Let it be according to your word

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Christ Episcopal Church, Valdosta
“Let It Be with Me According to Your Word” (Luke 1:26-38)
December 21, 2014
Dave Johnson

In the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Imagine that you are a young woman from a small obscure town. You are engaged to be married, and your mind and heart are engulfed by the whirlwind of emotions that accompany being engaged. You are simply going about your business one day and a mighty angel named Gabriel suddenly appears right in front of you. What would you do? How would you respond?

In Scripture every time an angel appears to a human being, the response is one of fear, and Mary was no different. And yet Gabriel’s first words to Mary immediately communicate the one thing Mary needed, the one thing all of us need, grace from God—favor from God. “Greetings, favored one!” Gabriel tells the scared Mary, “The Lord is with you.”

Mary was confused by this. “She was much perplexed by his words,” Luke writes, “and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.” And apparently Mary was also still scared, because Gabriel continues, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.” Gabriel assures Mary that she had already (past tense) found favor with God, that God had already given her grace.

We too need grace from God our whole life through, grace from God to help us in the places where we, like Mary, may be scared and confused. This hope for grace from God never goes away.

One evening last week while I was grilling dinner for our family I watching a Youtube interview on my phone that C SPAN did back in 2001 with the late Southern writer Shelby Foote. (Every guy does that while grilling, right? ☺). The interview took place in Shelby’s home in Memphis. It was fascinating to watch as Shelby gave a tour of his personal library and study, as he showed the desk where he wrote many of his masterful works by hand with an old fashioned dip ink pen. It was equally fascinating to listen to him discuss the various writers he admired the most—Faulkner, Chekhov, Proust, Fitzgerald, and others.

At one especially poignant moment the interviewer asked, “Now you’re going to be 85 in November?” Right, Shelby responds. “What’s it feel like to be that age?” Chuckling he replies, I can’t associate myself with anybody 85 years old. It amazes me in the first place. “Do you still write?” Yeah, of course, I’ll stop when they let me down. But nearly all my friends are dead. My closest friend, Walker Percy, has been dead for eleven years. That’s hard to believe. But that’s the way it goes. Then Shelby looked at the interviewer and in one brief sentence described the life experience of so many of us: You take it as it comes and you hope for some form of grace.

You take it as it comes and you hope for some form of grace.

Several months ago I spent a day in Liverpool, England, and had the opportunity to visit the childhood home of Paul McCartney. McCartney lived on Forthlin Road with his parents Jim and Mary and his brother Mike in a modest government-built townhouse that was constructed after World War II. It was surreal standing in the little family room where he would hang out with his family listening to the radio and where he would begin writing songs with his fellow teenage friend John Lennon.

It was while the McCartney’s were living there that Paul’s mother Mary was stricken with cancer. Paul was fourteen years old. In his biography Paul McCartney: A Life, Peter Ames Carlin describes what happened as Mary reached the end of her struggle with cancer:

“Jim went home to Forthlin Road and told the boys they could visit their mother, but first they had to put on their school uniforms. Jim knew what was happening, it was all he could do to keep himself together on the drive back to the hospital…Paul and Mike were walked down the corridor and led through the door into Mary’s room. She leaned up on one elbow to greet them… Both boys kissed her face, and she reached out for their hands…They talked for a while, a few minutes. There were more kisses, a quick good-bye. Paul and Mike touched their lips to their mother’s face one last time and were taken home…Mary turned to her sister and whispered, ‘I would have liked to have seen the boys growing up’” (18).

Of course Mary’s death broke the collective heart of the family. Carlin continues:

“Mary’s absence made the little house on Forthlin Road feel cavernous. The rich smell of her scones no longer filled the morning air. The reassuring clatter of dishes in the sink, the perfume of her tea and cigarettes, the melody of her voice calling up the stairs. It was gone, along with her cuddles, the secretly proffered treats, the gentle strength of her arms when she pulled them close…The tragedy shook the foundations of everything they had once taken for granted. Their father, once the model of quiet, working class strength, now faltered visibly” (19).

In other words, Mary’s death left Paul and Jim and Mike scared and confused.

And again, it is in the seasons when we are scared and confused that we need assurance of the grace of God, the favor of God—that God is for us, not against us, that we are fully known, fully forgiven and fully loved—and that yes, in the end everything will turn out alright.

Back to Mary for a moment…as Gabriel continued to speak to Mary he revealed a form of grace God would give the entire world, a form of grace God would give all people for all time, a form of grace in the Person of the One Scripture tells us who himself formed the heavens and the earth—Jesus Christ. “You will conceive in your womb and bear a son,” Gabriel told Mary, “and you will name him Jesus.”

Do you know what the name “Jesus” means? “Yahweh saves.”

Then Gabriel tells Mary, “He will be called the Son of God.”

In Jesus Christ God gives us all the form of grace for which we all hope.

There are various ways we can respond to the form of grace God has given us in Jesus Christ. We can dismiss it (It’s a nice story but too good to be true), we can reject it (It’s all bah humbug!), we can qualify it (God’s grace is only for some people, not everyone), we can minimize it (God’s grace is fine but we have to do our part too). We can even try to disqualify ourselves from it (I don’t deserve it).

But how did Mary respond to God’s grace?

Mary did not dismiss it, or reject it, or qualify it, or minimize it—she certainly did not try to disqualify herself from it.

Instead, Mary simply received it. “Let it be with me according to your word,” Mary told the angel. “Let it be with me according to your word.” That’s it.

Later Luke records that during her visit to her relative Elizabeth, who was pregnant with John the Baptist, Mary sang a song in which she praised God for the grace given her, the grace she had simply received—“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant” (1:48).

Back to Paul McCartney for a moment…Paul never got over his mother’s death. (And I would guess you have things in your life that you have never gotten over—that, like Shelby Foote, you take it as it comes and you hope for some form of grace). But one night in his late twenties Paul unexpectedly experienced a very special form of grace. He had a dream in which his mother, peaceful and beautiful, walked up to him and reassured him: “It will be alright,” she said, “let it be.”

Paul responded by simply receiving that grace—and based on that experience he wrote the following lyrics to a comforting song you all probably know:

“When I find myself in times of trouble
Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, ‘Let it be.’”
(From the title track of the last album by The Beatles, Let It Be, 1970).

The good news of the gospel is that you have already been given grace by God; you have already found favor with God. God has given you the ultimate form of grace in Jesus Christ, through whom Yahweh saves all of us.

“Let it be with me according to your word”—that was Mary’s response to the grace of God. And the baby Mary later bore would himself bear a cross for you. Jesus the Son of God “walked down the corridor” of the Via Dolorosa, “faltered visibly,” and died for you. But as you know, it did not end there, for as the angel Gabriel also told Mary, “of his kingdom there will be no end.”

And because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, Mary McCartney’s word of grace to Paul is God’s word of grace to you: “It will be alright. Let it be.”

Amen.

In heeding Jesus’ ever-present invitation of “Follow Me,” we are confronted by His prayer before His crucifixion, imploring, “Oh My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me,” but then declaring, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will” (Matthew 26:39).

This sentiment echoes one expressed in different words more than three decades earlier by a young Jewish woman. We might wonder: Were her words never shared until much later with Luke the Gospel writer, or did she tell her Son of these impactful words when He was old enough to understand and internalize them for Himself?

Let’s drop in on the young lady named Mary as her ordinary life was abruptly changed forever in a moment! She was visited by the angel Gabriel, who declared, “Rejoice highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (Luke 1:26-28).

Stunned, she wondered what this meant. Gabriel succinctly laid out what was to occur: “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest” (verses 31-32).

Talk about a life changer! But she wondered how this could be since she was still a virgin (verse 34). Then Gabriel shared the unimaginable: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God” (verse 35). And he laid out a simple fact: “For with God nothing will be impossible” (verse 37).

Her response? “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (verse 38, emphasis added throughout). With her faith-filled and voluntary surrender to divine direction over any human-made future, Mary sealed the envelope of her life and placed it into God’s hands.

What might we gain from Mary’s experience, making her response our own as disciples of her Son? Let’s consider three key factors regarding Mary’s submission to the divine direction to enable our ability to heed her Son’s directive of “Follow Me.”

1. Submitting to God’s will

Mary was open and made herself completely available to the will of God. Her willingness is jaw-dropping! Inspiring! She accepts this mysterious design for her life with only a simple biological question of how.

