What do you think Mary, the mother of Jesus, looked like? Is there somebody in this room right now who looks, to you, like your mental picture of Mary? How many women do you think there in this room who are named Mary? Maybe one of them looks the Mary that Luke speaks of here.

 

There has been a lot that has been written about Mary in the church over the last four years especially, since the writing of The DiVinci Code, a very popular novel. There has been a lot  speculation out of that writing about the relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, and the exactly the kind of intimacy they may have shared together.

 

But when Luke wants to talk about a really intimate relationship between Jesus and someone named Mary, it’s this Mary he focuses on. This other Mary. Mary, the mother of Jesus, who figures so prominently here in the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke, and who invited Jesus to perform his first miracle at the wedding of Canaan, who is there with him in his teaching and healing career in ministry. Who is even at the foot of the cross when he dies.

 

Luke remembers that this is the person whose very DNA was mixed together to form Jesus. This is the Mary that we look at during this season.

 

What do you think Mary looks like? Do you think she looks kind of like Martha Stewart? I’m a fan of Martha Stewart’s. I am. I can say that because my wife is a fan of Dr. Phil’s, and I don’t think he’s all that great.

 

The Bible doesn’t say she looked like Martha Stewart. The Bible doesn’t say she was the best Christmas shopper. The Bible doesn’t say she looked like she had the most personal energy. It doesn’t say she had the best Christmas sweater.

 

What does the Bible say Mary looked like? When the Bible wants to talk about what Mary looked like, it doesn’t talk about physical appearance at all; but rather, it speaks of character. That’s what Luke remembers – what Mary’s character looked like.

 

What do you see in the character of Mary? In her virtues, in her person? We will see some things that others will not see. That’s one of the wonderful things about Scripture is the way in which it can be unpacked so that we can mine the resources of what the Spirit brings us from it. Some things together. Some things perhaps unique to us, as the Spirit works in us.

 

What do you see that seems worthy to you, worthy of modeling or emulating when you think of Mary, the mother of Jesus. I see four things this week. One is her humility. Mary is a very humble person. I say that because Luke remembers that when she breaks into song, she sings not about herself and how wonderful she is, but rather it’s a song in praise of God. And particularly a song in praise of how God is going to work through her to touch and to bless others. Perhaps it was this very virtue of humility that was a part of why God chose her to partner with God in the creation of Jesus.

 

It’s Mary’s humility that Luke remembers, particularly in these first two chapters, when she experiences the announcement of this birth. And you see that humility, too, in her willingness to be available. To put her own agendas and plans on hold in the face of this news that the angel Gabriel was sharing with her.

 

When I look at Mary, I see also this week, her courage. Her courage as a virtue. And the example of her courage doesn’t look like the models for courage that we may so very often see in this world today. But it looks like bravery to me. When the angel says to her, “Hail, favored one,” and tells her of the birth, she steps right up. And her response, “Let it be to me according to thy word,” makes me think of that Hooty and the Blowfish song, “Standing like a soldier.” Let it be to me, according to thy word. She is brave.

 

It doesn’t say she doesn’t have fear. Don’t believe that lie, that the definition of courage means that you’re not afraid. Rather, to be brave, to act with courage, means to do what you believe is right, even in the face of your fears. And that’s Mary. Luke remembers that her character was one of humility and one of courage.

 

And then Luke points out to us that this is a woman whose character was deeply shaped by compassion. It’s in these first two chapters, as well. Maybe also in the miracle of Canaan story, in her concern for the party-thrower who is running out of wine. But certainly here. In her song, very early, she moves towards the needs of others in the community. Do you remember what she says in that song that is traditionally called The Magnificat? She’s singing about the lonely and the lowly, the poor and the hungry. She ‘s a woman who is aware of the needs of the community around her, particularly the hurting needs in the community. And she moves to talk about how God is going to help these people through what God is going to do through her.

 

She lives a life of compassion, and in some way that compassion is noted for us in her awareness of the needs, as well as her joy that God is going to address them.

 

I thought the fourth virtue, at the beginning of the week, I was going to lift up for you in Mary was, faith. But at this point, I’m going to lift up instead, friendship. Well it says that the first thing she does after hearing this news and singing about it is to run and tell a friend. A private conversation. She shares it with Elizabeth. Her cousin, yes, but her friend. She shares it in the tapestry of relationships and conversations that make up their fellowship together.

 

Consider this week, as we journey towards encountering Jesus, Mary as a model for us of how our characters ought to look. If we are preparing to encounter Jesus, and we see Mary as a model, particularly we Protestants who for too very long have neglected her, we should see in her certainly the humility and the courage and the compassion and the nurturing of friendship, which ought to also be a part of the way in which we prepare to encounter Jesus.

 

Who looks like Mary to you? When you look around you. As you look at the community around you, in your work, in your homes, in your families. Who looks like Mary to you? Humility and courage and compassion and friendship.

 

And in thinking about images of Mary I can hold up for you this week, do you know who looks like Mary, to me? You do. The Church. This congregation. You look like Mary.

