Gospel for December 24, 2023

“The Annunciation” by Henry Ossawa Tanner [1898].

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 1:26-38
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is known as the Annunciation to Mary. This is the announcement that she would conceive the Son of God through the power of God.

Luke’s storytelling technique creates a sense of slowly building drama.  He begins first with the tale of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  This creates the impression that even the most humble characters in this Gospel are still of great value to God.

Elizabeth is already sixth months pregnant with John, the prophetic cousin of Jesus.

Mary is named only after this introduction, and her initial claim to distinction is simply that she is:

a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house.

But the Angel Gabriel’s visitation will change all that.  He greets Mary with great honor as though he is greeting a holy person.  She is highly favored and the Lord is with her.  Note that this is all anticipatory.  She doesn’t have a clue yet what is about to happen, and so she is troubled.  She is merely a country girl from a small town in Galilee about to marry a local carpenter.

What ensues is a fascinating dialogue between a being from heaven and a being from earth.

The angel seeks to reassure her that she need not fear.  This greeting, Don’t be afraid may have a two-fold purpose:

• Encountering a heavenly being such as an angel is invariably described as a terrifying experience in the Scriptures.
• And the angel is also seeking to calm Mary as she hears this life altering news.

However, the attempt to allay her fears doesn’t work! When Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive a child who will be both the Son of the Most High and the heir of his ancestor David, her anxiety level seems to increase.

For one thing, this must be a surreal experience for her — encountering a supernatural being is not an everyday experience. For another, she is not naive.  She knows where babies come from and she knows that she is a virgin.

What is interesting is that when Zechariah is visited by the same angel and expresses doubt and asks questions, he is punished for his disbelief by being rendered mute until John’s birth.  But Mary asks:

How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?

Yet Gabriel seems to be gentle and patient with Mary.

Is the angel more gentle with Mary because he can read her heart?  Does the angel recognize that she is not asking the question out of a sense of skepticism, but sincere searching?  Or does the angel respect her role as the mother of the Son of God? Does the angel accommodate her youth? The Gospel writer doesn’t tell us.

In any event, Gabriel makes clear that the child to be born will be conceived through the power of God, when the Holy Spirit overshadows her.  The child will be called the Son of God.

Then the angel tells her about her kinswoman, Elizabeth, as if to confirm for Mary that God has not only the power to invest life in a virgin’s womb, but also in the barren womb of an old woman.  This appears to be intended as a sign for Mary, because the angel then declares:

For nothing spoken by God is impossible.

Mary’s fears seem to be calmed, and she declares:

 Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

Mary surrenders her will to the will of God and becomes a key part of the Salvation History about to unfold.

APPLY:  

On the one hand, we may be able to identify with Mary. She is a young woman from an obscure town with no credentials to brag about. On the other hand, what happens to her is supernaturally unique.

This account gives us pause as Mary considers this shocking news.  The last thing on her mind is having a child.  Why, she’s not even married yet!

There is much to consider here.  First, the Angel Gabriel’s news carries a definite theological punch with it.  This child, who would be named Jesus, is to be:

 great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.

From a theological perspective, this tells us something very important about the nature of Jesus — he is both divine and human.  As the Nicene Creed puts it, Jesus is:

the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

But at the same time Jesus:

 was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man.

Jesus is fully God and fully man in order that he might be the bridge between God and humanity.

The second issue we wrestle with in this beautiful story is the virginity of Mary.  Some modern skeptics have scoffed at the virgin birth.  Some biblical scholars suggest that the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 has been misapplied to Mary:

 Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

These modern interpreters argue that the word for virgin in Hebrew, almah, simply means “young unmarried woman.”

Even if that is so, Luke (a physician who presumably knows something about babies) doesn’t appeal to Isaiah for proof of Mary’s virginity, Matthew does.  But both Gospel writers insist on her virginity.  She either is or she isn’t!  And if she isn’t, then the Gospels fail the test of truth.

