Today, in our last few hours in the season of Advent as we prepare our hearts and souls for the coming of the Christmas Feast – we hear, see, and meditate upon “the annunciation” of the Birth of Our Lord.
For so long we have been waiting for the coming of our Christ and King. – for so long we have been HEARING that God is going to do this wake – to enter into the world among us and dwell with us. And now it is announced to us all that finally, through Mary – it is happening. God is entering into the world. God is becoming a man. The covenant promise to Adam & Eve (the seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent), the covenant promise given to Abraham – (a promised miraculous seed, through Him all nations would be blessed)…, the covenant promise to David… (your son, a throne, a kingdom, will endure forever from age to age)…. – the fulfillment of the Law, – the full reality that Israel pointed to, the whole point of the O.T. – the essence of every promise, the fulfillment of every prophecy, and the deliverance upon every promise, it was now finally coming, in Christ, through Mary. And now – we hear this news announced. Now, we hear it proclaimed. Now we hear it announced.
Historically, this text of the Annunciation has been called the Battering ram of Heaven. And why? Because; this is the moment when heaven breaks into earth, when life bursts open that which was dead, and when light comes to shatter the darkness. For here the God who was for so long separated from the people by means of holiness, preparation, and fear in the temple NOW enters into mankind, and NOW makes humanity His dwelling place. And all of this through a young, poor, and socially disadvantaged virgin girl.
The TEXT of this annunciation comes to us in three parts;
The Greeting – Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” (though the last line there may be missing from your NIVs)
The annunciation itself – Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give 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
and the explanation – The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God
but let’s begin where St. Luke begins. –
in the sixth month – that is, 6 months into her cousin Elizabeth’s miraculous pregnancy with St. John the Baptist, that is to say, in the shock-wave of a miracle that already happened in the family, the archangel Gabriel, the same angel that came to announce John the Baptist’s conception and birth was sent by God to a “town” of Galilee called Nazareth. Now – in case you did not know, Galilee was, not seen positively by Jews. It was a despised and reviled place that was constantly harranged by the scorn of the Rabbinic leaders and the priests of the time. It was north of Samaria, right up at the border of Pagan gentile lands. It was not the place Rabbis come. Not a place known for faithfulness or piety. It was literally called by the Jews of that time; “GALILEE of the gentiles.” And yet- from Galilee of the gentiles would come King of the Jews. But not just anywhere in Galilee – oh no. But Nazareth – of Galilee. This town of Nazareth, as Luke calls it, is really barely even to be considered a town. With a population of only about 150 people, and a reputation for it producing uncultured and uneducated hillbillies, nowhere Nazareth was more of a byword, joke, and insult than it was anything else. For what good can come from Nazareth? – the people would ask.
And just why, you ask, did God send Gabriel to this place of ridiculous and scorn? Why to Nazareth of Galilee? Well – to see a virgin, OF COURSE! And what were virgins at this time? Were they the high and lofty members of society? NO. Goodness no. They were teenage girls. They were the lowest of the low in regard to societal power. YET this is to whom the angel is coming to deliver the Messiah. He is not coming to the wife of the high priest. He is coming to teenage girl in Galilee of the Gentiles, in Nowhere Nazareth, to a place of poverty, of powerlessness – He is coming to the deliver the Messiah to the lowest point of the lowest place of the lowest people.
And that is what Mary is. She is the lowest point, of the lowest place, of the lowest people. A teenage girl, from Nazareth, of Galilee, in Israel. Yet lowly as she is. Disadvantaged as she is. It is HER through whom God has willed to come into the world.
and this Mary is betrothed (engaged) to Joseph, or, as the NIV most helpfully puts it, she was pledged to be married to this Joseph. In the Jewish context – what betrothal and engagement came with all of the legal responsibilities and engagements of a marriage, but without the… – well, “benefits,” of marriage let’s say. But who is this Joseph? Joseph is – we know, a descendant of King David. (of the House of David), Chosen of the Lord to watch over this promised seed, and to be the legal father of the Lord Jesus.
and it was to this Mary, betrothed to this Joseph, that the Angel Gabriel comes – and he says to her, greetings, highly favoured one, (or, hail, full of graceIf you prefer),the Lord is with you! Blessed are you among women. now really – this is an allusion to a prophecy form the O.T. Prophet Zephaniah, where he says; Sing aloud, O daughter Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter Jerusalem!The Lord has taken away the judgments against you, he has turned away your enemies. The king of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall fear disaster no more.On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands grow weak.The Lord, your God, is in your midst, a warrior comes to save you he will rejoice over you with gladness, he will renew you in his love; he will exult over you with loud singing
But in regard to Mary specifically, what does this mean? What does it mean that she is pronounced full of grace, or highly favored? It means exactly this, just as Zephaniah has said; – that God has entered into her. That she has become full with divine grace, and so the Evangelist Luke calls her full of grace. Because she is full of God. and all of this comes to a head and fullness nowhere else but in the realization of the second proclamation – Rejoice! For THE LORD IS WITH YOU. All of this has left her, as the Angel Gabriel says;blessed – far beyond any other women. For up until this time, not a single woman had entered the holy of Holies. – up until this time, not a single woman had even come near to touching the ark of the covenant. Up until this time – women stood far off from the manifest presence of the Lord. But now – this teenage girl had herself BECOME the Ark which bore the TRUE word of the Lord. The true ark of the New Covenant. Now – this teenage girl had BECOME the Holy of Holies, in which the glory of the Lord, the presence of the Lord – THE FLESH OF THE LORD, dwelled. And so it is that this greeting, with all of her blessedness, the favor God had granted her, – and the fullness of grace that filled her, and all blessings that had come upon her, was found in this one singular truth, – that the Lord was with her. That the Lord was in her. That the Lord had taken flesh from her, and had tabernacled within her.
Confused and troubled by these words, not understanding why the Angel would say this to her, Gabriel assures her that though she cannot understand all of what the Lord is saying and doing to her, she had found favor with God. And here again the angel proclaims just what that favor consists in, saying; BEHOLD you will conceive in your womb and bear a son – and this son, He says – you will name Him Jesus – meaning “God saves.” 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 ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end
That is to say – your Son will be the fulfillment and the fullness of all of the covenant promises in the O.T. He will be the seed of the woman come to crush the head of the serpent. He will be the New Adam. He will be the fullness of Israel, – the fulfillment of the Law and the Sacrifices, the reality of the temple and the tabernacle. He will be the promised King – the Son of David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob, and He will inherit the eternal kingdom of his father David. That is to say; You will give birth to the Messiah. And that Messiah will be more than you could have ever imagined that He would be. For this Messiah that you will bear, and give birth to – will be the Son of the Most High God Himself. You will bear, and birth – a divine child. And He shall be God’s salvation for and unto His people.
Yet – as with all divine miracles, there seems to be one problem. Mary is, by all accounts, a virgin. And now she has an angel telling her that she’ll conceive a child. And so she asks, not out of unbelief like Zechariah her cousin in-law, but out of faith – how shall this be, since I know no man (or, more literally rendered, since I DO NOT/will not, know a man)?
The Angel answers; how shall this be? – The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Just as the cloud and the glory fell down upon the tabernacle and the temple of God, and was overshadowed by His power – so now His new temple, the womb of this virgin would be met and greeted by the glory of God as being what it truly was – the home, the temple, the tabernacle of God – the ark of the new covenant. – and through this – would come a miraculous conception. As it is with all miracles, – in the midst of our inability – God is there present, active, and at work to accomplish her promises and His plans. And so – in the midst of her virginity – the Holy Spirit descends upon her and the power of God overshadows her, – and OF this divine work, and FROM this divine presence, the Divine-Child is conceived within her. And so the angel says to her, THUS – the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. For He is conceived not by the will nor the flesh of man – but of God.
And yet we see still another truth here about God’s work among us and for us; that just as the miracle which takes place in the virginal conception of our Lord Christ is done NOT BY the will or flesh of human beings, but by the miraculous work of God, – is nevertheless not something that God wills to do apart from men, but rather, with us, and through. And so, instead of creating a man fully grown, entirely without parents, the Lord God enters into His own creation – into Mary. And with her, and through her, He conceives for Himself a humanity to take unto Himself. And by this – make makes His daughter His mother.
Here we see the will, the Love, the care, and the heart of God. Here we see that He is not willing to standard afar off from us – even in His coming down to us. But we see that He is coming through us, and by us, and with us, even in His becoming one of us. Here we see that He is inviting His people to participate in His work of cosmic redemption. Here – He is bringing us into His work of salvation.
Here – He enters into the world, through the lowly, through the humble, through the powerless, to work in His power, in His might, and in His glory, to bring salvation to the humble and the lowly and the powerless. Here – Christmas is conceived.
And so this morning we look – forward, to what we will celebrate later this evening. The fruit of this conception. The birth of Christ. The birth of God. The birth of grace. The birth of salvation and forgiveness.
And so – let us continue to wait. Looking at what we see now – toward what we will see later. Waiting expectantly, for Advent to become Christmas.
And so – let us wait. For Lo – He comes. Through virgin lowly. Lo – He comes to fulfill His promise of mercy. Lo – He comes. Make His love known and seen.
Lo – He comes.
F, S, HS. Amen.