Mary was no doubt a product of her upbringing—having been taught that she was part of a great story her people rehearsed daily in their lives centered on God’s interruptions and interventions in the lives of their ancestors.

Their God, our God, is in “the business of new.” “Behold, I will do a new thing,” He says (Isaiah 43:19). And His greatest miracle is taking “nothing” and making it something to fulfill His glory. God made light from darkness, He made man from dirt, He made woman from the man’s side, He drew a line through the Red Sea and made a pathway of deliverance, He blessed Sarai, Hannah and Elizabeth with children from an empty womb. Now the One from above would create a new life in Mary’s womb—apart from any man’s involvement—to bring about the most important birth ever. That would “stretch her some,” but she was all in!

Perhaps Mary mused on the words of Isaiah on accepting God’s work in our lives: “But now, O Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter; and all we are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8). With that in mind, let us come to expect the unexpected as God molds us for His purpose and pleasure, and let our response echo the yielded response of Isaiah, Mary and Jesus: “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I! Send Me’” (Isaiah 6:8).

2. Praise and humility go heart in hand

Mary’s humility is lovingly on display in visiting her relative Elizabeth. The words shared on her visit are so opposite of today’s narcissistic culture of “look at me,” as seen on various social media outlets. If anyone had “personal news” to broadcast, it was Mary, mother of the soon-to-be-born prophesied Messiah, the Son of God.

Of course, sharing such news would have been dangerous then. In any case Mary was not self-promoting but trusting in God. Scripture informs us that Mary “kept all these things and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19). Elizabeth recognized Mary’s mindset, commenting, “You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what He said” (Luke 1:45, New Living Translation).

Mary’s “text” that comes down through the ages shows her focus: “Oh how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! For He took note of his lowly servant girl, and from now on all generations will call me blessed. For the Mighty One is holy, and He has done great things for me. He shows mercy from generation to generation to all who fear Him” (verses 46-50, NLT).

When Mary says everyone will call her blessed, is she being boastful? The Life Application Bible Commentary: Luke answers well: “No, she was recognizing and accepting the gift God had given her . . . Pride is refusing to accept God’s gifts or taking credit for what God has done; humility is accepting the gifts and using them to praise and serve God” (note on Luke 1:51-53). Her upward and sincere words of praise show that she remained a humble and willing vessel in service to God.

Praising and worshiping God from a responsive place of humility open our heart to accept His will and enable us to hear directly from Him. Focusing on the greatness of our Creator pulls us out of doubt and fear. The spiritual reality is that praise truly closes the gap between ourselves and our Maker—the Master Potter who continues to mold us.

3. Letting go and letting God

Mary followed the true and challenging admonition to “let go and let God.” Obtaining such spiritual maturity doesn’t happen overnight but develops one bump at a time on the road of our spiritual pilgrimage. Did Mary understand everything concerning the life that would come forth through her in advance? No. We look back on her completed story in a rear view, but she was moving in real time amid the heavy traffic of life.

Would it ever be easy? Think about it: Fleeing from Herod, living in Egypt, Simeon prophesying in Luke 2:28-35 that her Son was destined for the fall and rising of many and to be spoken against, with advanced warning that “a sword will pierce through your own soul also.”

As a mother she would have to “let go and let God.” At age 12 her Son would tell her and Joseph, “I must be about My Father’s business” (Luke 2:49), which would ultimately lead to her as a mother watching His crucifixion, His Heavenly Father allowing His Son to be sacrificed for her sins and ours.

The lesson for us as we accept Jesus’ invitation of “Follow Me” is to continue to trust God even when circumstances seem impossible. Dedicate and prepare yourself to be a “living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service” (Romans 12:1) no matter how it changes the path you thought your life would take.

Jesus, our ultimate example, never said it would be easy, but He did say it would be worth it! Imagine the joy that must have been on Mary’s face when she saw her resurrected Son! She was not merely His mother, but for the rest of her life His disciple also (Acts 1:14). Yes, Jesus was sent by His Father from heaven, but to a measurable degree He was also as a human being “mother-made” by word and deed here below.

She became a faithful example for the ages of one who took what was told to her from God and said, “Let it be to me according to your word.”