"Special Delivery"

Luke 1:26-38, 47-55


[26] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, [27] to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. [28] And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." [29] But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. [30] The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. [31] And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. [32] He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. [33] He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." [34] Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" [35] The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. [36] And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. [37] For nothing will be impossible with God." [38] Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
[48] for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
[49] for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
[50] His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
[51] He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
[52] He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
[53] he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
[54] He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
[55] according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever."

INTRODUCTION:
Have you ever received anything Special Delivery? The doorbell rings. You open the door and there's the delivery person waiting to hand you either a package or an envelope. Your heart starts to race a little. You get short of breath. You get that little kid giggly feeling down in your stomach and all the way down to your toes. Your eyes twinkle with anticipation and excitement.

It doesn't matter how large or small the package is, though large makes the excitement seem larger. It doesn't matter who it's from, unless you see IRS in big red letters. Those few seconds of anticipation are glorious, heady and intoxicating. Sometimes the anticipation is actually better than what's in the package. But it doesn't really matter. Receiving something special delivery is exciting and wonderful and awesome.

And today, we've all received an awesome Special Delivery gift. We sit in excited anticipation waiting to unwrap this small package. But this package isn't wrapped like any other gift. This package is wrapped in swaddling clothes. And inside this Special Delivery package, delivered in a very special way, is our Special Deliverer, Christ the King, our Savior.

This morning, let's unwrap a little of this Specially Delivered gift and see a little of what it's all about.

I. THE ONE WHO DELIVERED THE DELIVERER IS SPECIAL:

A.The first thing to note in this Special Delivery is Mary, the mother of Jesus. This wonderful gift of grace was delivered to the world and wrapped in swaddling clothes. Mary the mother of Jesus, delivered the deliverer to those needing deliverance. And it all began back when the Angel Gabriel brought a very Special Delivery message to a very special girl about a Delivery she would be asked to make for the world.

Put yourself in her shoes. How would you have felt? Here you were, fourteen or fifteen and one day there's a knock on the door to your heart and suddenly you're visited by this tall stranger. You were always taught not to talk to strangers. But this stranger addresses you in an inviting way. "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." What kind of greeting is that? At least the angel didn't try to sound hip and say, "Hey girl friend, wha'sup?" She got a little scared. But when she realized it was an angel, she wasn't afraid.

B.What was even more strange was the message this angel, Gabriel, brought. It thrilled her and scared her to death, all at the same time. It made her heart race with both fear and anticipation. She weighed the glory against the cost. She weighed the glory of being the mother of the Messiah against the ridicule for being an unwed mother. And of course the glory won out over any cost. She was chosen and joyously accepted being chosen.

What made her do it? I just read a story about a seven year old little boy named Richard. It was three days before Christmas and his mother was busy with seasonal chores. She asked Richard to shine her good shoes for her. Shortly after, with the prideful smile that only a seven-year-old can show, Richard presented the shoes for inspection. Pleased with the results, his mother rewarded him with a quarter. On Christmas Day, as she put on her shoes to go to church, she noticed a lump in one shoe. Taking it off, she found a quarter wrapped in paper. Written on the paper in a child's scrawl were these words: "I done it for love." (1)

I think that's why Mary did it. She did it for love. Not for glory. Not for fame. Not for any reward. But for love. Somehow in this exchange with Gabriel, Mary experienced the great love of God and the great love God has for the world. Mary responded in love to God's love and offered to deliver this Special Delivery gift God was offering to the world. She did it for love.

II. THE CHILD, THE DELIVERER IS SPECIAL:

A.This Special Delivery gift God offered to the world was a child. A baby. Babies can melt even the toughest heart. Babies can break down barriers that nuclear weapons could never break down. So, God sent this amazing gift of salvation and deliverance in the form of a baby and wrapped it in swaddling clothes.

A three year old loved to sing the Christmas carols she learned in Church. Dad listened as she sang a very familiar carol, but something didn't sound right. So, he listened closer and heard her singing, "NO WAY in a manger." (2)

She had missed the words, but somehow she had caught a glimpse of a beautiful picture. The King of Kings, the Word made Flesh entering the world in a manger? No Way! In our human wisdom we would have had Secret Service Agents, television cameras, reporters and hours of commentary on the plight of the homeless during the holiday rush. There would have been at least one exposé on the cruelties of the tax system that would force a mother so close to term to travel so far just to be counted. We would have brought the holy family to the Presidential suite of the best hotel in town. The best doctors from around the world would have cared for Mary. And we would have ushered the Christ Child in with a parade that would make Macy's Thanksgiving day parade look like a small town kindergarten production. But a manger? No Way!

