Bible Text:

Mary may be the most revered female religious figure in history. Some people admire her; some honor her deeply; some worship her. Then there was the story of that seeming female image on a 10-year-old toasted cheese sandwich, which has created quite a stir. That one-half cheese sandwich with a bite out of one corner sold on E-bay a few weeks ago for $28,000! Mary’s story is a whole lot more than some presumed image on a toasted cheese sandwich. 

The story of Mary is the story of a beautiful trust in God. Wouldn’t you like to have the simple trust of Mary? Mary was poor. We would even say she was dirt poor. She wasn’t starvation poor, but she probably had to live from day to day or from hand to mouth. Mary was a woman. She was a woman in a time of very little value for women in a patriarchal culture. Mary was young, perhaps 15 years old or so. That’s not a bad age, but she probably did not seem to have enough life experience to share worthy thoughts with adults. Mary was unmarried. She was a single girl. So to be told, “You will become pregnant” was not only a distinct embarrassment, but it also had potentially catastrophic implications. 

Yet Mary’s response to the angel (after asking one key question) was simply this: “Oh. Okay. Let it be to me as you have spoken.” 

Mary was only a girl, but she knew something unique was happening here. She was not sophisticated theologically. But she was wise beyond her years. She was not schooled in the way of angels. But she knew enough to listen to angels, especially one that had a name. 

Perhaps she was a bit like Joan of Arcadia on the television series. She knew that angels were God’s messengers. Mary knew who was calling her. 

There’s a story about a minister who received a phone call very late one evening. The voice of an elderly woman on the other end of the line said, “May I speak to Martha, please?” 

“There is no one here by that name,” the minister replied. Click! The phone went dead. 

A few seconds later the phone rang again. It was the same lady. “May I speak to Martha, please?” Again the minister replied, “There is no one here by that name.” Click! The phone went dead a second time. 

Only a few seconds later, the phone rang a third time. “May I speak to Martha, please?” The minister replied, using all the restraint he could muster, “Lady, there is no one here by that name. Maybe you are dialing the wrong number.” 

“Listen, sonny,” the lady replied. “I am not dialing the wrong number. You are answering the wrong phone!” 

Mary knew the voice of the one who addressed her. She knew God was speaking. Mary is the Biblical image of absolute trust in God. 

Many of us would like that kind of trust. How do we achieve it? How do we get to that level of trust? What do we learn from Mary’s story? What is Luke trying to tell us? Remember that Luke is not only a formidable historian, but he’s also a good preacher. 

What made it possible for Mary to trust God? Let me suggest a few answers that come from her story. 

SHE EMPTIED HERSELF 

First of all, Mary could empty herself. Mary’s life was refreshingly uncluttered. 

To really experience God, you have to unclutter a bit. You turn off the computer. E-mail won’t work here. There is no craftily designed search engine that will get this done. You turn off the cell phone. (Part of the reason we ask you to turn off cell phones in worship here is to give you the best opportunity to hear the voice of God.) You turn off the pager. There is not some kind of divine “signal” out there. 

In the world of instant mail, there is a code word that is simply “F2F.” In instant mail terminology, it means “face-to-face.” To be truly able to trust God, to have some kind of face-to-face meeting with God, you have to empty yourself. 

A number of you here have been on the Walk to Emmaus. I have never done it yet. I hope to do so sometime this spring. I’ve talked to many of you who have been on the Walk. You return to talk of a unique and special time with God. That unique and special time is partly achieved with a few simple directions: you leave your car, your watch, your cell phone, and your laptop at home. It’s time to be alone with God—maybe even time to have F2F—face-to-face. 

Mary knew the secret. She emptied herself. Yes, it was probably easier for her than it is for us. She didn’t have a whole lot to set aside. We have to work at it.  

A man by the name of Bill McKibben tells a story about Christmas where in his local church, they imposed a $100 limit. They called it a “$100 Holiday.” Nobody was allowed to spend more than $100 for Christmas. McKibben said, “This was not about simplification, but about receiving the joy. Then he added these words: 

It wasn’t because we wanted a simpler Christmas. It was because we wanted a more joyous Christmas… a story that should be full of giddy joy could hardly break through to our hearts amid all the rush and fuss of the season. [We spent] less time buying gifts and more time enjoying music, companionship, contemplation, and love… reading stories to children, making sausages, babysitting, taking pictures and carving walking sticks…discovering that Christmas can be full of giddy joy. 

Trust in God comes with some disciplined self-emptying. 

