Sermon: Mary, Did You Know? Text: Luke 1:26 38 Date: December 18, 2011 AM Place: Jesup First UMC

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1 Sermon: Mary, Did You Know? Text: Luke 1:26 38 Date: December 18, 2011 AM Place: Jesup First UMC Have you ever wished you knew then what you know now? If I knew then what I know now, I would have spent more time with daddy, learning how to work on cars and fix things around the house! If I knew then what I know now, I would have made time for my extended family earlier in my ministry. If I knew then what I know now, I would have changed my major in college. If I had only known then what I know now! You know, it s very hard to introduce a new song into the Christmas lineup and have it become an instant classic, but that s what happened a few years ago when Christian comedian, Mark Lowry, and musician, Buddy Green, teamed up to write Mary, Did you Know? would one day walk on water? would heal our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy had come to make you new; the child that you delivered would soon deliver you? would give sight to a blind man? would calm the storm with His hand? Did you know that your baby boy had walked where angels trod; when you kissed your little baby, you kissed the face of God? is Lord of all creation? would one day rule the nations? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven s perfect Lamb; this sleeping child you re holding is the great I AM.

2 In the tiny, Galilean village of Nazareth, there lived a teenage, peasant girl named Mary. Now, to be honest, we don t know much about Mary, but we can safely assume that she was like every other teenage girl of her day. Nothing special, just another girl. Now, Luke tells us Mary was a descendant of King David and she was engaged to a man named Joseph. And before they were married, an angel appeared to Mary with an incredible message from God: Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High. Now, at first, Mary didn t understand how such a thing was possible. After all, she and Joseph had not been intimate. And when Gabriel explained to her that this Son, the long-awaited Messiah, would be conceived by the Holy Spirit, Mary s simple, faith-filled response was: I am the Lord s servant. Let everything you ve said happen to me. But did she understand? What did Mary really know? WELL, MARY KNEW THAT GOD USES THE HUMBLE TO ACCOMPLISH HIS PURPOSES! When Mary was visiting her cousin, Elizabeth, she said: Despite my humble status, all future generations will call me blessed. This wasn t a proud statement; it was the statement of one who was awestruck by the amazing plans of God. That God would choose her to be the mother of His Son. One cartoon strip shows Dennis the Menace walking into his mother s room unexpected while she

3 was wrapping his Christmas gifts. And Dennis says: Mom, I know several great hiding places. Friends, I don t think God could have chosen a better hiding place for our gift. The immortal God hid inside a teenager s womb. The One who owns the universe and holds it in His hand came to live within a girl that owned nothing. All the fullness of God came to dwell in the womb of someone, who by the world s standards, meant very little. But that s God! God uses the humble things of this world to accomplish His purposes. SECOND, MARY KNEW GOD COULD ACCOMPLISH THE IMPOSSIBLE! When Gabriel delivered God s message, Mary asked, How can this be, since I am a virgin? She knew how babies came into the world and she knew she hadn t been exposed but the angels assured her, With God, nothing will be impossible. Now, this is where some people have trouble with the Christmas story. We live in a post-enlightenment world, where everything must have a scientific explanation and the super-natural doesn t happen. The unspoken assumption of our world is: we can rationally and scientifically explain everything that happens and if we can t, it s just because we don t know enough yet. But friends, we serve the God of the supernatural, who speaks and worlds are created, who causes an elderly couple without children to conceive a son, who makes the sun stand still in the sky, and who parts the sea so His people can walk through on dry land. How hard is a virgin birth to a God like this?!

4 And Mary s response was: The Mighty One has done great things and holy is His name. That s God the One who makes the impossible possible. THIRD, MARY KNEW HER SON WAS THE PROMISED MESSIAH! Gabriel said: this child will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; He will rule over the house of David and His Kingdom will never end. In the beginning, God promised that the seed of Eve would crush the serpent s head. Through the prophets, He promised a Righteous King who would replace all the wicked kings that came before Him and who would sit upon the throne of His father, David, and rule with justice and equity, not just for a lifetime, but forever. To the exiles, He promised One who would restore Israel s greatness. And just like kids waiting for Santa Clause at the end of the Thanksgiving Parade, Israel waited for His coming! But only Mary knew He had arrived, that the One she carried in her womb, the One she gave birth to, the One she cradled in her arms, was the Messiah. FOURTH, MARY KNEW THAT HER SON WAS THE SAVIOR! Gabriel told Mary, You will conceive and give birth to a Son and you are to name Him Yeshua, the Hebrew word Joshua which means Savior. His very name proclaimed His purpose. In fact, the angel told Joseph, You will call His name Yeshua for He will save the world from their sins. From the day that Adam and Eve rebelled against God in disobedience, humanity had been dominated by sin. For that reason, Paul calls us slaves to sin and

5 death. And all of us longs to be free, to live in Christ so that sin no longer has a hold in our lives. In fact, the Bible says that all of creation longs to be redeemed, but Mary knew that the Savior of the world had arrived, not in a king s carriage, but in a virgin s womb not on a white horse with a conquering army, but in a cattle stall. Mark knew! Did she fully know? Did she even understand? No, probably not! What mother could imagine the details of her son s life? How could she have known that His every word and deed would be scrutinized not just during His lifetime, but for thousands of years after His death? How would she have imagined that her Son would make as many enemies as He did friends? How could she have known that He would be persecuted, plotted against, hunted down, and ultimately executed by people who thought they were doing God s bidding? And how could she have know that God would use all of this to redeem the world and reconcile the world to Himself? You just don t think about your Son s death on the day of His birth? Yes! Mary knew; she may not have fully understood and she may not have known every detail, but she knew. But you know, it s really not her knowledge that makes her so remarkable. What makes her story so important for you and me is her faith and her unconditional surrender to the will of God! She said, I am the Lord s servant. Let everything you ve said happen to me. And that s something we could all learn from!

6 would one day walk on water? would heal our sons and daughters? Did you know that your baby boy had come to make you new; the child that you delivered would soon deliver you? would give sight to a blind man? would calm the storm with His hand? Did you know that your baby boy had walked where angels trod; when you kissed your little baby, you kissed the face of God? is Lord of all creation? would one day rule the nations? Did you know that your baby boy is heaven s perfect Lamb; this sleeping child you re holding is the great I AM. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen!