Has it ever occurred to you that when God called Mary to be the mother of his son, Jesus, she could have said “No”?

          We are so accustomed to the placid, lovely pictures of Mary, also known as The Virgin Mary, that it’s hard to see her as a real person, who might have had her own ideas of what she wanted out of life.  We know the bittersweet story of how her life turned out; we know her place in history; but when the angel, Gabriel, appeared to her, she knew nothing.

          This morning, we are going to look at what was at stake for Mary, when she answered “Yes” to God’s very unusual call.  No other person in history has experienced what Mary did.  No other person in the world, either before or after Mary, has been called to be the mother of the Savior.  Her call was unique.  Yet there is a call for each of us, and each of us, like Mary, must decide how we will answer our call.  And Mary is a beautiful example of one who answered God’s call with an unqualified “Yes.”

          It will help us to think about who Mary was.  Of course we think we know who Mary was—she was the mother of Jesus.  She is the Madonna.  Her picture, serene motherhood, has been painted by most of the great Western artists.  She is the graceful figure in every nativity scene.  Every year, her picture is on a postage stamp.

          But we often forget that she was a real live person.  She lived in the town of Nazareth, in Israel.  She was young—probably somewhere between thirteen and sixteen.  She was engaged.  In her Jewish community, that meant that she was promised to Joseph, but she did not yet live with him. Her engagement would have been arranged by her family.  Their engagement was a stronger bond than engagements in our day, in that even though they did not live together and they probably did not even know each other very well, they were considered to be husband and wife.

          That is the Mary to whom an angel appeared.  I am reading from Luke 1:

²⁶In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, ²⁷to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."

 ²⁹Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. ³¹You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. ³²He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, ³³and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

 ³⁴"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"

 ³⁵The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. ³⁶Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. ³⁷For nothing is impossible with God."

 ³⁸"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

          Whenever an angel appears to someone in the Bible, one of the first things the angel tells the person is “Don’t be afraid!”  So even though we don’t know what these angels look like, or exactly what the experience of an angel visitation would be like, we know it must be a frightening experience. 

          The angel appears to Mary and greets her saying "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."  Then it says that “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”

          None of us have had such an experience, but apparently it is downright scary.  Here is the young woman, just living her life in a small town—perhaps she is washing clothes, or preparing food, or even sleeping.  We don’t know.  But this angel appears out of nowhere, and she is caught off guard.

          The angel’s words are not frightening—in fact, the angel tells her that she is highly favored and that the Lord is with her.  Right away, we get the idea that Mary is a person of great faith.  God is no stranger to her.  In fact, as the story proceeds, we can tell that Mary is very devout in her faith.

          But the appearance of the angel, Gabriel, is still startling.  So Gabriel tells Mary not to be afraid, and that she has found favor with God.  We do not know exactly what it is about Mary that God approves.  But in God’s eyes, she was an outstanding person.  Have you ever stopped to ask what kind of life would impress God?  Did you even think it would be possible to impress God?  As we follow her response, we begin to see that she is, indeed, a remarkable young woman.

          Gabriel gets right to the point:  “You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

          We tend to gloss over these words without thinking too much about their meaning.  But to Mary, these words would have a great deal of meaning.

          This child would be someone great, and he would be the answer to the prayers of her people, the Jews.  God is about to do something radical, and Mary is hearing God call her to be a part of what will happen.

          Mary recognizes that something wonderful is happening, but remember, she’s a real, live young woman, with family and friends.  So she asks Gabriel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

          And Gabriel replies, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” 

          As I said, Mary was a real person.  This part of the angel’s good news must certainly have been troubling.  Immediately, she must wonder how she will explain this pregnancy to her family and friends.  Even more, how will she explain it to Joseph, the man to whom she is engaged?

          Mary suddenly finds herself between the supernatural world of God and angels, and the natural world of family and friends and community.  She knows that no matter what she tells people, they are not likely to understand or to believe her story. 

          Mary has a call from God, and she needs to give an answer.  To follow God’s way is, according to the angel, an honor being given because God has favored her.  The human answer to this honor, of course, would be “Why me?”  What kind of honor is it to have an unexplained pregnancy, supported by a story that sounds impossible?

          In fact, there are indications in scripture that most people did not believe her story.  The lonely trip to Bethlehem that Mary and Joseph make, with no place to stay when the baby is due, indicate that Mary may very well have been rejected by her family.  There is a great deal that we don’t know, but it seems that Mary’s fears at this point are not without reason.

          Even today, there are many people who do not believe Mary’s story.  Many Christians as well as non-Christians doubt the virgin birth.  It certainly is not easy to believe.  After all, as far as we know, such things just don’t happen.

          Let me tell you why I do believe in the virgin birth.  To begin with, I believe that God has revealed himself to humanity in many ways, most particularly as recorded in the Bible.  The God who we worship is not just a concoction of human imagination.  Throughout the Bible, we read of God’s revelation of God-self to humans.  God spoke to Abraham, to Moses, to Isaiah.  Sometimes, God spoke through angels, as when he spoke to Mary.   So God was, from the earliest times, personally involved in human history.

