But I have noticed something else. Those desperate folks,
for the most part, do not lament or complain very much. In spite
of all they would have every reason to complain about, they
don't...at least not on camera...stiff upper lip and all that.
And then we think about it and become a little embarrassed about
all the complaining that WE do - how much money we have to spend,
how little time we have to get things done, and so on. We have
every right to be embarrassed.
I think back to another situation in which someone had all
the reason in the world to complain...but did not. Take those
television news cameras back two thousand years to the little
town of Nazareth in Galilee. THERE is a truly heart rending
story...someone with as much ground for complaint as anyone of us
will ever see. You already know her name...MARY.
We do not know how old she was, but tradition has it that
she was just a teenager, perhaps fifteen or sixteen. She had
grown up in a religious home, and despite the fact that, as a
female she was barred from the formal training of the synagogue,
she had developed a special relationship with her God.
She was preparing to enter a new phase of life. It had been
arranged for her to marry a local carpenter, a man named Joseph.
That IS the way marriages are put together in the Middle East,
back then and well as now - something as important as marriage
should not be left to the whims of the heart. The engagement had
been agreed to and the period of betrothal had begun.
Now...catastrophe. She was pregnant. An angel had appeared
to her and said that she would bear a son. True, the angel had
said wonderful things to her: this was happening because she had
found favor with God; the child would be great and be called the
Son of the Most High; he would grow up to become a king...
wonderful things. She had questioned the situation because she
knew well enough where babies come from. She had asked, "How can
this be, since I am a virgin?" The angel told her not to worry:
God would father the child in a supernatural way. And then the
angel left.
Catastrophe...an unwed mother...and through no fault of her
own. In our own day, becoming pregnant while unmarried carries a
tremendous toll (grounds for complaint, to be sure), but
two-thousand years ago, it could be even worse. Joseph could
have gotten rid of Mary by announcing to the world her crime
against him and having her killed! That was legal. Or, as he
decided to do, Joseph could quietly call the whole thing off and
avoid the public scandal. At any rate, Mary's life was ruined.
She surely had grounds for complaint. Here was a young girl
on the brink of an exciting new life, and now this. "Greetings,
favored one." Favored? What kind of favor is this? She had
every right to complain, but her complaint was strange: "My soul
magnifies the Lord." Some complaint!
Of course, as time went along, she had more grounds for
complaint. Some months later, she and her intended husband (who,
as we know from a thousand Sunday School lessons, decided NOT to
terminate their relationship) had to travel the eighty miles from
Nazareth down to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census.
They were liable for the imperial tax, and had to register just
as every other citizen under the Caesar's control...each in the
city of their ancestry. Since she and Joseph were both counted
as descendants of King David, they had to travel to the ancestral
home: Bethlehem.
Mary surely could have complained about that. Eighty miles
of travel in days when the only transportation for a poor family
was in donkey caravans would be difficult enough under any
circumstances...but exceedingly pregnant as well? Grounds for
complaint, no question. Here was this (quote) "favored"
(unquote) young woman being forced to travel a difficult route
under the most trying of circumstances. "Favored," indeed! She
could complain...but all we hear her saying is "...my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the
lowliness of his servant." Strange complaint!
Mary's situation did not improve much when she and Joseph
arrived in Bethlehem. This "favored" young woman who was about
to give birth to the successor to David's throne might have
expected, if not palatial, at least DECENT accommodations for the
event, and if this is the family town, some relatives would
certainly have a place for them. A bit of privacy, perhaps? Of
course. With the animals? Well, at least they were out from
under the stars. Thank heaven for small favors. Small, indeed.
Not exactly in the "favored one" category. Again, Mary had every
cause to complain. But what does her complaint sound like?
"Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for
the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his
name." A strange complaint indeed!
Then, of course, there was the birth itself. I suppose any
of us would like to know that we have been "favored" by God, and
that we have been selected for some signal service. But there
are some types of service, quite honestly, with which we would
just as soon see someone ELSE "favored," particularly service
that involves a great deal of pain. I cannot speak from
first-hand knowledge, but I hear there are NO pains to compare
with those of childbirth. Now, here was a "favored" young woman;
at least she might expect to be offered an opportunity for
service that might not involve anguish. But no. She was granted
the dubious blessing of undergoing surpassing agony as the mark
of just how "favored" she really was. Mary's complaint? "His
mercy is for those who fear him." A strange way to complain.
If you have been to a hospital maternity ward recently, you
are aware that visitors are kept to a minimum. After all,
childbirth is a rigorous ordeal; mother and child need the chance
to get their strength before being expected to do a "show and
tell." A little peace and quiet, please. A young girl as
"favored" as Mary might at least have been able to expect a
degree of privacy after what she had gone through. After all,
she had just given birth in a strange city, in abysmal
surroundings, apparently without the help of a sympathetic mother
or midwife, just the company of a husband who was probably more
nervous than herself, and forced to use a feeding trough as a
cradle for her new son. At least she might have counted on her
"favored" status to guarantee her a bit of rest and privacy. But
she got not even that.
