The Songs of Christmas
Mary's Song
Pastor Tom
December 11, 2011
Luke 1:39–56
Many of us have so much. So much stuff; so many opportunities; so much we can do; so many places we can go; so much that we see little real need for a Gospel or God’s help unless our family faces some serious illness or crisis. If life is generally good, we can struggle to receive from God. And Christmas can become just another holiday season. Do we really need God and His Gospel while we live in the St. Albert area?
But for the people of the first century, the Gospel brought incredible hope. Why? There was an immense gap between rich and poor. The rich got rich at the expense of the poor. Herod the “Great” was only great because he oversaw some great buildings – the temple mount; Masada, the palace Herodium. But he funded these through the enforced taxation of the poor. Slaves or children of those indebted to Herod built these projects. The people feared his soldiers. On top of Herod, there were the Roman occupiers. They ran Palestine like many other of their conquered provinces. The Romans ruled and the Jews served. A Roman soldier could pick any Jew off the street and command them to carry their luggage for a mile. The Romans crucified people who threatened Caesar. The Jews faced oppression every time they went out on the street or every time they heard the sound of horses approaching their village.
God did act on behalf of these people. But in a way even they did not expect. He chose to bring a deliverer to them through this Mary who seemed to have everything against her.
Today, I want you to see 2 reasons why God’s plan is upside down or unexpected. As we discover those reasons, we’ll discover how we can respond to God’s upside down plan. In these responses, we will find out how even we who live with so much stuff can embrace the reality of our spiritual poverty and our desperate need for God.