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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
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. (Amen.)
Some of you may know that, on the basis of Holy Scripture, I often object to depictions of angels as effeminate or androgynous men with halos and wings. So, I was glad to find online images that we could use for free on our service outlines this Advent that, truer to Holy Scripture, depicted the angels simply as young men in white robes (for example, Mark 16:5). My only real issue with the images that we are using is that the Gabriel sent to Zechariah in last week’s Second Reading (Luke 1:5-25) is depicted with different‑colored hair than the angel Gabriel sent to Mary in this week’s Second Reading but the same‑colored hair as the unidentified angel who appeared to Joseph in next week’s Second Reading (Matthew 1:18-25). We might ask when “artistic license” takes away from art rather than adds to it. Likewise in tonight’s Office Hymn (Lutheran Service Book 356), Gabriel arguably did not have “wings as drifted snow” or “eyes as flame” as Sabine Baring‑Gould’s composition, or “loose paraphrase” of an earlier Basque carol‑text, puts it (HS’98:Handbook #805, pp.56-57; LSB:CttH #356, pp.64-67). Those descriptors are for me almost insurmountable barriers to using the hymn! Regardless, with a hymn and Second Reading describing how “Gabriel comes to Mary”, this week we continue this year’s Midweek Advent Evening Prayer Services’ development of the theme “Angels of Advent”. Tonight’s First Reading’s account of the priest Eli’s telling Hannah that the Lord would give her a son (1 Samuel 1:1-20) in some ways compares and contrasts to Gabriel’s coming to Mary.
We had our December Elders’ Meeting last night, so I did not get to see Kevin Costner’s new holiday special titled The First Christmas, not that I have TV reception at home to have watched it even if I had been home. My mother did not care for the first part of the show that she saw, but I do not know how widespread that sentiment was, as no overnight ratings apparently were available yet when I checked earlier today. The show was described as exploring “the hardships, trials[,] and triumphs [that] Mary and Joseph endured around the time of Jesus Christ’s birth” (AL.com). People always seem to want to explore other things and never seem satisfied with what God has revealed to us. As we heard in tonight’s First Reading, a deeply distressed Hannah prayed to the Lord, wept bitterly, and vowed that, if the Lord would give her a son, she would give him to the Lord, and eventually Eli told her that the God of Israel would grant her petition made to Him. In tonight’s Second Reading, Gabriel’s initial greeting greatly troubled Mary, and, while she apparently believed Gabriel’s subsequent announcement that she would bear the Son of God, she asked the practical question how that would be, which question Gabriel then answered. Both women went on to have their respective sons: Hannah conceived Samuel in the natural fashion (1 Samuel 1:19‑20), and Mary conceived Jesus in a super‑natural fashion, and both women later sang similar psalm-like songs praising God for His salvation (1 Samuel 2:1-10; Luke 1:46-55)—we will sing a version of Mary’s song in a few moments (LSB 248-249).
Like Hannah and Mary, we certainly are in need of the Lord’s salvation. Like Elkanah, we may sin against God’s institution of marriage. Like Peninnah, we might provoke and irritate our rivals. Like Hannah, we may not be content in our circumstances. Like Eli, we might assume the worst about someone. On account of our sinful nature and of all of our actual sin, we deserve temporal and eternal punishment. But, God looks upon our affliction; He does not forget but remembers us; and, out of His great love, He gives us what we need: the Holy Spirit to lead us to repent and so also the forgiveness of sins for His Son Jesus’s sake.
In tonight’s Second Reading, as “Gabriel comes to Mary”, Gabriel speaks of Jesus as Mary’s and God’s Son, and Gabriel describes Jesus as the promised King in David’s line, Who would rule forever. God the Father and God the Holy Spirit were involved in the incarnation of God the Son, Who thus has the Divine and human natures that He needed in order to save us. No vows or actions on our part can earn God’s favor to save us, but God saves us because of Who He is. Tonight’s Additional Psalm also reflects both on God’s promised Messiah, the Savior, and on God’s choice of His dwelling place and the blessings that go with that choice, blessings such as salvation, righteousness, and the joy that they bring (Psalm 132:11-18; antiphon: v.11). Sinners like the rest of us who break God’s covenant given through Moses, David’s other successors broke God’s special covenant with their family, too. But, Jesus kept God’s Commandments that we fail to keep, and, on the cross, Jesus paid the price for our failure to keep them. Jesus also kept God’s covenant with David’s family, and, risen from the dead, Jesus forever rules over all things for the benefit of His Church (Ephesians 1:22).
Eli served as God’s “messenger” to Hannah—messenger is one sense of the word “angel”—and God sent with His authority the angel Gabriel, a heavenly spirit creature likely in the assumed form of human man, as a messenger to Mary. Hannah’s son Samuel and Mary’s Son Jesus in turn both served as prophets to God’s people, as God’s pastors do in our time. In the imagery of our Additional Psalm, here where God has chosen to dwell in the form of His Word and Sacraments, those pastors in Holy Baptism clothe us in robes of Christ’s righteousness, and they satisfy us both with bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and with wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us. As we heard in tonight’s First Reading, God’s people have long partaken of portions of what has been sacrificed for them in order to share in the sacrifice’s benefits, as we sacramentally eat and drink Christ’s Body and Blood and are forgiven and so receive eternal life and salvation.
Mary is often pictured as reading Holy Scripture when Gabriel comes to her; even the Basque text that may be behind tonight’s Office Hymn apparently describes her as “worshipping the Lord of creation”. Even if Mary was not reading Scripture or worshipping the Lord right at that moment, both Hannah’s and Mary’s songs would seem to indicate their familiarity with Holy Scripture. While God sent them both “messengers” to announce the births of their sons, in most cases we do without such Divine messengers and messages. Still, God’s Word speaks to us in our personal devotional reading of Holy Scripture and in Holy Scripture’s use in our public worship. Even without “wings as drifted snow” and “eyes as flame”, our pastors or others among our family and friends can provide more‑subtle spiritual‑direction. And, like Mary, we can humbly submit ourselves to the Lord and to His purposes for us, serving Him by keeping His Commandments according to our various callings in life, according to our relationships in our families, congregation, and society.
Tonight we have continued this year’s Midweek Advent focus on the “Angels of Advent” with how “Gabriel comes to Mary”. We have realized both our sin and God’s forgiveness by grace for Jesus’s sake, and we have appreciated God’s sending His “messengers” also to us. Next week we will consider how “An angel appears to Joseph”. May we thus be prepared with repentance: prepared to celebrate our Christmas observance of our Lord’s having come once in the past in order to save us, prepared to receive our Lord as He comes to us in His Word and Sacraments repeatedly in the present in order to forgive us, and prepared to be with our Lord when He comes a final time in the future in order to dwell with us in glory forever.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Amen.)
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +