LONG EXPECTED JESUS: SHE IS CHOSEN/HE IS HERE

Sermon Notes, December 24, 2017

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

            Pastor Garry's sermon was titled "Long Expected Jesus: She Is Chosen/He Is here."  His text was Luke 1:26-38.  In this passage, the angel tells Mary that she will conceive and give birth to a son, who will be called Jesus.  Even though she is greatly troubled by what the angel tells her, she answers, "I am the Lord's servant."

            She Is Chosen.  A teenage pregnancy in a strict Jewish family in the first century was a serious issue.  It would bring shame and reproach; it could even have brought death on charges of adultery.   But Mary was chosen to bear the Son of God.  She was named for the prophetess Miriam; there were lots of girls named Mary at that time.  We don't know much about her.  We simply know she was obedient.

            God uses the least likely people to do His work.  There is evidence of this throughout the Bible.  One example is Gideon, who was so fearful of the Philistines that he threshed his grain on the floor of the wine press.  He was an ordinary man that God used to free his people from oppression.  Mary, too, was an ordinary girl, the least of the least, that God used to bring the gift of His Son into the world.

            We are chosen too, out of God's faithfulness, to bring light to the dark places.  Jesus is the best gift.  Our job is to bring people to Jesus; or to bring Jesus to them.  Mary's job was to bring Jesus to the world.  That is our job, too.  We are chosen to bring Christ into the world daily, to bring Light and Life into the world by the way we live our lives.

            He Is Here.  Luke 2:1-20 tells the story of how Mary and Joseph ended up in Bethlehem when it was time for the baby to be born, because they were there to register for taxes.  It tells how there was no guest room available for them, so Jesus was laid in a manger.  It tells how the angel told the shepherds about the savior being born, and the heavenly host singing "Glory to God in the highest heaven!"  It tells how they went to Bethlehem and saw the baby, then told everyone about what they'd seen.

            We heard about the OBEDIENCE of Mary, her fiancé, and the shepherds.  We, too, are to be obedient to Jesus' command to "go and make disciples." (Matthew 28:19)  Sometimes when we travel, our children ask, "Are we there yet?"  No--we're here!  And Jesus is with us wherever we are.  He is here!