In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her. (Luke 1:26-38 NIV)
We’re looking ahead to Christmas, but for a lot of people, the biggest day is already over. Know what I’m talking about? December 12th is the most important day of the year in Mexico—the day of the Virgin of Guadalupe. It’s said that on December 12, 1531, the Virgin Mary appeared to a shepherd named Juan Diego in Mexico. To prove it, she left her image on Juan Diego’s cloak. That image is called the “Virgin of Guadalupe.” Every year on December 12th, millions of people visit the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City to worship and pray to Mary. My Facebook feed was filled with people right here in Green Bay honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe.
I’ve visited dozens of beautiful Catholic churches in Mexico. When you look up at the front of the church, know who’s usually there? Mary. More often than not, in the front of Catholic churches in Mexico is Mary dressed like a queen—the Queen of Heaven. Jesus is there too, of course, but Jesus is usually in the back suffering or dying on the cross or in the tomb. The message is pretty clear: If you’re sad or suffering, Jesus understands. But if you really need help, whom do you go to? The guy bleeding on a cross or the Queen of Heaven? It’s an easy choice, isn’t it? There are a lot of ideas about Mary and Jesus, especially at Christmas. What’s the truth?
I bet Gabriel knows. Gabriel is an angel. Did you know that only two angels are given names in the Bible? Who’s the other one? Michael. Just Gabriel and Michael. God created the angels when he created the world. They haven’t been around forever, but they’ve been around a long time. Even before Jesus was born on earth, Gabriel spent thousands of years in heaven with Jesus. If we want to clear up misconceptions about Mary—and Jesus!—I bet we can learn a lot from Gabriel. “God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendent of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.”
These verses tell us just about everything we know about Mary. Her name was a common name. There are seven Marys in the Bible! Mary is the same name as Miriam —Moses’ sister long ago. You couldn’t go wrong naming your daughter after Moses’ sister! We don’t know anything about Mary’s parents. According to tradition, her mother was Anne. Ever heard of St. Anne? But Anne isn’t mentioned in the Bible. Mary was engaged to Joseph. We don’t know her age, but most young ladies in those days got engaged as teenagers. She lived a quiet life in Nazareth, until Gabriel appeared and said: “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
And Mary, of course, said. “Yeah, I know. I’m really important. It’s about time you showed up.” No! “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” Mary had no idea! She didn’t grow up expecting to be the mother of God. People can get it all twisted around when they hear that Mary was “highly favored,” or “full of grace.” Where did that “grace” come from? Did the grace in Mary’s life come from Mary or from God? From God! Mary isn’t a giver of grace. She’s a receiver of grace. God chose Mary out of the blue. By his grace, God blessed Mary to be the mother of his Son. That’s why she was “highly favored.”
So Gabriel began to describe that special Child: “He’s going to be so cute, and you’re going to wrap him up in a cuddly blanket and put him in a manger. And everyone’s going to drink hot chocolate and sing ‘Silent Night’….” At least, that’s what we expect Gabriel to say. But he doesn’t. “You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Gabriel doesn’t mention the manger at all. He gets right to the heart of who Mary’s Child is.
“You are to call him Jesus.” Know what “Jesus” means? “The Lord saves.” That’s what Jesus is all about: Saving! “He will be great…” You know the Greek word for “great,” right? It’s “mega.” This little Child is “mega”! Actually, he “will be called the Son of the Most High.” Wow! “Mary, you know the One who is higher than everything? You’re going to have his Son!” He will have “the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” That’s who this Baby in the manger is: The Forever King! Imagine if an angel said these things to you: “Your Son is going to rule as King over everyone forever!”
And Mary did something amazing. She believed it! But there was just one part that didn’t make sense. Mary was a virgin. She knew how babies come about. “‘How will this be,’ Mary asked the angel, ‘since I am a virgin?’” Gabriel explained: “The Holy Spirit will come on you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” If Jesus were going to save us, if he were going to live a perfect life and die for the sins of the world, he couldn’t be the son of Mary and Joseph. He needed to be the Son of God.
That sounds impossible, but Gabriel ended with this, “For no word from God will ever fail.” That’s quite the promise! And Mary believed it. “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” Here’s the truth about Mary: She’s not the Queen of Heaven. She doesn’t want our prayers or our praise. But she was graced by God to be Jesus’ mother, and she was blessed to believe God’s promises. Mary’s relative Elizabeth summed it up well later: “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” When you think of Mary, think of this: “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” That’s why Mary was blessed.
