Hope can be hard to come by.Introduction

We live in days where hope has been hard to come by. A global pandemic has come to steal it, or we have misplaced our hope, and the pandemic has revealed it. In Australia, a predominantly affluent country, we have access to many things, but we often feel a lack of deep fulfilment. Day to day, we live amidst subtle but present hopelessness. Without deeper hope, life can seem void and meaningless. Put another way, “Hope deferred makes the heart sick. (Proverbs 13:12)

In the majority world, the global pandemic has exacerbated the struggles of many, especially those trapped in circumstances of poverty. Sorrow, loss, and grief weigh heavily on the day-to-day tasks of mere survival. From COVID ravaged India, Bangladesh, PNG and Indonesia. To the war-weary in Afghanistan and Northern Kenya. To the out of work or overworked in the garment industry, or those caught in the webs of human trafficking and slave labour. Hope has been hard to come by.

Hopelessness in IsraelThe events of Jesus birth occurred in a time where hope was hard to come by. They were the

days of Caesar Augustus (2:1) and Herod King of Judea (1.5). Israel were pawns in the plots of global superpowers and local tyrants. The effect of their brutal rule was to make the people of Israel feel like exiles in their own land. Caesar’s face was on their currency and his legions on their streets. With a single decree, Caesar could send the whole population scrambling. (Luke 2:1)

Israel’s response in the face of the oppression was fractured and confused. Many voices called them to be and do conflicting things. The Essenes called them asceticism and separatism in the desert. The Pharisees to intense piety and legalistic purity. The Sadducees to pragmatic compromise. The Zealots called them to violent revolution. Tax collectors, corrupt officials and other collaborators gave up hope and traded it for cash.

Those low on privilege, power, and status were the most vulnerable. The peasants, unclean and degraded, and expendables were nose to the grindstone just trying to get by. Plant your crops, pay your taxes. Just keep your head above water and preferably on your shoulders. (Luke 9:7-9). It’s no wonder when the old priest Zechariah sang about Israel’s predicament, he described his people as “living in great darkness and in the shadow of death.” (Luke 1:79). Hope in Israel was hard to come by. These were confusing and disillusioning times. Sound familiar?

Hope in Surprising Places.It was in these dark days that stirrings of hope began to emerge for Israel. Stories were told of

Gabriel, the great apocalyptic angel and revealer of divine mysteries making appearances again. Gabriel had appeared to an old priest in the heart of Jerusalem – the temple. He had announced the birth of the one who would “who make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” (Luke 1:17).

Hope for All

Gabriel, who had announced the toppling of kings and the end of their empires to Daniel in the time of the Babylonian exile, was now getting people for the arrival of the king.

In Luke 1:26, the story takes an unpredictable turn. Gabriel travelled far away from the centre of Israel’s life – the temple in Jerusalem to Nazareth in Galilee. To the insignificant, despised, and unclean. (Isaiah 9:1, John 1:46, Matthew 26:73).

In that insignificant place, he appeared to the most insignificant of people. (verse 27-28). Gabriel visited a teenage girl called Mary. She was betrothed but not married—a peasant girl of limited means. (Luke 2:24). Gabriel would inform Mary of an incredible mission that God had for her. “Gabriel’s mission of informing an unmarried and ineligible young woman in an insignificant village that she will bear a child is fraught with social obstacles. How ironic, therefore, the address of Gabriel: “Greetings, you who are highly favoured! The Lord is with you”. (James Edwards the Gospel According to Luke). No wonder she is troubled. (verse 29-30)

Here is our God, the one who turns the world upside down. (Luke 1:52-55, Luke 6:17-26). The God who gives hope to people of little significance from insignificant places. It turns out that Mary is what her name means – beloved. She is” beloved” and favoured by God in a way she could have never dared hope. (28, 30) God will not only reveal his love and favour for insignificant Mary. His love and favour for the insignificant and marginalized is a major motif of Lukes Gospel. This is the missional program of Jesus announced in Luke 4:18-22. This motif leaps off almost every page of Luke’s gospel. (eg. Luke 1:53, 4:31-44, 5:12—32, 6:24, 30, 7:11-16, 7:22-23, 7:37-50, 12:16ff, 16:19-31, 18:18-27, 19:1-10, 21:1-4) Not only do they find out that they are beloved and favoured, but Like Mary, they are called to be part of the story much grander themselves, a story of hope for all.

God’s Story is one of Hope for AllAs we read on in Luke 1:31-37, we find out Mary has a role to play by carrying and giving birth to

a baby of tremendous significance. Gabriel describes the baby with a string of breath-taking titles; Jesus, Son of the Most High, heir to the Davidic throne, the Eternal King, the Holy One and the Son of God. In these titles, and the one who would faithfully carry them – was a great King whose reign would be the culmination of the hopes and longings of Israel. (Isaiah 7:14, 2 Samuel 7: 11-16, Isaiah 9:7, Daniel 7:13-14.) Not only that, the events of his conception (1:35-45) bore echoes of Old Testament accounts of manifestations of the glory of God. (Exodus 40:35, Numbers 9:18-22) Indeed, hope was arriving.

Taken together, the words of Luke 1:31-35 make an extraordinary claim. As writer Meredith Wright sums it up so well, The Messianic King you’ve been longing for, the hope for humanity promised to Abraham, David and through the prophets, is about to bind himself to humanity in the womb of an unwed teenage girl of little significance! Hope is here in Jesus. In Jesus, the King, and his Kingdom is hope for all. (Luke 24:45-49, Acts 1:8)

Saying Yes to HopeMary is invited to play her part in God’s Story of hope to all. She comes from an insignificant

place and feels like an insignificant person, is invited to play her role. How will she respond?In her response to God’s call, Mary’s borrows similar words of those used by luminary’s of

Israel’s past, such as Moses, Samuel and Isaiah (Ex 3:4, I Sam3:4, Isaiah 6:8). She said, “Behold, I am the Lord’s servant” (ESV, NASB). In other words, when God called, Mary answered, “Here I am”. She said yes to God, despite her feelings of smallness, fear, and potential to be misunderstood, abandoned, divorced, and excluded. Mary said, “May your word to me be fulfilled.” She said yes to her part of God unfolding story of hope for all.

God is always looking for human partners in his unfolding drama of redemption. As insignificant as you feel, you too are invited to take up your role in God’s Story of hope for all? What do you say?