          With that history of revelation, it is still amazing that God would become human, but in Jesus Christ, that is exactly what happened.  Jesus is the Son of God, but he is also God.  It is beyond our comprehension to fully understand, but that’s because we are limited in our understanding, and God is infinite.

          The incarnation—the act of God coming to earth in human flesh—is without a doubt difficult for humans to fathom.  But if you look at the entire history of God’s interaction with humans as recorded in the Bible, it begins to make sense. 

          Jesus, the Son of God, was both human and divine.  In order to be a fully human person, he had to be born of a human.  And God chose Mary to be that human mother.  But Jesus was also divine—he was God in human flesh.  So he could not be fathered by a human, but had to be fathered by God.  Jesus was fully human and fully divine; God and man in one person.  For me, the virgin birth is consistent with who I believe Jesus to be.

          Mary, too, was a believer.  When Gabriel told her this unbelievable plan from God, she believed and accepted.  She believed it because she was familiar with the ways of God.  As a devout Jew, she knew that God had interacted with humans throughout history in unique and miraculous ways.  So when God chose to interact with her, she had a faith context that helped her believe the impossible.

          And Gabriel gave her one more piece of context to help her believe that God was doing something miraculous.  He told her “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.”  And then he reminded her of what she already knew about God:  “For nothing is impossible with God.”

          None of this made things easy for Mary.  She still faced the problem of explaining this story to Joseph, and she was not at all sure how he would receive her good news.  Joseph, who we know was a devout Jew, had every right to disown her and even shame her.  In fact, she could conceivably be stoned to death if she was found guilty of committing adultery.  And even if Joseph were to believe her, there would always be those who would not believe her.

          Mary had a call from God, and she had to decide how to answer.  When Mary answers Gabriel, we begin to understand why God has chosen this remarkable young woman.  She says to Gabriel, “I am the Lord's servant.  May it be to me as you have said.” 

          Her answer is one of humility and submission, but it is also one of strength and confidence.  Her confidence is not in herself, but in God.  Mary understands that following God’s will, while it might not always be easy, is the way she must choose.  That is because she has decided to be the Lord’s servant, and to do that which God has called her to do.  Mary is a remarkable, admirable woman because she chooses to obey God, regardless of the consequences for her own personal needs.

          What does Mary’s response to Gabriel have to do with you and me?  I believe that God calls each of us in some way, and that we all have choices to make, just as Mary did.  None of us will have the sort of call that Mary had—she was unique in human history.

          I have a call to be a pastor, and specifically to be the pastor of this church in this particular time.  I answered God’s call to pastoral ministry by going to seminary and by accepting the call from this church.  This type of call is often referred to as a vocational call.

          In addition, there are what you might call little calls along the way.  Sometimes God will give me a nudge to pick up the phone and call someone or do something for someone else.  I always have a choice.  I can ignore that nudge—that still small voice that calls me to do something—and if I ignore it for a while, it usually goes away.  Or I can listen attentively for those little calls, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead me and guide me in how I live my life,

          I believe that God calls each of us in some way.  He certainly does not send the angel Gabriel to most of us in the way he called Mary.  And he doesn’t call everyone to be a pastor, either.  However, he does call us.

          The question each of us has to answer is this:  What has God called me to do and how have I answered his call?  I believe God has a calling for each of us, at least in some aspect of our lives.  There are many different callings, because God is as creative in calling us as he is in creating us.  He has created us with different gifts and abilities, and he wants to call out in us those gifts, in order that we might serve him.

          Generally, God’s call is not the path of least resistance.  If you go through life just looking for the easy way, you are probably not answering God’s call.  Do you think Mary had an easier life after she answered “Yes” to God’s call?  I don’t think so.  But she knew in her heart that what she was doing was God’s will for her.  Next week, we will hear her say of her calling, “Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”  And that is certainly true.

          I encourage you to listen for God’s call for you, and to obey, just as Mary did.  If you don’t think God has called you to anything, I have two suggestions.  First of all, begin to pray about it.  Ask God if he has something in particular that he wants you to do with your life.  And second, spend some time reflecting, and ask yourself if there has been a time in your life when God was calling you, and you said “No.”  If you said “No” in the past, ask God how you can change your “No” to a “Yes.”

          I don’t expect all of you to come and tell me God is calling you to be a pastor or a missionary.  It’s more likely that as you seek God’s calling, some little idea will pop into your head, as if from nowhere.  You will see a possibility—something you can do, perhaps for someone else.  It may be as simple as bringing some cookies to a neighbor.  God is a great big God, but he is also a God of the details. 

          Listen for that still small voice of God in your life, and say, as Mary did, “I am the Lord's servant.  May it be to me as you have said.”