Sermon: "Mission: Possible"

“MISSION POSSIBLE”
Luke 1:26-38
December 18, 2011
Fourth Sunday of Advent

Luke 1:26-38:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.

And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.

And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.


The hallways of Iowa Park Junior High were buzzing with the talk among us seventh-grade boys on a Monday morning in September of 1966. We had seen a show on TV that weekend that was unlike any we had ever seen in all of our twelve years on this planet and we couldn’t stop talking about it.

It had started with a man retrieving an envelope of photos and information and a miniature tape recorder from a hidden location. He switched on the tape recorder and the message began, “Good morning, Mr Phelps.”

It went on to detail some situation of a bad guy up to no good, and the tape would say, “Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is to ….” And it would involve neutralizing the bad guy. The voice on the tape reminded Mr. Phelps, “As always, should you or any member of your I.M. Force be killed or captured, the Secretary will disavow any knowledge of your actions.”

Then when the tape got to the end (and this was the part that was really cool to us adolescent males) the voice would say, “This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Jim,” and the tape would go up in a puff of smoke!

Like I said, it was unlike any TV show we’d ever seen and every Monday morning we’d gather and talk about that week’s episode. They used all kinds of intricate disguises and deceptions to accomplish their mission, and despite the warning on the tape, none of them were ever killed or captured.

The show was, of course, “Mission: Impossible.” It was on from 1966-1973. You can still see it in re-runs on Channel 21 from time to time.

Nowadays “Mission: Impossible” is a lot better known known from the series of movies starring Tom Cruise. The fourth “Mission: Impossible” movie just came out this weekend and I swear I’ve not received any promotional consideration for mentioning it in this sermon!

I think of “Mission: Impossible” almost every time I read this story about the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and announcing to her that she is going to be the mother of Jesus, God’s own Son, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and telling her,

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

What the voice on the tape recorder asked Jim Phelps and his team to do each week sounded impossible, but it was nothing compared to what Gabriel was asking Mary to do.

Here she was, a young woman (some say as young as 14 or 15, the average marriageable age back then) living in the very small village of Nazareth, engaged to a man named Joseph but they weren’t married yet so they hadn’t consummated their marriage. She was a virgin.

She might have been making plans for the wedding, thinking about where she and Joseph would live, how many children they would have, perhaps worried a bit if they could live on what Joseph made as a carpenter.

Then, all of a sudden, in a few brief moments, her whole world changes. An angel of the Lord is standing in front of her and talking to her. That by itself would freak most people out. Can you imagine carrying on a conversation with an angel?

In art we often see angels depicted as larger-than-life powerful figures with huge eagle-like wings and maybe even carrying a sword. An angel that looked like that would scare most of us half to death. Maybe Gabriel toned it down when he appeared to Mary, but still it would be a little frightening.

Gabriel tells Mary, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” Luke says that this greeting was puzzling to Mary and wondered what it meant.

The angel then goes on to tell her that she has found favor with God. She is going to conceive a child right away whose name will be Jesus. He will be the Son of God and will reign over an everlasting kingdom.

Mary doesn’t understand how this can happen since she and Joseph aren’t married yet. From a purely human point of view, it would be impossible for her to have a baby.

Here’s where what sounds impossible becomes possible. Gabriel explains,

“The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.”

So this is not going to be a normal human pregnancy and birth. This is something that God is going to do.

To further confirm that he is speaking the truth and that all of this is really going to happen, Gabriel lets Mary know that her relative Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, who were thought to be way too old to have children, are expecting a child of their own in their old age and that Elizabeth is already six months along. And then comes that clinching reminder:

“For nothing will be impossible with God.”

Of course. That’s it. That’s what makes the impossible possible. It’s God. God can do whatever God wants to. God is all-powerful. If God wants a virgin from Nazareth named Mary to have a baby, God can make that happen.

That makes it sound like Mary had no choice in this matter. That Gabriel told her, “This is what God’s going to do, whether you like it or not.”

But that’s not where the story ends. There’s one more verse to the reading, isn’t there?

Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

The story isn’t finished until Mary says “Yes.” The impossible becomes possible not just when God makes up God’s mind to do something, but also when we say “Yes.”

Years ago I read a version of this story for children by William Griffin called “Mary’s Surprise.” Griffin’s version helps us see that Mary’s response is also a key element in the story. It goes like this:

“Stay where you are,” said the young girl, “or I’ll scream!”

“My name is Gabriel,” said the tall stranger.

“Are you an angel?” asked Mary.

“I have a message for you.”

“You shouldn’t go about surprising people,” said Mary, closing her book.

“Angels are for surprises,” said Gabriel.

“I didn’t know that,” said Mary.

“You are one of God’s favorites,” said Gabriel. “He wants you to know that.”

“Thank you for telling me.”

“And he wants to ask you a favor. He wants you to be the mother of his child. The child the scriptures speak of. The child that will save all people of the world. Will you do God this favor?”

“Does he have to ask?”

“God always asks.”

“He knows I read the Scriptures and will do what he asks.”

“Blessed are you among women,” said Gabriel, and the angel was gone.

Yes, God did have to ask, thought Mary, as he returned to her book, and yes, she would never say no.

What is the more impressive thing about this story of Gabriel and Mary – that God is able to conceive a child in her by the Holy Spirit or that Mary is willing to be used as an instrument in God’s plan for the salvation of the world?

I would argue that both are important and impressive. Both must be present for the impossible to become possible and for the Son of God to be born.

This story is full of surprises. Mary is surprised by the angel suddenly appearing to her. In Griffin’s story, after she gets over her initial fright, she takes the angel to task for going around surprising people. Then he reminds her that “angels are for surprises.”

For Mary to have a baby is another surprise. Imagine how surprised her parents and Joseph are going to be when she tells them she’s pregnant. It’s not humanly possible.

And it’s surprising whom God has chosen to be the mother of his Son. Mary was one of the common, poor people of the land. She was from Galilee, and Galilee was about as far away from the centers of power as it’s possible to be.

We tend to think that God can only use extraordinary people to accomplish God’s purposes – people of special talent or skill or accomplishment. But this story is one more reminder that God almost always uses ordinary people, like you and me, to do what God wants to get done. The only requirement is that we, like Mary, be willing to say “Yes.”

You might object that you and I aren’t called, like Mary, to bring the Savior into the world. Well, maybe not like Mary, but in a way, that’s exactly what you and I are invited by God to do every day – to bring Christ into our individual worlds.

That may sound like “Mission: Impossible” to you, but God can do that very thing if you are willing. We bring Christ into our world by living out the Gospel; by loving; by forgiving; by serving.

We call ourselves “Christians” and that means “little Christs.” A Christian is a person whose life reflects, embodies, shows forth the life of Christ. We give life to Christ in our world when we live our life as Jesus would, whether we are a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, a sales clerk, a secretary, a police officer – whatever.

Every day God approaches us and asks us to bring Christ into the world. We must be ready to respond. When we say Yes, Christmas happens all over again. Amen.