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December 24, 2017

Luke 1: I am Waiting

Pastor Scott Jonas
I am Waiting
12/24/17 Morning

This morning our text is Luke 1:26-38, The birth of Jesus foretold.  I have to warn you.  I’m going to talk a lot about being pregnant.  And what I know about being pregnant can fit in a thimble.  But I’m fascinated with the analogy between the Christian Life and birth.  There are so many similarities and the Bible uses this image often.  Just last week in John 3 Jesus used it.  “You must be born again.”
            So our story centers on Mary.  Six months ago, an Angel approached her relative Zechariah and announced that he and his wife Elizabeth were going to have a child.  Now the same Angel, Gabriel came to her.  She was engaged to Joseph.  She had known no man.  The angel appears and says, “Rejoice, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”  I love that Luke gives us insight into what Mary was thinking.  He must have interviewed her years later.  He tells us that she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
            Mary is a thinker.  She weighs things carefully.  She doesn’t just react.  She doesn’t blurt out.  She is contemplative.  What if an Angel approached you and said, “Rejoice, O favored one, the Lord is with you! “  What would your response be?
            Mary waits to give a response.  She tries to read the situation.  She probably asks internal questions.  What kind of greeting is this?  Is he commanding me to rejoice?  What if I don’t obey Angel?  That’s bad.  Maybe I should “rejoice” just in case.  “I’m here with an Angel and we never met.  And he wants me to sing him a song.  And um I love the Lord..  But you know that cause you’re an angel. So I’m here now rejoicing.  Heavenly Father, I love you . I love you.  I love you!
            She ponders all that and disregards.  She knows that she is hearing the words of God.  She wants to interpret them correctly.  So she listens and waits to speak.  Imagine her with a furrowed brow focusing on every word from the mouth of God’s messenger.
            And the Angel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And behold you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call his name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most high.  And the Lord 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.”
             Imagine trying to follow those words let alone absorb them.  I can see her repeating them, just so she can wrap her mind around them.  Favor with God.  Bear a son.  Jesus.  Son of the Most High. Reign forever.  She waits organizes it in her mind.  The Lord loves her.  He is going to give her a son, Jesus who will lead Israel to the end.
            Then very slowly she comes to a pivotal question, “How will this be, since I’m a virgin?”  Remember, in the Old Testament, when God miraculously grants a child it is because the woman is infertile, not because she is a virgin.  Sarah had a husband Abraham.  Rebekkah had Isaac.  Hannah had a husband.  Mary knew the stories.  When God told them they were going to have a baby, they went home and you know.  The mechanics were the same as any married couple.  The miracle was that God fixed a broken reproductive system.  But contemplative Mary figures out that she isn’t married and can’t follow through the way the other women called by the Lord.  Is the Angel telling her to Mary Joseph right away?  She waits for an answer.
            The Angel answers her saying, “ The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born[e] will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant[f] of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.  And Mary waited.
            Pregnancy is nine months of waiting.  Everything a mother does is with the end in mind.  The birth.  She waits for the appointment with the doctor.  She waits for the test results.  She waits to tell the father just at the right time.  Mom and Dad wait to tell people she’s pregnant.  They wait to reveal the sex of the baby.  They wait to share the name.  Then they wait for the big day to arrive.  The big day changes everything.  Mary waits for the big day.
            Have you ever thought that you are like Mary?  When you were baptized the power of the Most high overshadowed you.  You had found favor with God.  The Spirit planted Jesus inside of you.  The Holy, Son of God dwells in your innermost being.  When you sing songs he hears you.  When you rejoice, Jesus rejoices.  When you read a story from the Bible, Jesus listens.  When you put something into your body which is unhealthy, he notices.  At the end of time, the big day will come.  Jesus will appear in the flesh.  That day will change everything.  Mary had the great honor of bearing Jesus and so do you.
            Mary did not stay still while she was waiting.  She visited Elizabeth, walking miles and miles to another village.  She supported her relative at a crucial time in her life.  She used her waiting time to bless others.  When they saw each other, their babies leapt.  They danced.  That’s good use of waiting time.  Mary also sang a hymn.  She pondered the words of the Angel.  She traveled to Bethlehem to finish some census business.  Mary was an active waiter.
            As you await the coming of our Lord, be an active waiter.  God has you here for a reason.  Rejoice in the Lord.  Dance with God’s people.  Laugh at yourself.  Sing songs to Jesus.  Not just here, but in your heart all the time.  Take care of your business.  Don’t just wait.
            You know who has more waiting and pondering to do than a pregnant mother?  The baby.  In some ways we are more like a waiting baby than a waiting mother.  Jesus said we must be born again.  We must be born of water and spirit.  You have been part of two out of tree great births.  One, you were born of your mother.  Born of Water.  Two, you were reborn in your baptism.  Born of Spirit.  You have one more to go.  When you die, you will be born into a new world.  Born of God.
            I think we can learn a lot from our first birth.  Imagine if you could clearly communicate to a baby in the womb.  Imagine trying to tell them what awaits them on this side of birth.  You could describe to the baby the world you see.  People have two arms and two legs.  She might be able to understand that.  Then you describe your family.  You describe your house.  You talk about your church and your weird pastor.  You talk about st. louis, the cardinals, your favorite book,  politics and everything else that is important to you.  But even though you can talk to this baby inside it’s mother’s womb.  The baby has no idea what you are talking about.
            The world you are describing is beyond it’s comprehension.  It’s not that the baby doesn’t have the brain power, it’s that the world the baby inhabits is completely different from yours.  The baby’s world is this big.  The one you are describing is infinitely bigger.  The baby’s world doesn’t have much color to it and yours has all the colors of the rainbow.  Baby’s can’t conceive of rainbows either.  The baby’s world has vague impressions that correspond to ours.  She knows her mother’s voice and stress levels and love.  She can hear feel her father’s touch.  She recognizes music and sounds.  Vague impressions.  That is all she gets while she waits to be born into the next world.

            While you wait to be born into the next world you are in a similar situation.  Just as you tried to tell the baby about this world, God has tried to tell you about the next one.  It is infinitely bigger.  It has things you cannot conceive.  Jesus’s kingdom is there but it’s not like any earthly kingdom.  The whole people of God are there.  Abraham and Sarah.  Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Mary and Joseph.  But they aren’t like they were in this world.  They’re perfected.  I know it’s impossible for you to understand because you’ve never seen something perfect.  Everything there is perfect.     Jesus is at the center of it all preparing it for you.  But like Mary, you are just going to have to wait.