Fourth Sunday of Advent, 21/12/2014, Sparkford, Corton Denham
How did Mary feel when the angel told her that she was pregnant?
It’s a good question to pose at Christmastime when we recall the very human stories through which God revealed his character to the world. I think it’s safe to assume that quite a few of you here have had moments just like Mary’s moment: moments when you were told that you were pregnant. And for those of us who haven’t had that experience, it’s still a fascinating question on which to reflect, for what it might reveal to us about how God meets with people, today as in the time of Mary.
How did Mary feel when the angel told her that she was pregnant?
Now from our experiences and observations we understand that it isn’t always immediately received as good news, being told that you’re going to have a baby. It’s not just the goings-on in TV soap operas which demonstrate this; it’s the ordinary fears of everyday people, which Mary must have shared and probably some of them were magnified many times over in her experience.
Unbelief, shock, numbness; joy, satisfaction, contentment. Fear, anxiety, anticipation of change. We can be fairly sure that the young Mary, in the presence of the angel Gabriel, experienced each of these emotions, probably in rapid succession or all mixed-up together.
But a feeling of certainty too; certainty based for Mary, on the word of an angel. Mary was a young woman but a great believer. When an angel appeared to her, Mary had no doubt what was happening; when the angel told her she was going to conceive in her womb the son of the most high God Mary hesitated, but soon believed and accepted that too. Mary, like any woman who has ever been told she is pregnant, in that moment of receiving the news, had to deal with simultaneous feelings of belief and unbelief, come to a point of acceptance; and today women in that situation can draw strength and inspiration from Mary.
And then there was the question of what she would do with the news she had been given. Some would say, I had to tell him - I couldn't wait to tell him. Others might say, I couldn't tell him. I was too shocked, too scared to tell him. And others again, I had to tell him. But would he believe my story?
Easier and more joyful for those whose partners are the father, than for others with more complicated stories to tell, and especially Joseph’s intended, the virgin mother of God.
But we know what Mary did with the news she was given. She found the Spirit helping her to share it - with Joseph, with Elizabeth, with their community - knowing that their initial reactions would be shock, unbelief, even maybe anger. But trusting God to do the work in them, to help them accept the news and play a part in the glorious gestation of God which followed.
The question for us is: what do we do with with the news we are given by God at Christmas? We are ordinary believers. But then - so was Mary. The truly great thing about the Christmas gospels is that they tell a story of ordinary people, and how their lives were touched by God, in the birth of his son Jesus. We Christians believe that these gospel records show us where to find God in our own stories; these scriptures can throw light into the hidden corners of our everyday lives.
Mary, the girl that God made pregnant, gives us some of the best insights of all. And her story connects with the stories of each and every woman who today, is told she is pregnant. The ones who with their partners have been trying for years unsuccessfully for a child, and today will hear that at last their hopes have been fulfilled. The ones who are happy to be becoming parents but whose own health causes them and their carers concern about how they will cope. The ones whose pregnancy is unexpected and might be unwelcome. The poor ones who know that they will struggle to bring up a family, hoping for help to ease their situation.
Today hold each and every one of them in our prayers, and hope that whatever their circumstances, they might embrace and make their own, the prayer which Mary prayed from her heart:
‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name. …’ [Luke 1.46-55]
Now I conclude with a suggestion which might surprise you and maybe excite you or unsettle you, in the same sort of way that Mary was surprised and unsettled. Here today, I propose, I am in the role of the angel Gabriel - the messenger, bringing God’s news - and you are Mary, receiving it. The news is this, if you will believe it: that you are pregnant with God.
For the experience of Mary is the experience of all believers - when we open ourselves to God, receive God in our lives, then the Holy Spirit comes to us, and the power of the Most High overshadows us, and we find ourselves carrying the life of God in our lives, holding the heart of God in our hearts.
The message of Christmas is this: if you are a believer then into those areas of your life where there has been barrenness, God brings new life. His Holy Spirit is here with us, making things new in our hearts, souls, bodies, spirits.
And the message of Christmas is this: if you are a believer then God trusts you to nurture his life and bring it to birth in the world. How can our neighbours know about Jesus today? Only by us telling them his story. How can the world see the power of God at work today? Only by believers living lives which show God’s love to the people around, especially those most in need.
So, what do we do with with the news we are given by God at Christmas? First of all let us accept it warmly, keenly, openly. And then let us celebrate and give thanks. Let us cast our fears and concerns onto him and share that good news with others, by telling the story of how our God has come to us and woven his story together with ours. We are people of the Spirit. We are pregnant with the possibilities of God.
Note
This is a simplified version of my talk When he told me I was pregnant, preached in Devon in 2011.
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