Something About Mary
Luke 1:26-38
We find ourselves today in one of the more famous stories in all of the Bible. Luke chapter one, we’re going to pick it up in verse 26 here in a moment.
But before we do, there was one night this week that my wife and I were hanging out in the living room, and we’re just each reading a book. We’re sitting in our little chairs, and she’s reading a book, and I’m reading a book. I’m reading a book about Navy SEALs blowing stuff up. She’s reading a book about something Godly. I don’t even know what it was, but it was something Godly. And we’re just minding our own business, reading our little books, and our 16-year-old daughter, Annabelle, walks in, and she comes into the room. She looks at my wife, and she says to her, while we’re sitting there reading books, she said, “Mom, I just want you to know that you are my favorite person in the world ever.” My wife looked at her and said, “Annabelle, that is so sweet.” And I looked at her and said, “Annabelle, that is so rude.” I’m sitting right here, man. You’re just gonna say that right in front of me? Right in front of me, you’re just gonna come out and just put it out there like that, really? And I guess she realized what she did, because immediately she backpedaled. She goes, “Oh, but I mean, Dad, I mean, like, you’re my favorite, too. You’re my favorite, too.” I said, “No, ma’am, that’s not how favorites work, okay? The rule of favorites is there can only be one favorite.” There are not two or three “favorites”. By definition, a favorite is just one favorite. She says, “No, Dad. I can have more than one favorite.” I said, “Okay, let’s test this crazy theory of yours right now. Let’s fact check this thing, okay? Here we go.” So I got out my iPhone and I went to Merriam-Webster online and I looked up the word “favorite”. I’m going to read you the definition that I got from Webster’s Dictionary for the word “favorite”. You know what the definition is? The definition of the word “favorite” is “one that is treated or regarded with special favor.” Did you get the key word there? It’s one. It’s just one. So I read this to my daughter and said, “See, you can only have one favorite.” I said, “Think of it this way. If you’re stranded on a desert island and you can only take one flavor of ice cream with you, Annabelle, and you can only choose one, which flavor of ice cream would you take with you?” She thought about it and answered, “Well, probably Haagen-Dazs, dulce de leche.” I said, “Exactly. Because that’s your favorite.” She said, “No, I’d take chocolate too.” I said, “Uh-uh, you’re not allowed to. You can only take your favorite. You have one favorite and you’d take dulce de leche to the desert island because that’s your favorite. And apparently, you’d take Mom because she’s your favorite.” She said, “No, Daddy, I disagree. I can have more than one favorite.” I said, “Annabelle, you don’t get to disagree. The definition of the word is ‘one’. You don’t get to disagree. I win the debate. I win the argument.” And she looked at my wife and she said, “See, Mom, this is why you’re my favorite.” Totally backfired, man.
We live in a world where there are some things that there can only be one of. There are some things that there can only be one of. You can only have one favorite flavor of ice cream. You can only have one favorite parent, and in our house, apparently, that’s my wife. You can only have one life in this world. You get one; that’s it. You get one. There is only one God, and in the history of the world, there’s only been one woman who was allowed to be the mother of Jesus. Wow. And that’s exactly where we find ourselves today in Luke chapter one.
John’s Birth Prophesied
In the story right before this, we were introduced to a man named Zechariah and his wife, Elizabeth. They’re really, really old. They’re a ministry couple. They’ve been in ministry for a long time. They’re very, very old, and they don’t have a child. They haven’t been able to have children, and then something incredible happens. Something magnificent happens. After 400 years of God giving the silent treatment to the nation of Israel, the angel Gabriel shows up to Zechariah, and his message to Zechariah is, “Hey, buddy, get ready. You’re going to have a baby. God has heard your prayers, and you’re going to have a babY. And you’re to name that baby John, which means God will be gracious. And that baby’s gonna grow to be a great prophet who’s going to prepare the way for the Savior of the world.”
Gabriel Appears in Nazareth
This magnificent event happens right before this story that we pick up in verse 26. What Luke, who’s writing this gospel, is trying to signal to us right at the beginning of this book is that God is getting ready to do something huge. Something amazing is about to happen. That’s what he’s signaling to us. And then we pick it up in verse 26, and we begin to see specifically what this huge, amazing thing that God’s about to do is going to be. Luke chapter one, starting at verse 26.
“In the sixth month [of Elizabeth’s pregnancy], the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth.” Or another way we could say it would be, in the sixth month, the angel was sent from God to the middle of stinking nowhere. And this is kind of crazy, that these stories are right next to each other. Because earlier in Luke chapter one, when Zechariah had an encounter with the angel Gabriel, Zechariah was in the temple. Think of that. Zechariah was in the temple in Jerusalem when the angel appeared to him. Now here’s the deal. We would totally expect that. What better place to see an angel than in the temple in Jerusalem? Like, duh, of course. Yeah, that totally makes sense. But now this is stunning. Because just a few verses later, the God of the universe has now sent his angel to the backside of the sticks. We’re talking 20 miles from the nearest cow. Understand that likely the only reason you and I have ever heard of Nazareth is because of this story. That’s the only reason we’ve ever heard of the town Nazareth. There’s literally nothing at all impressive about first century Nazareth. It’s what we commonly refer to as flyover country. You don’t stay in Nazareth. You don’t stop in Nazareth. You don’t live in Nazareth. You go through Nazareth. The only reason it’s called a city here in these verses is because there was no Hebrew word for “Podunkville.” In all seriousness, there’s no Hebrew word for town. It was just a city or a village of a few people. So they had to call it a city because there was no other Hebrew word for it. But if you read the entire Old Testament, you know what you find? Not a single time in the Old Testament do you ever read about Nazareth. It’s not mentioned once. Nazareth was never mentioned in Jewish rabbinical literature at all. As a matter of fact, the ancient Jewish historian Josephus never mentions Nazareth. Though he talks about a ton of stuff, he never talks about Nazareth.
How many of you have ever been on a road trip? You’re on a road trip and you find yourself on some back roads and you end up in a real rural area and you’re at this spot where for miles and miles and miles, all you see is trees and grass and tumbleweeds. And you pass by some random dude on the side of the road selling van seats and boiled peanuts and it’s the only sign of life. And then at some point in the middle of that void of depressing nothingness, what do you always see? A Dollar General. You know what I’m talking about? Well, it’s like this post-apocalyptic world, and all of a sudden, boom! This big yellow store is there and you’re wondering, “Who shops here? I haven’t seen a house in three hours.”
Well, here’s what I’m trying to tell you. Here’s what we know about first century Nazareth. It was maybe 150 to 200 people maximum who lived there. 98% of them would have been illiterate because they didn’t really have education there in Nazareth. 100% of the people in Nazareth would have been beneath the poverty line, which is exactly why, in the Gospel of John, we are told something interesting in chapter one. There’s this moment where Nathanael, who would end up being one of the disciples of Jesus, is first introduced to Jesus and hears that Jesus is from Nazareth. In John 1:46, Nathanael hears that Jesus is from the city of Nazareth, and he responds with “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” And this is exactly where, of all places, God sends the angel Gabriel. Not to a palace in Jerusalem. He sends the angel Gabriel to a mud hut in the backside of nowhere.
Who Is Mary?
And then we read this in verse 26. “In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.” So we get some insight into the message of the angel. God’s message to the angel Gabriel is this. “Hey, I want you to go to the city of Nazareth and you’re going to appear to a virgin that’s in Nazareth with a message. So, go to the virgin Mary there in Nazareth with a message.” So, the question we all need to ask is, “Who is this Mary? Who is this gal? Who is she really? Who in the world is Mary?” And I’m thrilled that you are curious because I want to answer that question right now. The bottom line is that Mary is a nobody living in the middle of nowheresville. She’s no one significant. Bible scholars tell us that Mary most likely was somewhere between the ages of 12 and 14. We’re talking about a really, really young lady here. She was most likely illiterate because first century peasant girls tended to be illiterate. They didn’t offer education to females in that day in ancient Israel. Her knowledge of the Bible would have been limited to what she heard in her home or what she heard in the synagogue on the Lord’s day. And just like everybody else in Nazareth, she and her family would have been way poorer than anybody else in this room, by far.
Betrothal
And at this particular moment in Luke chapter one we read that this young girl Mary is living in Nazareth and is betrothed to a man named Joseph. Now here’s the thing. What’s complicated is that as 21st century Americans, we hear that Mary’s betrothed to Joseph and we immediately go, okay, I’m tracking with that. I get it. She’s engaged. No, she’s not engaged. She’s betrothed. Betrothal in the ancient Jewish world in the first century was very different from our 21st century engagement. Because if you break off an engagement, you’re stuck with a ring and you’re stuck with some really expensive cards we call announcements. And it’s complicated relationally. There’s going to be some stuff to navigate. It’s gonna be weird. But at the end of the day, you can tap out of that thing and you can break off the engagement. It’s really not very complicated other than relationally. But understand that in the first century in Israel, betrothal was much different because betrothal was actually legally binding. It was a legal agreement. So a young lady as young as 12 years old would be betrothed to a man that the families would agree on, and she would be betrothed to this man for a period of a year. And then after the year, there would be a wedding day and a party with dancing and they would be toasting wine glasses. And then the couple would consummate the marriage on that wedding day after that whole thing had occurred. So it was a one year deal. And the only way to get out of betrothal was actually through a legal divorce. In other words, betrothal was a huge, significant deal. You couldn’t just text and call it off. That’s not how this thing worked. It was a legally binding, massive deal.
