He Will Be Great (Luke 1.26-38)

Introduction

I asked a random group of people last week, for the purposes of this talk, who they thought was the greatest and most influential woman who has ever lived.

Here are some of the answers I was given; Mother Teresa, Michelle Obama, Emmeline Pankhurst, Joan of Arc, Benazir Bhutto, Marie Curie, Elizabeth II, Malala Youfzefzai, Rosa Parks, Florence Nightingale, Jane Austin and J.K. Rowling. Who might you nominate, I wonder?

I have to say I was surprised, indeed stunned, that Kathie Lambert was so inexplicably overlooked; she would be, of course, my clear favourite. But apart from Kathie, I think I might well be tempted to nominate Jesus’ mother Mary.

There is a pretty good case to be made, I think, that she is the most significant woman in the history of the world. Few women, if any, have influenced history more decisively. She once said, “All generations will call me blessed” and that has certainly been so.

The Virgin Birth

Seven hundred years before the birth of her eldest son Jesus, the prophet Isaiah spoke about an event that no one would - or could - possibly miss, and this woman Mary was at the centre of it. What Isaiah predicted was so out of the ordinary, so remarkable and so rare that you could not ignore it.

He said, “The Lord himself will give you a sign. The virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (which means God is with us).”

In September 1996, the Daily Telegraph published an article headlined: “Virgin birth insurance. Some 300 British women have taken out insurance against having a virgin birth by an act of God. And the article went on to report that this policy offered by London insurance brokers Goodfellow Ingrams Pearson, promises to pay out £1 million in the event of a virgin birth - to be verified by an independent panel of gynecologists - against an annual premium of £100.

This is not the company’s only unusual policy - a scheme insuring against impregnation by aliens was taken up by 723 people in just four weeks. Managing Director Simon Burgess noted somewhat candidly, “You must never underestimate the stupidity of the British public…”

It doesn’t take a gynecologist to tell you that a virgin birth is impossible.

Actually, this phenomenon does occur very rarely in some fish, amphibians and reptiles, but in the normal course of events, and unfailingly in human beings, it takes a male and a female to produce offspring. Any other explanation for the arrival of a baby falls into the realm of the science fiction - or act of God.

But this strange prophecy that the Messiah’s young mother would be a virgin, gave rise to a long-treasured hope amongst God’s chosen people down the years that leads us to Luke chapter 1, where we find ourselves today.

The Annunciation

In Luke 1.26 we read that the heavenly messenger Gabriel is sent by God to a Galilean village called Nazareth. We just need to stop there and consider this for a moment.

Nazareth is never mentioned in the Old Testament. Not once. You can’t find it in the intertestamental writings either. 45 towns and villages in Galilee are mentioned by first-century Jewish historian Josephus, who knew the area well. Forty-five; and Nazareth isn’t one of them. 63 towns and villages in Galilee are mentioned in the Hebrew Talmud. Nazareth isn’t one of them either.

Why not? Because nothing interesting, exciting, important or noteworthy ever happened there. No one of any prominence either came from there or ever went there. It was the nondescript armpit of Galilee.

Nazareth was a bit of a dump that people passed through and instantly forgot. I think of it as the Basildon of the Middle East. It was a nowhere kind of place.

Today, about 75,000 people live in Nazareth and the town has a bit more about it. But in Jesus’ day, it was a very, very uninteresting rural village. It’s estimated that only about 500 people (mostly poor and illiterate) lived there at that time. That’s half the population of Long Newton.

There was nothing there. This place had no redeeming features. In John 1.46 Nathanael asks the rhetorical question, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Obvious answer? “Well, no – of course not; nothing good will ever come from Nazareth.”

An hour’s walk from Nazareth was an affluent and prosperous town called Sepphoris. 30,000 people lived in Sepphoris. That’s more than the population of Ingleby Barwick. In Jesus’ day Sepphoris was continually expanding, just like Ingleby Barwick, and that probably explains why a craftsman called Joseph moved up north from his home town of Bethlehem to find work on one of the many building sites there.

Recent excavations of Sepphoris have uncovered luxurious villas with ornate mosaic floors. People of means lived there. They’ve found nothing remotely like that digging around Nazareth; all you find there from the first century are the remains of cheap, small, pokey houses.

