard? Mary has found favour with God, she’s been faithful, she’s clearly in the will of God … isn’t that meant to be a recipe for peace and joy and things to go well for her? But the truth is, when you say ‘yes’ to God that does not mean that life is necessarily or automatically easy … Mary is not a special case here, she stands in a long line of people who say ‘yes’ to God, and who find out that comes at real cost.
Now, I am not saying that the Christian life is meant to be an unremitting slog of struggle, difficulty and challenge. But what I want to remind us of this morning, is that, if you follow Jesus faithfully, it certainly contains those things.
Here are some that you may find hard:
- To watch your loved ones die.
To live in a world where you are not in control (powerlessness)
To live with the consequences of your past mistakes
Seeing yourself as you really are, warts and all (sometimes we attempt to remain sane by not seeing ourselves the way others see us … blind spots)
How to be loving when you don’t feel like it
How to forgive the big things
Facing your own mortality, the indignities of growing old
And finally, the fear … not of death … but of dying
John 16:33 I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Thursday filling up church van with petrol instead of diesel, ruined my day … an area of perennial sin … smoking … an unhealthy lifestyle.
Others either make mistakes or deliberately sin against us – they affect us.
God is sovereign … but as we have already seen, he can give us some pretty difficult things to manage! BTW, the enemy has no rights to interfere in your life unless you give him them. Our problem is that we don’t really ‘get’ the nature of holiness and we don’t really understand the seriousness of sin … what God has already done for us is monumental. But for all that, God is still sovereign … As the angel Gabriel said to Mary, ‘For no word from God will ever fail’.
OK OK, so, give me something positive Al … I come here to be cheered up, don’t depress me!
No, you come here to be strengthened.
Here’s the good news. Regardless of the source of the trouble the primary issue is not what happens to you but how you choose to react to it.
We are in the coming Kingdom of God. God has not left us as orphans … and he has placed us in a family. You are doubly not alone.
Jesus said he came to give us life in all its fullness, that he came to make us free, that he came to give us peace that the world could not give and His joy that comes through the Holy Spirit.
And, actually, there are good times too. Enjoy them when they happen, don’t feel guilty, simply share your joy.
Don’t fear that good times come to an end … because even if they do … God has said you can find Peace and Joy even in the midst of trouble.
And Ultimately troubles end.
Mary’s life saw many troubles … but ultimately there was no disappointment for her.
AMEN
![“Important Question” John 5:1-15
SERIES: ‘JOHN’ [Part 3/7]
Christmas Series:
‘Mary … Pregnant & Hopeful’ – [Advent 2/7]](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/20101128-mary-101129102635-phpapp02/85/20101128-mary-1-320.jpg)