Soon after the birth, some local shepherds came...to gawk.
They came with a story about some angels appearing to them on the
hillside outside of town telling of the birth of the one who
would be the Messiah. Well, that certainly jibed with what
Gabriel had announced to her nine months before. But would it
not have been possible for the angels to spread the word in
another day or two? After all, she WAS "favored," wasn't she?
But it was not to be. Mary surely had grounds for complaint.
She said, "[God] has shown strength with his arm..." Another
strange way to complain.
Somehow, one might expect that, with all Mary had been
expected to endure, there would come a time when SOMETHING might
have been expected to go RIGHT for her. At least once the
anguish of having to tell her husband-to-be that she was going to
have a baby that was not his, the difficulty of a lengthy trip
just before the due date, the problem of awful accommodations,
the pains of the birth itself, and the lack of privacy after it
was all over, Mary might have figured on the right to EXPECT that
things would begin to start going her way. After all, how much
"favored" status should one person be expected to endure?
But there was more to come. Word came to Mary and Joseph
that King Herod had gotten wind of the fact that there was a
pretender to his throne recently born in Bethlehem, and jealous
of his own power as he was, Herod wanted to make certain that no
one would be able to claim his place. Information had it that
the king was sending troops to Bethlehem with orders to murder
every baby boy under the age of two that they found. Time for
another trip...this time even longer...to Egypt. They remained
in Egypt as expatriates until Herod finally died. Mary SURELY
could have complained. She had every right. But her words were,
"[God] has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and
lifted up the lowly." A strange way to complain.
Finally, of course, Mary and Joseph and Jesus DID get to
return to Israel. Apparently, they had planned to go back to
Bethlehem, but the political situation was such that it might
have been dangerous. So they went back up north to Galilee and
settled down again in Nazareth. It had been a most difficult
couple of years for Mary. There was not much about her life that
she would have been able to celebrate. Actually, it had been one
near-disaster after another. For one as "favored" as the angel
had said she was, the "favor" was strange indeed. At least she
might have been able to expect that she would now be able to
settle down to a life of ease. After all, this son she had borne
WAS to be the king, was he not? But no, Mary would find no
particular ease. Hers would be a normal life with all the
worries about raising children, keeping a home and putting food
on the table that any wife might have. She could have
complained, I suppose, but her words do not sound like a
complaint: "[God] has filled the hungry with good things and sent
the rich away empty." Some complaint!
Maybe Mary did not know how to complain...but I doubt it.
She complained later on when Jesus began his ministry. She and
her other children thought he had lost his mind, and they tried
to get him to stop and come home. Of course, he did not...and
the rest of the story we know. No, Mary knew how to complain.
She was normal; she was a human being like anyone else with all
the natural tendencies to gripe and moan like any of us.
But something kept her from it. She had heard from the
angel that she was "favored," and she believed it. She knew
enough about what being CHOSEN meant simply by looking at her
nation's history. The Jews were God's CHOSEN people...but chosen
for what? A life of ease? A life without pain? A life with no
problems? Hardly. This "chosen people" of hers had been chosen
for service; it was to be a nation who would minister to the
needs of a world lost in the darkness without the light of the
God of heaven. She knew that to be chosen of God sometimes means
both a crown of joy AND a cross of sorrow. She had heard that
she was "favored," and, in faith, she was willing to accept
whatever that favor meant.
Interesting, is it not, how many others in history have been
"favored" of God in being given some tremendous task to do. Paul
was "favored," favored with the task of sharing the Gospel with
the Gentiles, and ended up being able to write that "I have
learned to be content in whatever situation I find myself." He
wrote that from a prison cell. The martyrs to the faith thought
of themselves as "favored." One named Polycarp would say as he
was about to be burned alive, "Father, I bless you for counting
me worthy of this day and hour." A list like that could go on
and on...everyone with grounds for complaint but none willing to
do so. "Favored."
How many of us would count ourselves as "favored?" Not us.
We are not in the class of a Mary or a Paul or a Polycarp. We do
not think of ourselves as heroes of the faith. And it is just as
well. We would rather someone ELSE have all that "favor"
considering what it might entail. And way down deep, we would
rather hang on to the right to complain. Too bad, because God
does not seem to make that much use of complainers.
No, we do not have as much to complain about as Mary. We do
not even have as much to complain about as those folks whose
stories we see on the evening news...but we do it anyway. Shame
on us.
If anyone had cause for complaint it was Mary. Listen and
learn from her: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the
lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations
will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things
for me, and holy is his name." Mary's remarkable complaint.
Let us pray.
O God, we confess that we are far too quick to grumble about
things that do not go exactly as we might wish. Forgive us for
our self-centeredness, and then help us to share the good news
that NO complaint is worth uttering in the light of the glory
that awaits in eternity with you. We pray in the name of Jesus.
Amen!
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