Blessed Beyond Belief

Text: Luke 1:39-56                                                                                                        

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

            It feels like Christmas is here. The tree is lit. The kids are ready for the Christmas pageant. The gifts are wrapped – maybe. Meals are planned. We even have the snow to ensure a white Christmas. Even with all that though, it’s not quite Christmas. We’ve just lit the fourth candle and there’s two days left in the season of Advent. So, this morning we continue our journey to Bethlehem and focus on the faithfulness of Elizabeth and Mary as they responded to the great grace and blessings God bestowed on them.

Faithful women are a huge part of the lineage of Jesus. Matthew mentions a bunch of them in the genealogy of Jesus at the beginning of his Gospel. And here in Luke we hear of two of the most faithful, who heard the Word of the Lord through the angel Gabriel, believed, and followed, even when the message was so extraordinary and improbable. And God continued to raise up faithful women throughout the early years of the Christian church, as He continues to do today.

We all know the woman who it seems has been at every church service and event the church has held since her baptism. I’ve met many of these women. Joyfully present and faithfully serving in whatever way possible. Teaching Sunday School, baking for all the bake sales, working in the kitchen at the potluck dinners, and visiting fellow members in times of need. Cheerful in their service, but also admitting their weaknesses and failures and asking for forgiveness. Humble, dignified, warm, and loving.

At first glance, it appears these women must have lived easy lives, perhaps sheltered and unaffected by the difficulties of life. But everyone has had their share of difficulties, abandonment, and hardship. The difference between the cheerful and faithful servant and others is that this one lives out the conviction that they are blessed by a gracious Father in heaven. And because of this, their whole lifestyle becomes a testament to that conviction. I’ve met many of these women. And not to leave out the men, there are plenty of them as well. All walking in the footsteps of Mary and her cousin Elizabeth, two first century Christians, and models of living out the conviction that they were blessed beyond belief by a gracious Father in heaven, despite their difficulties and hardships.

In this first chapter of Luke, we hear that God sends angels to both Zechariah and Mary to deliver His messages. Mary is visited by the angel Gabriel, who tells her that she will be the mother of Jesus, the Savior of Israel, and of all people, everywhere. This morning we learned that when she hears this news, Mary hurries to the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. By all accounts, the angel’s message to Mary is the way in which she heard about Elizabeth’s pregnancy. It doesn’t appear she knew about it previously, so her trip to her cousin’s home has a two-fold purpose. She wants to share the news that’s been revealed to her by Gabriel, but she also must be rejoicing in the wonderful news for Elizabeth, for she was thought to be barren, and is now carrying a child.

At her arrival, Elizabeth recognizes how special Mary is and what an honor that’s been bestowed on her. And how “blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” And as she was, so are we. Contrary to appearances and in spite of all our fatal flaws

WE TOO ARE BLESSED BEYOND BELIEF.

          Just like all those women I’ve known who was so active and so faithful, the reality of anyone’s situation can often be contrary to the appearance. For Elizabeth, she appeared to be a very odd case indeed. She’d been unable to conceive and was well beyond her childbearing years and yet she became pregnant. In truth, Elizabeth was a miracle of God’s making. She was pregnant only by God’s mercy and according to His promise. And Mary too, she was a situation where the reality was contrary to appearances. It appears that she has dishonored her family and her betrothed, having no husband and yet being pregnant. But in truth, Mary was pregnant by the power of God’s Holy Spirit, receiving God’s favor, and the child she carried would be called Jesus, the Son of the Most High, whose saving kingdom will have no end.

We too, often aren’t what we might seem at first sight. When we’re loud and proud, violent and manipulative, and destructive. And it can seem as though we’re among the most successful, influential, powerful, or popular, but even in these things, we don’t honor God. Instead, we boast in our own achievements. We exalt ourselves above others, and in doing so, we’re saying that we have no need for God. In truth, God “scatters the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; He brings down the mighty from their thrones; and the rich He has sent empty away.” But He remembers His mercy toward those who, like Mary, “rejoice in God my Savior.” Contrary to the appearance we often like to show to the world, our humble rejoicing in our Savior, the baby born of Mary, is what God desires of us.

And all this He does for us in spite of our selfish orientation and fatal flaws. Elizabeth acknowledges her own serious defects, her unworthiness, and her need for rescue from the affects of her own sin. She says, “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” And not just the mother of her Lord, but her Lord Himself, the One who causes John to leap in his mother’s womb, is the One we too are privileged to have enter into our presence. Even after her own miraculous conception, Elizabeth is still surprised that the Holy God would enter into her life.

And Mary openly admits to her personal unworthiness and her responsibility for her own sin. And in so doing, she boldly adores the Lord. She revels in God, her Savior, She and all Israel are delivered from the consequences of their neglect of God and against the One to whom they owe their lives. To us, the visit of Mary to Elizabeth may mean nothing at all, until we’re able to confess our own selfish orientations and fatal flaws. Both Mary and Elizabeth’s lives have been thrown into disarray. We can’t understand their exact circumstances because they are one-of-a-kind situations, but we do understand what it means to have a life of disarray. One filled with the fatal flaws of our sinfulness. And we too could, and should, ask, “Why are we so favored?” And the answer to that question certainly has nothing to do with ourselves or anything that we have said or done.

The simple answer, just as it was for Mary and Elizabeth, is that we’re blessed beyond belief. Contrary to appearances and in spite of her flaws, Elizabeth was blessed beyond belief. Even though Zechariah had not immediately believed God’s promise, God kept His word. By His Spirit He enabled Elizabeth to relate the leaping John in her womb to the presence of Jesus, the world’s Savior, who was in Mary’s womb. And in the same way, Mary, also selfishly oriented and flawed, as all humans are, was especially blessed beyond belief. In contrast to Zechariah, Mary trusted God’s promise delivered through Gabriel. And in her believing she was blessed. Most of all she was blessed because God accomplished what He had pledged to her. That through her would come into the world, the Savior long promised, the Redeemer of the whole world, who would pardon the sins of all people, everywhere.

You and I are blessed beyond belief. And we remember the all-important aspect of God’s holiness, which is His mercy. He is merciful to us, just as He was to our ancestors, and as He will be to our descendants. In the mercy of Christ Jesus, who was born of the virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried and the third day rose again, we are blessed with a new birth into a living hope.

As we approach the end of this Advent season we remember those who, with faith, have accepted the roles that God has given to them. Mary and Elizabeth and all the faithful women, and men, who went before and have come after them. I’m sure we all know women and men like this. Women and men who have been blessed beyond belief. Not because of what they have done, but because they have trusted and believed in what God has done. And what He continues to do. May we be counted among those who have found favor with God through the faith He has bestowed upon us. And may we remember every day that we are blessed beyond belief. Amen.

The peace of God which surpassed all understanding guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus.