1.2.2 12.10.2023 Embracing the Impossible Luke 1.26-38 (2)
Certain of His Coming • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Entice: The story of Gabriel’s visit with Mary is well known. We peek into the room as a central, redemptive secret is disclosed. Of course, it is impossible. Two thousand years of Christian reflection upon this text have made it central to our understanding of who Jesus is. Most preachers would never come into the pulpit intending to spend 30 minutes discussing Christology—though that discipline begins here.
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 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,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
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.
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 of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Engage: “This is Christmas!
Advent!
We want
friendly,
cozy,
cuddly sermons,
he’s a baby in a manger for crying out loud!”
How are we supposed to discuss the “impossible” thing of a virgin conception without it being profound and a little complicated?
God did something unprecedented in the conception of Jesus and here’s the cool part, you don’t have to fully understand it to benefit from it. It is impossible! Salvation is about embracing the impossible. Sometimes to get a grip on how impossible something really is…you have to really examine it.
Expand: My job is not just to read the text with you but to help you understand the text. Not just for Christmas time but for all time. I try to help you use all 5 senses to us all get into the text. One of the things we find is that though Mary’s impossibilities and our impossibilities may be vastly different, our response should be the same. Like Mary we need to embrace the impossible and we need to understand that the impossible thing God is doing may only indirectly involve us.
Explore:
Nothing is impossible with God—>His saving promise defines possible!
Nothing is impossible with God—>His saving promise defines possible!
Expand: Luke tells this story in such a way that we are invited to follow Mary’s steps as she embraces the impossible.
Body of Sermon: Embracing the impossible begins with God’s
1 Favor
1 Favor
How did Mary know she was favored by God?
1.1 God’s message.
1.1 God’s message.
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.
1.2 God’s presence.
1.2 God’s presence.
28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
1.3 God’s grace.
1.3 God’s grace.
29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be.
30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
Next, we have to embrace God’s
2 Focus.
2 Focus.
2.1 God’s Son.
2.1 God’s Son.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
32 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,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
2.2 God’s Spirit.
2.2 God’s Spirit.
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
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.
2.3 God’s Word
2.3 God’s Word
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.”
Last of all, His favor and focus help us to embrace the impossible with faith.
3 Faith.
3 Faith.
38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
3.1 Obedience.
3.1 Obedience.
3.2 Trust.
3.2 Trust.
3.3 Patience.
3.3 Patience.
Shut Down
Like many Biblical characters in Biblical stories our curiosity can run wild. What was Mary doing when Gabriel sauntered up? How much time was there left til the
end of the betrothal period? Trusting God is one thing. Knowing what to do is another. What is remarkable about Mary’s faith response is how comprehensive it is
in light of how little she knows.
But life, is really like that for all of us. We don’t know as much as we think we do, and circumstances are always shifting faster than our capacity for control. Many
of us are often overwhelmed and we don’t have angels barging in announcing miraculous conceptions. If Mary found God’s grace, if His announcement of Jesus
was enough, if all of that created faith in her—>maybe it should be enough for us as well.
Mary also teaches us that embracing the impossible requires us to be unselfish. Maybe that’s why her question, unlike Zachariah’s was not understood to be
faithless whining. Mary was going to be misunderstood, marginalized, maligned, and isolated. She didn’t ask for it. She didn’t pray for it. It wasn’t even for her. Yet
her act of selfless faith became instrumental in the story of our salvation. God’s Word for us today is that embracing the impossible first and always means
embracing Him and His purposes.