Those Who Dream . . . Are Not Alone

Luke 1:26-45 Common English Bible

When Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a city in Galilee, to a virgin who was engaged to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David’s house. The virgin’s name was Mary. When the angel came to her, he said, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” She was confused by these words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. The angel said, “Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you. Look! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. He will rule over Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How will this happen since I haven’t had sexual relations with a man?”

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come over you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore, the one who is to be born will be holy. He will be called God’s Son. Look, even in her old age, your relative Elizabeth has conceived a son. This woman who was labeled ‘unable to conceive’ is now six months pregnant. Nothing is impossible for God.”

Then Mary said, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be with me just as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

Mary got up and hurried to a city in the Judean highlands. She entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. With a loud voice she blurted out, “God has blessed you above all women, and he has blessed the child you carry. Why do I have this honor, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. Happy is she who believed that the Lord would fulfill the promises he made to her.”

Last week we celebrated with Mary as she sang her song of praise to God:

With all my heart I glorify the Lord!

    In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.

Mary is filled with JOY as she and her cousin Elizabeth celebrate all that God is doing in their lives.

But it didn’t start that way.

This morning we take a step back and find Mary when she first encounters the angel Gabriel in Nazareth.

I am sure you remember that story

I want us to pause for a moment and imagine; that you are an artist with the desire to illustrate the Annunciation — the very moment when Mary first hears the news that she has been singled out by God. As Luke tells us: 

“Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!” . . . “Don’t be afraid, Mary. God is honoring you. Look! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of David his father. He will rule over Jacob’s house forever, and there will be no end to his kingdom.”

How would you SHOW Mary reacting to those words?

Think of how you would set the scene

What would Gabriel look like?

What about Mary?

Most of us can come up with some images in our heads

Drawn from our experience

Our expectations

But what do the Gospels tell us?

We do not know much about Mary.

Tradition has built great myths about her

At times to the point of making her almost divine.

But that is not what the gospel stories suggest.

Instead, we find an innocent young girl who encounters an angel.

What do we know about Mary?

That is an interesting question and many people have attempted to tell us

Matthew Henry writing almost 300 years ago, and still a very popular commentary in many circles writes:

Her name was Mary, the same name as Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron. Her name signifies being exalted, and a great elevation it was to her indeed to be favored above all the daughters of the house of David.

She was a daughter of the royal family, descended from David, and she herself and all her friends knew it, even though she was poor and low in the world. . .  She was a virgin, a pure unspotted one, but espoused to one of the same royal stock - like her, however, of low estate; so that upon both accounts there was an equality between them.

Christ’s mother was a virgin because He was not to be born by ordinary means, but miraculously. It was necessary that he should be so that though He had the nature of man, He had none of the corruption of that nature.

She lived in Nazareth, a city of Galilee, a remote corner of the country, and with no reputation for religion or learning. The city bordered upon non-Jewish lands and therefore was called Galilee of the Gentiles. Christ’s living there suggests the grace coming for the Gentile world.

The angel was sent to Mary of Nazareth. Note that no distance or disadvantage of the place shall be prejudice to those for whom God has favored in store. The angel Gabriel carries his message as cheerfully to Mary and Nazareth in Galilee as to Zacharias in the temple at Jerusalem.

There is a lot there, much, however, that is not found in the actual Gospels.

A careful reading of the New Testament leaves us with more questions about Jesus’ mother than answers. 

Mary is a relatively minor character in the Gospels—mentioned only a couple dozen times, often unnamed and usually silent. 

How did this unassuming figure come to be the most important woman in the Christian church?

And that is the challenge --- 

Mary has been re-created to fill the needs of those who want to see her as more than the Gospels portray.

Yet, there are some things that become abundantly clear from Luke’s telling of this story.

Mary lived in Galilee --- about 90 miles north of Bethlehem and Jerusalem 

(Bethlehem was about 5 miles south of Jerusalem although today you never leave the city)  

She was a “virgin” --- which becomes important for a number of reasons, but not necessarily the ones we have been taught.

Because she was a virgin and engaged to be married, most assume that she was probably a very young girl, maybe even an early teenager (12 or 13) --- but that is speculation.

In both Luke and Matthew, it is Joseph who is from the house of David and gives credence to the Davidic decent of Jesus.

We also learn in Matthew that Joseph is a carpenter --- really a craftsman (the Greek work is tekton), but we know almost nothing else about him.

We should find it interesting that Mary is from Nazareth in the Galilee.

This was a tiny town --- maybe a couple hundred people --- literally at the end of the earth.

There are some who would not have considered Galileans as “real” Jews --- and it wasn’t until the time of Herod that Galilee came back into the fold of Judea --- prior to that the inhabitants had been dispersed and other peoples had been moved into the area --- all courtesy of the Assyrian conquest in 721 BCE.

Even in the New Testament there was concern about Nazareth when Nathaniel asks in John’s Gospel: “Can anything good come from Nazareth?”

So, what must it have been like for Mary to encounter an angel?

