©1999 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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12/19/99
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Forgotten Folks Of The Christmas Story
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PBF had our annual Christmas
program and celebration this
week, December 19, 1999, and
there are no notes available for
the internet. But we thought
you might enjoy a Christmas
talk given by Larry back in
1994 to help in your own
Christmas celebration.
Forgotten Folks of The
Christmas Story
12/18/94
In keeping with the jolly spirit
of the season
I want to take a few minutes
this morning
to share with you
one of the most
amazing and little known
personalities
in the whole account of
Christ's birth.
I'd like to begin with Mary,
the mother of Jesus.
Now I know you think you
know Mary really well.
I know you've seen her riding
on her donkey,
and sitting serenely beside
the manger
with a halo glowing about
her head.
I know we really do believe
we know exactly who Mary
is
and what she was like,
and I know, too, that nearly
everything we have been fed
about her
as either extremely
inaccurate
or totally wrong.
Every 12 months
from now until we depart
from this planet
every one of us is going to
be faced with Mary
riding her donkey,
and sitting quietly in her
little barn,
and because of that
I would very much like for
you to know
what this woman was really
like.
The things I will share with
you about Mary
during the next few minutes
are things I have known
for years,
but I must admit that
seeing my nearly 15 year
old daughter
playing Mary last week in
that Christmas play
brought it to life to me
in a rather powerful way.
You see, the most tragic error
we have made
in our relationship with
Mary
is that we have forgotten
she was a very real person, just
like you and I.
We do not know much about
her life as a child
beyond the fact that she was
brought up in what today we
would probably describe as
"small town poverty".
She lived in the village of
Nazareth,
a relatively small Jewish
community that,
from the comments made
by Nathanael
in John 1:47,
did not have the best reputation
among other Jews.
It appears as though the little
community
had a rather slummy
reputation.
We don't know whether this
was because the people
themselves
tended to be rather crude
and vulgar and uneducated,
or whether they lived at,
well, perhaps a somewhat
lower moral level
than did most other Jewish
communities.
Probably it was some of both.
We do know that those who
were raised in Nazareth
were afflicted with a
somewhat unfortunate start to
life.
I think maybe in 1st century
Israel
saying of someone, "Well,
of course she was raised in
Nazareth"
might have a similar effect
to someone saying today,
"well, of course, she was
raised in the inner city."
Socially it clearly was not the
best start to life.
During her childhood
Mary had no idea
whatsoever what her future
would hold.
She was just one more little
girl growing up
and learning
and doing her chores like
lots of other little girls.
We do know that her heart was
responsive to God as she
moved into her teen years.
It is very likely that Mary
and probably Joseph as well
were still in their teens
at the time of Jesus Birth.
In the Jewish culture of the day
marriages took place as
young as age 12 for the bride
and 13 for the groom.
The average age of marriage
was 18
and Mary could easily have
been
16 or 17 years old when
the Angel visited her.
But in order to appreciate the
character of this teenager
we need to see exactly what
was really going on at this
point in her life.
She was certainly still living in
her parents home prior to the
wedding.
Girls in 1st century Nazareth
did not
get a job at McDonald's
and rent an apartment
with a friend
in order to get out of
the house.
She was at a very exciting
and probably a little
frightening time in her life.
She was engaged to be
married,
look forward to the
wedding,
and to a very different life
with her new husband.
She was known among her
family
and friends
and neighbors as a good
girl,
and those who knew Joseph
and Mary
felt good about this match.
They were right for each
other.
They fit together.
They were both good kids
who clearly had a shot at
making a good life together.
You know how it is, don't
you?
There are some weddings
where, in spite of all of the
flowers
and decorations
and pretty clothes,
underneath you just don't feel
reel good about what's
happening.
They seem too young,
or too unprepared,
or not quite right for each
other.
And then there are those
weddings
where you look at the bride
and groom
and say to yourself, YES! -
This is right.
This will work.
This is the way it should be.
That's the kind of wedding
Joseph and Mary were going
to have.
They were both good kids,
with good hearts,
and a really good shot at a
happy life together.
The wedding was still a ways
off,
but plans and preparations
were already well under way.
And then came that day,
that amazing, confusing,
impossible day when
everything changed for both
Mary and Joseph forever.
I know how the scene goes in
our Christmas plays.
Mary is sitting or standing
quietly,
almost as though she is
expecting a visit
from a supernatural
messenger from God.
She listens to the angel's
message,
and responds calmly,
"Behold, the bondslave of the
Lord; be it done to me
according to your word."
And then the scene shifts
quickly to the shepherds
or the stable
or the kings on their
camels.
In real life it wasn't quite that
way.
Let me read Luke's account of
Mary's visit with Gabriel for
us
and then I want to see if I
can help us
more accurately appreciate
what was really going
on.
LUK 1:26 Now in the sixth
month the angel Gabriel was
sent from God to a city in
Galilee, called Nazareth, [27]
to a virgin engaged to a man
whose name was Joseph, of
the descendants of David;
and the virgin's name was
Mary. [28] And coming in, he
said to her, "Hail, favored
one! The Lord is with you."
[29] But she was greatly
troubled at this statement,
and kept pondering what
kind of salutation 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
name Him Jesus. [32] "He
will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Most
High; and the Lord God will
give Him the throne of His
father David; [33] and He
will reign over the house of
Jacob forever; and His
kingdom will have no end. "
[34] And Mary said to the
angel, "How can this be,
since I am a virgin?" [35]
And the angel answered and
said to her, "The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will
overshadow you; and for
that reason the holy
offspring shall be called the
Son of God. [36] "And
behold, even your relative
Elizabeth has also conceived
a son in her old age; and she
who was called barren is
now in her sixth month. [37]
"For nothing will be
impossible with God." [38]
And Mary said, "Behold, the
bondslave of the Lord; be it
done to me according to your
word." And the angel
departed from her.
