Listen here.
Welcome to
Devotions for Worship where we meditate on the appointed Scripture readings for
the upcoming Sunday. I am Pastor Eric Tritten from Gloria Dei Lutheran Church
in Hudson, OH. Thank you for being with me today.
This coming
Sunday is the 4rd Sunday of Advent, and it also happens to be
Christmas Eve. The first two weeks of Advent focused our attention very
strongly on Jesus’ second coming, the third week of Advent declared that Jesus
was in our midst, now, this week, we read about the Annunciation, when Mary
learned that she would give birth to the Savior and name Him Jesus.
Let’s listen to
God’s Word.
The appointed
reading for the 4th Sunday of Advent is: Luke 1:26–38 (ESV)
In the sixth
month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27
to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David.
And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said,
"Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!" 29 But
she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of
greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, "Do not
be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold,
you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name
Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most
High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33
and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there
will be no end."
34 And Mary said to the angel,
"How will this be, since I am a virgin?"
35 And the angel answered her,
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will
overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy-- the Son of
God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also
conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37
For nothing will be impossible with God." 38 And Mary said,
"Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your
word." And the angel departed from her. (Lk. 1:26-38 ESV)
Comments
The way many
Christians handle Mary is odd. On the one hand the Roman Catholics revere here
on almost the same level as God Himself, and Protestants almost ignore her.
There are a couple important things about her though that are worthy of our
attention.
First of all, the
angel Gabriel says that she is favored and has God’s favor. Those are actually
two different words in the original language. She is the one who has been
favored, and she has found grace in God’s presence. I make this point because
while it is clear that Mary is quite a special young lady, it is God’s favor
that causes Him to choose her; not her specialness. This whole situation is
about God’s grace – graciously choosing Mary for a very special and important
work, and also bringing His grace to the world through the birth of Jesus.
I think it is
also worth noting the way the angel talks about how the Son of God will come
into the world. Mary will conceive, bear a son, and name Him Jesus. From the
moment of His conception, this baby is Jesus, and His mission is engaged. I
like the way Michael Card says that the Son of God became a holy embryo. It is
all part of the marvel of Jesus’ entrance into the world. He did not just
appear, come to earth with a clap of thunder, or mysteriously appear in a
temple or palace. He was conceived, went through gestation, and was born
because He was to be fully human, just like us.
As far as Jesus’
heritage as a son of David goes, we will deal more with that tomorrow, when we
read our Old Testament lesson for the week.
There is another
important aspect to Mary that we should note … and we should emulate. She
understands where babies come from, and she knows that, as a virgin, she
shouldn’t be able to get pregnant. But when Gabriel explained what would happen
and how special Mary’s child would be – he will be called holy – the Son of God
– she simply trusted that God would do it. Her comment, “Behold, I am the
servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word,” are words of
faith and trust.
Did she know how
hard all of this would be? Did she know that her beloved Joseph would doubt
her? Did she know the risks and dangers of being the mother of the Son of God
might be? Perhaps. Perhaps not. All she knew was that she trusted God and she
was ready to serve Him. Would that we were all so quick to follow where God
leads us!
There is a sense
that we too, bear Jesus to the world. Not to be too crass, but His Spirit is
within us. We bear Jesus as we carry His Word in our hearts and our minds, and
when we speak of Him so that His grace and salvation may come to others. We do
well to model Mary’s attitude: “I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me
according to your word.” When she said those words she stepped into an
important role in God’s mission to bring salvation to the world. When we say
those words we just might step into an important role in God’s mission to bring
salvation to our neighbor.
Prayers – a Collect for Advent 4 from Lutheran Worship (CPH)
Stir up Your
power, O Lord, and come among us with great might; and because we are sorely
hindered by our sins, let Your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and
deliver us; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and
the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Memory Verse:
Luke 2:1-20 - This is the Christmas Story. Perhaps you can be like Linus from Peanuts when anyone asks, "Does anyone know what Christmas is all about?"
Thank you so much
for using Devotions for Worship, I pray that our time together has blessed you
and given you something to meditate on – some reminder of God’s grace to rattle
around in your brain – for the rest of the day.
Would you do me a
favor? If you got something out of this devotional time, would you like and/or
share it on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever you do social media? That would help
me get the word out, and hopefully help these devotions be a blessing to
others.
God bless you!
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