“In the sixth month
of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged
to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of
David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her
and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary
was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might
be. But
the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found
favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him
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 Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.” “How
will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” Luke 1:26-34
“And Mary said: “My
soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in
God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his
servant. From now on all generations will call me
blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me—holy is his
name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with
his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their
inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their
thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but
has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant
Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.” Luke 1:46-55
The first chapter of Luke is one of the most
exciting chapters in the Bible because it announces two miraculous births – the
births of John the Baptist and of Jesus!
I selected these two portions of Scripture
from Luke 1 because they first show in the beginning Mary is overwhelmed but at
the end she is overjoyed! (Actually, the same is true of Zechariah and
Elizabeth).
How do you go from being overwhelmed to being
overjoyed! How does that happen?
Christmas Season is supposed to be a season
when Christians are overjoyed but I find they are often overwhelmed so it is
important to understand how Mary began that first Christmas overwhelmed but
ended it overjoyed.
Before I explore that further I want to ask
you to think about the last time you were overjoyed about your life.
Can you remember?
Let me ask you this, “Before you were
overjoyed, was there a season where you were overwhelmed?”
I thought so!
That was true of Mary, it was true of
Zechariah, it’s often true of people I minister to and it has been true in my
life!
Seasons of praise usually arise out of
seasons of pressure and problems.
Is that not true?
Have you thought of that?
Maybe you should!
That’s one of the great truths of Christmas!
God sent Jesus to give overwhelmed people a chance to become overjoyed!