Our theme this advent season has been Those Who Dream

• We have looked at the dream of the followers of Jesus who are filled with hope and possibility
• We have looked at the dream of John --- preparing the way for the kin-dom of God
• We have looked at the dream of Mary --- one of great joy and expectation

Today we look at the role we play in each other’s dreams through the story of Mary and Elizabeth.

Why does Mary say YES to God?

That is a question I often ponder

Or maybe the real question is --- would I have said YES to God if God came to me as God did to Mary?

As a white male --- living an upper middle-class life --- I know that I cannot even pretend to understand the challenges that this invitation from God posed to Mary.

To be pregnant and unmarried in 1st century Judea was unthinkable.

Worse yet, to claim that you were impregnated by God or the Holy Spirit?

As we look at the “annunciation” and the “Magnificat” in Luke’s gospel it is clear that Mary could not have fulfilled the dream of bearing the son of God with out the help and support of others.

When Joseph finds out that Mary is pregnant (by another man he assumes) Joseph being a righteous man --- didn’t want to humiliate her, so he decided to call off their engagement quietly.

But he doesn’t

Because according to Matthew: 

an angel from the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child she carries was conceived by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you will call him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

I am not sure I would find much solace in such an encounter --- my wife/fiancé is pregnant, and I am not the dad.

But it wasn’t just Joseph who stood by Mary --- so too did her cousin Elizabeth --- Luke tells us:

Elizabeth and Zachariah had no children because Elizabeth was unable to become pregnant and they both were very old. 

Elizabeth stands with Mary and affirms her dream.

Judith Jones in her commentary writes:

“By greeting Mary with honor, Elizabeth overturns social expectations. Mary is an unmarried pregnant woman. She might expect social judgment, shame, even ostracism from her older kinswoman. Yet Elizabeth knows from her own experience the cost of being shamed and excluded. In her culture a woman’s primary purpose in life was to bear children, so as an elderly, infertile wife she had endured a lifetime of being treated as a failure. . . . Elizabeth continues the pattern of social reversal by opening her arms and her home to a relative whom her neighbors would expect her to reject.  Instead of shaming Mary, she welcomes, blesses, and celebrates her, treating her as more honorable than herself. . . . 

Mary’s Magnificat emerges only after she visits Elizabeth. 

Her joy and confidence emerges and is sustained through the support of her cousin.

Elizabeth confirms that the dream and promise is real.

Joseph and Elizabeth both assured her that she was not alone.

And not only are they not alone --- but God’s choice of both Mary and Elizabeth demonstrates clearly that God stands with those who are marginalized and are deemed worthy of God’s love and purpose.

Mary and Elizabeth’s witness teaches us is that solidarity emerges when we share a dream that forces us into pondering what God intends for AND requires of us. 

And if you listen carefully to Mary’s song; it is clear that it is proclaiming good news for the lowly and the marginalized

Judith Jones continues:

Elizabeth’s words and actions invite us to reflect on our own openness to the ways that God chooses to act in our world. What is God doing through unexpected people in our society today? Where is God at work through people whom our neighbors and fellow church members often exclude or treat as shameful? Will we listen to the Spirit’s prompting when the bearers of God’s new reality show up on our doorstep?”

Great question!

Yesterday at the Gathering of Men the topic was on our dreams --- what are our dreams for Meridian Street Church in 2021 and beyond?

It was interesting that all of the dreams that were shared were about helping others.

Someone said that they were not an influential speaker but they tried to help people through his actions --- like helping with habitat or neighborlink --- but what was fascinating is that when someone would say that they were “just a volunteer” he said that he would explain how they were so much more. 

--- Influential speaker indeed!

Those who dream . . . are never alone!

We must affirm and share in each other’s dreams!

But what seemed to get everyone excited was a dream that was shared earlier in the week at the meeting about housing issues in Indianapolis.

I understand that Clarke Campbell shared that he dreamed of Meridian Street buying an apartment building to house our neighbors.

WOW!

Bobby Kennedy, a couple of days after announcing his candidacy for president said, paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw: 

There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?

Fortunately for us --- Mary said WHY NOT

Joseph said WHY NOT

The disciples said WHY NOT

What about you?

A few days before he died, Congressman John Lewis wrote an editorial which was to be published after his death.  In this powerful letter, (which I highly recommend), he wrote:

When historians pick up their pens to write the story of the 21st century, let them say that it was your generation who laid down the heavy burdens of hate at last and that peace finally triumphed over violence, aggression and war. So I say to you, walk with the wind, brothers and sisters, and let the spirit of peace and the power of everlasting love be your guide.

May we have the courage of Mary, the compassion of Elizabeth, and the passion of John to remake the world in the image of God.

A dream driven by grace and compassion and not power.

Benediction

As you go,

May you have the strength to dream

wild dreams of justice, and peace, and joy that overflows.

May you have the humanity to listen

to the dreams of others.

May you have the confidence to trust

that the God who heard the cries of the Israelites in Egypt hears your dreams as well.

And may you have the conviction to return

to this space, for our best dreams are those we dream together.

In the name of God the original dreamer,

Jesus the dream come true,

and the Holy Spirit who enables us to be those who dream,

go in peace, go in love. Amen.