Mary and Billy

Luke 1:26-38

            Tony Compalo's tells a story about a week he spent as a counselor at a Jr. High camp. He said that he learned that one of the things that Jr. High boys are good at is making fun of other boys, especially a boy named Billy. Billy had cerebral palsy. Because of that, he had difficulty walking, speaking and a variety of other physical activities. Tony watched as the boys would mimic his walk and stammer when they would talk to him. I seemed they looked for any opportunity to make fun of him. On Thursday, Billy’s cabin was responsible for devotions. They picked Billy to be the speaker, no doubt a way to further humiliate him. As he shuffled to the front, Tony could hear the snickers of the boys. As Billy turned and addressed the chapel, he stammered out seven words. “I l-o-v-e J-e-s-u-s a-n-d J-e-s-u-s l-o-v-e-s m-e.” there was silence in the hall, and Tony looked around and saw tears streaming down the faces of many of the boys. The rest of that week was different. God moved in that camp. Tony says that in the course of his travels around the country and the world, he regularly runs into someone who tells him that they were at that camp and that Billy’s words transformed their life. (Stories for the Heart P. 62)

            God used Billy in an amazing way to change the lives of so many of those kids at that camp.  He was a special instrument of God, not because of any special quality that he had, but because he was willing to be used by God and God chose to use him.  He was used

            Mary a young woman, probably in her early teens, who's life was planned out  like most of the girls of her time.  She was engaged to Joseph, a carpenter, who had convinced her father that he could provide for her.  After the appropriate time she would marry him, have a family and fulfill her role in Jewish society.  Life would be hard, but probably relatively un-eventful.

            All of the sudden there was an angel standing before her, telling her that she was favored of God.  As we look at the passage, it does not spell out why she was favored, other than the fact that God had chosen her.  Her family was not influential or overly wealthy.  They did not have special spiritual standing in the community.  The was no earthly reason why Mary should be considered favored above other people.  The reality is that she was favored because God had chosen her.

            The angel went on to inform her that she was going to have a son and that he was the Messiah that had been foretold for generations.  There are several things in this announcement that would come as quite a shock.  There was the issue that the Messiah was coming.  In that day and age the idea of the Messiah was something that had grown into this mythical thing.  No one was really looking for a Messiah to come.  They had heard the story for so long that it had become like a fairy tale to them.  Another amazing thing was that Mary would have a child that would be a king.  Sure she was from the tribe of David, but she was nothing special.

            But probably the most shocking thing in this declaration was the fact that SHE was going to have a baby.  She was just a girl, probably in her early teens.  She was not married.  She was engaged, but she had never known a man in the way necessary to have a baby.  Now this angel was telling her that she was going to be pregnant.  Who would believe this story?  Joseph her fiancé, probably wouldn’t.  Her parents probably wouldn’t.  Everyone would think that she was either crazy or just making up this story to cover up her sin.  She went from a fairly normal future for a girl of her time to one that made her an outcast that would be the subject of much gossip and derision.

            She had a choice in this matter.  That is why this Angel had come to her.  Not to tell her that she was pregnant, but to invite her to be part of God’s plan.  She could have said let me think it over.  She could have said no, I don’t think I want to put myself through the pain and emotional turmoil I would have to go through to be part of this.  She could have said to the angel, like Scrooge said to Marley when he first appeared to him, no thanks I would rather not.  She could have done like the people of Israel had done for so long and turned her back on the whole plan.

            We don’t know how long this encounter took.  But after considering the consequences of what was about to take place, she said, yes I am willing to do what ever God asks of me, even if it means losing Joseph and being the topic of gossip and scorn all over town.  I will do what God asks.  What an amazing answer.  “Here am I the servant of the Lord.  Let it be with me according to your word.”

            Because Mary and Billy were willing to be used by God, the world was changed.  God worked through them to introduce people to His love.  Through Mary, God was able to bring His Son into the World.  The one who would show us the very heart of God.  Through Billy, God was able to show a group of mean and spiteful Junior Highers  how His love could fill all that was missing in their lives.

            As I look around our world, I see that there are a lot of people like the people in Mary’s time. They wander through life oblivious to the fact that God longs for them to know Him and for them to allow Him to walk through life with them.  God longs for each person to know the depth of God’s love for them. 

            And just like then, God is looking for servants who are willing to allow God to work through them to show God’s love to them.  People like the insecure loud obnoxious person at work that no one can stand or the lonely William Vandervoorts of the world.  People like the neighbor who never seems to respond to your greetings or the person you do business with who acts like they have it all together.  There is a world full of people who we come in contact with every day that God wants to reach out too.  What God needs is people who will say, like Mary “Here am I the servant of the Lord.  Let it be with me according to your word.”

            In our preparation for the coming of the Christ child anew into our lives, let us include two things.  Let us ask God to show us those people that he wants to reach out to through us, and let us say to God, as Mary did “Here am I your Servant Lord.  Let it be with me according to your word.”

The sermon was given on Dec. 1 and 2, 2012 at St. Mark Presbyterian Church in Ballwin, MO. The image can be found at http://freechristimages.org/biblestories/annunciation_art.htm