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French painter and illustrator James Jacques Tissot (1836-1902) rendered his interpretation of the Annunciation in Luke 1:26-45 on opaque watercolor over graphite on grey woven paper. The image is owned by the Brooklyn Museum and used from here.
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Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Some of you have heard me teach and preach enough over the past three years to know that I have a thing about representations of angels that depict the heavenly messengers as having wings, such as the Tiossot images we used on the front of the service outlines last week and this week and the Office Hymn we sang tonight, which not only without any Biblical foundation gave the angel Gabriel “wings as drifted snow” but also “eyes as flame” (Lutheran Service Book 356:1). To be sure, the sudden appearance of angels, who are always in the form of men, is enough to startle people, to make them afraid. But, as we heard last week and again tonight, the angels almost always tell the people to whom they appear not to be afraid (compare Acts 12:6‑11), for, as bearers of the Word of God, they are usually sent with good news, more frequently than you might think good news about births (for example, about Ishmael’s birth to Hagar in Genesis 16:11 and about Samson’s birth to Manoah in Judges 13:3). As we, these Advent and Christmas seasons, hear and reflect on the announcements and miraculous births of sons to two seemingly insignificant women, tonight we consider the announcement of Jesus’s birth, and we reflect on that announcement under the theme “The All-Powerful Word of God”.
With tonight’s Second Reading from Luke chapter 1 (vv.26-45), we have come forward about five months from last week’s Reading, in which the angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah the birth of his and Elizabeth’s son, John the Baptizer, words that would be fulfilled in their time but words that Zechariah did not believe, and so he was made unable to speak, as a sign of the certainty of the words. Tonight we heard the angel Gabriel announce to Mary the birth of her and God’s Son, Jesus Christ, words that also would be fulfilled in their time and words that Mary did believe, although she also asked a more‑pragmatic question about the words and also was given a sign to assure her of their certainty. Gabriel concluded his conversation with Mary by saying that “nothing will be impossible with God”, something similar to what the Lord Himself had said to Abraham and Sarah when Personally announcing Isaac’s birth to them (Genesis 18:14), as Mary might well have known and remembered.
Gabriel said, “nothing will be impossible with God”. Nothing that comes from God is impossible. No Word of God is powerless. With God there is impossible not one single thing. Every Word of promise that He has made, He Himself will fulfill in His time and way. Such was true for Mary, and such is true for us, but do we believe it? Mary’s question of Gabriel was more‑pragmatic than Zechariah’s, and we often have pragmatic questions about precisely how God will fulfill His promises to us, but we also may often move beyond such pragmatic questions to pragmatic objections, as if we do not believe that God can overcome the logistics and fulfill His promises to us at all, at least not in the way we might think that He needs to go about fulfilling those promises. In a somewhat related way, when told to do something by God, we might even refuse to do it out of a false sense of piety, as King Ahaz did in tonight’s First Reading when told to ask for a sign that God’s promises to him would be fulfilled (Isaiah 7:10-14). When King Ahaz refused, the Lord Himself gave Ahaz a sign through Isaiah: “the virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His Name ‘Immanuel’.”
God may not react to Mary’s and our more‑pragmatic questions the same way He reacted to Zechariah’s unbelief, but God’s reaction to our unbelief and our refusal to do what He commands is certain: our unbelief and failure to keep His Commandments deserve death now and for eternity. As we confessed in tonight’s Psalm (Psalm 45), the Lord hates wickedness and loves righteousness. The Lord wants us not to be wicked but to be righteous, and so He not only calls us to turn in sorrow from our wickedness but He also freely offers us Jesus Christ’s righteousness by grace through faith in Him, the Son of God and the Son of the Virgin Mary.
Today at the meeting of our Kilgore Rotary Club, we heard a speaker who not only works to give sight to the people of the African nation of Togo, but he also shares the Gospel with the people there, where Christianity is third behind voodoo and Islam. One of the questions he said they get asked a lot is whether Christians worship the Virgin Mary. Of course, we do not worship her the way we worship God, but we do honor her, as Elizabeth did in tonight’s Reading, as the Mother of our Lord, the God‑bearer. The Holy Spirit came upon Mary, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, and the Virgin Mary conceived and bore a Son. Not only “Immanuel” but that Son was called all sorts of things: “Jesus”, “Son of the Most High”, “Holy”, and “the Son of God”. The Lord already as the fruit of the Virgin Mary’s womb, the God-man came forth, as we sang in the Opening Hymn (Lutheran Service Book 402:2): “Grim death to vanquish for us, / To open heav’n before us / And bring us life again.” The God‑man Jesus died on the cross and rose from the grave for you and for me. An angel announced His birth, and angels announced His resurrection. A virgin birth and resurrection from the dead were accomplished in keeping with “The All-Powerful Word of God”. His Mother Mary believed it, His Aunt Elizabeth (or whatever shirt-tale relative she was) confessed it, and all who hear and do His Word, those who repent and believe, are likewise forgiven and related to Him (Luke 8:21).
All things’ being possible for God is clearly evident in the Old Testament (Job 10:13; 42:2; Zechariah 8:6), as it is clearly taught in the New Testament. God’s and His Word’s all‑powerfulness is even linked to your salvation and to mine (Matthew 19:26). “The All‑Powerful Word of God” gives faith and spiritual life to people who are dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1), no matter their age, even as unborn John the Baptizer was filled with the Holy Spirit from His mother’s womb (Luke 1:26) and leaped for joy at the greeting of the Virgin Mary, which indicated the presence of His Lord and Savior. “The All‑Powerful Word of God” is at work for us with water in Holy Baptism, with the pastor’s words in individual Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine in Holy Communion. As God and man are combined in Jesus Christ, so His body and blood are combined with bread and wine here, for the forgiveness of sins, for life, and for salvation—such are the benefits of “The All‑Powerful Word of God” in all its forms.
The Virgin Mary heard “The All‑Powerful Word of God” from the angel Gabriel, in the form of a man, and said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Her Son confessed His Father’s all‑powerfulness, asked for His cup of suffering to be removed, and then similarly said, “Yet not what I will, but what You will” (Mark 14:36). We strive to do the same, whether the messenger has “wings as drifted snow” and “eyes as flame”, only the appearance of a man, or simply is a man, a sinful man equally in need of forgiveness. With repentance and faith, together we live in that forgiveness, even for our failures to believe “The All‑Powerful Word of God” and do as He commands. We so live together until He comes a final time to receive us unto Himself, that where He is there we may be also (John 14:3).
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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