Advent 4 B: Blessed Like Mary
Dear Partner in Preaching,
Notice one thing: before Mary says “yes,” she is blessed.
Why does this matter? Because I think it captures not only the important role Mary plays in the Gospel story but also reveals a central dynamic of the Christian life.
First, to Mary. She is regularly hailed as a model of faith for her acceptance of the role God invites her to play as the mother of Jesus. And for good reason. Throughout Luke’s Gospel, the willingness to trust the promises of God is the mark of discipleship. And so Elizabeth believes that in her old age she will nevertheless bear John, and the disciples believe they will fish for people, and the repentant thief believes Jesus is innocent and asks his blessing and so on. Similarly, Mary also believes God’s promises.
But what is it, exactly, that Mary believes? Yes, she believes Gabriel’s announcement that she will bear Jesus. But before that, she believes that God noticed her, that God favors her, that God has blessed her and has great plans for her.
And this, I think, leads us to a central dynamic not only in the Gospel but also the Christian life itself: the first, and in some ways the most important, thing we are called to believe is that God similarly notices, favors, and blesses us. And once we believe that, we can do incredible things.
Blessing, you see, is a powerful thing. And, sadly, a rare thing. We live in a world that seems geared toward rewards and punishments. Whether at work or school or even home, we have been conditioned to expect people to give us only what we deserve. But blessing operates on a different logic. Blessing is never deserved, but always a gift. Blessings intrudes into, interrupts, and ultimately disrupts our quid pro quo world to announce that someone sees us as worthy and special apart from anything we’ve done.
And perhaps because it’s so rare, it’s also hard to believe. Certainly this is true of Mary. She is perplexed by the angel’s announcement that she is favored by God. “What have I done,” Mary may wonder, “to merit God’s notice and favor.” But that’s of course just what blessing is – unmerited and undeserved regard and favor. And as the blessing sinks in, Mary is able to open herself to the work of the Holy Spirit to use her to bless the whole world through her willingness to carry Jesus.
Which is why I think it matters that we notice that before Mary says “yes,” she is blessed.
You see, here’s the thing: I think our people have a hard time believing that God favors them, too. Even that God notices them. Not on Sunday. Most of us figure God is watching us on Sunday, if only to see if we’ll make it to church. 🙂 Rather, we wonder if God even notices us, let along favors us, the rest of the week. Work, school, our home life – these can seem like such mundane things and hardly worth God’s attention. And yet in this story we hear about God noticing and blessing someone who by all accounts is a nobody in the ancient world. And when this nobody young girl believes God’s blessing and accepts God’s favor, the world begins to turn.
This is why I think this passage is so important, dear Partner, not because it lifts up Mary as the exception, but rather because it identifies her as an example of what can happen when you believe that God notices, favors, and blesses you: you may just change the world!
And so on a week when the readings are deep, when we often turn to music to help us capture their themes, when anticipation of Christmas to come is running high, I’d invite a shorter sermon. Actually, I’d counsel a really short sermon where you simply point out to folks that before Mary says “yes,” she is blessed, and then invite them to imagine that they, too, are being blessed by God – right in this very service – to be a blessing to the world. Can we do that, dear Partner? Can we announce to folks that they are highly regarded by God, that all of us, actually, are God’s favored ones called and commissioned to hear, believe, and respond to God’s blessing wherever we are?
If so, then perhaps we might invite folks to take just a moment or two to imagine where they will go this week, what they will do, whom they will meet, and how in each of these circumstances God is noticing them and blessing them so that they might be a blessing to the world. It might take a while for your people to believe this. After all, so many of the voices in our lives conspire to make us feel like nobody and nothing. But in time, if we can say it again and again, it may just sink in that God has noticed, favored, and blessed us so that we might in turn bless and change the world.
Toward helping God’s blessing sink in, I’d even invite you to consider ending the sermon – or perhaps the whole service – by re-creating some of this scene, where you might say to your folks, “Greetings, favored ones. The Lord is with you and plans to do great things through you.” In turn, your people might answer, “How can this be?” And you may answer, “Whether at work or school, whether at home or in the world, the Holy Spirit is with you and will guide you in all you do and say so that you may be a blessing to the world.” And your folks may conclude, “Let it be according to your word.”
