Have you ever watched these programs called Extreme Makeover? From ugly duckling to beautiful swan. From dowdy to dandy. From glowering to glitzy. There were a few cases that seemed to be noble like the woman with the severe cleft pallet who had suffered her whole life long. But for the most part these shows seemed to be filled with people who are deeply ashamed that they did not fit the mold. Viewers could watch as tears streamed down their faces and as they talked about how low and humiliated they felt because their nose was not perky enough or that age was beating them to the finish line. Weeping and sorrowful. Pathetic and full of self-pity. Depressed and depressing. Ashamed and inconsolable.
Who told them that they were unattractive or unfit for the general public? Who convinced them that their hair was the wrong color or that their nose was too wide? Who backed them into a corner and pummeled them with a standard of perfection to the point of deep humiliation? Humiliation is what we saw on these programs. Humiliation is defined as a "state of being lowered in position in one's own eyes or in the eyes of others." As those smiling and seemingly generous doctors and therapists looked at the sad faces of those who longed to be different, they were really broadcasting humiliation. The doctors, who played gods, determined that if they could just put their hands to those faces they would make them more socially acceptable, more lovely or handsome, more happy because they fit the mold of today's ”beautiful” person.
I fear the consequences of these kinds of shows on those of us who sit watching. Young and old alike can catch the "I'm ugly and unlovely" fever. It can begin to eat away at us like a cancer. And soon we become so consumed with our unattractiveness that we forget the essential reality. And here is that reality—no matter where we are on the social scale, no matter what we look like compared to others, no matter how much money or education we do or do not have God loves us. God loves every part of his creation. He is in love with us and wants us to know that every moment of every day he is working on our behalf.
That should be enough for us to know. But quite often it is not. Because there is always somebody telling us that we should do it their way, or look the way they look, or dress the way they dress, or act they way they act. It's the great American cultural value of being an individual clone. Everyone has to be an individual but everyone should be wearing these particular jeans. Everyone has to make their mark in the world, but everyone should be driving the same luxury car.
How can we win? We can't—unless Someone wins for us. There is a radical difference in the definition between humiliation and humility. Humiliation is right next to humility in the dictionary. Humility is not proud or haughty, not arrogant or assertive. It ranks low on the hierarchy of humanity, not in the eyes of others—which would be humiliation—but in the reality that a humble person has a spirit of deference and even servanthood. A humble person is more willing to be a slave than a master. A humble person seems to be insignificant and unpretentious. And this is the kind of person in whom God greatly delights.
The Apostle Paul knew this well and preached it to the Corinthians in one of the letters he wrote to that church. Here is what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
Doesn't God know that this all backwards? Why would he choose the weak and the foolish? I’m thinking about myself when I was a teenager and I've got to ask a question. What could be more silly and weak than a fourteen year old? Think about it. The hormones are raging, the bodies are changing, they're trying to figure out who they are. They all have geeky moments when they are stumbling or falling over their bodies. They laugh too loud and scream too much. I used to be one of them. I know. That's why the part of the story of Christmas that we look at today is so remarkable. What did Paul write? God takes the geeky things of the world to shame to cool? Oh, no it was God takes the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. There aren't that many teenagers recorded in the Bible, so when one enters the scene we sit up and take notice. So, enter Mary, stage left. Most likely she was a fourteen year old girl who up to this point had been indistinguishable to the human eye. But Mary knew God. And God knew Mary. She had faith in God from her geeky little growing heart.
There is something else about the young that we need to acknowledge. The young can have faith that moves mountains. They can trust deeply and quickly. They haven't been jaded yet from years of broken human trust or deep disappointment. Their faith can be as fresh as their faces. Luke Chapter 1 tells the story of Mary when we meet her during her engagement to a good man named Joseph.
In those days young, geeky fourteen year old girls usually got engaged. Can you imagine that? But that was the way of the Jewish life then. A woman needed to be cared for by being attached to a man who would provide for her. And she needed to provide for her husband's cares and bring children into the world. So, the parents would go through long negotiations to marry their girl to just right man. Dowries and money were exchanged. In their culture an engagement was as binding as marriage. The couple would remain virgins until the marriage night and then they could begin the joy of full marriage and attachment, becoming one flesh under God's watch care. Let’s read Luke 1:26-28.
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you."
