REMEMBERING MARY: HER FAITH

REMEMBERING MARY: HER FAITH

Luke 1:39-45

Dr. Wm. J. Maxwell

First Presbyterian Church, Newport, RI

December 10, 2006

Movies and movie theaters - I admit that I don’t make that connection very often. I actually think the last time I went to a theater was a year ago! But I may make a current exception with The Nativity Story.

Mike Rich, the screenwriter for the movie, was recently interviewed by Christianity Today magazine. One of the questions he was asked was, “How were you trying to portray Mary?” He answered this question by saying,

To explore her character as a very human young woman was so compelling and intriguing to me – to see her playing and interacting with her friends. When she receives this visitation (from Gabriel), she has that most remarkable response: ‘Let it be done to me according to Thy word.’ The faith exhibited in that particular moment is not only the backbone of her character, but it’s the very heart and soul of this entire story. [i]

As we look at what the Bible says about Mary, I think we could all certainly agree with Mike Rich. Mary was indeed a “very human young woman.” As he continues to say,

To me, the choice of Mary to bear the Son of God wasn’t because she was someone remarkably special; it was because she was representative of everyone. That made it easy to portray her as a very human individual. [ii]

Understanding this aspect of Mary’s humanity gives us the ability to accept Mary more easily as a role model, as an exemplary person from whom we may learn much in application to our own faith journey.

But, secondly, faith does seem to be “the backbone of her character.” We saw this last week in Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel. And we see it this morning in Elizabeth’s characterization of Mary: “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.” [iii]

Aside from the unique situation in which Mary found herself, this verse could surely be applied to us as well in the way of saying, “Blessed are all who have believed that what the Lord has said to them will be accomplished.” Now, perhaps there are some here this morning who have not known the blessing of believing the promises of God in their own lives. For this reason, and for the confirmation of faith in others, I want us to take a closer look at this verse.

FIRST OF ALL, WE HAVE

THE STATE OF BEING “BLESSED”.

This commonly used word has the meaning of being happy, fortunate or privileged. But what is the source of being “blessed”? Well, the biblical concept of being blessed always has with it the connotation of being in a personal relationship with the living God and the experience of God’s faithfulness in the context of that relationship, on a day to day basis.

“Great is Thy faithfulness” is the theme song for those who are “blessed.” They can testify to personal encounters with God in which He has proven Himself, again and again, to be consistently faithful. Though life may have its ups and downs – and it does for us all - the faithfulness of God is nevertheless unchanging.

Jeremiah had this sense of God’s persistent faithfulness, as a man who both saw and experienced much affliction. As you will recall, Jeremiah was a prophet in Jerusalem when it fell to Babylonians and consequently the Temple and the city walls were all destroyed. In addition, Jeremiah personally experienced tremendous hardship in speaking God’s truth when very few wanted to hear it.

But Jeremiah was yet a man who knew where to turn for help. In the book known to us as Lamentations, he wrote,

My soul continually remembers (my affliction) and is bowed down within me. But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.

‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I will hope in Him.’ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. [iv]

Jeremiah could have allowed bitterness and anger to rule his life, as so many people seem to do when life has not gone as they expected. But instead of turning inwardly, Jeremiah turned outwardly, to the One whose love is steadfast, who provides new mercies every morning, whose faithfulness is great, and who is always good to those who seek Him and who wait for Him to act.

As this was true of Jeremiah, it can also be true of us. We can also turn away from ourselves and to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Matthew Henry once said, “The faithfulness of God is the blessedness of the faith of the saints.” [v]

BUT IF BLESSEDNESS IS EXPERIENCING

THE FAITHFULNESS OF GOD,

WE MUST KNOW WHAT HE PROMISES US.

As Mary knew what the Lord was promising her, we also ought to know what God promises us. And the promises of God are many!

The Apostle Paul noted that “all the promises of God find their Yes in (Christ). That is why it is through Him that we utter our Amen to God for His glory.” [vi] How wonderful is that! All the promises of God are “Yes” for us through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In a similar way, Apostle Peter also gives us reassurance in having declared that “… He has granted to us His precious and very great promises, so that through them (we) may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.” [vii]

They are indeed “precious and very great promises”. And yet, all these great and gracious promises will be quite useless to us if we do not know what they are! So, how familiar are you with the promises of God? Are you familiar enough with them to have them with you on your journey?

One of the great failures of all time was an Arctic exploration in 1845. It didn’t start out that way at first, of course, at least by appearance. On the British coast lay two very impressive ships with 138 of England’s finest sailors ready to set sail for the Arctic, via the Northwest Passage around the Canadian Arctic and to the Pacific Ocean. The Captain, Sir John Franklin, was a rather notable figure as well.