There is a lot more going on
here in this passage
than we often realize.
Here is Mary, evidently alone
in the house,
probably going about the
daily routines of life.
Maybe she was cleaning up
the breakfast dishes,
maybe she was cooking
something for dinner.
Then all of the sudden this
thing comes in the door.
Now you need to realize that
angelic appearances
were no more common in 1st
Cent. Nazareth
than they are in 20th cent.
Soldotna.
We have no idea what Gabriel
looked like -
we only know that Mary had
no question
about his authority
or his credentials.
This was not the new fellow
who just moved in down the
block
wanting to borrow a cup of
sugar.
This creature was clearly
supernatural.
He may not have even had
human form,
but if he did, it was human
form that commanded attention
and absolute authority.
I think Mary's first reaction
was probably absolute
terror.
And I think the terror was
intensified
by the fact that Gabriel did
not just appear in the room,
as he would if a person were
having a vision,
but he actually "came into
the room".
Clearly this guy was real,
he wasn't human, but he
was real.
Gabriel speaks immediately,
knowing that he must quiet
Mary's fear -
and he says,
"Hail, favored one! The
Lord is with you."
This greeting doesn't
altogether relieve the tension
because Luke's next
comment tells us that,
Mary was greatly troubled
at this statement, and kept
pondering what kind of
salutation this might be.
She was also pondering what
sort of creature this might be
and what in the world he
was doing in her living room.
So Gabriel tries again. This
time he says,
"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
name Him Jesus. [32] "He
will be great, and will be
called the Son of the Most
High; and the Lord God will
give Him the throne of His
father David; [33] and He
will reign over the house of
Jacob forever; and His
kingdom will have no end. "
And the next thing Mary says
is for me
one of the most revealing
statements
in this whole account.
She very wisely asks for some
clarification.
But it is not clarification
about the incredible career of
this promised son,
it is clarification about the
one point
that has the power to alter
her life forever.
She asks for more information
about just exactly when and
how she will become pregnant
with this son.
She said, "How can this be
since I am a virgin?"
And the angel's response
brought the answer
that would change her life
forever.
And the angel answered and
said to her, "The Holy Spirit
will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will
overshadow you; and for
that reason the holy
offspring shall be called the
Son of God.
Mary, you are going to
become pregnant
supernaturally
before you and Joseph are
married.
And at this point Mary had no
illusions
about what was being asked
of her by this angel.
She was being told that God
had selected her
for the greatest honor any
woman would ever receive,
and all it would cost her
is her reputation,
her honor,
her standing in the
community
and very likely
her marriage and future
husband.
When she walked down the
street
several months before her
wedding
obviously pregnant
she knew what people
would think,
and what they would say.
"Oh! would you look at that!
And she seemed like such a
nice girl, too."
"I wonder how long she and
that boy have been messing
around?"
"She sure had us fooled, huh?"
For obvious reasons,
no one believed her story,
not even Joseph.
And really, who could blame
them.
Picture yourself a Senior in
High School,
and this girl you know
well
and really respect gets
pregnant.
She takes you aside and says,
"I want you to know this
isn't really what it looks like -
God Himself has brought
this about."
I don't think so!
And when Joseph consented
to go ahead with the wedding
as planed,
it was taken as his
admission of guilt as well.
There are evidences in
Scripture
that a cloud of gossip and
scandal
hung over Mary and
Joseph and Jesus
for the rest of their
earthly lives
because more than 30 years
latter
when Jesus was being
attacked by some of His
enemies,
one of the accusations they
through at Him in John 8:41
was the words,
We were not born of
fornication...
Mary knew all too well
the social implications of
what was being asked of her.
She knew that her agreement
to the plan
presented by this being
would mean tremendous
loss
and pain
and misunderstanding.
And, when this teenage girl
responded to the angel's
message
by saying simply,
"Behold, the bondslave of the
Lord; be it done to me
according to your word.",
she knew exactly what she
was saying
and she was till willing to trust
her God.
We miss so much sometimes
when we coat the Biblical
record
in layers of tradition
and fantasy.
We've done that with Mary,
and in the process lost so
much
that her life
and her example has to share
with us.
Do you know what I hear
Mary saying to us through her
example?
1. I hear her saying that there
will be times when we will do
the right thing
and no one will understand.
There are times when we will
do the hard thing
and our right choices will
actually make life harder.
There are times when God will
say something to us
that He has not said to
anyone else
and we will be asked to
choose obedience simply
because we trust Him.
2. But there is something else I
see being illustrated through
Mary as well.
I see her life telling us that
the hardest choices in our life
are the ones that open us up
to the deepest relationship
with our Lord.
I don't know why God
designed the entrance of His
Son into the world
in a way that cost Mary and
Joseph their reputations,
but I do know that their
willingness
to be obedient to His plan
gave them the privilege of
knowing Jesus
as no other human beings
in human history have
known Him.
And I think
during those times when
Jesus was still a boy
and the gossip still went on,
Mary could look at this
amazing child
and draw incredible strength
from what they shared
together
and know it was well worth
whatever the cost.
If anyone ever tries to tell you
that right choices always
make things
turn out making you look
good,
or that right choices
always make life easier for
you,
remember Mary,
and remember, too, that our
God does not promise to make
life easier,
He only promises He will
never leave us
and never forsake us
each step of the way.