There's been a change of plans.

Think of a movie.  Any movie.  Now think of how you'd summarize that movie with only three bullet points.  Go, really.  Do it.  Summarize a movie using only three bullet points.  

Did you do it?

I'm serious.  Do it. 

I thought of a movie that never gets old: The Princess Bride.  

• Wesley and Buttercup, who make a somewhat unlikely couple, fall in love.
• Wesley's ship is rumored to have been attacked by pirates, so Buttercup is pledged to marry someone else, someone who's a pretty awful man, actually.  
• Turns out Wesley was not, in fact, killed by pirates and, after a series of epic adventures, saves Buttercup from marrying an evil king.  

I think almost any good story, especially ones that made tons of money in movie theaters around the world, will follow a simple pattern: things were one way; the plan changed; things were another.  Was this true for your bullet poins?  Basically, there’s a character that’s going about his normal business, something happens that shakes things up, and afterwards he's different because of how the experience changed his life and what he learned from it.  

Bible stories are like this, too.  Adam and Eve are just hanging out in the garden, the snake tricks them, life is different.  Noah is just a guy, God tells him to build an ark and floods the earth, life is different.  David is hanging out in the field watching his sheep, Goliath is bothering his people so David steps up, the giant is dead and life will be very different for David, who later becomes a king.  This pattern is all over the place; in good stories, plans change.

I think about this pattern as we begin to talk about the Christmas story this season.  So many characters in this story were disrupted by a change of plans.  

King Herod was living a life centered around his own glory.  He was troubled by the change of plans, so much so that he committed mass genocide.  In Jerusalem, because of his fear and stubbornness, life is different, and there is much weeping and sadness.  

A woman named Mary has a very different reaction to the change of plans Jesus incites in her life.  We know that she was a young woman and that she was engaged.  So imagine the picture she has for her life at this point, think about the kinds of plans she has for her future with Joseph.  Normal plans probably, right?  What any average young Jewish woman would be planning for her future at that time.  But God wanted more than normal or average for Mary’s life.  He disrupts her plans and says, “I want you to be a part of MY plan instead, Mary.” 

When she first learns of God’s plan for her life, she’s confused.  She doesn't get it, she asks questions.  But, unlike Herod, she accepts this new plan and decides to be a part of what God is doing. 

Mary’s response is amazing to me because at the time Mary doesn't know what we know.  She can’t be sure that it’ll all work out, she’s trusting God.  From a human perspective, especially in the short term, this change in plans will ruin Mary’s life.  But she’s trusting in someone who has a different perspective. 

And I think of one group of people whose plans were changed big time when Jesus came: the Israelites.  They were expecting a ruler to overthrow their current physical government, but their expectations were too small.  They got a baby king who would eventually overthrow the spiritual powers that were oppressing them with much more eternal consequences.

Some responded, like Mary, with praise and a new, steadfast commitment to follow this somewhat odd rabbi, to follow him no matter what kinds of plans change, to follow him even to death.  Others responded like Herod, by deciding to kill the king himself.  

And then I have to wonder: how do I respond daily to God exchanging my plans for His?
                                      ______________________

And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.
    For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
    and holy is his name.
 And his mercy is for those who fear him
    from generation to generation.
 He has shown strength with his arm;
    he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
 he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
    and exalted those of humble estate;
 he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and the rich he has sent away empty.
 He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
 as he spoke to our fathers,
    to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”