I was in Columbus, Ohio not long ago. I had wedged in a day, following a meeting in Kentucky, to visit for the first time since their marriage last summer, my daughter, Kim and her husband, John. We were coming home from dinner out in the evening and John called our attention to a striking sight. On the end wall of a church sanctuary, a giant shadow of Christ was cast. It was a unique and moving sort of thing, created by the lighting of a small statue of Christ in a garden behind the church. I had passed the church during the day, saw the garden and the little statue, but it held only a momentary interest. Now, in a specially placed light, the figure Christ, in shadow, was commanding. It dawned on me that without that light shining in the darkness nothing could have been seen. We would have passed by and continued in the darkness. But everything charges with light.
I recall experience as I was preparing for the sermon today, and read some words of Henri Nouwen. He was describing an experience he had at Christmastime in a Trappist Monastery.
Listen to him:
“What can I say on a night like this?
It is all very small and very large,
Very close and very distant,
Very tangible and very illusive.
This probably is the most meaningful creche I have ever seen.
Three small wood—carved figures made in India:
A poor woman, a poor man, and a small child between them.
The carving is simple, nearly primitive.
The figures are smaller than a human hand,
Nearly too small to attract attention at all.
But then——a beam of light shines on the three figures and projects large shadows on the wall of the sanctuary. That says it all.
The light thrown on the smallest of Mary, Joseph and child projects them as large, hopeful shadows against the walls of our life and our world. While looking at the intimate scene we already see the first outlines of the majesty and glory they represent.
While witnessing the most human of events, I see the majesty of God appearing on the horizon of my existence.
While being moved by the gentleness of these three people, I am already awed by the immense greatness of God’s love appearing in our world.
Without the radiant beams of light shining into the darkness, there is little to be seen.
I might just pass by these simple people and continue to walk in darkness.
But everything changes with the light.” (Genessee Diary)
Hopefully, that’s what will happen today. We want to focus the light on Mary and Joseph, two of the primary person in the Christmas drama, that we may not walk through this Holy season in the dark.
Get a picture of these two in your mind.
Mary, “Blessed art thou among women.” That’s the word of scripture that comes to our mind when we think of her, isn’t it? Hear the address of the angel, Gabriel, when he came to her, “Hail, thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” (Luke 1:28 KJV). So, how else can we think of this one who was to be the mother of Jesus? Favored by God – the most blessed of all women, of all time. But let’s move beyond the surface. Shine the light of the fact and the ordinary reckoning of human beings upon the situation. What sort of favor is this bestowed upon Mary? She was then six months pregnant. She was betrothed to Joseph, not married. Betrothal was like an engagement in our day, but far more binding. In fact, in a sense, it was as demanding and as binding as a marriage. It lasted a year and could be dissolved only by divorce.
Pregnant, but not by her husband. What could this mean? Mary could have heard mocking words. “Highly favored of the Lord” – how could it be when before her Mary saw nothing but open shame, even an outcast death. So there she is – a Jewish girl of humble background, designating herself as a person of “low estate” – not rich or famous, not sophisticated or wise in the ways of the world – thrust into the most intriguing, the most thrilling, the most world-shaking event of history.
Then there was Joseph. His part in this story is told only by Matthew. A common man, also of “low estate.” As we read Matthew’s account of that event, we see how sharp the sword was that pierced Joseph’s soul. His heart was broken with this terrible ordeal. His betrothed was carrying a child that was not his. Can you think of anything more terrible for a man to understand and accept? But there was only one course left to him. He couldn’t go through the marriage, but neither could he consent to making Mary a public example. So there was only one was left for him – the sad step of revoking the contract of marriage and putting her away privately.
You can imagine that Joseph’s heart was torn in two. Mary had been the woman of all women for him. “She had been in his eyes the lily among thorns. And now to have to treat her like a poisonous weed – the thought of it drove him mad.” (Alexander White, Bible Characters, page 14).
Now, let’s look at these persons in the illumination of God’s Word, in the shining light of God’s providential design for the salvation of the world. What big ideas are wrapped in these persons? What do we see for ourselves as we see them as God’s obedient servants? Three truths:
- Obedience is the only proper response for servants of God.
- God will not forever leave His obedient servants in perplexity.
- All who hear the Word are “favored.” – All who obey the Word are blessed.
First, obedience is the only proper response for servants of God.