This is a small step, Dear Partner, but perhaps an important first step of living into and bearing the blessing of God into the world this Advent and always. I appreciate so deeply your willingness to encourage us along the way, to share the good news, to play the part of God’s messenger this week and always. Thank you. Even more, thank God for you.
Yours in Christ,
David
Post image: “The Annunciation,” Henry Ossawa Tanner, 1859 – 1937 (Philadelphia Art Musuem).
LOL. I was planning a fairly short sermon this week anyway. The Sunday School kids are telling the Christmas Story as they place the figures of the nativity scene into the stable. We have all of 5 kids in Sunday School and this will be their pageant. So to keep from running too long I had already planned to preach a shorter sermon and here you are suggesting just that.
And here I find full on clear and plain gospel. God blesses us and it’s totally unearned and undeserved. But you’re so right, it’s hard to believe because our world conditions us to think that quid pro quo is the natural way of things.
We had our Christmas program last week, so I think the sermon will run more to the usual length. But I’m connecting your thoughts with the promise to Abram – “Blessed to be a blessing,” and the Davidic covenant of the 1st reading. Maybe something along the lines of “You are blessed, because God says you are and God never breaks a promise. So be that blessing in your lives.”
Thank you David for once again pointing out the grace that is evident everywhere in Scripture! We as well as Mary love because God first loves us, favors us, blesses us! And oh how badly we need to hear that especially at Christmas time! Have a merry and blessed Christmas!
This goes well with the song I was planning on using as kind of a theme. Just a Girl by Brandon Heath I think helps us look at Mary more as one of us and not someone that is completely holy. Mixing your thought with that song should provide a good learning experience for my small congregation. As always thanks for your inspiration and Merry Christmas.
This also goes well with the sermon I”m preparing, one which centers around Gabriel’s declaration that that nothing is impossible with God. Blessing, especially Mary’s, reminds us that God continues to favor and work in the world in incredible and powerful ways through the most unlikely people – people like us. Thank you again David for all you do to help those of us who stand in pulpits every Sunday doing our best to share the good news of God’s grace and blessing in a wounded and hurting world. God has favored us with you.
Good points as always, Dave. It reminded me how I struggled for a blessing from my father all my life. Finally in his frailty and end-stage renal dialysis, I found conversation with him about his WWII years and fighting in the jungles in New Guinea. He looked so forward to our conversations. One day when I was putting on my coat to leave the center, I noticed tears welling up in him. He looked at me and said, ‘You’re a good son, Ron. Thank you.” Misty-eyed and floating a bit, I left the center – blessed.
My community is reeling from the impact of tragedy as a gunman violently murdered and gravely injured a number of his ex-family members early this week. This is the context in which I read your post, David. The message the angel Gabriel speaks to Mary, “Do not be afraid, for you have found favor with God,” is exactly what we need to hear. This, paired with the questions of, “What can we do? How can we help?” led me to put your suggestions into practice on Sunday. During the sermon, I’ll talk about the week’s events and highlight the angel’s message, “Do not be afraid.” Then we’ll listen to the Pentatonix version of “Mary, Did You Know?” as everyone is encouraged to contemplate, “I am blessed by God to be a blessing to the world. God favors me. I am highly regarded by God. I am called and commissioned to hear, believe, and respond to God’s blessing wherever I am, and wherever I may go.” Then, in place of the “regular” dismissal, we’ll do this short litany:
P. Favored ones, the Lord is with you and plans to do great things through you.
C. How can this be?
P. Whether at work or school, whether at home or in the world, the Holy Spirit is with you and will guide you in all you do and say so that you may be a blessing to the world.
C. Let it be according to your word. Thanks be to God.
David, thank you for preaching the Gospel week after week, and for your inspiration to keep on pointing to the light in a dark and scary world.
Thank you David for the year’s worth of direction with the Holy Scriptures. Your words have inspired me as a pastor. I am such a common person for God to have chosen to lead and share his words. I sift through all the bigness of the words sometimes with my dictionary trying to find a common ground. May you be blessed in the coming year!
Thank you David for your words. They were great inspiration for my sermon on Sunday. After preaching on the scarcity of blessing in my sermon, I gave each person a blessing as they came up for communion. Several people commented on how powerful this was. Thank you so much for empowering me to share a word of blessing with my people.
Thank you so much for your words of encouragement. I have been studying the Luke passage of Mary and felt God was drawing me to Mary. The ending litany is just awesome and I am planning to use it this Sunday. May God Bless you!