Scripture: Luke 1:26-38
It was all so – well, implausible – all so, impossible. God asked Mary to take a risk on the behalf of God. God asked Mary, a simple teenager from a very typical family – God asked Mary, to carry the Son of God into the world... and Mary said, “Yes.” It seems so simple, so innocent – but it wasn’t. God, via an angel, asked Mary to believe in the impossible, to believe that she was going to carry the son of God, be the mother of God made flesh. It is one of the most debated assertions of the New Testament. The truthfulness of the assertion is not only the foundation of traditional Christianity, but also one of the main obstacles many people have with Christianity.
So, Mary’s faith in God is not to be understated. It was not simple or innocent – but I believe it was easy.
Mary had a deep faith and trusted instinctively in a God who could do the impossible. The question we have to ask ourselves, just days before we celebrate God’s gift to us, is – “Would we say ‘yes’ to God no matter how impossible the question may be?
Today's scripture is a story of biblical impossibilities. So ask yourself this, what are the impossibilities in our world? What would you label “impossible” in your life? Peace on earth? Impossible. Overcoming an addiction? Impossible. Truly loving others as much as we love ourselves? Impossible. Changing our consumption oriented celebration of Christmas to a more compassionate celebration that practices charitable giving to those who are truly in need? Impossible.
God asked Mary to take a risk on the behalf of God. God asked Mary, a simple teenager from a very typical family – God asked her, to carry the Son of God into the world. God ask us the same thing. It may not come with the pomp and circumstance of an angel, but God is asking the same thing of us. Will we say ‘yes’ to God’s call to, like Mary, carry God into a world that is longing for hope, love, joy and peace?”
More people die everyday from lack of access to clean water than of anything else. It is estimated that it would cost a whopping 10 billion dollars to give every one in the world access to clean drinking water. Anyone remember how much we just bailed out the economic and finance companies in the US for? 700 billion. For less than 2% of the money we gave to the industry that helped put us in this predicament, we could put an end to the one thing that kills more people every day than anything else. Anyone remember how much the congress almost gave to the auto industry and the White House is still considering? 14 billion. Any one want to guess how much we Americans spend on Christmas every year? 450 billion. Instead of ties we will never wear, toasters or vacuums we didn't want, video games that will be out of date in 6 months, we could take a tiny portion of the money we would spend (barely more than 2%) and save the more than 95,000 people who die every day from causes related to unclean water.
That is just one example of things that might seem impossible that we as Christians have to stop dismissing as pipe dreams. The fact is, we worship a God of the impossible, a God who brought change into the world through the most unlikely person – a young, poor, unmarried teenage girl. This God of the impossible would do the impossible; God, wrapped in the injured flesh of humanity, saved the world not by might, not by earthly power, but through love as Jesus laid down his life so that we might live. In Jesus God proved once and for all that with God nothing, nothing is impossible.
Mary had a deep faith and trusted instinctively in a God who could do the impossible. The question we have to ask ourselves, just days before we celebrate God’s gift to us, is – “Would we say ‘yes’ to God no matter how impossible the question may be?”
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