Mary’s Faith

Luke 1:26-38

When we talk about Mary’s faith when Gabriel announced that she was going to be the Mother of God’s Saviour we so often focus on the virgin birth. Yet, there is something that I missed until recently. Gabriel visited her while she was living in Nazareth. She would have known enough Scripture to realise that God’s Messiah was to be born in Bethlehem. 

Was this part of her question “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?”. 

Did she wonder if Joseph would be willing to travel to Bethlehem? After all, he already had his own trade and family there.  Did she even want to go to Bethlehem herself? Maybe it was one of those places that she had often been grateful she did not live in.  

To Gabriel’s words, “with God nothing shall be impossible” she responds with immense faith and commitment; “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to thy word.” Somehow, God was going to have to move her and the baby to Bethlehem. I wonder if she thought that she might even have to go alone? She knew that regardless of how they got there the journey was going to be dangerous.

No matter what the future held for her, she was still willing to do what God required of her.

When God calls us to the mission field that He has for us, regardless of whether it is overseas, at home or writing and speaking, we have different hurdles to overcome than the ones Mary could see. Possibly because they are often unseen they are less daunting. 

Yet, I find it so hard to step out and remember that with God all things are possible even, keeping me safe in dangerous circumstances.

Helping Lazarus

I was thinking about Lazarus one night and what a powerful picture is drawn here for us. Here we have two people living two completely different cultures. The rich man who has all that he wants and needs. I picture him coming out of his safe secure home each morning, nodding to Lazarus. Some mornings greeting him with "good morning Lazarus, how are you today", he might even throw him a coin or two if he was feeling particularly good that day, before walking to the city gate. 

Lazarus not only wanted help, he needed help. Here is a man in great need and from a completely different culture. 

The rich man had all those resources at his disposal and God wanted him to help Lazarus but the question is, how. I think that we just expect the rich man to take Lazarus into his home and share all his wealth with him. 

What sort of help did Lazarus want or need?

Lazarus didn’t want to live with the rich man, his life and existence was meant to be outside the rich man’s compound and that was where he wanted to stay. His home and family were already established and they relied on him for their survival.

So, how was the rich man supposed to help Lazarus? 

The rich man should have come out and sat down with him, listened to him to find out how he had got into such a position. It is too easy to assume that the Lazarus’ of this world have made poor decisions or made silly mistakes that leave them facing really bad consequences.

This is not always the case. 

Often they find themselves in such positions due to the greed, business decisions or power plays by other people around them. The other causes could be droughts, that kill stock, floods which wash away the infrastructures, fires or winds that burn or blow away feed and grass. So it was important for the rich man to come out and sit with Lazarus and listen to his story in order to understand the issues that he faced. It was not something that he could do in a few minutes or even a few hours. It’s imperative that the rich man give Lazarus a lot of time, even to the point of taking his mat outside and lying beside Lazarus and letting him talk long into the night. It was only by engaging with him over the long term that the rich man or men in this world can get to understand the differences in the cultures that exist.

I know that the Bible tells us that the dogs came to Lazarus and licked his sores, but I have to wonder if the rich man was even aware of how much pain Lazarus was in. Now you are going to say how could the rich man miss it. It is very easy to hide the pain that we feel often because we imagine that the world doesn’t care. I think that many of the Lazarus’ out there also try to follow the Bible’s instructions “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” Matthew 6:16.

So in order to discover the extent of Lazarus' pain, the rich man has to be compassionate and bring out a bowl of warm water, slowly and gently wash off the different layers of dirt, mud, blood and dust that have collected on his feet. Only then will he be aware of just how hurt and damaged Lazarus is. It is only then that the rich man can know and understand what treatment is truly needed and what will be most effective.

There are many people in our country who are Lazarus but we know them as Bill, Jack, Ian, Tom, Robert, Mary, Jane, Sue, Lisa or Jenny.