Today is the last Sunday in the season of Advent, the season of waiting and preparing for the Lord. So this week we travel with Mary and I am including an excerpt from last years sermon on this passage - Luke 1:26-38.
Today we hear of a heavenly visit and a divine announcement. A young
girl who was out and about, doing daily chores and an angel appears to her. In
this greeting he says that she is a favored one, one beloved by God. But, to
really grasp this message, to see the groundwork being laid – must go back a
little, back to the beginning of this chapter, back to the story of Zechariah.
Zechariah was a priest, he was one
who was chosen by lot to serve in the temple and called to burn incense during
the time of prayer, and it was during one of these times that he was burning
incense that a life-changing event happened to him – an angel appeared him as
well. This angel, Gabriel, told Zechariah, your prayers will be answered, you
and your wife, Elizabeth, will have a child. What good news this was for after
many years of not being able to have a child, will now be able to do so.
But, in hearing this news, Zechariah
is in shock. How can this happen? He asks, both my wife and I are old, this
does not seen likely at all! Gabriel then scolds him for his doubt. He says,
you will be silent and not be able to speak until the day this happens because
you did not believe my words.
In this short exchange, Zechariah
demonstrates his disbelief. He has heard the word of the angel and he has not
believed it. He wants proof. He wants to
know for sure that this is true. But, the angel of God is not about knowing. But rather, the angel calls for faith, calls
for belief, and punishes Zechariah for his lack of faith. Because you did not
believe my words, you will become mute. And so it was. Zechariah stands before
us, on this amazing and miraculous day, as a person of doubt.
Why is it important to hear this
story, this story of doubt, as we look at and hear the story of Mary as well? Because
with Mary we see and hear the exact opposite. Mary, too, is approached by an
angel, the same one in fact. She too is told that she will have a child. But
she is very different than both Zechariah and her cousin Elizabeth – she is
young, she is unmarried, she is a common peasant woman. And, she is the model
of faith
As the priest of the highest order in
Israel
doubted what the angel told him, Mary, the peasant, one of the lowest in
society, believes. When the angel tells her of the impending birth, she
responds as only faith can, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord, let it be with
me according to your word.”
These two stories, as different as
they are, belong together for they are both stories of faith, and faith has
everything to do with hearing the promised word of God and trusting in that
word. And this wonderful childlike faith
that we see in Mary lays the groundwork for what is going to happen.
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