 

Let me tell you about something that happened to us this week. We got a phone call early in the week, in the church office, from the Tampa Police Department. They were calling to inform us of a death. A man had died. A man that I’ll call Chuck Smith. Chuck was his real first name, but I’m changing the last name to protect what may have been his own sense of privacy. Chuck Smith was what we would typically call a homeless person. He didn’t have a house. He didn’t have a regular place to live. He died in his sleep in a very temporary boarding room. He died apparently of natural causes. But they did discover his body, and when they did, the police began the investigative work that they have to do when they discover that someone has died without knowledge of how it has happened. So they went through his limited effects, and through his personal items, and they discovered that this was a man who had been living on the street for some time. But he had an identification card, and that led them to medical records at the emergency room, some records at the Social Services offices. You know who he had listed as next-of-kin, person to inform in case of an emergency? The Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church. That’s why they were calling. They thought he was a next-of-kin.

 

About five years ago, BJ Johns came to me, in the work she does on our behalf with justice and mercy, and tried to sell me on letting some of the homeless people that we have contact with here, use the church’s address as their mailing address. “I don’t know, BJ, what will that mean in terms of liability? Then they’ll all start thinking that they should just come and hang around here, and it can be a problem.” But you know, homeless people have a need for a mailing address. They get some things in the mail. Part of what they’re doing as they journey towards health and shelter and wholeness, is receiving documents from different social services agencies they are relating to. And even mail from friends they have made along the way. And sometimes a certain kind of support check. And they don’t have a regular address to receive it.

 

BJ was trying to talk me into letting a group of these folks use “3501 San Jose Street” as their mailing address. So, in an administrative pastoral moment (which is always a weak moment for me, you see, because I don’t think of administration as my leading pastoral gift), so she was suggesting to me that maybe we should do this, let some of them use our address as their mailing address. So I agreed to it. And you have been quietly been doing that for about four years now. I was afraid at first that it might be hundreds, but it didn’t turn out to be. It’s just a group. They come here once a week, sometimes twice a week. When Bruce Farnell, our receptionist, gets the mail, he sorts it and puts into different staff boxes our mail, then puts theirs aside. When they come, he greets them. Very often he will give them a cup of coffee. They’ll use the restroom. They’ll talk with us. We’ve built up relationships with most of them, over time. We see them at the Faith Café. We saw Chuck there regularly. Sometimes we’d see him taking other people and introducing them to folks and telling how they could get to such-and-such an office in terms of solving a problem, and where he was sleeping that week. He was one of the ones that you bought socks for. He’s one of the ones that you have been providing shoes for over time. And so, when he had to fill on his card who they should contact in case of an emergency, he put your name. He thought you were his family.

 

I’m not trying to glamorize homelessness here. It’s a complex problem. And many homeless people have their own challenges that are a part of their journey there and their journey from it. But I was very touched by this story. We cried some tears in the office. We ought to cry in the face of a death, because it’s a loss. Some of us grieved his death.

 

 I don’t mean to tell you a sad story, but I share it with you to encourage you. Because while it’s sad in the sense of loss, it’s a good story in that, at least for this fellow, at least this week, you look like Mary to him. He thought he was a part of your family, and he put you down as his next-of-kin.

 

December 21^st, which is this week, is a day that the Hillsborough County Homeless Coalition has us, as religious communities, to observe a particular awareness of their plight. What do you know about December 21^st? It’s the shortest day of the year. Or the longest night of the year. But for some of them, it will be longer than it will be for us. So we’ll be doing that. Especially with many other faith communities, we will be observing it tonight at the vesper service. We will pray for Chuck Smith, remembering his life before God and thanking God for it, because we should do that with a human life.

 

If you want to learn more about the condition of homeless people and how we could help them in the complexity of their problems, you can look up, google in “Hillsborough County Homeless Coalition” online. They have a neat website. Or go to Metropolitan Ministries website. They do a very good work on behalf of hurting people in this community. Or stop by the church office. We have information there. Or come Wednesday at noon and help us wrap a lot of the gifts that we’re taking the families at Metropolitan Ministries. God bless you for what you’ve done already.

 

I tell you the story not to make you sad. I tell you the story to encourage you. At least this week, we got it right! Five years ago, I stumbled into it in an administrative moment where I was afraid. Afraid of the shame. Which is maybe what Mary was afraid of, when the Lord announced it to her of the shame involved in it. What will it be like for us, if I make this decision and all of these people show up. Will the congregation be mad at me? But somehow, prompted by the Spirit, I think now, I said, “Okay.” So you’ve been doing it. And there is a number of them out there getting their mail here and showing up. One of them slept here in the breezeway for a number of nights until we got her connected with Metropolitan Ministries.

 

At least this week, you look like Mary, in your humility and courage. And your compassion. And your friendship. Once in a while, not all the time, but once in a while, with the Spirit’s help, we get it right.

 

So you remember this week as you are journeying towards Bethlehem, trying to figure out what you need to do to prepare to greet Jesus there. Remember Mary as a model for how we also can prepare ourselves to encounter Jesus. An example of humility. An example of courage. An example of compassion. An example of friendship. And remember what the angel said to her, the angel Gabriel. “Greetings, O favored one.” And then, when she says, “How can this be?”, the angel says, “The Lord is with thee.” The Lord is with thee. Which is, of course, what we always forget.

 

The Lord will be with thee. And with God, all things are possible. Even for us.

 

 

©John T. DeBevoise 2005