All Sinners Are Desperate For the Grace of God
Now look at verse 28 and watch what happens. And the angel came to her and said, “Greetings, oh favored one. The Lord is with you. But she was greatly troubled at the saying and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.’” This actually brings us to the very first point for today. All sinners are desperate for the grace of God. Incidentally, if you’re new to church, just know that what binds these people together who name the name of Jesus and love Jesus is that first and foremost, we understand that we’re desperate for the grace of God. These churches, these bunch of people think they’re perfect. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. If we thought we were perfect, we wouldn’t be here. We’d be on the lake. The church is full of a bunch of broken people who understand their need for the grace of God. All sinners are desperate for the grace of God.
The Doctrine of Immaculate Conception
And here’s what I want to tackle. Some of you grew up Catholic and that was sort of your pedigree and that’s sort of how you came up, involved in the Catholic church. And so consequently, one of the things that you are most likely taught in the Catholic church and Catholic dogma is the idea that the reason God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus Christ was because Mary herself was without sin. This is in Catholic doctrine. This is what they refer to as the immaculate conception. This idea that Mary herself was not a sinner, is the reason Mary could be the mother of Jesus. And so God chose her based on that merit. And in that idea of the immaculate conception, you can actually pray to Mary because Mary is able to dispense and give out grace, just like Jesus is able to dispense and give out grace, because Mary was without sin in the same way that Jesus was without sin. And just so you know, if the real Virgin Mary would have heard you teaching that stuff, she’d be shaking her head in frustrated disbelief. She’d be shaking her head going, “No, what are you talking about? Don’t sing to me. Don’t worship me. Don’t pray to me. It’s not about me;it’s about Jesus. What are you doing?”
I had a Catholic buddy of mine, and back years ago I was talking to him about this. I asked him to explain this immaculate conception thing to me and this idea that Mary was without sin and that’s why she was chosen to be the mother of Jesus. And here’s how he explained it. He said, “Well, here’s the illustration I’ll use. Imagine that sin is a swimming pool. And we’re all in the pool and we’re drowning. We were drowning in sin and God picked us up. He saved us out of the sin. He picked us up out of the pool and he rescued us. But Mary was on the outside of the pool and she was kind of walking around the pool. But before Mary could fall in, God rescued her and so she had never fallen into the swimming pool of sin so therefore she was without sin.” So here’s where that illustration breaks down. The Bible doesn’t say that we were all born innocent and then eventually fell into sin. The Bible says we’re all born into sin, which means we didn’t fall into the swimming pool. We were born in the thing. Just like Mary was born in the swimming pool of sin. See, just to be clear, Mary was a sinner just like you’re a sinner and just like I’m a sinner and this is clear in the Scriptures.
The Grace of God
Later on in Luke chapter two, there’s this moment where Mary and Joseph are walking up to the temple to make sacrifices in the temple. Why? Because that’s what sinners used to do. In Acts chapter one, where do we find Mary? Mary’s huddled up with the other disciples of Jesus and other believers in Jesus and what are they doing? They’re worshiping Jesus and they’re praying together. Why? Because that’s what saved sinners do. And then notice what happens here in Luke chapter one. Did you happen to notice what the angel said to Mary when he appeared to Mary? He says to her, “Greetings, oh favored one.” Why does that matter? This matters because that word “favored” in the Greek is the word “charis”, which literally means grace. The angel says, “Greetings, oh graced one.” You’re graced. See, here’s the point. God did not choose Mary to be the mother of Jesus because she was sinless and perfect. God chose Mary to be the mother of Jesus because our God is incredibly gracious. And our God loves to show grace to sinners. So if you want peace with God. If you want a relationship with God and want to know that your sins are forgiven. If you want to know that you have eternal life. If you want to know that you have a relationship with the God who made you and the God who loves you, then here’s what I would tell you to do if you want a relationship with God today. Don’t pray to Mary. Don’t sing to Mary. Don’t worship Mary. But instead, get grace from the same exact place that Mary had to get grace, and that’s from Jesus. Get grace from Jesus. See, Mary was a sinner just like you and just like me, and she experienced grace from God. God was her Savior. She needed a Savior just like we need a Savior. We know that, because in the song she’s going to sing here at the end of chapter one she says, “My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” She needs a Savior just like we need a Savior, and He’s our Savior. Every single person in the world is desperate for the grace of God because all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.