But, thank heaven, God chose a different way. Just when we weren't looking. Just when we thought there was nothing miraculous going on in the world. This young girl in the Middle East delivers a baby in a stable and lays him in a manger. How were we supposed to know that this child delivered so humbly was really our deliverer. The one who would be known as the Son of God? The one who came to offer himself and take away the sins of the world?

B.All that grace and forgiveness wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger. How do you explain that?

We live in a culture and an age that prides itself in science and logical explanations for everything. We're also a very material age. Nowhere is that more apparent than our Christmas shopping. If you read the ads and listen to the television commercials you get the distinct impression that Christmas is simply about more stuff!

But Advent and Christmas aren't about more stuff: they're about more meaning. Advent and Christmas draw us into a world of faith and paradox. They're grounded in the prophesies of Isaiah and the song of Mary. They're about faith in a God who knows no limits, a God who is loving and generous. These visions of such a God invite us into a totally different world. They call us to take a journey of hope into that new world, that new creation. They invite us to leave our world of safety and predictability and enter a world of love and grace and risk.

Those who have really heard the promises of God as proclaimed by Isaiah and as sung by Mary can't be indifferent. Those who have truly heard must, like Mary, say: 'Yes' or 'No' to God. 'Yes' or 'No' to the Deliverer who was and is the Special Delivery message wrapped in the person of Jesus. God in the flesh.

III. THE DELIVERED ARE SPECIAL:

A.Why did God do it? Why did God risk everything and put on flesh and blood? God looked down and saw the plight of God's people. We can look throughout the Old Testament and see all the other times that God looked down and was filled with anger. But this time, for some reason, God looked down and was filled with compassion. In that compassion God spoke the solution.

In the past God had sent the prophets, leaders and angels but none of that seemed to work for very long. It just didn't seem to stick. So God came Himself. God threw off the robes of heaven was wrapped in our rags of unrighteousness. Wrapped in the swaddling clothes of our skin and bones, God stepped into everyday life. God was held in the arms of Mary and offered us the greatest gift of all, the gift of grace and forgiveness simply because God loves us.

B.My favorite movie of all time is "It's A Wonderful Life" with Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. It is a great story about the triumph of the human spirit, love, sacrifice and friendship. Do you remember the ending? George Bailey's life had fallen apart. He was at the point of committing suicide. But he was rescued by Clarence Oddbody AS2. AS2 stood for the Angel Second Class.

Through Clarence, George is given the gift of finding out what life would have been like if he had never been born. In the closing scene, it's after George has come to his senses and the whole town has turned out to help. Right before the bell rings and Zuzu says, "Look Daddy, teacher says, "Every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings." George looks down and there's a copy of Tom Sawyer that Clarence had been reading. George opens it up and there's an inscription inside that reads: "Dear George, Remember no man is a failure who has friends. Thanks for the wings. Love Clarence."

Clarence was right and we have the greatest friend of all in Jesus. We are special to God because we have been delivered. The Deliverer loves us. The Deliverer even calls us friend. And with Jesus as our friend none of us can be a failure, ever. We can fail at certain projects or fail to do certain things but we can never be a failure because we are a friend of the Son of God.

CONCLUSION:
That's what this special season is all about. God sent us a Special Delivery gift through Mary's special delivery of our special deliverer. God did all of this because we are special to God. We are the children of God. We are loved and God shows us that love through the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, through the cross and through the empty tomb.

One Christmas morning, after all the gifts had been handed out, a small boy appeared perplexed. His mother noticed his concerned expression and asked him what was wrong. "Mommy," he asked. "Isn't today Jesus' birthday?"

"Of course it is," she answered.

"Then why don't we have a present for him?" (3)

This is the season of the celebration of Jesus' birth. A season we celebrate by giving gifts. Do you have a gift for Jesus? Let me suggest one. The only one that is really appropriate. Why don't you give him your heart? Renew your relationship, or take that step for the very first time. What better gift could you give this child of God, this deliverer than your heart? Come to the stable to see the Special Delivery gift God has for you. Bring the gift of your heart. Make you own special delivery to the Christ child.

This is the Word of the Lord for this day.

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  1. From Christopher News Notes, submitted by Charles Krieg, St. Joseph's Seminary, Plainsboro, New Jersey.
  2. Pastor's Story File, Saratoga Press, Dec. 1996
  3. Upper Room, Dec. 20, 1996.