“Saying ‘Yes’ to God”

Luke 1:26-38

What happens to the life that is turned over to God’s use? What happens to us, when we say, “yes” to God?

As a young man, I had never gotten along very well with my father, a pastor. My mother said that we were too much alike – both bull-headed, unwilling to compromise. I didn’t like being compared to him either. When I went off to college, I really didn’t want to have anything to do with the church. But I joined the college choir, because I liked to sing – and we always seemed to be singing in churches. I had trouble staying away from courses on religion – I kept thinking that there must be something more out there, some meaning to my life. I ended up with almost enough courses for a religion major.

After graduation, I was sitting out on the back stoop of a little place I was renting one night, and I finally broke down. It wasn’t a great faith statement – it was just a heart yearning for meaning. “God,” I said, “If you’re out there, I have to put my faith in you. I can’t go on like this any longer. I’ll put my trust in you, and we’ll see how it works out.” I still never intended to go into the ministry, or anything like that. That was one of the big “nos” of my life. I never wanted to be like my dad. But he turned my “no” into a yes, and a few years later I accepted the call to be a pastor.

Since then, I had a number of other “nos” in my life that he, each time, turned into a “yes.” I didn’t think I’d ever get married. I didn’t want to be in a suburban parish. I never wanted to move south. It seemed like all I had to do was to finally say, “no” to something, and God would turn around and say, “You want to bet on that?”

Mary is the girl who said, “yes.” She was probably only fourteen or fifteen years old, when she got the call. How could she even know what that meant? Looking back, from the end of it all, I wonder if she had any regrets. Her son would be the Messiah, the Savior – but oh, at what cost! And at what cost to her!

A lot of times, we like to soft-pedal this Christian thing – as if, once you say “yes” to God, everything is easy from that point on. But it’s not. In addition to all of the problems everyone else has, we have this thing called a “calling.” Moses could have stayed in the wilderness with his wife, tending his sheep, but a voice called him from the burning bush, to lead his people to the land of promise. The prophets would have had much easier and safer lives, if they had just gone about whatever work they did – but they were called to speak God’s word to the kings of Israel and Judah. Mary could have just been another Jewish mother, settled down with Joseph and raised a brood of kids, never to be heard of again, but the angel held out a promise to her, she said “yes” to it, and it forever changed her, turning her life upside down.

Saying “yes” to God means putting our own ideas about life, our own dreams, our own convenience aside, to follow God’s call. To accept that call is to be challenged, to go a way that is not a natural way for people to go, to accept that your heart will be broken, as Mary was warned: “a sword will pierce your heart also.” It means no longer accepting the false idea most people live with, that they are, somehow, in control of their own life. It is, in fact, being willing to have your life examined, being willing to listen to the truth about your life, without all the rationalizations, projection and other ways people use to kid themselves that they are o.k. – maybe a little tarnished, perhaps, but basically good and decent. It’s being willing to listen to the truth that we are merely mortal – we are not gods; we are not immortal.

But saying “yes” to God also means having a sense of purpose in life – to know that we were created for something, and not for nothing. Saying “yes” to God means understanding that God has a purpose for us, and therefore loves us, and has endowed us with gifts and talents. Saying “yes” to God means that we are carried in larger hands than our own, and although we don’t often know what we are doing, or what the consequences of our actions will be, God does – we are part of something much greater than ourselves, a divine plan, which he will accomplish, and in which we play an essential part.

It could have been any young woman to whom the angel, the messenger of God, came. But the fact is, the angel didn’t come to anyone. The angel came to Mary. She was the one God chose, for this purpose, in this particular time and place. He knew her; he knew her heart. And so, as God called Abraham and Sarah, as God called Moses and Miriam; as God called the prophets of old, he now called Mary to this particular task – one which he had prepared her for and gifted her for – to be the vehicle through which his Son would come into the world, to be the one who would nurse and raise him, nurture and love him, giving Jesus what he would need, that he might become the Messiah of God.

Not every Christian is called to be a pastor, or a missionary, or evangelist. Not every Christian is called to be an Abraham, a Moses, or a Mary. But we are all called – each in our own particular way – to follow him, to put our lives at his disposal. It is a difficult way. It is a way that calls us to daily die to our desires, so that we can be alive to God’s promises and his work. But it is also the way of profound joy, and to that peace that passes all human understanding.

May you find joy in your calling. And may the peace of God, which passes all human understanding, keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus our Lord.