Mother’s Day: EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED
LUKE 1:39-56
Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
The Song of Mary
46 And Mary said:
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
48 For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
49 For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
50 And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
52 He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
54 He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
55 As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”
56 And Mary remained with her about three months, and returned to her house
There is a truth about Mother’s Day I would like to point out to you: Mom’s are great people in your life. No matter what they did, none of us would be here without them. It’s Mother’s Day. This is a special time for many of us, as we celebrate together with a very important person in our lives: our mom’s or the woman who is the mother of our children, or both.
Significance and scope
There are certain things about Mary that we need to understand and clarify concerning her and motherhood. The growth in Mary was literal—there would have been stretch marks after the birth of that baby. There was the discomfort of carrying a baby. Her life (and ours) was altered. There was a universal scope and significance of what happened to and through her as she encountered the anointing of God.
The significance for us is no less impacting in terms of something happening in us, and the world that it changes. What’s the size of your world? What are the problems of your personality, circumstance or world that needs a Savior? The things that happened in Mary are essential toward the realization of the same kind of thing in us: Holy Spirit has entered me, applied the work of Jesus to me, growing within me, happening through me, changing my world around me. That’s what He wants to do.
What happened to Mary is a prototype for us
Successive generations—including ours right now—are within God’s intended purpose to recognize that Mary is a prototype or model of a kind of happy thing God wants us to experience as His anointing rests on us. What happened in Mary was biological. She was literally impregnated with a baby. That’s the thing about Mother’s Day: there’s no mom’s without impregnation. The parallel as it bears on us is just as real—God overshadowing us as He enters into our lives, only with us it’s into our hearts, not the womb, so that we can experience His anointing to birth revival into our world.
Today, let’s look at how Jesus wants to enter your life:
- KINGDOM GROWING IN YOU
- JESUS HAPPENING THROUGH YOU
- JESUS CHANGING THE WORLD AROUND YOU
I) JESUS KINGDOM GROWING IN YOU
Most of us have already received Jesus Christ as our Savior, but this Mother’s Day, are you consciously opening up to a new dimension of Jesus in you? Are you willing to want more of His kingdom in you? If you let Him in, it’s not going to be status quo.
Jesus growing in me
It’s uncomfortable to be pregnant. When Jesus gets inside you, it’s going to stretch you, and just like pregnancy does to a woman, it’ll change the way you walk. And when you let Jesus begin to grow in you, you don’t always look as slick as you once did.
Mary was ‘blessed’
In this song of praise sung by Mary, there is a portion of verse frequently misunderstood. When we read Mary saying, behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed (v. 48), some have taken this to mean Mary is to be esteemed above all other people, especially women. There is an unusual and exalted place Mary was given simply by the fact that she was allowed to be the avenue by which the Christ Child was born. Yet there’s nothing in the Bible that suggests she is to be esteemed, praised or acknowledged as a mediator between us and the LORD. But if you say less about Mary than the Bible says, you can miss one of the most profound revelations in the Scriptures, and foundational to everything the Lord would have us understand about His wanting to be incarnate in our midst—Emmanuel, God with us.
The Greek word for “blessed” used in this text isn’t the word synonymous for praise or exaltation, but a simple word meaning joy and happiness to every believer who will heed the Lord’s way, Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8). The term is eulogio and it applies to benedictions and speaking well of someone or something. Mary is saying that she is happy because the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, happened to her, Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. That’s how it’s supposed to be with all of us. Mom’s, make sure that you endeavor to have your kids call you blessed.
That’s What God Expects From Us When Holy Spirit comes as Wine
God has given Holy Spirit as wine, And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But new wine must be put into new wineskins… Others mocking said, They are full of new wine (Mark 2:22; Acts 2:13). In the Gospels, Jesus describes the new work of God, which is conveyed by the ministry of the Spirit, as new wine poured into old vessels. Mary was a new wineskin, not an old religious one. People accused her of being loose and said Jesus was illegitimate. If the old wineskin isn’t prepared, it is ruined. This is why you see a lot of people say they want more of Holy Spirit, but when He shows up and does things differently than they were used to, they freak out and say it can’t be God.
Also, When Holy Spirit comes as Fire, Something New Is Birthed In Us
Holy Spirit comes as fire to work deep into the substance of who you are in order to shape things around us, rather than us taking the shape of what is around us. Mary yielded to the work, as she declared, Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. As fire, He works in a dual way:
To probe the inner recesses of our life, refining us as gold or silver is refined in the fire, 4 When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and purged the blood of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning, 5 then the Lord will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering. 6 And there will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from the heat, for a place of refuge, and for a shelter from storm and rain (Isaiah 4:4-6), which then tempers our personalities by allowing penetration of fire into our heart system. Why is this important?
The purifying fire burns out the adversary. When the three Hebrew children were thrown into the furnace, not only were their lives spared, but their clothes didn’t burn. But the ropes holding them in bondage burned. By the “spirit of judgment”—or deliverance—“and burning” the Holy Spirit burns away the binding things that the enemy has placed on us.
