You Touch More Lives than You Realize
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
December 20, 2015
Gospel of Luke 1.39-55, You Touch More Lives than You Realize
Pastor Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
Audio only[powerpress]
46 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Can you think of a time when someone spoke to you and gave you hope, confidence, and assurance? Some of us can probably remember a crucial conversation that inspired, changed or re-directed our life. The exchange between Elizabeth and Mary in Luke 1:42-45 is that kind of conversation; it’s crucially important for Mary’s confidence in trusting God and the future God has for her. Elizabeth and Mary couldn’t have had any idea how many lives would be touched and influenced by their words, by their lives, choices, obedience, and faith. Here we are still reading, listening to and discussing a conversation between two Middle Eastern women from more than 2,000 years ago. That’s remarkable isn’t it? There’s no way they could know their lives would impact more than a billion people.
Most of us aren’t going to have the level of influence that Elizabeth and Mary did, however, each of us touches more lives than we may realize. If we grasp the influence we have on other people every day, perhaps it can change how we live. In the second chapter of Luke’s Gospel, which includes material specific to Mary’s experience with Jesus, we learn how Mary receives encouragement, hope, and divine messages through people she only encounters one time. The shepherds visit her and share what the angels told them. Simeon (Luke 1:25-35) “a righteous and devout man:” blessed the baby Jesus and spoke a prophetic word to Mary about what would happen to her and her son. Then a prophet, Anna (Luke 2:36-38), began to praise God and speak about the eight-day-old Jesus. Elizabeth, the shepherds, Simeon, and Anna all touched Mary’s life and had a greater impact than I suspect they realized at the time. Other than Elizabeth, it’s certainly possible that these encounters were the only time Mary was with these people and that underscores the importance of each interaction we have with someone else. We never know when an encounter might have life altering significance. How would the Gospel story be different if Mary never heard from or interacted with Elizabeth, the shepherds, Simeon, and Anna?
In the movie It’s A Wonderful Life, George Bailey gets to see what his community would be like if he had never been born and he’s shocked and confused that it’s literally a different town, Pottersville, instead of Bedford Falls. Nothing looks the same, the atmosphere is altered for the worse, no one knows or remembers him not even, as we’re about to see, his own mother. Show Clip.
The key line in that clip is from George’s guardian angel Clarence when he says, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
In It’s a Wonderful Life, George doesn’t realize how many lives he’s touched and helped in a positive way. Conversely, when we see what “Pottersville,” is like we see how the absence and of one good person and the presence of one life like Potter’s that is marked by selfishness, greed, meanness, and evil can impact a lot of other lives in a negative way and alter an entire community. Sadly we see all the time the impact that a violent person can have in taking the lives of innocent people. More hopefully, one inspiring life can impact countless people. The life of Jesus whose birth we celebrate this week is perhaps the most influential life in human history. I can remember listening to my dad preach when I was a boy and his sharing a piece about Jesus written by Dr James Allan Francis (in 1926) called, One Solitary Life:
He was born in an obscure village
The child of a peasant woman
He grew up in another obscure village
Where he worked in a carpenter shop
Until he was thirty when public opinion turned against him
He never wrote a book
He never held an office
He never went to college
He never visited a big city
He never travelled more than two hundred miles
From the place where he was born
He did none of the things
Usually associated with greatness
He had no credentials but himself
He was only thirty three
His friends ran away
One of them denied him
He was turned over to his enemies
And went through the mockery of a trial
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves
While dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing
The only property he had on earth
When he was dead
He was laid in a borrowed grave
Through the pity of a friend
Nineteen centuries have come and gone
And today Jesus is the central figure of the human race
And the leader of mankind’s progress
All the armies that have ever marched
All the navies that have ever sailed
All the parliaments that have ever sat
All the kings that ever reigned put together
Have not affected the life of mankind on earth
As powerfully as that one solitary life.”
Whether a person believes in Jesus or not, I believe that statement is historically accurate. Jesus has had more impact on humanity for good than any other person. We also have an impact on other people and the world through every decision we make, every conversation we have, through every interaction with another person. We can share love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, and generosity or we can share our selfishness, anger, prejudice, meanness, violence, and even wickedness and make life worse for ourselves and those whose lives are touched by our own. I want to encourage all of us to a greater level of awareness of how much our lives impact every other life we touch.