What We Believe About the Virgin Birth Matters
Now, pay close attention to what Gabriel now says to Mary in verse 31. The angel says, “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He 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.” Now, this brings us to the second point for today. What we believe about the virgin birth matters. This is important. Do you actually believe that Jesus Christ was born of a virgin? Not just that Jesus lived. Not just that Jesus existed, but do you really believe that Jesus was born of a virgin? I read a statistic that made my brain wanna jump out of the back of my head. It said, it said that 95% of evangelical Christians in America believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. Now, you may be thinking that’s a pretty good number. But think about what I just said for a second. It didn’t say 95% of people in America believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. That’s not what it said. It said 95% of evangelical Christians in America believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. Which means that right now, today in American churches, about 5% of the people who have shown up are singing to Jesus, worshiping Jesus, giving to Jesus, and they don’t believe that Jesus was born of a virgin. Now, here’s why that’s crazy. Jesus’ identity as the Son of God has everything to do with whether or not he’s born of a virgin or not. We’re not talking Calvinism or Arminianism here and having a debate. This is about the identity of Jesus. It has everything to do with whether or not he’s the Son of God, the fact that he was born of a virgin. And yet, stunningly, there’s still a ton of people in churches and people who claim to be Christians, and even pastors, who bring into question the virgin birth.
Back years ago, there was this really influential pastor of a mega church of thousands and thousands and thousands of people, who was writing books. He looked cool, was making cool videos, doing his thing, and everybody loved him. And he wrote a book that did really well at the Christian bookstore, and it brought into question the virgin birth. It brought into question whether or not Jesus was born of a virgin. And I’m not going tell you the pastor’s name, Rob Bell, but here’s what he said. “What if tomorrow someone digs up definitive proof that Jesus had a real earthly biological father named Larry? An archaeologist find Larry’s tomb and do DNA samples and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the virgin birth was really just a bit of mythologizing the gospel writers threw in to appeal to the writers of the Mithra and Dionysian religious cults that were hugely popular at the time of Jesus, whose gods had virgin births. But what if, as you studied the origin of the word virgin, you discover that the word virgin in the gospel of Matthew actually comes from the book of Isaiah, and then you find out that in the Hebrew language at that time, the word virgin could mean several things. And what if you discover that in the first century, being born of a virgin also referred to a child whose mother became pregnant the first time she had intercourse. What if that spring were seriously questioned? Could a person keep on jumping? Could a person still love God? Could you still be a Christian? Is the way of Jesus still the best possible way to live? Or does the whole thing fall apart? If the whole thing falls apart, we reexamine and rethink one spring, then it wasn’t that strong in the first place, was it?”
So follow this for a second. Here’s a pastor and since he’s the pastor, you listen to him. And the pastor says, “Hey, man, come on, guys, let’s be honest. If it turned out the virgin birth wasn’t true, would we as Christians really lose anything?” And the answer is, “Uh-huh, we lose Jesus.” If Jesus isn’t born a virgin, we lose Jesus because if the virgin birth isn’t true, then right now, we’re gathered together in this room, and we’re not worshiping the Son of God up in here, we’re worshiping the Son of Larry. And I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but those Christmas songs we sing every year don’t have the same ring to it if you’re singing them to the Son of Larry. ♪ Hark the herald angels sing ♪ ♪ Glory to the Son of Larry ♪ Not the same deal. It’s not the same.
The Prophecy of the Virgin Birth
Let me be clear. The entire identity of Jesus as the Son of God who can forgive your sins completely and absolutely depends on his virgin birth. Here’s why. Genesis 3:15, and Isaiah 7:14 are both Old Testament prophecies that prophesy that the Son of God, Jesus, will be born of a virgin. Additionally, go back and read the Gospel writers, Matthew and Luke, who were the ones who tell us about the virgin birth. Matthew and Luke are completely and totally convinced that Mary is a virgin. Matthew even goes as far in verse 18 of chapter one to tell us before she was ever with Joseph, she became pregnant with the Holy Spirit. How do you bring that into question? Unless you don’t believe the inspiration of Scripture. Furthermore, the virgin birth is proof that Jesus is both 100% man and he’s 100% God. And that’s really important because that is necessary for Jesus to be able to do anything about our sin. We have a problem that requires outside intervention from God. And we have a debt that only a human can pay. It is necessary that Jesus be 100% man and 100% God. And finally, being born of a virgin and conceived of the Holy Spirit is the only way that Jesus could have possibly been without sin. So does the virgin birth really matter? Yes, it sure does.
So, Gabriel just told this young girl, Mary, living on the backside of nowhere, “you will give birth to the son of the most high God.” Now, with that in mind, can we all just collectively agree to never, ever, ever again sing that terrible song, “Mary, Did You Know?” If that’s you favorite Christmas song, then I love you but you have terrible taste in music. It’s a really pretty melody, I’ll give you that, but horrible theology. Go back and listen to it. ♪ Mary, did you know that your baby boy ♪ ♪ Would save our sons and daughters ♪ Yes. Did you know your song’s bad?