Why did God choose this village, Nazareth, of all places to pick out a young woman, a teenager really, to bear the Messiah, his anointed one? Why this place, this unattractive hole, so looked down on, of such low standing that no one ever thought to mention it when writing about the area?

What does it say to us about God that this event, the announcement of the birth of a great saviour, did not take place in Sepphoris among the wealthy, drinking cocktails in their fancy villas, but instead in Nazareth among forgotten people living in simple, small dwellings? What does it say to you about who God chooses and where his favour rests?

The setting of this story shows how God regards the meek and the lowly. It’s one of many examples in the Bible of how God tends to pick the improbable and the unlikely and the implausible to accomplish his most glorious plans.

In 1 Corinthians 1, the Apostle Paul presses home the point; “God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things, and the things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are.”

You think you haven’t got much going for you? Not very interesting? Not all that gifted? A bit ordinary? The sort of person no one really seems to notice? God notices you.

Mary is young; probably 15 or 16 years old. She’s pledged in marriage to Joseph. Life expectancy was lower, so people usually married much younger. Joseph and Mary are teenagers – and engaged already. They are excited, I have no doubt. They’re planning a wedding. Mary’s probably thinking about it all the time.

In that culture, at that time, marriage customs were very different to what we know today. This will have been a marriage arranged by their parents. Their betrothal period lasts a year; that’s the time between announcing the marriage and the wedding taking place. During that year, Mary and Joseph cannot live together, they can hardly be together; they certainly cannot sleep together; that would be unthinkable.

To break off an engagement in our culture is not really ideal but it is not usually seen as a great catastrophe. But betrothal was a serious commitment. In Mary and Joseph’s day, to terminate a betrothal was scandalous, it brought disgrace on the families, and it could only be done through divorce.

At the end of their betrothal year, Mary and Joseph would have a wedding. That night, they would consummate the marriage and then they would begin to live together under one roof as husband and wife. For Mary and Joseph, counting down the days, there was not long to go; less than a year. Then they would tie the knot and live happily ever after.

But then God steps in - and it all goes horribly wrong. You get a sense straight away, reading this story, that things are not quite right because Luke tells us that Mary was disturbed by what Gabriel says, even before he gets to the point.

Luke 1.28: “The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you.’” There is nothing about those words that indicate anything is going to be a problem. ‘Greetings’ – in other words, ‘Hi.’ ‘You who are highly favoured!’ That’s a good thing. ‘The Lord is with you’ – Great!

But the Bible says, “Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.”

Mary is disturbed. She is startled. Why? Is it because she feels uncomfortable and vulnerable finding herself alone in private with a stranger, a man? Gabriel would have appeared to Mary as a man; a visually striking and impressive one no doubt, but just a man.

(Nowhere in the Bible does it suggest that angels have wings and halos. That idea comes mostly from Renaissance paintings). The fact we can entertain angels without even knowing it proves they don’t have wings or halos.

But is this why Mary is so troubled? That she’s suddenly alone with a stranger? We can understand why she might feel uncomfortable with that can’t we?

Or is it maybe her modest, unassuming spirit and her poor, lowly position in life that makes it so puzzling to her that she should be called, “highly favoured”? Is that why she’s troubled? “Highly favoured? What’s he talking about? I’m just a girl no one has heard of from this nowhere town called Nazareth!” Maybe it’s a bit of both.

But the angel says to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favour with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great... and his kingdom will never end.’

True Greatness

There is so much in these words, and in Mary’s response. But I want to focus on just four words spoken about the child she would bear; “He will be great.”

Everything we know about Jesus bears this out. He... will... be... great.

He is great in wisdom. One of the earliest prophecies about Jesus is that he would be a wonderful counsellor. His discernment, his wisdom, his good judgement would be awe-inspiring. And it’s true, people everywhere marvelled at his words.

From the age of 12 he confounded the scholars and intellectuals in the temple. The Bible says, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers.” People said, “Where did he get all this from? Who is this kid? We’ve never seen anything like it!” Even his parents were astonished, we read.

Time and time again in the Gospels, people try to trap him and put him in an impossible position. On every occasion, Jesus not only gets out the trap they lay, he leaves his opponents looking like idiots for good measure.

