742              My Name is Mary

But you know what a very wise person said:

That just as I, Mary birthed Jesus, that you too can see Jesus born in your life.

Every time you love others, every time you talk to God, every time you want to be like Jesus,

Then Jesus comes to life in you.

Jesus comes to life in you and lives in you.

Micah 5:2-5a
But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.
Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of Israel.
And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth;
and he shall be the one of peace.

Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

[And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”]

Hail favoured ones. Let me introduce myself to you. My name is Mary and as you might know part of my story is in the bible and I am the mother of Jesus.

“Hail” is just what we say when we want to say hello. It means that I greet you  with joy.

And indeed I do greet you with joy. Not only does it give me joy to be here with you, but it always gives me joy to talk about Jesus or see people come to know Jesus.

Over the years, many people have called me many things. Blessed Virgin, Handmaid of God, Mother of God, Queen of the apostles…

but I want you to know I was not very important when I was a girl. In fact 2000 years ago when I lived and where I lived, girls and women and children were considered not that important.

And when I got pregnant as a teenager, unmarried, most people in the village where I lived in Nazareth, thought I was really bad. Some of them had bad names for me.

I tried to tell them that the baby inside me, was God working in me,

That in some way I didn’t even understand, God was bringing this baby to birth and that he would somehow be a great saviour.

The people didn’t have understand.

But Joseph understood. And he married me even though I was pregnant.

And one of the reasons I was filled with joy, was that God came to me and visited me, even though I was really unimportant.

I was a poor teenager…

And yet God showed me that God uses even poor people,  God uses even teenagers and girls.

God is not impressed with lots of money and with army Generals who make war, or with Kings who get lots of wealth because they take it from all the people.

God showed me that the fact that Jesus was birthed by a poor girl like me, that he wants all people to be equal and all people to be loved and all people to have justice…

And God showed me that Jesus is going to be a Saviour.

Many, many years ago before I was born, like a thousand years before me, my people tell of the great salvation of God who through his prophet Moses, led us out of Egypt to the promised land.

The Exodus is a great story of salvation.

And Moses sister, Miriam, she too was a prophet and she sang a song after my people were saved from Pharaoh.

You probably didn’t know this but the name “Mary” is the English form of the name “Miryam.”

I am named after Miryam, and just as Miryam sang a song to thank God for salvation, I too sang a song to thank God for salvation and hope and joy.

My song has been called the Magificat.

We read it already in the scripture today.

My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.

The day that I sang that song was the day I met my cousin Elizabeth. She was pregnant too. The baby she was carrying when he was born was called John. He would grow up to be a prophet too, one of the greatest prophets.

They called him John the Baptist.

And you know the day that I met my cousin and I called out to her, the baby inside her, somehow must have known it was Jesus inside me, and the baby moved with joy inside her.

We were very happy to have each other. You know pregnancy is a little scary.

We both looked forward to our babies being born, but there is pain in giving birth and there can be complications, so we relied on each other and were friends to each other and supported one another.

Elizabeth was like, old enough to be my mother, but you know I found that age is a silly thing for people to get hung up about.

Older people and younger people I find, if they are caring can work together and support each other and be friends.

And we were good friends Elizabeth and I.

God came to us, two not very important people, and showed that God’s love could be with us, God’s presence could be with us,

And that even two women, one older and one younger, could tell others about God.

And that God was for us, for life, for peace, for justice.

Now Elizabeth’s husband, his name was Zechariah. He was a priest. He was somebody more important.

And he didn’t believe it when the angel came and told him that Elizabeth was going to have a baby.

Isn’t that funny? The minister or priest didn’t believe God’s messenger, and so he was struck dumb. Somehow God stopped his vocal cords from working and he wasn’t able to speak at all.

If he wouldn’t believe in God’s messenger and God’s message, I guess God decided he didn’t need a voice to tell God’s message.

That message that God was going to save us in Jesus. That God was coming to us in Jesus. That God in Jesus was going to change us.

And so instead of the priest telling others about Jesus, it was us women who had to tell others….

Not the Religious leader speaking on God’s behalf, but just us ordinary women.

And it tells me that you who are here today, you may think you are just ordinary people like everybody else, but I want you to know that God comes to you too, and God can not only be with you, but you can tell others about God. You don’t have to be the minister to tell people about God and Jesus.

Later on after Elizabeth’s baby was born, her husband Zechariah, the priest told us that what had happened to me was actually talked about by the prophet Micah.

Micah was a priest 600 years earlier in Jerusalem when the city of Jerusalem was surrounded by enemies.

Micah knew that it was pretty hopeless and that the armies outside the doors of Jerusalem were going to defeat them, so he went inside and prayed to God.

And he waited to see if God would answer him.

And God did answer him.

God said that he was going to send a ruler, a leader, who would be like a shepherd and care for the people.

And that he was going to be born in Bethlehem and that his message would be peace and he would bring peace.

Zechariah suggested that I was the woman mentioned in the scriptures by Micah, the woman who was going to have a child in Bethlehem…

The one who would bring peace…

He said that God had been planning this for a very long time…to send Jesus.

And that Jesus would bring peace.

Not the armies, nor the weapons amassed in our defense

not the policies or powers of governments,

nor promises and prayers of the Temple and its priests.

That Jesus will be our peace.

That this Saviour would be like a Shepherd, caring for the flock. Healing, people, caring for people, looking after people…

It is a peaceful vision. This ruler would not be about violence but about peace.

This ruler would want equality and justice.

That is the Word that Micah was given

the Word that Micah spoke, a Word the people heard.

And he will be their peace.

You know I didn’t understand it all, but when Jesus grew up and preached about love and acceptance and not hurting others, I really understood how Jesus brings peace. He told us there was another way than violence to fix things.

It was forgiveness and love.

And even though people were violent to Jesus, he still loved them and forgave them. Jesus always brings peace.

You know I suppose most of you will grow up and be parents some day. It is a little scary, but will be one of the greatest joys in your life.

But you know what a very wise person said:

That just as I, Mary birthed Jesus, that you too can see Jesus born in your life.

Every time you love others, every time you talk to God, every time you want to be like Jesus,

Then Jesus comes to life in you.

Jesus comes to life in you and lives in you.

I am glad that you are celebrating the birth of Jesus.

But remember: He can be born in you and live in you.

Amen