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Every once in awhile there will be a story in the news about a woman who wakes up in the middle of the night, or who goes home from work in the middle of the day with terrible indigestion or stomach pains. She doesn't know the cause for her problems but as the pains increase and begin to come in noticeable intervals, she goes to the doctor and low and behold, the doctor determines the reason for her pain. She's pregnant. In fact, she's in labor. And before the day is over, she's a mother. And somehow, this is all a real surprise to her.
One day, a young woman in her late teens was surprised by the news that she was pregnant. Surprised, because she really had never known a man. Surprised because she got the news from an angel of the Lord. Surprised because the angel informed her that the child conceived in her "will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and of His kingdom there will be no end." (Luke 1:32-33).
How did Mary respond to this incredible news? How would you respond if you were in Mary's shoes? This morning, we want to explore two questions. First, how did Mary receive this startling news from the angel? Belief or disbelief? Does she ignore it or embrace it? And second, how did Mary understand this? How did she interpret this? This morning, we're going to make an example out of Mary. This is what the Saints are, they're examples to us of how the life of faith works and what it looks like.
I. Mary's Faith First, how does Mary respond to this incredible news from the angel Gabriel? The whole things sounds absurdly unbelievable doesn't it? But the thing is, Mary didn't think so at all. She believed it. To be sure, she had some questions for the angel. "How will this be since I am a virgin?" But she's not doubting what Gabriel says, she just wants to know "how this will be." Kind of like you do when your doctor tells you that some surgery is going to be needed to fix a problem you're having. You want to know how the surgery will go and what to expect. You don't doubt any of this, you just what some information about how it will all take place.
So, Gabriel describes the procedure, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the most high will overshadow you." And then he adds this; "your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived and this is the 6th month with her who was called barren."
How does Mary respond to all of this? Does she say, "Oh, this is too weird? I must be under more stress than I thought?" Does she go out and get a pregnancy kit at CVS? No. In fact, she seems to take this incredibly in stride. "Let it be to ME according to your word."
So what does Mary do next? "She arose with haste" to see her cousin Elizabeth. In one of his sermons on this text, Luther says that Mary is to be commended for going "with haste" because this means that she doesn't stop to flirt with the boys along the way the way most teenage girls would do. I don't know about that.
In another sermon, Luther says that Mary went with haste to Elizabeth's because she believed without doubting what the angel told her. Gabriel gave Mary a sign to assure her that the unbelievable news he had just given to her was true.
The same thing happened again nine months later. The angels appear in the sky and announce to the Shepherds in their fields, "good news of great joy for all people." And then they give them a sign. "And this shall be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger." And how do they respond? Luke writes, "And they went WITH HASTE and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger."
Faith and action always go together. Faith without action is dead. And action WITH HASTE, without delay, without reluctance, is great faith. Mary went to Elizabeth's WITH HASTE.
We need to follow Mary's example. God's Word may not come to us by an angel, but it does come to us from the same God as it came to Mary. God asks us to believe some pretty incredible things. And God gives us the high honor of calling us to carry out His work in this world. As we hear God's Word speak to us, we need to believe it and act on it, WITH HASTE, just like Mary.
II. Faith and the Word So, the question we want to know is, 'how do you get faith like that?' How did Mary get faith like that? Is faith like Mary's just something that you're born with or without? Is that they way faith works? Do some just have it and others don't?
Let's be sure we're clear about something here. We're not talking about justification and saving faith here. By faith we are saved, be it weak faith or great faith. What we're talking about sanctification and the life of faith, faith in action.
Mary gives us the answer to our question in the poem that we call "The Magnificat." Mary gives us an inside look into how she interprets and understands all that happened to her and Elizabeth. It's an profound theological explanation of the events that have taken place in her life.
Now, the question that I want to pose in order to make my point is this, where does such a young girl get such profound understanding of God's ways? And why does she express herself as she does, in the particular form and with the particular words that she does? I warn you, this is not as magical or mysterious as you may think. But herein lies the answer to our question, where did Mary get such great faith and how do we get faith like hers?
Would you take out your bible and turn with me to 1 Samuel 2:1 (page 223 in the pew bibles). Here, we meet a woman named Hannah. Hannah is the wife of Elkanah, and the tension in the text is that Hannah cannot get pregnant. And how much she would like to have a child. Eli the priest, sees her praying asks her what she is praying for. She says, 'a baby.' He says, "the Lord has heard your prayer." And sure enough, Hannah gets pregnant and has a baby whose name is Samuel. Now, listen to Hannah's prayer. Listen to the way Hannah interprets what happens to her and the words that she uses. (Read 1 Samuel 2:1-10.)
And Hannah prayed and said, "My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation. There is none holy like the Lord; there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the power of his anointed."
Hannah gives thanks to the Lord and she interprets these things, not in a natural way with a spiritual understanding. She understands that God's ways are not our ways. God works in surprising ways. He does the unexpected thing. He makes the strong weak and the weak strong. He makes the hungry full and the satisfied hungry. He makes the poor rich and the rich poor. He even makes the barren woman the mother of seven bouncing babies.
This is the way Hannah understands the way God works and the way He has worked through her. He not only does incredible things but He does them in incredible ways, so that when all is said and done, all you can do is say, "only God could do this," and "thanks be to God."
Now turn with me to Luke 1:46. (pew bible page 856). And now, with Hannah's poem fresh in our ears, listen closely to Mary's poem. Listen to the thoughts and the words that Mary expresses. (Read Luke 1:46-55).
"And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever."
Notice how much similarity there is between Mary's poem and Hannah's poem. Similar thoughts and even the words are incredibly similar to Hannah's. Mary understands what is happening to her and Elizabeth in light of what happened to Hannah.
Now here's the point of this little exercise. When the angel presents Mary with her part in God's plan of salvation, Mary is able to grasp this by faith, because she is familiar with how God has worked in the past.
Mary knew her bible. She knew the stories and the people. She knew them so well that she understood what was happening to her by their experience. She even used their words to express herself. She was familiar with how God had worked in history, and so it didn't surprise her much that He would act as He was doing in the present. Her response to what was happening to her was shaped by Hannah's response in the past.
The Word of God formed her faith. It works the same way for us. There is no such thing as a life of faith apart from God's Word. We see and understand God at work in the present by the way that He has revealed Himself in the past. There is an example in the bible for every circumstance and situation we may face, and for every calling and challenge that God gives to us. And these stories ought to shape our understanding and response.
But without the knowledge of God's Word, His ways are too strange, too incredible for us to accept. If we don't know the past, if we don't know the stories of the Old and New Testament, we'll not able to understand how God is at work in the present. Because God doesn't change.
This may explain why we seem to depend so heavily on psychology and the media to interpret things these days. Sad to say, but many of us don't know the bible stories, as we should. And so we're not able to understand the events that take place in the world and understand the things that happen to us with spiritual understanding. And we're not able to respond to God's Word and calling with the great faith that we should.
So, I'll continue to remind you of the importance of being in the Word. And the importance of being in Adult Bible Study and getting your children to Sunday School. This is how Mary is able to respond to the God's Word as she does.
Conclusion I know that we've talked a lot about Mary and Hannah this morning. But at the center of our thoughts all along has been the baby that Mary is carrying. Hannah's joy over her baby helps Mary rejoice over her baby. We too rejoice over Mary's baby. And knowing her story as well as we do, our response to her baby follows hers and we even use her words saying, "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices over God my Savior."