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?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. For no word from God will ever fail.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
(Luke 1:26-38)
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It’s dangerous to assume anything, of course, but I have a high degree of suspicion that most people are familiar with Apollo 13. It was the mission to the moon that didn’t get to the moon. It launched on April 11, 1970, and two days later an oxygen tank on board exploded, crippling the ship. The crew had to deal with problems such as loss of electrical power, limited heat and a serious shortage of drinkable water. Most dangerous, though, was that the air filtration system - which removed carbon dioxide from the capsule and replaced it with oxygen - was severely damaged. The problems with trying to fix it were well documented by the 1995 movie “Apollo 13.” Trying to fix the system meant literally trying to find a way to fit a square peg into a round hole. The technicians at Mission Control were mystified. They were ordered by the head of Mission Control to look at every option available to find a solution. They were given only one restriction - “failure,” they were told, “is not an option.” And it wasn’t. A solution was found, and a jury-rigged air filtration system lasted long enough to get the three astronauts safely back to earth. Too many people, I think, look for reasons to fail rather than opportunities to succeed because, truth be told, it’s a lot easier to fail than it is to succeed. As I’ve sometimes said, if you really, really want to succeed - then plan to fail, because if you plan to fail, you’ll succeed at that plan every time.
God never plans to fail. Somehow, and in some way, God’s plans will work out. It’s not always easy to see. The world doesn’t always make it easy to see - but it’s true. God doesn’t plan to fail, and God will not fail. God’s promises will not fail. As the angel said to Mary, “no word from God will ever fail.” But sometimes we wonder don’t we. “We hear the Christmas angels - their great glad tidings tell …” But the tidings are of peace on earth. The tidings are of good will and justice. We don’t have to look very far to see examples of places where there’s no peace. About 150 innocent children killed by terrorists at a school in Pakistan. That isn’t peace. A former Vice President of the United States saying that he doesn’t care if innocent people got picked up and tortured in the fight against terrorism. That isn’t good will and justice. And those are just two noteworthy examples from the news in the last few days. Peace? Good will? Justice? These are promised by God’s word. Has God’s word failed? I don’t think so. Because failure is not an option when it comes to God’s word.
Think about Mary in this passage? How must she have felt about God’s word? Here she was, a young woman about to be married, almost certainly with children to come afterward - told that she’d be pregnant and giving birth before the marriage. Maybe that isn't such a big deal in 2014, but 2000 years ago it was a big deal! A very big deal! She’d be humiliated and probably cast aside by Joseph - quite possibly stoned. And none of it was her fault. Where was justice for Mary? Where could she go to find peace? How could she possibly expect to encounter good will? Fortunately, the Christmas story tells us that Joseph had a visit from the same angel to explain the situation to him, and he believed what the angel told him, but did life get that much easier for Mary?
She watched her son grow up. She watched as he incurred the wrath of the religious leaders and the anger of local officials of the Roman Empire. For all we know, she may have been among the members of Jesus’ family referred to in Mark 3:21 who, concerned that he was angering so many people, thought that Jesus was “out of his mind.” She watched as he was put on trial, condemned and crucified - dying for proclaiming the love and grace of God. As she watched the baby she had given birth to in a manger taking his last agonizing breaths on the cross, I wonder what she thought about those words - “no word from God will ever fail.” It must have looked like failure to Mary.
So, did the word of God fail? Let’s think for a moment. What is the word of God? From John’s Gospel: “In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God and the word was God. … And the word became flesh and dwelt among us.” There’s a deep truth that John shares with us here. The true word of God isn’t the Bible. I honour the Bible. It has a cherished place in my heart. But the true word of God is Jesus. The Bible is made up of words on pages. Jesus was God’s word lived out, put into action, demonstrating God’s ways. So if we want to hold on to the words the angel offered to Mary - “No word from God will ever fail” - then the question we’re really asking is whether Jesus failed. The answer, to me, is clearly no.
Jesus overcame. Jesus faced all that the powerful of his day could throw at him, and he overcame. He was born in humble circumstances - but he changed the world. His life was a short one, not much travelled - but he changed the world. His death was horrendous; even gruesome - but he changed the world. All because the child who was born in a manger and the man who died on a cross would rise from the dead and show us that God could triumph over even those things that seem to have the most power over us.
You see, Christmas leads to Easter. You should never take one without the other, because if you do you only get a small part of the story, but you need the whole story to really understand what God is saying. This is what Christian faith is all about: Christmas leads to Easter; sorrow leads to joy; despair leads to hope; crucifixion leads to resurrection; death leads to life. “No word from God will ever fail.” That doesn’t mean it’s always going to be easy. That doesn’t mean there will never be troubles along the way. That doesn’t mean that we won’t sometimes suffer heart-wrenching sorrow and despair on the path. Mary did. So did Jesus. But they both knew this - “no word from God will ever fail.” God would see them through anything. God will see us through anything. Failure, indeed, is not an option.
Love this. Encouraged
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