See the obedient response of Joseph and Mary. First Joseph, he learned what must have been the most shocking fact a man could discover – that his beloved was with child, and that he was not the father. Then he received a message from an angel – how baffling that must have been – a strange message that had never been spoken before or since – that the child his wife-to-be was bearing had been conceived by the Holy Spirit – after receiving that message the Scripture says Joseph “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” What obedience!
And look at Mary. It is beyond our ability to even imagine the feelings of Mary when she received that surprise visit from the angel, Gabriel, and his word that she had found favor with the Lord. Luke can hardly image it either, so he put down rather prosaically Mary’s feelings: “She was greatly troubled at saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this might be.” (Luke 1:29 RSV).
Then she became even more baffled. No, there was more than bafflement, for the angel’s word was incomprehensible, even outrageous to a teen-aged, innocent, simple peasant girl. “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son.” (vs. 31).
Now try to enter into Mary’s experience. “How can it be?” she asks in deep anguish. “I don’t have a husband.” The plot thickens more; and the mystery deepens. The angels said “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore, the child to be born will be called Holy, the Son of God.” (vs. 35).
Now comes the noblest, the purest act of obedience on the part of a person, I think ever recorded: Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your Word.” (vs. 38). Obedience – so uncompromised, so unreserved, so unrestricted, so undiluted, so unconditional. “Let it be to me according to your Word.”
So there it is – obedience is the only proper response for servants to God. Bring it home now.
Do you think the Lord is demanding a lot of you?
You’re having to wait – no clear guidance has come for you in your next move (“Let it be to me according to your Word.”)
You are feeling a call – it seems impossible. (“Let it be to me according to your Word.”)
God is asking you to do something difficult. (“Let it be to me according to your Word.”)
You have been put down in a hard place. Your circumstances and surrounding are depressing, sometimes almost unbearable, yet God seems to be saying ‘I want you to stay where you are.’ (“Let it be to me according to your Word.”)
Your marriage is difficult, painful, demanding more than any human should be, almost impossible. Your mate is selfish, even unchristian, maybe hateful and caring. You want to get, but God is saying ‘Stay with it!’ (“Let it be to me according to your Word.”)
You’re ready to give up on one of your children. You’ve done everything, given everything – he has spurned it all – walked all over you, used you – you want to call it quits – let him go, but God is saying ‘not yet.’ (“Let it be to me according to your Word.”)
You’ve been blessed materially. You are making money and things are going your way. Now you feel the call clearly “10% of that belongs to me.” Do you think the Lord is demanding a lot of you? Think of Mary and Joseph. “Let it be to me according to your Word.” Obedience is the only proper response of God’s servants.
II. God will not forever leave his obedient servants in perplexity.
Then we see this second truth in Mary and Joseph: God will not forever leave his obedient servants in perplexity. Now this is a tough truth with which to grapple. The perplexity of Mary and Joseph – how deep and tangled, how dark and mysterious. There is a sense in which Joseph’s perplexity was even greater than Mary’s. As perplexed as she must have been about her pregnancy – as deep as the mystery was – she was conscious of her own innocence. The angel had given her the word about her Immaculate Conception, and even though it was incomprehensible to her, still she had the word to hang on to. But what about those weeks and months of anguish through which Joseph went. His beloved pregnant – and her continued claim to innocence. And even after Mary received the word from the angel that she had conceived a child of the Holy Spirit, how do you think Joseph could accept a word like that? Now think about it women, how would you go about sharing a word like that if that had been your lot? Men, how would you receive a word like that?
So, focus a moment on Joseph. “How desperately he wanted to believe. His love for Mary was so great. But he simply couldn’t believe. So he was distracted by anxiety, almost to the point of madness. He was just a man. He wanted to do the right thing. So he made his decision. He intended to adopt a middle course; he would not expose his betrothed; he loved her still. His justice as not the strict, stern justice which considers only the letter of the law; it was tempered with the gentler feeling as mercy and compassion. He could not bring one whom he loved so dearly into the danger of shame and death. But under circumstances so suspicious he could not consummate the marriage either. He was minded to put her away privately…he thought on these things. We may be sure that he prayed. It was misery for him to mistrust his betrothed; it was misery to be doubtful about the path to be pursued in a case of such momentous importance to them both. A holy man like Joseph, who prayed always, would pray most earnestly, with great importance, under circumstances do distressing. At last the answer came. “God will not leave his servants in perplexity.” (The Pulpit commentary, Volume 33, p. 12)
The angel came to him, clearing his doubts and giving him the confidence needed, witness to him that he, too, would participate in the salvation of the world. He would have the privilege of giving the name Jesus to the one who would “save his people from their sins” – and he would be father of that one, guiding him through infancy and youth. His anxiety was over now. His doubts dispelled, his faith clear, his perplexity dissolved.
