Saying Yes

Long lay the world in sin and e'er pining

'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

-O Holy Night

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.”

-Luke 1:38

In just three days, we will be celebrating the birth of Jesus. In the middle of the darkest days of the year, we remember His holy arrival into our world. His birth was the bright fulfillment of promises centuries-old, the redeeming of all our darkness. By choosing such a human entrance, we see how God used people to help usher in the Hope of the world. Of course, we can’t help but think about Mary, the mother of Jesus, chosen by God to carry the Messiah. 

I think we can all agree that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a strong lady. She was a spiritual body-builder, a faith-infused heavyweight. And not only that, we have every reason to believe she was a teenager at this time. A teenager! I am thinking back to Sarah, age 13 or 14, and before the 90s bangs, tapered jeans, and plaid shirts cloud my vision, I see someone who is still figuring things out. Still figuring out what the world is about, what is important in life, how friendship works, discovering likes and dislikes, and figuring out boys. But mostly giggling about that last thing. Even though that was all RATHER a while ago, I’m guessing it’s pretty much the same for most teenagers today. So it’s pretty wild to not just picture or imagine what happened to Mary, but to know that it actually happened. Sure, it was a different world, a different culture back then, but she was still so young. What can we learn about this teenager with monumental vision, with iron strength?

What we can safely say about Mary is that she had faith. And lots of it. In Luke, we are told that she found favor with God. What a beautiful phrase that is! She found favor with God. In Hebrews 11:6, the author writes, “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.” God had given Mary ridiculous amounts of faith, and she must have cultivated it in her own heart, in her own life. With this bedrock faith, she was able to not just accept the angel’s crazy announcement that she, a virgin, would give birth through the Holy Spirit to the Savior of the world, but to welcome this news. She welcomed God’s miraculous interruption, God’s glorious upheaval in her life. 

Throughout scripture, people had all kinds of reactions to God’s stepping into their lives and asking to be let in. Noah said yes when God told him to build an ark. Moses said yes when God asked him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. The Apostle Paul, when God blinded him on the way to Damascus, when he was going to round up Christians and have them put to death, obeyed Jesus’s instruction to enter the city and wait, blind with everything he knew turned upside down. 

Mary’s response to the angel is also incredibly inspiring to me. I am imagining what it would be like to be an engaged (which was pretty much halfway legally married back then) young woman, and then all of a sudden be mysteriously PREGNANT. Even though she knew what those around her would think and say about that scandalous news, she still welcomed God’s interruption. Mary’s life was set. She was engaged to a good man, to Joseph, and she would be a good wife, a good mother. But when the angel appeared instead, not just putting her life on hold, but changing it radically, forever, she was humble and said yes. 

Shortly after the angel’s life-altering visit, Mary went to visit her also-pregnant, much-older cousin, Elizabeth. This was a beautiful meeting, for when Elizabeth heard Mary, the Holy Spirit inspired her to bless Mary, the mother of her Messiah, and the Redeemer of the whole world. Mary responded by blessing the Lord Himself, for His goodness and mercy to her. For His choosing of her, for Hs finding favor with her. In her Psalm-like blessing, she tells of the Lord’s mighty blessings and justice and fulfilled promises. Oh, she’s still a teenager, obviously. She is still that same young woman, still figuring some things out. But she knew her Lord, she knew the true story of the Messiah’s coming, and she believed that that history was unfolding inside her very womb. 

That we all could have such faith! To welcome God’s good interjections in our lives. To embrace His life-changing presence in our stories. That when God asks us to do something, even something that will make other people shake their heads at us, even something that means our own plans change or fade completely, we would say a glorious yes. That we would identify with Mary, saying to whatever God has for us, “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be to me as you have said.” 

Some days, in my own story, it feels like God is asking me to build an ark of impossible proportions. Some days, it seems like God has struck me blind and I am waiting in the dark for Him to come to me and heal me and send me out to do His work. Most days, it’s really hard to welcome the interruptions of what He’s allowed in my life. I long for more faith, for more hope in the God I have loved and followed since childhood. I long to be more like Mary, who looked clearly at her completely changed circumstances, and praised God for those very changes. I want to be able to magnify Him in the middle of exactly what makes life difficult. I want to praise Him for the good things He’s done, that I so often overlook and take for granted. Like Mary, I want to join in to God's good work in the world by saying yes in faith. And who knows how we can change the world just by saying yes?  

Wild Hopes and Bright Lights

No more let sins and sorrows grow

Nor thorns infest the ground

He comes to make

His blessings flow

-Joy to the World

For to us a child is born,

    to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

    and his name shall be called 

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the increase of his government and of peace

    there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

    to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

    from this time forth and forevermore.

 The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

-Isaiah 9:6-7

There is always an invitation to fear. 

Fear is always with us, always immediately outside the door, always asking to be let in. Day in, day out. Year after year. Breath after breath. Reports of war and terror and unrest and a planet that is tearing itself apart fill our screens and minds. Difficult people and estranged relationships and things said or unsaid, things done and undone, weigh heavy on our hearts. We can also be filled with fear at our own lives, in the confusion and the mundane and the unfulfilled dreams—the sense that this isn't how it was meant to be. We face fear of the unknown in the future before us; we try to leave fear behind with our past choices and circumstances. Fear is always waiting for us. 

What is the remedy in a world so dark, in hearts so easily bent? Can there be one, or are we all so tied to fear? 

In this season of Advent, we wait. We wait in the dark, we hope in the dark. 

We join the ancient practice of preparing our hearts for the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Before a child can be born, there is the long wait. Before a son can be given to us, we had to prepare. Before the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace could come to us, there were years and generations of waiting. Before the government could be put on his shoulder, there was darkness and fear. Before the increase of His kingdom and peace, there was the fear of not knowing. There was only waiting. There was only hoping.  We wait with the world and we look forward to the joy of remembering His birth and what it means for all of us.

Fears are transformed in December; we stake our claim that hope and love and the gift of a Savior is stronger and larger than the darkness of our twisted world, of our twisted hearts. Anxieties are put to rest with the birth of a virgin’s son. Disappointments and discouragements are melted in the cry of the newborn King. Hopes are renewed, faith is reborn, and we find our joy in the light of his coming. 

So in a kind of wild hope, we set up our lighted Christmas trees. We hang up bright lights around our windows, defying the dark days and long nights. We decorate and bake and shop and plan and celebrate those we love. We reread the ancient Scriptures and remember the story of Jesus’ birth together. We hope and long and yearn for peace—for our friends and family, for our world, and in our own hearts. 

And yet, we do not just simply wait in a kind of wishful thinking. We can bring His kingdom to light no matter where we are. We who believe that the government is upon his shoulder, we hold his glory in our hearts and lives and relationships. We who believe Jesus is the Prince of Peace for all—we are called to continuously mirror his joy and reconciliation and love. We cling to this Prince of Peace instead of all our fears. In this way, as the old songs say, both the hopes and the fears of all the years are met in the light of His glory and grace.