"Greetings, Favored One!"

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16
Now when the king was settled in his house, and the LORD had given him rest from all his enemies around him,
the king said to the prophet Nathan, "See now, I am living in a house of cedar, but the ark of God stays in a tent."

Nathan said to the king, "Go, do all that you have in mind; for the LORD is with you."

But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan:
Go and tell my servant David: Thus says the LORD: Are you the one to build me a house to live in?
I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle.

Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, saying, "Why have you not built me a house of cedar?"

Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the LORD of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel;
and I have been with you wherever you went, and have cut off all your enemies from before you; and I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth.

And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may live in their own place, and be disturbed no more; and evildoers shall afflict them no more, as formerly,
from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel; and I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover the LORD declares to you that the LORD will make you a house.

Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.

Luke 1:26-38
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. 

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If you had the pleasure of being here last Sunday evening and watching the children’s pageant, perhaps you had a similar response to me as you listened to today’s gospel reading – I hear the voice of Tyler Boatwright as the angel Gabriel, saying “Greetings, Favored One!”, and Calli Bowman-Tomlinson responding with “How can this be?”

If I am lucky, I will keep those two voices connected with this scripture for a long time.

It’s good for us to hear this story again, and to let ourselves be perplexed, perhaps, like Mary, and to ponder what it means.

Gabriel tells Mary that she is greatly favored, graced, honored by God, as soon as he comes to her. He doesn’t wait to hear what her answer will be when he tells her what the nature of this honor really is. She is greatly favored before she does one thing for God, before she responds to God’s will for her life.

What he reveals to her is the great opportunity God is giving her to be a blessing, to carry out God’s will in a unique and life-giving way.

When Mary hears that she will conceive and give birth to the son of the Most High, the one they have waited for, the one who will ascend to David’s throne and reign forever, Mary has one question: could you tell me how this will work, since I am a virgin?

And hearing the angel’s reply, and the reminder that “nothing will be impossible with God”, Mary says “Here I am; let it be.”

In our story from the Old Testament, from second Samuel, we hear that King David gets settled in his house, his beautiful house made of cedar, and he becomes unsettled – because he starts to think about what it means that he is living in such posh quarters while the ark of God stays in a tent. So he mentions it to Nathan, implying that he is thinking about providing better living arrangements for God as well. Nathan says, yes, that sounds like a good idea, but that night the Lord tells Nathan to help David think about this differently. The Lord God says, I haven’t lived in a house all this time, and I haven’t said one word about needing a house of cedar for myself. Furthermore, I took you from the pasture, stayed with you all along, cut off all your enemies, made for you a great name, and I will make it even greater.

You don’t need to make me a house. In fact, I, the Lord God, will make you a house. Why? Because you and my people Israel are greatly favored. You are my beloved.

Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; you throne, David, shall be established forever.

Even as the Lord says I don’t need a house, God also says that the throne of David shall be established forever.

I will make you a house.

That house, that dwelling place, it came to be for all humankind, in the stable, in the manger.  It began with Mary and with the birth of a tiny, helpless baby. It began with the transitory, refugee life of Mary and Joseph. It was Jesus the Christ, who as an adult had no home on earth. Christ brought in the kingdom. As the angel said to Mary, “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.”

Through Jesus we are given a magnified view of God, which shows us that we are favored by God, that God greets us all as beloved children. We see that all people are welcomed home – to God’s home. We, too, are favored ones. No matter what we have done or not done to deserve this, we are given this gift by God.

David was greatly favored by the Lord. The people of Israel, greatly favored. Mary was greatly favored by God. They were all greatly blessed, so that they could be a great blessing to the world.

And so it is with us. If we have ears to hear, we can hear the words, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you! I have already given you my grace, my peace. I call you, I invite you, I ask you to abide in me, to do my will, to be a servant of the Lord.” God speaks these words to us all, calling and inviting us to be a blessing in whatever unique way God has in store for us, this day and every day.

Mary accepted the calling that was placed upon her. So did Joseph. God greets us and waits to see if we, too, accept our calling to be a blessing to others.

And there is no precondition here, no need to be ready, to be worthy enough for this favor.

Around three years ago, for just about a year before I retired, I led a Bible study at my former company. We were a group of about six women, all in management types of roles.

We used a variety of study materials over the year or so that we met. But the most memorable for us all was the Horizons Bible Study that was offered by Presbyterian Women that year. It was written by Margaret Aymer, who is a PC(USA) ordained teaching elder, and professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta. The title of the study was “Confessing the Beatitudes” and it took us all through nine lessons, considering each of the statements we heard from Jesus in what we know as the Sermon on the Mount. These words are found in both Matthew and Luke’s gospels, and they are best known to us as the “blessed’s” – blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are persecuted for my sake, for you will be called sons of God. These are just two of the nine “blessed’s” that Jesus taught about, and that we studied in the class.

But we didn’t talk about those who were “blessed”. We learned in that study that the word Jesus used there more closely means “greatly favored”, or “greatly honored”. So the poor in spirit are greatly honored, and so are those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. The peacemakers, and those persecuted for Jesus’ sake, they are greatly honored.

So it’s not just Mary who is favored by God. It’s not just Mary and a few other chosen people, the ones written up in Bible stories, ones like Abraham and Isaac and Moses and Ruth, who are chosen in various ways to bear God into the world, to show us how God loves us. It’s not just the chosen people. No, it is all people. It is you and me. It’s each and every one of us. It is the least of us, and the most lost of us. It is us, especially at those times when we feel the most lost, or insignificant, or unworthy of God’s love. God’s greeting to us can be heard especially at those times – you are favored. You are honored. You are my beloved child. You don’t have to earn it; I give it to you freely. There is nothing you can do to make me love you more; there is nothing you can do to make me love you less. And I have plans for you, ways that you can and will be a blessing to others, in so many ways big and small. God’s favor rests on us all, individually and collectively. And we will continue to discover the plans that God has for us, as individuals and as a congregation, so many ways that we are being called to be a blessing to others in the days to come.

If I were to say to you today…

“Greetings, favored ones. The Lord is with you and plans to do great things through you.”

Let me suggest your initial answer might be,  “How can this be?” In fact, go ahead and say that together: “How can this be?”

My reply would be this –

“No matter whether you are at work or at school, whether you’re at home or out in the world, the Holy Spirit is with you, and will guide you in all you do and say, so that you may be a blessing to the world.”

What might be your reply? Would it be,  “Let it be according to your word.”? Let’s say that together.  “Let it be according to your word.”

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.