Sadly, however, the two ships never returned from their journey and all the crew perished. The primary reason for this was that they were never fully prepared. The voyage was to take two to three years, but you wouldn’t know it by what they had and didn’t have on board. For example, they only had a twelve day supply of coal reserved for the auxiliary steam engines. But they had plenty of other things, including on each ship a “1200 volume library, a hand organ, china place settings for officers and men, cut glass wine goblets and sterling silver flatware.” [viii]

The inevitable happened in the course of events … the ships became trapped, frozen solid in the ice. Some sailors left the ships to search for help, but they never returned – all of them perished.

After a great length of time, search parties arrived and assessed the very strange sight. Miles from one ship, the frozen body of an officer was found, still dressed with a jacket of “fine blue cloth … edged with silk braid, with sleeves slashed and bearing five buttons each. Over his uniform the dead man had worn a blue greatcoat, with a black silk neckerchief.” [ix]

How strange it was that they prepared themselves so lightly, as if for a cruise in the Caribbean instead of an exploration of the Arctic! And yet, many of us do the very same. Many of us act as if the Christian life is only one of ease and entertainment, of looking good instead of being good, and of feeling good rather than living by faith on a journey that can get pretty rough at times.

We need what only God can provide for this often perilous journey - the Holy Spirit as our primary Navigator, and the Word of God as our map and compass, with all of it’s “very great and precious promises.”

III

AND YET,

WE WILL BE BLESSED ONLY AS LONG

AS WE TRULY BELIEVE

IN WHAT GOD SAYS TO US AND PROMISES US.

Do you remember what Elizabeth said of her relative Mary? “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished.” Such instruction and such promises will do us no good unless we apply them to our lives by faith, and not just faith in the promises, but faith in the Promise-Giver. A promise, after all, is only as good as the one who makes the promise.

John Calvin comments on this principle in saying, “… in the act of believing, we give our assent to God who speaks to us, and hold for certain what He has promised to us that He will do.” [x]

But if the truth be told, quite frankly we don’t always “hold for certain …” The act of faith can be a struggle for us at times, as illustrated by Abraham when he laughed, and Sarah when she laughed, too. The thought of having a son in their old age – 100 and 90 - was laughable! [xi] Their faith clearly wavered at times, but in the end it prevailed.

Quite honestly, my guess is that we’ve all “laughed” at times. As I think of my own journey of faith, I think of the story behind my coming here. I’ll make it brief because many of you know it – but you don’t know the whole story.

At the very beginning of the interview together on that first weekend with the Pastor Nominating Committee, Pat and I were literally awestruck. Jan Jones gave an opening devotional and used a text she said that the Lord had given her, one different from the one she had chosen. It was Jeremiah 29:11, promising hope and a future. Jan had no idea whatsoever that the Lord had used this specific verse before – to lead us to our two previous churches!

When the weekend concluded on Sunday afternoon with a final meeting, Pat and I were awestruck yet again. Don Estes informed me that the PNC was convinced that the Holy Spirit was leading them to call me here as the pastor. They wanted to know if I would accept the call.

Now, this wasn’t supposed to happen - at least not this fast! This wasn’t “protocol” – normally, at least a week was supposed to pass by for all to be in prayer and reflection before something like this was to happen! The Holy Spirit was moving - fast!

Now, again, many of you have heard this story before … but you don’t know all of it. On the flight back to Ohio, Pat and I of course were sitting together on the plane and Pat was marveling over all that had happened. I was marveling, too, until … I began to consider what we would be leaving behind: two incomes, Pat’s teaching position, a congregation that still loved us even after 16 years, perhaps our daughters who would stay in Ohio, and an area I’d known my whole life.

And so I said to Pat, “Honey, we can’t do this. We just can’t do this. Look at everything we’d be losing! Look at everything we’d be leaving behind!” Thinking only of what God had done during that weekend, Pat then said to me, “Honey, if you turn this down, you will regret this for the rest of your life!” [Sometimes spouses know just the right thing to say, don’t they!]

For the next week, I struggled intensely in my faith, wrestling, wondering if I really did believe in the promise of Jeremiah 29:11, and if in fact I trusted the One who gave me that promise. Look at all the signs He was giving me! And if God hadn’t made it clear enough at this point for me, wouldn’t you know that I was actually preaching a series on the subject of Abraham at that very time!

Oh, I am blessed, tremendously blessed, having eventually “believed that what the Lord had said to (him) would be accomplished.” But I want you to know that the journey of faith for me was rough for a while - and it often is for all of us! But God is patient with us, working in our lives and in our life situation, shaping us and transforming us, even as bumpy as that road of faith can be at times.

And when we do take the steps of faith, trusting in the Promise-giver, we find ourselves blessed … so blessed … blessed in the faithfulness of God!