But the biggest misconception at Christmas isn’t actually about Mary. It’s about Jesus. That sounds strange. We know who Jesus is, right? He’s the Baby! Everybody knows that. We love the thought of a little Baby whose birth we can celebrate. But Gabriel doesn’t talk about Jesus like a Baby. Remember how he talks about Jesus? Like a King. Of everything. Of us! That’s the problem. We’re okay with a Baby. We’re not so sure about a King. Because if Jesus is King, that means that he rules. That his way goes. That I am to submit to him. Is that what we really want? No! We want to leave Jesus in the manger. We love the thought of a Baby at Christmas. Then we can move him around. Control him. We don’t want a King ruling our lives all year round!
But we know better than to leave Jesus in the manger, right? Jesus came to die on the cross. He didn’t just come to be born. He came to die! That’s absolutely true. Jesus died to take all of our sins away. But did you notice that Gabriel also doesn’t focus on the cross. Because too often we leave Jesus on the cross too. Like those churches in Mexico, with Jesus suffering, bleeding, dying in the back. Poor Jesus. We feel sorry for him. But if we leave Jesus on the cross, we miss Gabriel’s message. The cross wasn’t Jesus’ final destination either. It was a throne. He’s King!
Can you see how easy it is to get Jesus all wrong? There’s this irony at Christmas. Everybody wants to celebrate Christmas. Everybody wants hope and joy and peace. We love babies in mangers and presents under trees. But understand this: If you put your faith in that Baby, you don’t get to be in control. You don’t get to live how you want to live. Because Jesus is not a cute little Baby. Jesus is not a helpless Sufferer on a cross. He’s King! And too often we don’t want a King. So we leave Jesus in the manger. Or we leave Jesus on the cross. Or we leave Jesus for Santa or elves. I’m comfortable with a Baby in a manger. I don’t want a King ruling my life.
But Gabriel’s not going to let us off the hook, because Gabriel comes with a message from our God, and “no word from God will ever fail.” Before you celebrate the Baby in the manger, God wants you to know and believe exactly who that Baby is: “He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” Jesus is the Forever King.
Jesus is the One who sits on David’s throne. Everybody in Jesus’ day loved King David. He was like the Bart Starr of Israel. Everybody looked back with fond memories about King David. And God had made David this promise: “Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). But there was a problem. David died 1000 years before Jesus. No son of David had ruled for 580 years. That promise seemed like the furthest thing from the truth. A Forever King? But remember Gabriel’s final words to Mary? “No word from God will ever fail.” And God’s Word didn’t fail. The Forever King came: Jesus.
Knowing who Jesus really is makes Christmas all the more incredible. That little Baby is the Forever King. God himself who reigned over the universe for thousands of years decided to be born of Mary to save us. Isn’t that incredible? Such humility. Such sacrifice. Such love. For us! And that Forever King—the Son of the Most High—let other little kings like Herod and Pontius Pilate sentence him to death. That Man who died on the cross is the Forever King. Jesus—the One who saves us from our sins. Know what the result is? God looks on you with grace. Just like he did on Mary. You are highly favored. Full of God’s grace in Jesus. The Lord is with you!
True peace comes from putting these two together: Jesus is our Savior and our King. Forever. The One who died to save us is the One who rules everything. Forever. That’s not a burden. That’s great news! So much better than just a Baby in a manger. Jesus is your Forever King. Not “will be King” someday. Not “is King for a little while.” Jesus is our Forever King. That means that the day of your death? In Jesus’ hands. Whom you marry—or your kids marry? In Jesus’ hands. Where you live? In Jesus’ hands. When you get better? In Jesus your Savior’s hands. Gabriel’s Christmas message is that this is who is ruling our world: Jesus our Forever King.
So this Christmas, think about Mary. The real Mary. Maybe even memorize her words: “I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” What faith in her King! God promises that Jesus came and died and rose to take our sins away. What do we say? “May your word to me be fulfilled.” God promises that he loves you, that he has chosen you, purely by his grace. What do we say? “May your word to me be fulfilled.” God promises you that Jesus Christ—the Son of Mary and the Son of God—is the Forever King who reigns over our lives. What do we say? “May your word to me be fulfilled.” “For no word from God will ever fail.” This is what we’re about to celebrate: The birth of our Forever King. Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ the Lord.
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