Some professions have a notable impact on many lives; perhaps two of the largest are Teachers and Coaches. When a teacher named Jon Stewart who taught at the Cape Cod Lighthouse Charter School died of a heart attack a few years ago, Cape Cod Cinema couldn’t contain all the people who attended. In the last nine days here at BBC we’ve had memorial services for former NRHS Spanish teacher Elaine Rojas and businessman Toby Sanders. Often it is only at a service celebrating someone’s life that we hear and see what an impact a woman or man has had and we find out things we never knew. Elaine and Toby were only 53 and 64 respectively, none of us knows how much time we have. We only have this one life to live so make it count. Pericles, the ancient Greek statesman, orator, and general said, “What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Kerry Robinson in her book Imagining Abundance, shares the story of “a newly ordained priest who was assigned by his bishop to work within the juvenile justice system and minister to young adults who were incarcerated. It was tremendously difficult, often emotionally wrenching, dispiriting work. Every day he would visit the prison to meet with the young adults and extend consoling words of encouragement and hope. Nothing he did or said seemed to make any difference in the gulf of despondence, regret, anger, resentment, and apathy his young charges expressed, It all seemed so hopeless, so futile, and the young priest, himself, was close to despair.
“He sought help, spoke to his spiritual director, and took it all to prayer. And he didn’t walk away. All these kids needed, he figured, was one more adult giving up on them. What he wanted was the ability to provide a horizon for them, something that would give them a reason to have hope, hope in a future that would be better than the misery of incarceration. It wasn’t enough to convey that they would soon be released from prison because they knew the high percentage of recidivism, and worse, they knew what daily life on the outside entailed for them. So he set about figuring what would break the cycle of poverty, violence, bad choices, and despair.
“An idea surfaced…the idea was full of potential but would take enormous work. The young priest set out to visit all of the local, mom and pop owned flower shops in the metropolitan area. He shared his predicament, his ministry assignment, and how hard it had been in the absence of anything concretely hopeful to offer the young adults in prison. Each flower store owner was asked to participate in a new ministry and serve as a mentor to one of the young adults upon his or her release from prison. The young adult would serve as an apprentice, learning everything about the flower trade and floral arrangement craft as possible under the tutelage of the owner and staff. The young adult would agree to work in the flower shop, and stipends would be provided through the fundraising the young priest would do to support the ministry. At first there was skepticism and foreboding. The priest persisted and persuaded, and soon the first few owners agreed to participate. And soon a few more agreed, and the fear dissipated, and the skepticism was put aside, and before long the priest had enough shops for every young adult.
“What was the outcome? For many of these young adults it was the first time anyone had ever told them that something they created was beautiful. The positive affirmation and genuine gratitude continued with every order. Over time this had a beneficial effect on the self-esteem of these previously demoralized young adults. Now they had a marketable skill, a craft, an income, role models and mentors, affirmation, and beauty on a daily basis. And they had someone who believed in them. The flower store owners and staff who participated in the mentoring effort reported greater levels of meaning in their own work, customers who knew of the program wanted to increase their patronage of participating shops, and donors were grateful to be part of something life-giving. Everybody benefited.”[1]
I think that’s a great story to illustrate the web of relationships in which we all live and how we touch more lives than we realize – the priest, the young adults, the shop owners, customers, donors – they all were touching more lives than they realized. “One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.” Oswald Chambers, (My Utmost for His Highest).
Do you sometimes wonder how much unseen impact your actions and life are having on others? Do what you can, with what you have, where you are, and a difference will be made. St. Francis of Assisi said, “Start by doing what is necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
Maybe for many people, you will be the closest thing to Jesus they ever see, let Jesus shine, speak, act and move through you this Christmas and throughout the year.
Questions for Reflection or Discussion
- The words Elizabeth speaks to Mary Luke 1:39-55 are crucially important to Mary’s confidence and trust in God and the future. Can you think of a time when someone spoke to you in a similar way to give you hope and assurance? Try and recall that conversation and why it was important to you.
- In It’s a Wonderful Life, Clarence says, “Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” Take some time to ponder and reflect on the many lives that have touched your own. Can you come up with a Top Five or Top Ten list of those who have been most influential in your life? Of those who are still living, have you thanked any of them lately? What might a note from you mean to them?
- If we take to heart the idea that our life “touches so many other lives,” how might that awareness impact how we treat other people both those who are closest to us and those we encounter only briefly for a moment?
- In It’s a Wonderful Life, George doesn’t realize how many lives he’s touched and impacted in a positive way. Conversely, when we see “Pottersville,” what the community would be like if George had never been born, we see how one life like Potter’s can impact a lot of other lives in a negative way. With God’s help, what tangible, practical steps are you taking to be a positive influence in the lives of others?
- When Mary praises God in Luke 1:46-55 she says some very forceful things about the proud, the powerful, and the rich and what God is going to do to them. What do these verses mean for us? What do we take from them? How do you see these verses played out in It’s a Wonderful Life?