“SLEEP
AND LIVE IN HEAVENLY PEACE”
LUKE 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel
was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose
name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary.
28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings,
favored one! The Lord is with you."
29 But she was much perplexed by his
words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
30 The angel said to her, "Do not
be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And now, you will conceive in your
womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.
32 He will be great, and will be called
the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.
33 He will reign over the house of
Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
34 Mary said to the angel, "How can
this be, since I am a virgin?"
35 The angel said to her, "The Holy
Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy;
he will be called Son of God.
36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.
37 For nothing will be impossible
with God."
38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the
servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.
So,
are you having fun yet? This is the season where you spend a lot of time dashing
through the snow to get everything ready for the big day. It’s a season
of Christmas cards and credit cards, long lines and deadlines, bedlam and Bethlehem. In fact, at some point I bet you’re going to feel the same way a mother did
when she went Christmas shopping one day with her two little children. After
trudging through store after crowded store and listening to her children beg for every toy they saw the poor mother was all
tuckered out. Finally, as she stood in a checkout line with her arms full of boxes, bundles and bags she couldn’t take
it any longer. “You know,” she said to no one in particular, “I sure would like to get my hands on the guy
who invented this whole Christmas thing.”
Now, she wasn’t talking about the star and stable part of Christmas, although that wasn’t exactly a walk
in the park either. The baby Jesus may have slept that night in heavenly peace,
but Mary and Joseph had to deal with a lot of stress in the months leading up to that sacred miracle. It may have been an honor to be the parents of God’s only begotten son, but it was also a little
nerve wracking. You see it in Mary when the angel Gabriel told her that she was going to be the mother of the long awaited
messiah. At first, Mary wasn’t sure it was an honor that she wanted to
accept. “How can this be?” she gasped. You see because Mary and Joseph weren’t officially married yet, Mary knew that people were going
to snicker and sneer when they found out she was “great with child.”
If you think it was hard for Mary think about poor Joseph. The news must
have been a shock for him too. In fact he was so troubled by Gabriel’s announcement that his first thought was to quietly
divorce Mary. Fortunately, Gabriel talked him out of doing that. Gabriel reassured
Joseph that it wasn’t because Mary had been unfaithful to him. Instead,
it was part of God’s plan.
So,
Mary and Joseph were under a lot of stress in the months leading up to the birth of God’s only begotten son. With Mary though a lot of the stress went away when she uttered a single simple sentence. After thinking everything over, a humble and hopeful Mary said, “Let
it be with me according to your word.”
That’s
all it took for Mary to find a little peace while all that chaos was swirling around her.
That’s all it took for Mary to find a little peace while all those questions were swirling around in her head.
Maybe that’s why people are so stressed out these days. It happens
when you get out of synch with God and the way God wants you to live your life. That’s a problem; especially around
this time of year. There’s so much that pulls you away from the blessings that are waiting for you in that Bethlehem
stable. Instead of peace on earth and goodwill to men, the theme for the season
seems to be, “He who dies with the most toys wins.”
That
way of thinking can be seen in a comment that a man made when he invited a friend to attend a Christmas party at his apartment. “My wife and I live on the seventh floor,” the man said. “Apartment
D. Just get on the elevator and push the button with your elbow.” The friend
was a little confused when he heard that. “I don’t understand,”
he said. “Why do I have to push the button with my elbow.” “Well,” the man said with a little bit
of astonishment in his voice. “You’re certainly not going to empty-handed are you?”
Here’s
another example. Have you seen the Dunkin Donut’s commercial about getting back into the holiday spirit? It shows a couple of frazzled shoppers pushing their way through a crowded mall. It’s obvious that
they’re weary and worn out. Discouraged and disillusioned. Everything changes though when they walk out of a Dunkin Donuts store with a couple of peppermint cappuccinos. Now everything is different. They’re
not stressed out any longer. Now they’re relaxed and rejoicing. Suddenly
all is calm and all is bright. The commercial boldly says that’s what you
need to get back into the holiday spirit. All you have to do is buy Dunkin Donut’s peppermint cappuccino. Since I don’t drink coffee I guess that means I’m doomed.
I’m never going to experience the sheer joy of this Christmas season.
By the
way, it should be pointed out that it isn’t just the countdown to Christmas that can put you out of synch with God and
the way God wants you to live your life. It can happen at any time during the
year. It happens when God says turn the other cheek and we say, “No way Lord. I’m not going to let anyone walk
all over me.” It happens when God says forgive those who trespass against you and we say, “No way Lord. Not after what she did to me.” It happens when God says the first shall be last and the last shall
be first and we say, “Come on Lord. That’s silly. Everyone knows
that it’s better to be on top looking down rather the bottom looking up.”
It happens when things become more important than people.
Mary’s
encounter with Gabriel raises a question that each and everyone of us has to answer.
Am I in synch with God and the way God wants me to live my life? All
it takes to make the stress go down and your peace of mind go up is to do what Mary did that day. You let go of the need to be successful, the need to be popular, the need to be in charge, the need to
accumulate the most toys. You let go of all of that and you say what Mary said. Lord
let it be with me according to Your word. Let it be with me according to your
wisdom. Let it be with me according to Your will.
When
you do that, you’ll avoid the mistake that the director of a Sunday School Christmas pageant made one year. The mistake
actually gave the Christmas pageant an interesting twist. It seems the director decided it would be a good idea to symbolize
the radiance of the Christ child by putting a 40 watt light bulb in the manager. The
plan was to turn of all the stage lights off at the end of the pageant so people could see the heavenly glow coming from the
manger. Unfortunately, when the pageant was performed the child in charge of the lights got confused and turned out all the
lights. After a couple of anxious moments of complete darkness one of the children
on the stage said in a very loud whisper, “Hey! You switched off Jesus!”
Advent
can be a time of great stress or a time when you switch him back on and find a little more peace in your life. That’s
why it’s so important to make that journey to the stable in Bethlehem. That’s why it’s so important to prepare him room in our hearts. That’s why it’s so important to put our egos aside and simply say, “Lord, let it be with
me according to Your word.” It worked for Mary. It can work for you too. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes
December 5, 2004