Having Questions Is Not the Same Thing As Having Unbelief
So how will young Mary now respond to this incredible life-changing news? How is she going to respond to this? Look at verse 34. “And Mary said to the angel, ‘How will this be since I am a virgin?’” So apparently she’s convinced she is. How will this work? How will this be since I am a virgin? If you were paying attention last week, you might be tempted to think that Mary’s about to be struck mute. Because remember what happened? Zechariah’s told, “Hey, God’s heard your prayer. You’re going to have a baby.” And Zechariah responds with, “Prove it.” And the angel’s like, “Okay, I’ll prove it. Bam, you can’t talk for nine months. How’s that for proof?” And so Zechariah is struck mute because he didn’t believe God. But what’s going on with Zechariah and what’s going on with Mary here is not the same thing because Zechariah responded with unbelief. Mary just responded with a question for clarification. Mary’s question here isn’t rooted in unbelief. As a matter of fact, it’s rooted in belief. She’s just asking for clarification. Mary doesn’t respond to God by not believing God. Mary responds to God by asking a question of clarification. Another way to say it would be this. Having questions is not the same thing as having unbelief. It’s just not. And the thing is, some of you have tons of questions about the Bible. You have tons of questions about Jesus. You have tons of questions about the gospel and sin and how it all works. But you’re kind of scared to ask them because maybe you grew up in an environment where you weren’t encouraged to ask your questions about the Bible or ask your questions about a sermon or ask your questions about a verse because you were kind of made to feel that if I ask a question, people are going to think I don’t have faith or I don’t trust the Lord or I don’t believe. But you have to understand that having a question is not the same thing at all as having unbelief. There’s a huge difference. Listen, there’s a huge difference between having a simple question for the Lord and having unbelief. Unbelief says I don’t believe the Bible is true. I don’t believe that Jesus is who he says he is. I don’t believe that sin is a thing. That’s what unbelief says. Belief, on the other hand, says, hey, I believe the Bible is true. I believe that Jesus is who He says He is. I believe that sin is real. And I have a ton of questions about those things because I want to have more understanding and I want to be more clear on that stuff. So I’ve got questions about it. And here’s the really good news. Our God who made everything, our God who made the galaxies and made you is really big. And he’s even big enough to handle all your questions. You should bring your questions to church. You should bring your questions to pastors. You should bring your questions to MC group leaders and mentors in the church who know the Bible and love Jesus and have wisdom. This should be a place where we celebrate asking questions about God and His word and the Bible and the gospel and sin because where else should you get answers? Not the world. You come to church, you bring your questions, and we should celebrate that.
I got an email within the past two weeks right after week one of Luke and right after the missional communities launched and one of our missional community hosts emailed me. And she said, “Hey, Pastor Anson. This past week, there was a lady in our group and she asked if Luke never introduces himself or clarifies that it’s him in the gospel of Luke, how do we know for sure that Luke wrote it?” And you know how I responded? I wrote an email back and said, “Tell her to stop disbelieving God.” No, I didn’t. I wrote an email back and I said, “That is a great question of clarification. As a matter of fact, I should have gone down that rabbit trail in my sermon. But instead of being an hour-long sermon, it would have been an hour-and-a-half sermon and the people would revolt. And so here’s the answer.” And I was able to write a long email and copy and paste some commentary stuff on my Logos Bible software to give the clarification and the answers for how we know Luke wrote the gospel of Luke.
You know what? Listen, that wasn’t a question out of unbelief. That was a question for clarification. That was a heart that was really seeking God. It’s a heart that’s truly seeking the Lord and seeking clarification and family. This is exactly what we see Mary doing right here. Notice when the angel says, “You’re gonna have a baby. You’re going to conceive in your womb.” Notice that she doesn’t ask, “How can this be?” She says, “How will this be?” Mary’s like, “Okay, Gabriel, I believe you. I believe you. But last time I checked, not a whole lot of virgins are in Lamaze class, so can you explain a little bit in more detail how a virgin’s going to conceive?” She has a question of clarification, a really good question.
Just because I don’t know how something works, that doesn’t make it not true.
