She was glowing with joy… filled with the excited buzz and energy seen in most 13-year olds, who’re just beginning to change from girls into young women. This was an exciting time of life for her. Female friends chatted happily with her as she went each day to get water at the local well, “Mary, we hear you’re ready. When are you going to get engaged, Mary? Has your father made arrangements for you yet?” Her older siblings and aunts were also happily teasing her, knowing she’d matured to this delicate and sensitive time in life.
Her father and mother, Joachim and Anna, had already made arrangements for her future. Joseph was a respected carpenter in their town. He and Mary were now formally engaged to be married. Jewish law took their year-long engagement seriously. Their law said that if Joseph died, Mary would be a widow. If she died, he would be a widower. And if they separated, it was called a divorce.
Both of them, Joseph and Mary, spent that year of preparation getting to know each other… and getting ready for married life together. Joseph prepared for their marriage by building… taking that entire year to build their future house… the roof, the rooms, the furniture, and more.
Mary, on the other hand, spent much of her time preparing for the week-long wedding feast... She dreamed of that celebration, with food, and dancing, and music… the family and friends coming from all over. And Mary as lived with her parents one last year, she got ready, that final year… by sewing. Mary sewed the dishcloths, washcloths, and towels for their new home. She sewed all the clothes she would wear for her wedding day, that joyful week, and their life of marriage together.
Real people, with real emotions and feelings, this was an exciting and tender time for this new couple. As Joseph & Mary slowly began to learn each other’s ways. Starting to fall in love, as they planned their new life together. Enjoying and treasuring the smiles, whispers, joys, and fears of this special time.
Now, most people really get rattled and surprised when God breaks into their world with something unexpected! And faithful Mary was no exception. She was, God’s Word reminds us, “greatly troubled” at the angel’s words. Think what this message of the angel meant for Mary. In a moment, all her plans change. By receiving the work of God, this holy child now within her womb, EVERYTHING changes for Mary in a moment.
Now, gone are the happy dreams of a beautiful wedding; gone are the days of sweet anticipation; gone are the carefully thought-out plans for a wedding feast. Sure, Mary will be married, but not before rumors about her purity spread through the countryside. There will be a wedding feast, but not the grand way she planned and hoped. By welcoming God breaking into her world, Mary knew that her dreams for an ideal, perfect wedding would be forever changed.
Yes, that’s often the first thing that happens, when God breaks into our world.
GOD CHANGES OUR PLANS. He changes our plans, sometimes drastically, from what we’d expected. Not always in bad ways. But always in ways we didn’t quite expect.
And so, to comfort us, God reminds us, just before He shakes things up… Don’t be afraid, Mary… Don’t be afraid, brothers and sisters in Christ… because of Jesus, you have found favor with God. God’s promises us that His plans are better than our plans, and His ways wiser than our ways. But no matter what... when God breaks in… in Mary’s life, in our lives… plans are gonna change.
Of course, if our plans change when God breaks in, that also means that, in that moment…
GOD INVITES US TO GIVE UP CONTROL. When God is really working, when God is really doing something special… when He’s doing it, He invites us to give up control. Truth is, we’re not really in control of our lives, anyway. We like to pretend that we are, of course. We like to set our plans in motion, to have our own routine, to have a rhythm to our life that’s comfortable, predictable. (James 4:13-15) But when God breaks in… He invites us, powerfully, to give up that control… to Him.
Mary gave up control, in that moment, when God broke in to her life. Her words of faith in response to God’s goodness reveal her true heart. “I am the Lord’s servant. Let it be to me as you have said.” “I am the Lord’s servant.” You are in control, God, not me. You make the decisions, God, not me. Creator of all things, you own my home, my body, and all my possessions… not me.
That’s a peace, an inner tranquility we will need, too. Because when God breaks in…
GOD CHANGES OUR RELATIONSHIPS FOR GOOD. From the moment that God broke into Mary’s life, her relationships changed for good. From that moment on, her relationships with those in her life would be forever colored by child God had chosen her to bring into the world.
It happened in Mary’s family. Aunt Lizzie, an old woman, now pregnant with John the Baptist and filled with God’s Spirit, proclaimed her visiting teenage niece “most blessed among all women.”
It happened with Mary’s promised husband. Joseph, confused and upset by this unexpected pregnancy, almost divorced her in fear and frustration. But God’s angel also encouraged Joseph to not be afraid, and to love the child in Mary’s womb as if he were his own.
It even happened in Mary’s hometown. People in her hometown shunned, even mocked Mary in that day and age, for what they thought was her sinful behavior. Her unexpected pregnancy, with no husband, would have caused her friends to abandon her, even her family to disown her… all because they did not understand what God was doing in her womb.
God breaking into her world… changed her relationships for good… but for Mary, it sure didn’t feel good… at least not right away. And when God breaks into our lives, here… our relationships, too, change forever. Of course, like Mary, some of us aren’t really thrilled with the change. Other changes are amazing, as we see the miracles and relationships God works through His family, His people.
As together, we are united forever around His Son, our King Jesus Christ.
Yes. That’s what happens when God breaks in…
1) God changes our plans.
2) God invites us to give up control to Him.
3) God even changes our relationships for good.
It happened to Mary. And, as we are living proof, it happens still to His people today. And for those who eventually welcome His disruptive, life-changing presence, God still gives the privilege of bearing His Son Jesus to the world. Not in our womb, like Mary. But Jesus in our hands, outstretched to help. Jesus on our lips, speaking His promises. And Jesus in our hearts, changed forever by His love.
Yes. These are the miracles that still happen among His people today…
when God breaks in.
