by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 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. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 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. 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. For nothing will be impossible with God.” 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.

—Luke 1:26-38 (NRSV)

One of the curses of preaching is that most of us want to do something fresh each week, something that will astound and amaze. Of course, that is impossible, and certain times of the year remind us that well-worn shoes are more comfortable than brand new shoes. Seasonal stories that we repeat in Advent and Christmas are like well-worn shoes. They make us comfortable, kind of warm and fuzzy, every year. So, I have a well-worn story and some well-worn ideas and then a surprise to impart this morning. First the story that fits this gospel so well.

There were three fellows sitting on a bench in the park chatting with one another as guys will. They hadn’t mentioned it to each other but sitting on a bench about halfway across the park was a fellow that resembled somebody famous. Each of them kept looking over at this person as they talked and their attention was diverted more and more.

Finally, one of them spoke to the other two. “Do you see that guy over there?” His companions nodded.

“Does he look like Jesus, or what?”

Well, none of the three of them had wanted to be the first to bring it up but they all agreed he looked just like Jesus.

“Do you suppose?” “Naw, can’t be.” “Sure looks like him though.”

Well, they continued to sit on the park bench and conjecture with each other about who this person was and how much he looked like Jesus.

Finally, the Jesus lookalike stood up and began to walk towards them. In fact, he walked right up to them and stood there in front of their bench looking kindly at them. They were a bit taken-a-back.

Jesus reached over and touched Tom on his left arm and immediately Tom noticed a change. He said, “Oh my goodness, this shoulder has been stiff and sore ever since I hurt it. Now it feels great. I’ve got a full range of motion. Wow! Thanks a lot.

The next person anointed by Jesus was Bob. He was touched on his forehead. Immediately he felt different too. “You know I have just learned to live with a constant headache. I thought I would have it the rest of my life. The doctors have never been able to help me, but now I feel great! I just can’t thank you enough. This will change my life for sure.

And then Jesus looked at John. But John slid away from him and moved on down the bench. Then, continuing to move away, all excited and a little afraid he said. “Hey don’t touch me man. I’m on disability!”

The gospel this morning is incredibly familiar. Ultimately, it’s about saying yes or no to God. Is it historical or primarily metaphorical? I will let you decide the answer but first I offer a couple of thoughts.

Interestingly there is no pre-Christian Jewish tradition suggesting that the messiah would be born of a virgin. No one used the Hebrew scriptures in this way before the life of Christ. The only conceivable parallels are pagan ones, and these fiercely Jewish stories have certainly not been modeled on them. Luke would have known that telling this story ran the risk of making Jesus out to be a pagan demigod. So, here’s a question to ponder, “Why, would Luke take this risk of insisting on something so outlandish unless he believed it to be true?

At the very least, the story of Jesus' virginal conception affirms that Jesus was "born not of blood or the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God." It is a metaphorical affirmation of Jesus' identity and significance. Like the voice in the transfiguration story, it affirms, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him."

So, please let me summarize the story. The angel Gabriel is visiting Mary and giving her some interesting news. She had been sitting alone in her room and I would imagine his arrival scared her witless. Gabriel tells her that God has plans for her. She has somehow curried God’s favor. She is to have a baby, an important baby, the Christ child, and she is to name him Jesus. This baby is going to be the savior of the world. His reign will be forever.

That’s some unbelievable news for a young lady that was probably fourteen or fifteen years old. Her reaction is interesting. After the angel assures her that she need not be afraid, I mean this is an angel visiting her, she has a really important question. How can this be? I have never been with a man. And the angel answers her question by saying the Lord will overshadow her and this is the way she will conceive. Overshadowing is a Hebrew Scriptures way of describing God’s involvement in our lives in a way that does not completely overpower us. It’s often characterized as a light within a cloud. We know God is there and we are able to see God without dying.

Reality sort of held its breath at this point I am sure as she pondered the angel’s message from God. God never demands that we do anything. God always asks. That’s the way God set things up. It’s called freewill. So, Mary could have said no. But she did not. She said yes. “I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” What an incredibly important statement in the history of the world.

And this is the point in the sermon where I am expected to talk about the rest of us answering God’s call. A story or two would be nice and perhaps once again I could tell you about how it took me thirty years to answer God’s call to priesthood. But I am not going to do that. I am going another direction. Here’s the surprise I promised.

God has made God’s hopes for us pretty obvious. Check out the Ten Commandments or the extra commandments spoken by Jesus. Do the loving thing, Tell the truth. Don’t take other people’s stuff. You know the expectations.

On top of that each of us gets specific calls from God in certain situations to do God’s work. Sometimes we are aware of the call and sometimes we aren’t. Sometimes we answer the call and sometimes we don’t.

I am here to tell you that either way, whether we answer the call or don’t it’s ok. You heard me. It’s ok.

One of the things I have learned in life and the priesthood is that everyone is doing the very best they can under their specific circumstances. Their responses may not be our responses but we don’t get to judge them, or each other for that matter. And folks if we know this little tidbit so does God. God knows our circumstances and God certainly isn’t as judgmental as we seem to be.

God is going to love them and us anyway, no matter what. And since we are eternal beings, we will continue to get more chances to answer the call. It’s God’s gift of grace to each of us. So, give yourselves a break, and give your neighbor a break too. It’s about to be Christmas in the middle of a pandemic. We could all use one.