Now, pay close attention to what Gabriel says right now in verse 35. “And the angel answered her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.’” Now, let me explain to you what this doesn’t mean real quick. So in Islam, they wrongly teach that God literally had relations with Mary, and that’s how she became pregnant with Jesus. And just to be clear, that is heretical nonsense. In no way, shape, or form does the Bible even come close to suggesting something that crazy. Instead, notice closely what the angel Gabriel said to Mary. He said, “The Holy Spirit’s going to come upon you,” and then he gives a little more clarity. He says, “The Most High will overshadow you.” This is fascinating because that word “overshadow” is the same exact Greek word that’s used in the story about the Mount of Transfiguration, when the glory of God overshadows the mountain. It’s very rarely used, and the other instance where it’s used is when the glory of God overshadows the Mount of Transfiguration. In other words, what we’re being told here in the Scriptures is that somehow, some way, mysteriously, Almighty God is going to cause the Virgin Mary to become pregnant. Some of you are like, “Well, pastor, explain that.” And I respond by going, “I can’t explain it because I don’t have the mind of God.” I don’t know. I can’t explain it; I don’t know. God just said, “The Spirit of the Most High is going to overshadow, and you’re going to become pregnant.” It’s at this point where a lot of people draw the line and they sort of opt out of Christianity. It’s at this point where a lot of people just opt out of the Bible stuff, and say that’s why I don’t do this church thing. I don’t do it, because I can’t understand it. If I don’t know how something works, I’m not going to put my faith in it. If I don’t understand how something works, I’m not gonna trust it.” Just so you know, that’s a terrible decision to make. This brings us to the fourth point. Just because I don’t know how something works, that doesn’t make it not true. Look at our arrogance. We assume, “Well, if I don’t know how something works, it must not be helpful for me.” But when do we ever act like that in our lives? Just because you don’t know how something works, that doesn’t mean it’s not useful. It doesn’t mean it’s not helpful. For example, I don’t know, maybe some of you are smart and you get this. I’m just a regular dude. Listen, I have no clue how my iPhone works. No idea. It could be that magic voodoo stuff for all I know. I just know that it does work. I just know somebody on the other side of the world can write me a message or I can do the FaceTime thing and I can see the faces of my daughters and we can have a conversation. That’s all I know. Or I can do what some of y’all have done this morning. I can play Wordle during a sermon. Repent. I don’t know how it works. I just know that it does work and I know it’s really useful for me. It’s really helpful. I don’t know how my car works. I don’t know and I don’t care, frankly. I just want to get from here to back home and from back home to here. I don’t know what a catalytic converter is. I don’t know and I don’t care. I just care that it’s helpful for me. Have you ever thought about this? I don’t know how my eyes work. Think about how weird eyes are. I’m not going to get philosophical and deep. Some of you are going to leave the church after this, but listen. Right now I’m somehow looking at you through these things and I see light hitting, and it’s creating shapes and my eyes are somehow sending a signal to my brain, telling me what you look like and some look better than others. And it’s being deciphered in my mind and I don’t know how it works. But that doesn’t frustrate me. It doesn’t frustrate me that I don’t know how my eyes work. I’m not walking around going, well, that’s not fair. I don’t know how my eyes work. So I’ll just cut them out. That’ll show you God. He’s like, “You weirdo.” It doesn’t frustrate me that I don’t know how my right hand is moving right now. This is like magic. You ever thought about that? I’m thinking that my hand should move and it moves the way that I think it should. I’m telling it to do that and it’s doing it. It just totally obeys. It’s just weird. I don’t know how that works. I just know that it works and I just know that it’s helpful. Listen, even though I have no clue how something works, it can still be incredibly helpful. Beware of rejecting the Bible simply because your three and a half pound brain doesn’t understand all its mysteries.
Nothing is ever impossible with God.
I remember having a conversation with a buddy of mine. He said, “I don’t believe this stuff. I don’t believe this stuff is true. I don’t believe it. I think it’s dumb.” I was like, “Why do you think the Bible’s dumb?” He’s like, “Well, I’ll give you one example. The story of Jonah and the big fish. Can you really believe that, man? Do you believe that Jonah, some dude, got swallowed by a fish and survived for three days and three nights? That’s not possible. How is it possible for some guy to get swallowed by a fish and survive in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights? That’s dumb.” I said, “No, bro, you’re asking the wrong question.” He said, “What do you mean I’m asking the wrong question?” I said, “You’re asking the wrong question. You’re asking how it’s possible for a man to get swallowed by a fish and survive for three days and for three nights. What you actually ought to be asking is how amazing and powerful is God that a guy can get swallowed by a fish and God can keep him alive in there for three days and three nights? How awesome.” You may be asking, “How is it possible for a virgin to become pregnant?” No, no, no. How powerful is God that he can cause a virgin to be pregnant?
Now watch verse 36, family. The angel says, “And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son.” Mary wasn’t privy to this yet. “She’s also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who is called barren, for nothing will be impossible with God.” That’s the next point. Nothing is ever impossible with God. There’s nothing that’s impossible with God.
