Dec 23, 2012 Advent 4

Luke 1: 39-55

 39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

    46 And Mary said:
   "My soul glorifies the Lord
       47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
    48 for he has been mindful
      of the humble state of his servant.
   From now on all generations will call me blessed,
       49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
      holy is his name.
    50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
      from generation to generation.
    51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
      he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
    52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
      but has lifted up the humble.
    53 He has filled the hungry with good things
      but has sent the rich away empty.
    54 He has helped his servant Israel,
      remembering to be merciful
    55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
      even as he said to our fathers."


There was nothing about Mary to make her stand out among all the maidens of Israel.  In fact, she was one of the lowliest of a downtrodden people.   In all likelihood an orphan, a mere servant, tending the cattle and the house with no more esteem than a maid who does her appointed chores. She was probably between 13 and 15 years old and her name, which in Hebrew form is Miriam reveals something of her life, which was bitter and hard - it means “bitter myrrh”.

Yet it was this one God chose to use to give birth to God’s Son.  When you stop to think about that for a moment, it suddenly becomes clear that the miracle here is not just that God did it, but that Mary believed God and let God do it.

 As Martin Luther said, “The miracle of Christ as Virgin-born, is a trifle for the Almighty God.  That God becomes a man is an even greater miracle.  But the most amazing of them all is that the maiden finds the angel’s message credible and that the Child God promised would be hers.”

The extraordinary occurs in the ordinary...the uncommon in the common...the divine in the human.  This is the mystery we celebrate when we celebrate Christmas, God coming to dwell with us...to take on human form and to touch the ordinary with God’s extraordinary grace.

 It is for this reason that we can say, where ever love is in human form, something of God is there too, in divine form and it is for this reason that we can say that nothing is too insignificant for God and no one counts for nothing.

 Mary reminds us to, as a Norwegian relative put it, trying to deal with our many colloquial phrases, “keep our eyes skinned”(pealed),  open for the miracle which is hidden in the common, and see with the eyes of faith that which Mary saw when she went along with this extraordinary plan God laid on her.

“Journey Into Blessing”

Mary is called “blessed” because she allowed herself to be used as a blessing.  She humbly believed what the Lord said to her and let it be accomplished.

God needed Mary to do God’s will.  God couldn’t have done it, at that time in that way, without Mary.

God needs us to do God’s will in our world.  As unbelievable as it sounds, there are some things God can not do at this time without us.  To follow God’s lead is to discover God’s blessing.  It comes in the doing.  Blessing is a serendipity.  Something which happens in the process of surrendering to God’s will.  There will always be a blessing in doing God’s will.  For that is where it all ends up with God!