II) JESUS KINGDOM HAPPENING THROUGH YOU
The “happening through” happens in every way you can think of that’s inconvenient. For Mary, it happened in a stable instead of more suitable and comfortable quarters. There is travail that attends birth—when Christ starts to happen through you, it isn’t always a neat and easy moment. But, the outflow from the Kingdom being conceived in you is mighty, and the impact that it has on your world is worth it.
Mary rejoices in this rich truth
- With worship (v. 46-47)
- With wonder (v. 48)
- With praise (v. 51-52)
- With promise (v. 53-54)
Mary rejoiced because she knew God had done something in her that was going to last. That song happens in anybody who opens up and says, Lord, I want something new from You.
Mary also rejoiced because there is hope (v. 48) that God will exalt ordinary people like us. Mary’s wonder and worship was based on the ability of God to come and bring life into you in spite of what you don’t have in yourself. As a member of the Israeli culture living under the heel of Roman rule, she says, what God is working in me is going to break the oppression that’s on me and around me (v. 51-52).
Holy Spirit appears as Oil to ignite our worship
That’s what happened to Mary. That’s what happens with us. Scripture says that anointing, peace and presence comes through abiding. When it seems like we have lost our anointing, it’s really not gone, it just goes below the surface. The way you draw the oil drawn back to the surface, is by an action of your will, as you turn on the faucet of worship, which lights the fire at the top of the candlestick.
The Bible says out of your inner being will flow rivers of living water (John 7:38). Open up your heart and draw near to Jesus to praise Him. Really get in touch with Him; don’t just do the religious thing.
When the living water begins to rise, the oil that’s already in you will be pushed to the top, allowing Holy Spirit to come and light it on fire. Light and warmth will drive away the darkness and the shadows. But you’re the one who needs to turn on the faucet. When you do, the rivers that flow from you will have an oil slick on them that can be ignited!
The Lord also wants to anoint us with the oil of rejoicing for a new season of refreshing for all those who have been overcome by the spirit of mourning. This form of anointing brings about the lifting of our heads to look beyond today, pulling tomorrow’s promises into today.
III) JESUS KINGDOM CHANGING THE WORLD AROUND YOU
Mary welcomed what the Lord wanted to do through her. She became a case study of God making an investment and God finding an instrument. He wants a new dimension of the incarnation of His Son in us. God wants to invest Jesus in us to multiply His life through us, and to make us an instrument through which He can touch the world.
The word “generation” does not always refer to a season of years, but also to a “genre” or a type of people. When Mary says, “all generations shall call me blessed,” she is saying, There will never be a genre of people who, if they understand what’s happened to me, won’t look toward this as the possibility of a happy moment for them as well.
Who among us today have been so suffocated by pain in the past that you’ve given up hope? Mary is worshipping God because He has given her an expectancy. We use the same word to describe our hopes and dreams as we use to describe a woman who’s going to have a baby. God comes to bring an expectation. You have to decide if you’re willing to open to it.
When you do open up, Holy Spirit comes as Wind
When Holy Spirit is shown as coming as wind, it depicts both His power and His guidance as He births expectation in us. When Jesus was telling Nicodemus about the new birth experience in John 3:8, The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit, Jesus told him that it is not like a physical, tangible birth where you can see the baby is born and check the clock for its time of arrival chronologically. The work of Holy Spirit as breath is seen as He breathes into a life and divine life enters you. We call it a Kairos moment, as God breaks into our realm.
At Pentecost, the sound of a wind—like a hurricane, drew the crowd in, And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 Then there appeared to them divided tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. 4 And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance (Acts 2:3). Friends, Holy Spirit as sovereign God is dynamic, irresistible, overwhelming and unstoppable. When He wants to come as wind, it is our duty to get ready for the tempest!
There are three points of comparison between the wind and the Spirit in the work of regeneration: 1) freedom and independence, 2) irresistible effect, 3) incomprehensibility: as to origin and termination. There is also a possible fourth analogy, not stated in the text, relating to the different degrees of power of wind as breeze or tempest. Holy Spirit acts like a gentle breeze upon the sensitive like Mary, John, Melanchthon, Zinzendorf, and like a sweeping storm or whirlwind upon characters strong like Paul, Luther, Calvin, Knox. It is presumptuous and maddening folly to make our own experience the measure and rule for everyone else. Instead, we should adore the wisdom and goodness of God in the variety of His operations.
CONCLUSION
Mary’s song of praise glorifies God working in her life. The Lord wants you to entertain an expectation He’d like to bring to you. You’ll remember it if you say these words to your neighbor right now: God wants to get me pregnant.
LET: JESUS GROW INSIDE YOU
JESUS HAPPEN THROUGH YOU
JESUS CHANGE THE WORLD AROUND YOU