So back some years ago, I was a student pastor. I was a youth pastor, and I cut my teeth in ministry being a student pastor for some years. You learn a lot and it’s kind of like a gauntlet because every now and then, we have weird stuff happening in student ministry. But one of the things that I would always love is when the young ninth grade kid would graduate in the ministry, and he’d come in and think he was all cool because he read a magazine article or something. So he’d try to stump the Student Pastor. He’d come up to me and be like, “Hey, Pastor Anson, I got a question for you.” I’m like, “Okay.” He’s like, “Do you really believe that God is all powerful?” I’m like, “Sure do, man, sure do. God’s all powerful. Nothing is impossible with God.” He said, “Okay, then, I have a question for you. Can God create a rock that’s so heavy even he can’t lift it?” Then he’d high five his friends, “Got ’em!” And everybody’s like, “Yeah! yeah!” ‘Cause it’s supposed to stump me. Especially because if you say, “Well, no, God can’t create a rock that’s so big even he can’t lift it,” he’s like, “Oh, well, he’s not all powerful.” But if you say, “Yeah, God can create a rock that’s so big even he can’t lift it,” again, they go, “Well, he’s not all powerful, he can’t lift everything.” So it was meant to stump you. So it would always frustrate and maybe even stun the little ninth grade kid when I would turn to him and say, “No, God actually can’t create a rock that’s so big that even he can’t lift it.” And he’s like, “Well, I guess that means God’s not all powerful.” I said, “Oh, no, quite the contrary. It means that God is all powerful because since God is all powerful all the time, it means there are certain things that God can’t ever do. God can’t lie, God can’t die, and God can’t stop being God, which means God can do anything He purposes to do. And he can even, little Johnny, do the impossible. God can do the impossible. Like for instance, God can create a universe out of nothing and God can cause a virgin to become pregnant and God can even, maybe one day, give you some intelligence.
Beloved, there’s nothing impossible with God. Nothing’s ever impossible with God. God can save sinners. God can answer prayers. God can reconcile broken friendships. God can advance the gospel in a godless world. God can heal marriages because that’s who He is. Nothing’s impossible with God.
Mary is not the object of our faith, but Mary is a powerful example of faith.
The question now becomes this: How will a 12 to 14-year-old peasant girl respond to this magnificent announcement? How would you respond? Your whole life’s going to change. The entire script of your life, what you thought the script was going to be, is gone now. How would you respond to this? How’s she going to respond to this life-changing mission? Well, let’s see. Look at verse 38. And Mary said, “Behold, I’m the servant of the Lord.” You know what that word is in Greek? “Handmaiden.” “I’m the handmaiden of the Lord.” You know what a handmaiden was? It was the lowest servant imaginable in that day. “Behold, I’m the servant of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. And this brings us to the final point. Mary is not the object of our faith, but Mary is a powerful example of faith. I think one of the things that happens for those who grew up in Catholicism, is the danger that you make too much out of Mary. And then those of us who are more Protestant, oftentimes what we’re guilty of is just ignoring her altogether. But I love what Kent Hughes, a Bible scholar, says in his commentary on the Gospel of Luke. I love what Kent Hughes says about Mary. I want to read this to you. This was so rich to me. He says,
“Mary was the only woman of the billions who have inhabited our planet who was chosen to carry and nurse God’s Son. For that we must call her blessed. Hers was the face that unto Christ had most resemblance. The Savior bore some of her human features. Jesus’s face could be seen in hers.” Think of it. She’s blessed indeed. Just because others have thought too much of her, we must not imagine that our Lord is pleased when we think too little of her. We, as part of the subsequent Christian generations, are to call her blessed.”
So we have to be real careful here, because on the one hand, we should not worship Mary. But on the other hand, we shouldn’t ignore Mary either, because how incredible is this example of faith? 12 to 14 years old? Think of that. I have a 16-year-old daughter. I have a 12-year-old daughter. And the angel just made this announcement to her. And she says, “Let it be to me according to your word.” Maybe sometimes we don’t give our 12-year-olds enough credit. It’s amazing. She says yes to what God just requested. And here’s the crazy thing. Have you thought about this? Have you imagined what it’s going to cost her to say yes to God at this moment? She’s going to pay a price. It’s going to cost her. Like in the same way, anybody who says, “Yes, Jesus, I’m yours. I repent of my sin and trust in You.” It costs something. This is why Jesus tells us to count the cost. It costs to follow Jesus. It’s going to cost her big time to say yes to God right now. Think about it. It’s going to cost her socially. Growing up in Nazareth, everybody knows she’s betrothed. It’s a small town. They’re all talking. And here she is pregnant. And everybody’s going, “Yeah, you know, she’s betrothed to Joseph. But look, she’s pregnant already.” You talk about the shame that’s going to be heaped upon her. We read later in the gospels, Jesus is referred to as illegitimate. This is because of what people were saying about Mary. It’s going to cost her socially. It’s going to cost her relationally. There might be some stuff to navigate through with Joseph. When she walks in pregnant and says, “Seriously, honey, God did this.” There might be some counseling. There might be some conversation. That might get a bit awkward, amen? It’s going to cost her financially. Anybody in here ever had a baby? It ain’t free. It’s going to cost you something. She’s already poor. And yet in spite of all this cost, what does young Mary say? And listen to her words here. What does she say? “Let it be to me according to your word.” And I was thinking about it this week. I was like, “Wow, that sounds interestingly similar to something Jesus says later on in his ministry when he’s in a garden praying, ‘Not my will, but thy will be done.’” He probably learned a lot from his mama. What an incredible example of faith.