Think of the election campaign we’ve just witnessed. Think of all the dumb things candidates said and then had to apologise for. Jesus never retracted a single word he said. Because he never had to. He never had to climb down or do a U-Turn or apologise for saying something crass. His every word was spot on.

He never hesitated, he always said it perfectly first-time round. People hung on every word; “This man speaks with authority, he knows what he’s talking about, he’s not like the scholars.”

Jesus told stories so simple a child could enjoy them. But those same stories were also so spiritually profound that his enemies went away scratching their heads. He will be great – great in wisdom.

He is great in leadership. He just had to say, “Follow me,” and fishermen left their nets and boats - their whole careers - on the shore behind them. Tax collectors got up from their booths, left all the money on the table, and didn’t look back. His charisma was so magnetic and his authority so convincing that strangers came up to him and said, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

Loose women spontaneously lavished expensive and fragrant perfume, worth a year’s wages, all over his feet because one look at him was enough to shut the door on their old life and say yes to his way of purity and wholeness.  

Many management experts in our day have studied Jesus’ leadership style and they say it is textbook. Jesus is a model of casting inspirational vision, of investing in others, of defining standards, of solving problems, of setting objectives, achieving them and getting an organisation from here to there. He will be great – great in leadership.

He is great in power. Jesus walked on water. He multiplied meagre provisions to feed crowds of hungry people. He drove out evil, demonic darkness from oppressed and haunted individuals. He restored sanity to disturbed, self-harming psychopaths.

A historian of the time, Flavius Josephus, (not a believer in Jesus) had to admit that Jesus… “was one who performed surprising deeds.” Even his enemies acknowledged his works of power. They didn’t deny it. They couldn’t, so they dismissed it as occultic black magic.

Crowds flocked to see him, carrying sick people on stretchers and leading the blind because they knew he could heal them and he did. He even healed at a distance. And on three occasions, before witnesses, he raised a dead corpse to life. He will be great – great in power.

He is great in humility. The entire universe was made by him, through him and for him, but he set aside his majesty, was born in poverty and subjected himself to his parents’ care. He constantly discouraged people from going around calling him the Messiah, even though he was. He was the Son of God but he called himself the Son of Man.

He spent time with children and came down to their level. He owned no property and had few possessions. He slept rough. He washed dirty feet, taking the role of the lowest servant. On two separate occasions the Bible tells us, as a grown man in public, he broke down and wept. He will be great – great in humility.

He is great in kindness. An ancient prophecy of the Messiah stated, “a smouldering wick he will not snuff out, a bruised reed he will not break.” Jesus gently restored broken, crushed people.

Time and again in the Gospels it says he was moved with compassion. His heart broke as he looked at the crowds because they were helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. He spoke tenderly to widows. He discharged debtors.

He touched untouchable lepers, contagious, skin flaking off and hideous to look at. Nobody else went near them but Jesus broke all convention because his heart went out to them. He forgave sinners wracked with guilt and condemnation. They went away transformed. He will be great – great in kindness.

He is great in suffering. The Gospels record that there were at least 5 attempts on his life; starting with Herod when he was a baby. His home town and own family rejected him. The Pharisees hated him. The Sadducees sneered at him. The teachers of the law were jealous of him.

One of his close followers betrayed him for a bag of coins. The rest deserted him. The Sanhedrin framed him. The chief priests condemned him. Pilate washed his hands of him. The lynch mob turned on him. The Romans flogged him to within an inch of his life. The crowds jeered at him and spat in his face.

And then, we all nailed him to the cross. All this suffering, all this rejection, all this contempt, all this violence against the most beautiful life ever lived. He will be great – great in suffering.

Ending

All through history, there have been figures who distinguished themselves so remarkably in their generation that they were given the title “The Great.” Herod the Great. Peter the Great. Catherine the Great. Alexander the Great. Charles the Great.

Their empires are long gone and their achievements are largely forgotten.

But Jesus’ kingdom is still expanding. “He will be great.” No figure in human history has had more books written about him, has been more quoted, more painted, has had more buildings constructed in his honour and attracted more followers. 

His accomplishments are still celebrated in every nation on earth, every day of the week. “He will be great” said Gabriel and he absolutely is.

He is alive today, millions know him personally and, by his Holy Spirit, he is with us now; great in honour and glory, great in power and might, great in mercy and love. Let’s stand to acclaim the undisputed greatest...

Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 15 December 2019