We've been talking about geeky teenagers, but there's some other strange stuff in here, too. How many of you has had the archangel Gabriel appear before you? Not many of us are there? Throughout the Bible angels appeared to many people and their appearance signaled some great divine intervention from God. Here also that is the case. What did the angel say? "Is there someone here who needs an extreme makeover?" No! He looked at Mary and said, "Hello, girl loved by God. Hello, daughter filled with God. Hi, saved one whose heart is filled with grace.” Whatever way you put it, it's just plain wonderful! There among the masses of teen-aged girls on the earth lived one whose heart and soul have been given to God as a vessel of his grace. God had told Gabriel about her, and Gabriel greeted her in the manner which was appropriate and true. "Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you."
Now if Mary had been a selfish girl, whose heart was not truly submitted to God, then she might have responded. "Oh, thank you!" But she was no product of Extreme Makeover World-Edition. Only a servant trembles at their master's voice. Only a humble person is confused by greetings of honor. Look at how Mary responded and how the angel lead her through this journey.
Luke 1:29-37
Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most
High, The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end"
"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.
Folks this is Extreme Makeover: God Edition! If God can hang the stars in place, why can't he conceive a child within a virgin girl? If God can cause the winds and the waves to roar, why can't he cause the womb to conceive the very Son of God without a touch. In the New Jerome’s Biblical Commentary (1990) we read this powerful passage: "John [the Baptist's] birth may have been extraordinary because he was born to aged parents; Jesus' birth is more extraordinary still because he is born to a virgin."
Nothing—absolutely nothing is impossible with God. No immaculate conceptions, no teenagers being completely dedicated to God, no elderly people making babies, no God coming to us as a child is impossible. Nothing is impossible with God.
And if we have anything near the humility of Mary we, too, would tremble at that reality. But God doesn't come near us and with us to keep us afraid and alone. He comes near us and with us to bring us joy, great joy.
After Mary's deep humble prayer of commitment again to God's will, she had to share the joy. She was the one God had chosen to bring the Messiah, the Savior, Emmanuel into the world! Extreme
Makeover: God Edition was just beginning. Read Luke 1:39-45
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, Where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"
Elizabeth knew about disbelief. Her own husband was now mute because he had not believed the angel's message about their son being the one who would proclaim the Messiah. The reality that this precious young woman had more faith than an elderly minister is a testimony to the greater reality of Extreme Makeover: God Edition. God did not come just to raise up a humble young woman, just to make her feel better about herself. He did not send his highest angel to greet her so that she could be more acceptable to human society. He did indeed do that by choosing her. But Mary's contribution to the work of God would be to conceive and give birth to the Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
It was not God's intention to help just Mary. It is God's intention to help the whole world. It is God's purpose to take back from Satan the things that he has stolen, to redeem those who have been sold into slavery of the worst kind, to restore the brokenhearted, to right the wrongs, to heal the sick, to bind up the wounds, to feed the hungry, to make all things new!
That is why is was not only right, but necessary to put his divine nature into human flesh, to walk among us and let us know that he is indeed familiar with our sorrows, that he has a way through the valley of the shadow of death, that there is an answer for every deep woe of the human condition. And that is all met in the coming of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the God-With-Us, Emmanuel.
In that young heart of a woman bearing the Son of God a song was also born that day. It is a beautiful poem that has thundered down through the centuries. Today we call it the "Magnificat." This name comes from its first word in the Latin version of the text which means, "My soul doth magnify.” It is the song of praise by Mary recorded in Luke’s Gospel.
In this song of Mary she connected the promise of God to Abraham—that all the world, Jew and Gentile alike, would be blessed through his descendents. Can we? She connected the promise of God to right the wrongs of wicked rulers and corrupt people. Can we? She connected the desire of God to take care of the weak things of this world. Can we? Her song is the just the beginning of God's Extreme Makeover through Jesus Christ.
Luke 1:40-55
And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me--holy is his name. His mercy extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and his descendants forever, even as he said to our fathers."
Perhaps we could use Mary as a model for this Christmas season. Perhaps we could deeply humble ourselves so that God could do through us some of his extreme makeover in the world. Maybe God can makeover your family through you. Maybe God can makeover your work place through you. Maybe God can makeover the world through all of his humble people this Christmas.
Copyright M.R. Hyde 2011
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Brown, Fitzmeyer and Murphy, Editors, Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1990, p. 681.3
Compton's Interactive Bible NW. Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 SoftKey Multimedia Inc. All Rights Reserved
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