Let me tell you why this story matters so much. It 100% matters that this is literal. This isn’t mythology. It isn’t some depiction. It isn’t some strategy by the writers like the pastor said earlier in his book to try to make it relevant to other cultures. Let me tell you why it matters that this story is 100% true. So there’s this professor and author, Brene Brown, who’s written some books. And one of the things I appreciate is she gave a really good illustration one time that I heard about the difference between sympathy and empathy. I thought this, for me as a believer, was just really powerful just thinking about how this relates even to the Lord. She was talking about this difference between sympathy and empathy. How many of y’all know like sympathy and empathy are two very different things?
Here’s the illustration she used. Imagine that you fall into a dark pit. This is like 20 feet down. You can’t get out. You fall into the dark pit. And it’s dark and it’s terrifying and it’s scary and it’s creepy. And there you are in that pit. You know what empathy does? Empathy walks over, looks down. You’re in the pit saying, “It’s dark in here. I don’t like it in here. This is terrible in here.” And empathy jumps down into the pit too. It says, “Wow, this is dark and this is creepy and this is weird, but you know what? You’re not alone. We’re together now.” But sympathy’s different. You know what sympathy does? Sympathy comes walking over to the pit, looks in and goes, “Ew.” And you’re like, oh, it’s dark, it’s creepy, it’s terrible.” And they’re like, “Yep. Sure is. Sorry. Well, look on the bright side. You’re not dead. Look on the bright side. You didn’t break your legs. Look on the bright side. God’s still good, right?” There’s a difference between sympathy and empathy because empathy comes down into the pit with you and sympathy looks down from above and says, yeah, that stinks, but they’re really not in the pit with you.
Here’s why this matters, family. Luke chapter one is so important because the gospel of Christ tells me that God did not just sympathize with me in my plight in this broken world. God actually empathized with me. How? Well, look at what the gospel says. He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to take on flesh, to be born of a virgin. And guess what will happen? He’s going to be born of this virgin in the backwoods of Israel in a town that nobody respects and he’s going to be adopted by an earthly dad named Joseph and he’s going to grow in stature and in wisdom and he’s going to be raised in poverty and he’s going to suffer over and over and over again. But, he’s going to be faithful all throughout that suffering and he’s going to live a perfect life and perfect obedience to God the Father and this baby who’s going to be born to this virgin will one day be crucified on a cross because God did not just look down from heaven on our burden. God came down from heaven to take on our burdens. You see it? It matters that this is true. Jesus’ identity is all wrapped up in this virgin birth.
And I wonder, do you know Jesus? Do you follow Jesus? Have you trusted in Jesus? Is your faith in Jesus? Have you ever turned from your sin and believed the good news that Jesus really was born of a virgin and he really is 100% God and 100% man and therefore he really is able to do something about your sin? The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, took on flesh, lived the perfect life that you would never live, was betrayed at the hands of men, nailed to a cross, suffered and he died. Then three days later he rose again from the grave. He defeated death, hell, and the devil so that you could be saved forever. He didn’t just look down with sympathy on your burden. He came to bear your burden all the way to a cross. He who knew no sin became sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. We might be right with God. While we were still enemies of God, God came running after us. Chased us. Pursued us. How awesome is this God who would send his angel to Nazareth, the middle of nowhere, to appear to the Virgin Mary and by grace call her to be the mother of Jesus, our great God and Savior, who would do everything we need Him to do to provide peace with a holy God for sinners like us? Would we trust and believe that this good news is true? If you’ve never trusted in Jesus as your great God and savior, the Bible says if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is the Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you’ll be saved. Salvation’s a free gift. It’s a free gift of grace. Will you say yes to Jesus? Will you believe in Jesus? Just because you don’t understand how it works doesn’t mean He can’t be trusted. There are some things that God in His wisdom and His enormity has hidden from us. It’s like the apostle Paul says, “We know in part that God is a man of faith. And by faith, we trust and we believe and we look to him for salvation.”