Women of Christmas/Mary

Dec 10

I read the first chapter of Luke a few weeks ago and ever since I have had Luke 1:45 on repeat in my mind and heart.

“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her. “

This beautiful verse I have glossed over many times was spoken by Elizabeth when Mary came to visit her. Mary was Elizabeth’s relative, most likely the relationship was Elizabeth was an Aunt to Mary, and when Mary came the baby inside of Elizabeth (John the Baptist) leapt. I can imagine Elizabeth, having heard the news of Mary’s miraculous pregnancy, while living her own miracle with the baby growing inside of her, putting together all the pieces of the larger puzzle that was her life story.

Suddenly she sees God’s plan and his perfect timing in answering her prayer to be a mother and to be used by him. Hearing of Mary’s pregnancy would have been further affirmation that God was working in her life and what he had said to Zechariah in the temple would indeed come true. This babe growing in her womb would survive and he would be used by God as a fore runner to the Messiah.

Joy burst from within Elizabeth at the work of God evidenced in her life and she greets Mary with this proclamation; there is blessing for those who believe in God’s promises, fulfilled.

I am currently living in the midst of some answered prayers. For 8 years I have been dreaming of a Giveback Cafe. A place where the community comes together to fight against human trafficking through awareness and their purchasing habits creating support and opportunities for survivors and those vulnerable.

The vision God gave hasn’t changed. We have pursued opened doors for this cafe, and had very public setbacks. Yet, year after year, we have still felt called to pursue this vision as a way communities can come together to actively and sustainably fight against injustice.

Over the years I have cried and prayed and wondered if I am crazy, if this vision was indeed from God and if it ever would come to fruition. The beginning of 2020 I felt the nudge to step out again, to pursue this cafe again, and God matched my tentative, hesitant steps with his sure will and has begun to fulfill the things he has spoken.

I want to transport myself back in time and cry happy tears with Elizabeth and proclaim Luke 1:45, “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her.” We have walked in belief and he is fulfilling. My heart bursts gratitude and praise.

Elizabeth wasn’t the only one who was blessed and believed in Luke chapter 1. Nestled in between Elizabeth and Zechariah’s story of John’s birth announcement and the visit of Mary to her Aunt Elizabeth’s home we get to see a glimpse of young Mary and her surrender and belief in a God who does the impossible. An angel appears to Mary, maybe she was doing mundane house work and this man comes and greets her in a way that perplexes her;

“Greetings favored woman! The Lord is with you. “

What kind of greeting was this? The angel, knowing her inner distress, quickly assures her to not be afraid she has found favor with God and will conceive a child named Jesus. He will be great, the Son of the Most High, who will sit on the throne of David and whose Kingdom will not end. Mary asks a logical question, her mama taught her about the birds and the bees. How can she become pregnant if she had never been with a man? The angel explains she will become pregnant by the power of the Holy Spirit for nothing is impossible with God. Mary yields her will, submitting her life, her dreams, her plans, her reputation all to be a part of God’s plan.

“I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary, “May it be done to me according to your word.”

The minute Mary yields herself to God’s plan her whole life changes. She risks her reputation, she gives up her dreams of what the beginning of her marriage would look like. She even risks her very life as having sex without being married back then would have led to a life of prostitution at best and death at worst. We know Mary was a teenager and the amount of faith and trust in God she demonstrated reminds me again of the times when Jesus calls us to have faith like a child.

It is easy for us to look back on Mary and picture her angelic, on a monument, the mother of Jesus. Or to see her quiet and calm in a nativity scene. These pictures can separate us from her humanness, from the reality that she was like you and I. From internalizing this truth; God wants to work in our lives like he worked in Mary’s.

I know an angel isn’t showing up at your door and asking you to carry a baby conceived of the Holy Spirit, but if you are a follower of Jesus he has put the very Spirit of God in us. He has specific tasks for you and I to do and he is asking for our surrendered obedience to follow where he leads.

And like Mary, when we follow God by faith and in surrender our choice to risk (or not) will reveal the amount of trust we have in our God. For Mary it doesn’t look like she even hesitated, she believed in a God who does impossible things and she trusted him with her whole self. She said yes, I am yours, may it be done to me according to your word.

The question for each of us is, what is God asking me to do and what are the risks associated with it? Maybe an even more important question, do I trust God enough to move forward in faith and risk?

When we move forward in faith following God, we become controversial. The things God asks us to do, they will be outside of human ways or understanding, even outside of human ways and understanding within religious tradition. Following Jesus by faith and adhering to religion are often two very different things. Look at Mary, the religious of her day would have stoned her and she had done nothing wrong except make herself available to God.

We may not be birthing the Son of the Most High but we do have the Spirit of the Most High alive within us and we are commissioned to sit with him and out of the overflow of our relationship with him, share who he is with those around us.

To be a part of God’s work more often than not means saying yes to the impossible and being willing to sacrifice and risk. The good news is, God can be trusted and like Elizabeth said so well; “Blessed is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill what he has spoken to her”.

If you believe God today, that he is able to accomplish the promises he has whispered in the quiet recesses of your heart, you are blessed by your belief and you can be sure our Faithful God will in his perfect timing bring what he has promised to fulfillment. Be encouraged my Elizabeth and Mary, how they were blessed by believing.