It has been a while, as far as we know, since any of the “sent out” have been sent out. Angels haven’t appeared to much of anybody for quite a while, and then all of a sudden they are popping up everywhere. Not just any angels; the legendary ones. The angel of the Lord appears to Zechariah in the temple in Jerusalem. Gabriel shows up at Nazareth to see Mary. And then the angel of the Lord makes another appearance to Joseph.
These angelic visitors have amazing credentials, impressive resumes, and direct access to God, and yet God sends them to unknown people, living insignificant lives in insignificant towns with insignificant assets and insignificant political power. Although they come from families with interesting histories, nothing in any of their stories sets them apart. They are unknowns. Nobodies. Nearly invisible.
Hear the word of God describe one of these visits:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you."
But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 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. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."
Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?"
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. 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. For nothing will be impossible with God."
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.
With this knowledge, can we imagine how Mary took care of herself during this pregnancy? Do we understand the care with which these humble people delivered these God-promised children, John and Jesus, into this world? Have we ever thought about how these called-out parents measured every word that they used to comfort, nurture, direct, and discipline these babies with such huge destinies? If it were our calling, how would we raise the prophet and herald of the King, and the King himself?
That is a sobering question, isn’t it? And yet it is not as irrelevant as it might seem at first. No, in fact, we have not been called to raise John or Jesus in our homes. Yet, despite the fact that we may be nobodies, too, might God have placed a child with an extraordinary calling in our care? Who knows? We might have a Sarah or a Samuel, a Mary or a Micaiah, an Elizabeth or an Elijah, an Abigail or an Amos, a Joanna or a Josiah or a Joshua … mightn’t we?
Remember the words of Jesus? “Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.”
Because of the amount of time that God may choose for our children to be in this world, they have, according to Jesus, the potential to lay at the feet of Jesus a larger body of work than that which Jesus had time to do. More significant? Certainly not. Important in the eyes of Jesus Christ? Absolutely. Through the power of Jesus? That’s what he said.
Every one of the children born to our care, and every one of the young men placed in our care, has this kind of potential. If God made a good creation when he made humanity, if Jesus spoke the truth, if we can trust his promises, then that potential belongs to all of these children. We can take the “if” out of all of those phrases, can’t we, because they’re all true. Now the “Ifs” are all in our court: if we will teach our children when we rise up and lie down, if we will show a child the way that is right when they are young, if we will not provoke a child to wrath, then we will have the possibilities that go with those practices. Will we take the “if” out of those? Will we try?
If we’re raising our children differently than we would Jesus, why?
Blessings,
Ron
Luke 1:26-38; John 14:12-14 – NRSV
