MARY’S YES
Luke 1:26-56
4th Sunday of Advent, December 22, 2024
Pastor Ritva H Williams
The gospel readings for the 4th Sunday of Advent are always my favorites of the season. This morning we meet Mary, a young woman, probably in her teens. She is betrothed which means that a marriage contract has been drawn up, her wedding and move to her husband home is being planned, but has not yet occurred.
Mary lives in Nazareth, a Jewish agricultural settlement of a few hundred inhabitants. Mary and her neighbors live and work in simple dwellings often built into or around hillside caves. They eke out a living growing and processing olives, grapes, and grain. Mary and her people are economically and socially impoverished, and they know it. All their lives, they have been told things that God makes some people are rich and powerful and others are poor and powerless. Endure your poverty bravely and gladly now in order to reap rewards in heaven. Poverty is payback for sins committed by one’s parents and grandparents. Poor people are poor because they are lazy and stupid.
Bearing all that in mind, let’s examine Mary’s story as told by Luke, beginning with the first scene in Luke 1:26-38.
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him 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 ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to 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 holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.
This scene is traditionally called “The Annunciation” — a fancy word that means announcement. The angel Gabriel surprises Mary by announcing that she is favored and God is with her. She is confused and wondering: “What? Me — Mary of Nazareth — I’m a favored person? And God is here— in this place where we live in caves and work from sunrise to sundown to stay one step ahead of starvation? Really? Even our neighbors wonder if anything good can come from Nazareth” (John 1:46). Gabriel assures Mary that God views her with favor—with grace, goodwill, and love. If this scene was transposed to the book The Shack, we might hear “Papa-God” say, “Mary, I’m especially fond of you.” Mary needed to hear God’s messenger say that she was worthy and loved precisely because important people in her society kept telling her that she wasn’t.
Gabriel then announces the opportunity God is placing before her—to become the mother of Jesus. Mary asks clarifying questions. Gabriel explains how this will happen, announces that her relative Elizabeth is already six months pregnant after a lifetime of infertility, and asserts that nothing is impossible for God. Satisfied with Gabriel’s answers, Mary says yes, let’s do this!
Here’s what I take away from this scene: The angel speaks directly with Mary, not her parents or guardians, not her betrothed, not some religious or government official, but with Mary herself. God’s messenger treats Mary as God sees her — as an autonomous, independent person, beloved and gifted; fully capable of making decisions for herself. The pregnancy will not proceed without her willing consent. Mary owns her own body and chooses motherhood. This is how God deals with not only with Mary, but with every woman, indeed with every human being.
To learn what happens after Mary says yes, we turn to scene two, Luke 1:39-45.
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
Traditionally, this scene is called “The Visitation.” We may well wonder why Mary suddenly decides to set out by herself with haste for the hill country of Judea — a journey of 70 miles as the crow flies. Is she curious to see if the angel was telling the truth about Elizabeth’s pregnancy? Or is she running away from the consequences of saying yes?
We know from Joseph’s initial response (Matthew 1:18-25) that he presumed Mary was carrying someone else’s child, and was was trying to find a way to end their betrothal quietly. Joseph was a righteous man, trying to spare Mary the consequences of being charged with adultery, being shamed and shunned by her people, or given put to death to restore her family’s honor. We know that Joseph, prompted by an angel, eventually chose to go through with the marriage and to parent Mary’s child, but Mary didn’t know that yet.
Mary’s hasty cross-country journey alone on foot clearly demonstrates that she is no meek and submissive maiden content with domestic chores. Mary demonstrates courage, boldness, grit, and self-determination in the face of uncertainty and potential danger.
We catch up with her as she enters Zechariah’s house, and walks straight into the arms of Elizabeth, whose greeting overturns social expectations. Elizabeth is an older woman, the wife of a priest, yet, she opens her arms and her home to a relative whom her neighbors would expect her to judge, shame and shun. Instead Elizabeth welcomes, blesses, and celebrates Mary, treating her as more honorable than herself.
Elizabeth’s words and actions are prompted by the Holy Spirit, but they grow out of her own experience of shame and exclusion. In the world of Jesus, where a woman’s status and prestige derived from producing children, preferably sons, Elizabeth had endured a lifetime of being treated as a failure because of her infertility. Her response to her own miraculous pregnancy says it all, “ … the Lord …looked favorably on me and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people” (Luke 1:25). At long last, in her old age, Elizabeth is an honorable married woman, pregnant with her husband’s child. She might have lorded it over Mary, but instead extends the grace she has received to her young, unmarried, pregnant cousin.
Elizabeth shows us that God gifts women with the Holy Spirit and empowers them to be prophets and preachers of the good news. Elizabeth is not only self-aware, but also has wisdom and insight into the present moment. She is grateful for the blessings she has received, and as a person of faith knows those blessings are meant to be shared with others. So, she pays it forward through her wholehearted welcome of Mary. Elizabeth honored Mary and expressed a depth of respect that Mary had probably never experienced before.
Mary senses such a depth of divine acceptance that she cannot contain her relief and thankfulness in the words recorded in Luke 1:45-55.
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who revere him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Mary’s words are traditionally called “The Magnificat,” a Latin word that means “to praise and
glorify.” Mary glorifies God first for what God has done and is doing in, with and through her.
God has looked with favor—grace, goodwill, love, and compassion—on her lowliness. God
loves and cares for her even though, or perhaps precisely because, she is a dirt-poor, unmarried,
pregnant teenager. Future generations will call her blessed—sanctified, holy, and worthy of
respect because God, mighty and holy has done great things for and through her.
Mary perceives God’s action in her life as consistent with God’s saving actions in the past. The
history of her own people reveals that God’s agenda differs radically from the plans of human
rulers. Mary’s Savior God fills the hungry with hope, and with food, comforts the lowly by
granting them dignity and honor, a seat at the table and a voice in the conversation. Mary’s Lord
disrupts power structures, dethrones rulers, and humbles the mighty in order to level the playing
field. a social leveling. When the rich and powerful repent of their arrogance, they will learn to
love their neighbors as Christ loves them. Then everyone will have access to enough and no one
will have too much. Every person without exception will be treated with dignity and respect, and
no one will use their power to harm others (Judith Jones, 2015, workingpreacher.org).
Mary’s song of praise reveals her to be a powerful theologian, prophet and preacher of the good
news. Again God calls those whom the world all too often overlooks, including you and me. Will
you say, “yes” — to do God’s work with your hands and voice? Will you magnify the Lord with
all your heart, mind, soul, and strength?
To borrow the words of Pastor Steve Garnaas-Holmes,
Blessed are you.
Your hope is not approaching from over a horizon but growing within you, already real.
There is something holy in you that leaps at the nearness of the holy.
Blessed is she who believes there will be fulfillment of what Love has promised:
that you shall bear blessing into the world.
Blessed are you and the fruit of your heart, for it is this love that overcomes the world.
