Word of Salvation – Vol.48 No.46 – December 2003
What Could Be More of A Miracle?
Advent Sermon by Rev S Bajema
on Luke 1:39-45
Scripture Readings: Romans 13:8-14; Luke 1:26-45
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you believe in miracles? Well, we answer, of course we do! After all, we believe in God, don’t we? Perhaps, however, you’re a little more careful. You need to know more precisely what is meant by a miracle? You need to check it out. You go to the Oxford Dictionary, which says that a miracle is “a marvellous event due to some supernatural agency.”
If we think about that definition for a moment, we’d have to say that all around us there are miracles. Our lives are miracles! Isn’t it a miracle each time a child is born? True, life itself is a miracle. The fact that we’re alive and breathing is a marvellous event due to a supernatural event, which is God’s Spirit making it happen.
As Christians, though, we would also agree that at some points God moves beyond the ordinary ways. Then He definitely does things in a very special way. And the Bible is full of these events – the healing of the blind, or lame, or dumb, the bringing back to life.
In our Scripture reading we read of a very special miracle. The angel Gabriel had visited Mary. He told her that she would give birth to a son, and that He would be given the name, ‘Jesus’, because He would be the Messiah. His would be the Kingdom, coming from the line of David, that would never end.
Mary naturally asked, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Then Gabriel told her about a miracle that would take place within her own body. God, through the Holy Spirit, would Himself cause her to become pregnant. So it would happen that the child inside her would be called the Son of God. To prove that God was able to do this, the angel said, “Even Elizabeth, you relative, is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God” (1:36 f). Mary and Elizabeth were cousins. So Mary would have heard about Elizabeth’s unusual pregnancy. Yet it seems that she hadn’t fully realised its significance as a genuine miracle.
This can be said for all of us. Unless we see through the eyes of faith that God moves in a special way, it’s easy to forget the way that God moves, especially through miracles. Even though it happens in front of our own eyes we can still miss it.
As soon as Mary had been told of the miracle Elizabeth’s pregnancy was, she left to share in that wonderful event. Mary went to Elizabeth to see that. In the words of the first aspect to our text…
God points to Himself in a miracle
We see this in the verses 39 and 40 of our text. There we are told, “At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judah, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.” Elizabeth was certainly blessed by being pregnant at this late stage in life. It was something she and Zechariah would have long hoped for. But as they got older and older it was a hope that would have dimmed considerably. And with the fading of that hope there came not only the sense of physical incompleteness, but for the Israelites it was a spiritual curse as well.
Yet, as we read in verse 36, “she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.” Here was a real extra-ordinary miracle! Here was a situation where Mary could indeed see how God works in special ways. A joy for Elizabeth, but also a comfort to Mary who has just been told herself of a completely different way that God is going to work through her.
Yet, why is it that God works sometimes through these strange ways? Couldn’t John the Baptist have been born from Elizabeth while she was still younger, and able to cope a lot better? God could have used the ordinary way if He had wanted to. But it was in His plan to also work in other ways. God isn’t limited to the constraints that we think should be there. God’s plan isn’t our plan.
For example, if we were to plan the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, would we have Him come from a family line that included a prostitute, a father who committed incest, an adulterer, and murderers? I’m sure we’d want to make it a little more respectable than that! Yet God doesn’t do that. He uses all these prime examples of man’s total depravity in order to achieve His plan.
And with Elizabeth He’s also showing the uniqueness of His plan. A woman way past child bearing. In fact, humanly speaking, unable to have any of the physiological functions to start that process. Yet she conceives! Verse 37 puts it in a completely different perspective, “For nothing is impossible with God.”
Congregation, we’ve seen how in God’s plan these miracles take place. But what is God’s plan about? Why is it that He has to act like this?
Well, God’s plan revolves around our Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the whole Bible is really about. As C S Lewis, in his book, Miracles, says, “every particular Christian miracle manifests at a particular place and moment the character and significance of the incarnation.”
So, in every miracle of the Bible, a particular aspect of the coming of Jesus Christ and what He did on our behalf, is shown to us. No wonder Jesus Himself did so many miracles! He was, after all, the Incarnation – God come down to earth as a man!
Elizabeth, in bearing John the Baptist, also contributed to the work that the Lord Jesus would soon do. For John the Baptist would prepare the way for Jesus Christ – He would prepare the nation to receive her King!
