This week is a strange week - the final week in advent. It is great, but it is also strange. I say this because recently I have had some good conversations around why we celebrate Christmas; the fact that God chose to come into the world as one of us, as a human being, embodied as a man. While still fully God, Jesus was fully human. And he came, not to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. For God so LOVED the world..." God, the giver, gave.
Having read the Christmas story many, many times, sung carols for more years than I care to admit, and wrapped gifts with little thought of why I am doing such a thing, this year I was struck by the terror of Christmas.
Too often I have thought of Christmas as clean and tied up just like the cute and glittery gifts that adorn our homes and environments. But after preaching a message last week which was all around the theme of not being afraid, I was impacted by the number of times that God spoke through prophets and leaders to encourage and impact his people to not be afraid. From Abraham, Hagar, Jacob, Isaac, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, David, Solomon, to Jesus exhorting the disciples to not let their hearts be troubled and not to be afraid. Even the apostle, Paul had to have this reminder to not be afraid.
There is no doubt that we are not born with courage - who has ever yelled at or has scared a young child to be met with anything other than a response of fear and cries? That is the obvious human reaction. We are not born with courage; that has to be developed and encouraged. And so the teenager, Mary, on hearing that she was going to have a baby heard these words from Gabriel because she had every reason to be afraid.
"Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God." (Luke 1:30)
She was young, not yet married and lived in a time where women and girls were not valued. Then Gabriel gave her the news that she had been chosen to be the mother of a son and not just any son; the Son of God, the Son of the Most High - and all this by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Culturally, her family would probably have disowned her, possibly worse might have befallen her had not Joseph also heard that command to not be afraid,
An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." (Matthew 1:20)
How terrifying when Mary considered that she was not yet married and for her family and in-laws family to discover that she was pregnant before marriage would have meant one sure and certain thing - death for adultery. How else would Mary have become pregnant? She had to have been with another man. And yet, Mary's reply to the angel is amazing and remarkable;
"I am the Lord's servant...May it be to me according to your word."
Joseph, whom we so often overlook in the story (especially if we neglect to read Matthew's gospel) also obeyed;
"Joseph did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife."
So, in the midst of global catastrophes, deaths from natural disasters, men, women and children receiving unfavorable doctor's reports, unemployment statistics rising, homes being repossessed, and many more calamities personal and devastating, we are commanded to not be afraid. How is this possible? Mary's answer was to say the following;
"My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my savior, 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. 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. 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.”
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. 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.”
So in the midst of uncertainty, the end of one year, the beginning of another, may we not be afraid of what is to come.