It’s a tough truth to own, but what a promise to hold on to: God will not forever leave his obedient servants in perplexity. This is no main notion I’m proclaiming, no Pollyanna proposition, this is a gutsy gospel.
So know this – the unraveling of perplexity may not come quickly. We may have to stay in “the valley of the shadow of death” for a long season. The winter of our discontent, our near-despair, may extend into what should be spring – time of new beginnings. We don’t control he schedule; God does. We only control our reaction and response. And our response must be to remain thoughtful, prayerful, and obedient – looking always for God’s answer, not grasping for our own.
Also, for most of us, memory is a gift of God. Most of us, in retrospect, can claim the fact that God has acted in our lives in the past, has delivered us from perplexity. Almost everyone here this morning, except the very young perhaps – even many of our teenagers – can readily remember some panic, terror, mental or emotional suffering through which we thought we would never get – but we did. Just this week I shared with two persons – both divorce victims. One, only six months away from the severed relationship, is still in the grief, pain and emptiness of that experience which is a death not too unlike physical death. She is not sure the grief and emptiness is not going to consume her. The other is five years away from that same kind of experience, working on another kind of problem – but witnessing to the Lord’s guidance through his previous perplexity.
So most of us can remember some experience of darkness in which we were sure the light would never come – but it did. In memory we can almost feel the pain of some past experience from which we were in the midst of it, we thought we would never be delivered – but we were.
It’s a tough truth, not easy to hold onto, but hold on to it we must. God will not forever leave his obedient servants in perplexity.
III
Now this final truth and we have time only to state it and briefly underscore it. All who hear the word are “favored” and all who obey the word are blessed. Hear that now: All who hear the word are favored and all who obey the word are blessed. The angel said to Mary, “Hail, O favored one…greeting, O graced one, the Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, you are blessed – you will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”
Here is the awesome and wonderful truth. All of us here today are favored, for the Word has come to us. Does that sound strange?
“Trough God’s action ins ending Jesus, through His life and death, and resurrection, through the work of the Holy Spirit, we know ourselves to be a favored, grace gifted, blessed people, called to share in the continual showing forth of Jesus Christ in our age – to be a part of a kingdom that shall know no end.
“I think we have to understand a very important principle of biblical interpretation at this point. There is a sense in which our Lord is dealing with a once and for all event upon our planet. Jesus Christ, the son of God, the Word of God made flesh, was born at a particular time and place upon this earth. That happened once and for all. There is a sense, however, in which that great singular event has not happened to the people who do not know it. So in describing what has happened, our text also reveals to us what is happening and will happen. That is the principle of contemporaneity of scripture.
“God wants Jesus to be real to the people of our age and our world. He wants Jesus to be seen and known. The church made up of those who have heard and responded to the word of grace, is therefore like a surprised Mary. The talk of having Christ formed in our midst, alive and stirring, and kicking around within us, born and alive in present, is startling and frightening. Like Mary – we never dreamed anything like this would happen when we started saying our prayer.
“The apostle, Paul, is using the language of childbirth when he writes the church in Rome the amazing words that appear in Romans, the 8th chapter, the 19th and 22nmd verses.” “For Creation wait with eager longing for the revealing of the Sons of God” and “We know that the whole Creation has been groaning in travail together until now.” There is a new birth, a new creation that is happening. Jesus Christ is alive – working as Savior and Lord – and a new reality – the sacred sons and daughters of God appear. That is the thrilling witness of God’s Word.
Like Mary, we gasp and say “Wow” – how can this be?
Notice the answer that Mary receives: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you” (vs. 35). “For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Joe Harding, “Singing Mary’s Song,” December 30, 1979)
We will respond that it might be said of us, “Hail O favored ones – blessed art thou!”
Do we need to rehearse? What are the lessons we learn from Mary and Joseph, the obedient servants of God? (1) Obedience is the only proper response for servants of God; (2) God will not forever leave his obedient servants in perplexity; and (3) all who hear the Word are favored – all who obey the Word are blessed.