At the beginning of our text, we saw how Mary had gone to Elizabeth to share with her this miracle of God. But in the verses 41 to 45, this situation is reversed. As verse 41 says, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”
A woman six months pregnant naturally has junior often reminding mummy of his or her presence! And boys and girls, you’ve felt mummy’s tummy when your little baby brother or sister was kicking away, haven’t you? But on this occasion Elizabeth was “filled with the Holy Spirit” and under His inspiration she knew the baby’s movement was a lot different. They weren’t just growing signs – this was a divine sign! Her baby was so joyful! And he was spiritually happy because the Saviour was there – within Mary!
God’s Spirit also led Elizabeth to exclaim, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear” (vs 42). Congregation, from our first aspect – God points to Himself in a miracle – we come to the second aspect…
God shows Himself in the greatest miracle
Elizabeth cried out in a loud voice because her heart was filled with surprise, and with thanksgiving, and, most of all, with love! There was no way she could restrain herself. And there was no way she wanted to be held back.
Now, “blessed” is a word that occurs several times in our text. How could that help us? What does it mean? Well, being blessed is being happy. Perhaps Mary is simply happy. But happiness can be just what a person feels. One moment you could be happy, and the next moment you could be sad. But Mary is blessed all the time.
So being blessed is what a person is. A person is blessed when God’s favour rests upon him or her. That’s when the Lord delights in them. This is what the first psalm is about. Being blessed is a permanent position, though, because it relates to our standing before God.
And how is Mary standing before the Lord? Well, not only is Mary blessed, but she is also, as verse 42 says, “blessed among women”. Luke tells us here of a blessing to the highest degree. This phrase, “Blessed are you among women,” is telling us that Mary is the most blessed one among all the women upon the earth! But, why would this be? Is there anything Mary has done to deserve such a title? Far from it! In fact, it’s only in her relation to Jesus Christ that she’s blessed, as we all are.
For Mary the relationship will be to the extent that she will bear our Lord and Saviour. For us, our blessedness is assured as we believe and act upon what God has done for us at Calvary. It’s how we live out our relationship with Him. Mary had true faith. But God also granted her the special privilege of bearing His Son, so that her faith, and ours, could be made real.
The verses 43 to 45 give us the rest of Elizabeth’s song, as she cries out, “But why am I so favoured, that the mother of the Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”
God shows himself in the greatest miracle! The Holy Spirit enables Elizabeth to realise Mary as the mother of the promised Redeemer. That’s why she calls Mary, “the mother of my Lord.” Elizabeth knew she had been given a miracle. Yet with so much joy she also acknowledges that there, right in front of her, is a far greater miracle.
She could have been very jealous. She could have resented a far younger woman taking away from her glory. But Elizabeth wasn’t. Instead, she’s truly humble. She realises the immense blessing that she has with the mother of the Lord having come to her.
Humility – being humble. It has to be an important part of every Christian’s character. Our Lord Jesus showed us the best way how to be humble. He accepted what was to come to pass as His Father’s will, yet He rejoiced that He was able to do it!
The apostle Paul wrote about this in Philippians chapter 2. In verse 2 he says that in humility we should consider others better than ourselves. And that’s because this humbleness was in Christ Jesus. He looked out for others. He lived and died for us!
Jesus taught about that humbleness. In the Beatitudes of Matthew 5, He said in verse 5, “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Being meek is humbling yourself before God. We have to show our utter dependence upon Him. And knowing how dependent we are upon God means that we’re gentle in our dealings with others. We do unto others as God in Christ Jesus has done unto us.
Congregation, a favourite phrase on many Christmas cards goes like this, “Wishing you a joyous Christmas!” God does wish us a joyous Christmas. But it’s not something that people can do. It’s not a matter how generous and kind-hearted people feel towards others at this time of the year.
It’s only a truly humble attitude, through the Holy Spirit, that opens for us the gates to true, deep and jubilant joy. That’s the real miracle – not only that God came down to us, but that God is now in us!
Amen.
PRAYER:
O Lord Jesus, do open for us those gates to a true, deep and jubilant joy this Christmas. Make us to be so filled with your Spirit that we and those around us are blessed by the greatest blessing we have in you.
In your precious name, we pray,
Amen.