Mary of Nazareth (Luke 1:26-45)
Sermon for Milledgeville & Whitestown UMC... Mary of Nazareth ( Luke 1:26-45 ) Exhausted after a five-day journey to Bethlehem, and the labor and delivery of her son, Mary put the baby Jesus down to sleep. Just as she was beginning to relax and get some rest, a bunch of smelly shepherds arrive. One of them is a boy who thinks what the baby needs right now is a drum solo! Poor Mary! We’ve loaded so much legend around Jesus’ birth we don’t know what is biblical and what is embellishment. Our traditions have more to say about Mary than the scriptures. Mary as portrayed by Olivia Hussey in the 1977 TV miniseries Jesus of Nazareth It was at Mary’s insistence that Jesus performed the first of his miracles, when he changed water to wine. (Jn 2:3, 5) Mary was a supporter of Jesus’ ministry, but like any mother she worried for him. She showed up outside a house in a community where Jesus had performed an exorcism. Mark says Mary and her other son...