The Story That Really Matters

I can't do this, Sam.

I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened?

~ Sam Gamgee, speaking to Frodo’s

doubt in Lord of the Rings: The Twin Towers

Read Luke1:26-38

As promised, Mary has a question: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Good question. 

The angel has an answer. "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." 

Nothing is impossible with God, and nothing can thwart his promised, powerful plan: “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be infertile is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”

So, brothers and sisters, what is God telling you, that is so hard to believe? What’s impossible? What can't possibly happen? God is all about the gracious plan: promise and fulfillment.

That plan has a purpose, a purpose that requires certain things to occur.  There are steps along the way.  For example, it was necessary that Jesus make a stop at the temple (Luke 2:41-52), that he preach the good news of the kingdom (4:43), that he be counted among those cursed (23:37).  The crucifixion was foreordained. Crucifixion, mind you.  (The National Library of Medicine published in 2021 a compelling academic article on medical views on Jesus' cause of death -- it's worth a look.) 

God doesn’t cause evil.  What he does is that he turns it around and he brings good out of it. He used my parents’ divorce to bring me to himself. Good can come out of every tragedy. Suffering evokes compassion. The death of a son brings life to many. A crucifixion brings forgiveness and resurrection.

You’re here for a purpose. You’re here for a reason. Your adversity can work good in your life. Your disability is an opportunity.  The power and plan of a good God will take the very heartaches you know only too well and turn them to good if you trust him: just keep your heart open to him.

You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.

~ Luke 1:31

Mary’s life may have seemed to her like one surprise after another, right into the heartbreak of the crucifixion, but there were no surprises with God. And there are no surprises in your life or mine. 

We don’t know how the story will end, but God calls us to walk by faith, to trust him in our day to day lives. 

If your situation (or a look at the big picture) makes you question God, you're not alone.  The Bible and human history are full of people of faith who trusted God through trials, and still prevailed, sometimes including through death itself. You can also find examples of people who killed themselves and died bitter and angry.  We cannot always choose our circumstances; we can only choose our response. 

None of us can choose our time.  What matters is what you do with the time allotted to you.

~ Gandalf the Grey

Following God doesn’t mean heartache won’t happen, but it does tell you there's a bigger picture, a larger narrative, a “great story, one that really matters.” I don’t know the answers to a hundred questions I have for God right now. But the best stories have moments when hope is out of sight. 

Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

~ Sam Gamgee

Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't. They were holding on to something.

What are you holding onto? 

God’s plan has drawn Mary into a remarkable place in history.  How will she respond? Will she respond like Zechariah, with doubt and skepticism?  Or will she trust what God tells her. “I am the Lord's servant,” Mary answers. “May it be to me as you have said.” 

You might feel weak, you might be afraid.  You might be looking for something to hold onto.  God has a plan that includes you, and it will not be thwarted.

So. What are you holding onto? And what's holding onto you?