SIGNING AWAY RIGHTS 

Mary also signed away her rights. Again, this is a tough call. Mary had few rights, so it wasn’t as hard for her. She could say more easily, “Okay, God, use me any way you choose.” 

But we have rights. And we want to preserve those rights. Some level of entitlement is important to us. I am entitled to a fair wage. I am entitled to good medical benefits. I am entitled to an adequate pension which attains at least 70% of my current income while still working. I am entitled to a new car every few years. I am entitled to a comfortable home of my own. 

Mary’s story tells us that entitlement is gone when God appears. 

A clergy colleague tells a story of being on a commuter flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco a few years ago. It was a Monday morning. Many executives were on board. Many of them had appointments with tight deadlines in the San Francisco Bay area. Here’s how he describes the experience. 

We were soon airborne and settled down for the hour-long flight. But as we were approaching San Francisco, the captain’s voice came over the intercom with the news that all three major airports—San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose—were socked in by dense fog. We would circle while waiting for the ceiling to lift so we could gain clearance for a landing. Well, we circled, and circled, and circled, for three hours. Meanwhile, the air-to-land telephone on board the plane was in constant use by harried executives late for appointments and meetings. The plane continued to circle. And with each circle the frustration of the passengers mounted and their complaints grew louder.

Finally the captain announced that we were being diverted to Reno, where we would land and wait for the airports to open. The Reno airport terminal was a zoo, since our plane was only one of many that had been re-routed. By now it was 1:00 p.m., and no one had much patience left. Men who were used to predictable agendas, who prided themselves on calling the shots and making things happen, who gave orders that brought an immediate response, were a study in exasperation. Some, taking matters into their own hands, rented cars and drove to San Francisco—fuming all the way, I am sure.

One particularly distraught man at the gate shouted at the airline’s Reno representative (who was trying to bring order out of chaos): “Why can’t you do something about this? Do you realize how much of my valuable time you are wasting? I warn you, someone is going to answer for this!” The representative, with a wry smile, raised her eyes and lifted her hands toward the heavens as she replied, “I suggest, sir, that you take that up with God.”[i] 

I am reminded of John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer—words he taught his follower to pray, “Put me with whom you will, rank me with whom you will.” Any presumed entitlement is cast aside.

A NEW KIND OF POWER 

Mary was also open to a new kind of power. That power was represented in her song, now called “The Magnificat,” in which she says, “He has put down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of low degree.” Mary discovered a new kind of power operative in God’s new Kingdom. 

Oswald Chambers writes, “The weakest believer who transacts business with Jesus is liberated the second he or she acts, and God’s power is available in that person.”[ii] 

Is this not why Paul says, “God is able through His power to do through us far more than we can imagine”? (See Eph. 3:20-21) 

Mary was given a power far beyond anything on her own. The power of God invaded her because she let it happen. Trusting God will do that! 

When you are able to trust God, a new kind of power flows. And it flows in all circumstances. I watched in absolute fascination an interview one morning this past week between Tim Russert and Susan St. James. Susan St. James and her husband, Dick Ebersol lost their 14-year-old son, Teddy in a freak airplane accident. Dick himself was seriously hurt. Their older son had pulled him to safety, but Teddy had died. The more she talked with Tim Russert, the more I realized she had a power beyond herself to discuss the whole episode. Six days after her 14-year-old son was killed, Susan St. James had the power to grieve, but not to be angry. It was an inspiration to listen to her. 

We must be open to a new meaning of power. That power flows when you are young and healthy, as well as when you are old and frail. The power flows when you are in the prime of life, and it flows when you are dying. The power flows when you are alone, and when you are with others. 

And what about the church? What about the community of believers? When a community of believers is able to trust God, a new kind of power flows there as well. God is able to do through the church so much more than we imagine. 

Perhaps the reason the church has lost some of its influence today is because we have forgotten to put our trust in God. It is because we have forgotten how to simply trust God. It is because we have failed to let God empower and use us, to let God’s strategies be our strategies, to let God’s designs be our designs. To achieve Kingdom purposes, you have to use Kingdom means. 

The Advent story of Mary is about change. One writer says this; “The message of Christmas is not about charity. It is not about feeling guilty for being comfortable. It is about change. Christmas is about ordering our lives differently whether anyone else does or not." 

I especially like that last line. We don’t take our cues from the world. We take them from Mary. 

Mary teaches us. To experience complete trust in God, I have to change a few things. I have to re-order things. I have to empty myself. Maybe not all of myself, but at least some of myself. I have to give up some so-called rights. And I have to be open to a power beyond myself. This is the new way of God’s order in the world. This is the life to which God gives birth at Christmas.