So, since I believe in the Gospel record, what does it mean?  Primarily it underscores the point above, that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God.  That he has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.  But he is also the Son of Man through his human birth as the child of Mary.

Third, where this passage becomes accessible to us is in Mary’s complete and total surrender to this mission:

Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

This is the essence of the ideal Biblical relationship with God, a paradigm followed from Abraham and Moses up to the fishermen by the Sea of Galilee.  It is certainly legitimate to ask questions, to wonder.  But ultimately the only acceptable response to God’s grace and favor is surrender.

RESPOND: 

Like Mary, and so many other biblical characters, when I encounter the Word of God, the first thing I do is ask questions.  Of course, I don’t usually encounter angels — most of my encounters are while reading the Bible, or in the situations of my daily life, and in moments of prayer and discernment.  But my response to the initiative of God in my life must be the same:

Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

I must surrender completely to God, just as Mary does.

Our Lord, you come to each of us in different ways — a burning bush, an angel, a still, quiet voice.  But you invite us into an adventure with you that changes our lives and the lives of others.  And the only appropriate response is surrender to you.  Which means that we trust you with our very lives.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“The Annunciation” by Henry Ossawa Tanner is in the Public Domain.

Gospel for December 18, 2022

 

“Angel appearing to St Joseph” is a photograph taken by Lawrence OP of windows by Clayton and Bell in the south wall at Freeland which commemorate the life of the Virgin.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 1:18-25
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The birth of Jesus begins with what seems to be a scandal.  His mother is pregnant before she has been married to her fiance, Joseph.  And Joseph knows that he has not been with her.

As the readers of the Gospel, we know what Joseph does not know:

she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

This is a serious claim, that Mary has not been with another man, but has been impregnated directly by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph reacts as nearly every man would react — he knows where babies come from, and he doesn’t believe this story for a second.  But he is also a decent and compassionate man:

Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

Here was his dilemma — according to the law of Moses, a young newlywed bride could be stoned to death if her husband found evidence that she was not a virgin (Deuteronomy 22:20-21).  Pregnancy would certainly apply!

Therefore Joseph wishes to hush up Mary’s “mistake” and put her away secretly. This suggests that he would quietly end the engagement and send her away where she might be safe from condemnation.

Enter divine intervention:

But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

Like his patriarchal namesake, Joseph the dreamer and the interpreter of dreams (cf Genesis, chapters 37, 40, 41), Joseph the son of David receives a message through a dream.  Joseph’s  genealogy, recorded in Matthew 1:1-17, confirms that this obscure man is actually an heir of the greatest king in Israel’s history.

But that isn’t what sets Joseph apart.  What sets him apart is that he believes that this dream is from God.  He accepts the impossible premise that Mary is telling the truth:

 that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And the Scriptures also corroborate Joseph’s experience:

Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,
and shall give birth to a son.
They shall call his name Immanuel”

Matthew the evangelist is quoting Isaiah 7:14 (CLICK HERE to see the Old Testament lectionary reading for this Sunday, from Isaiah 7:10-16 for more background).

Not only does Isaiah’s prophecy confirm the virgin birth of the Messiah, it also reveals the nature of Jesus as the divine Son of God.   Immanuel means:

“God with us.”

Joseph is convinced by his dream, and takes Mary as his wife, fulfilling the instructions of the angel:

Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;  and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

APPLY:  

It is very clear that Matthew and Luke both firmly believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.  This is made clear by the angelic visitation recorded in both Gospels.  In Matthew’s Gospel, the angelic visitation comes in Joseph’s dream.  In Luke’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel appears directly to Mary. Gabriel confirms that despite her virginity Mary will conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High who will also be a descendant of David through her bloodline (Luke 1:26-37).  The Angel Gabriel is also named twice in his appearances in the Old Testament book of Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21); and Gabriel also appeared to the priest Zechariah and announced he would be the father of John (Luke 1:19).

When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, he is corroborating the experience of Mary and the angelic witness to Joseph.  Scripture and experience reinforce one another.

Why does it matter whether or not Mary was a virgin, as the Scriptures claim?  Somewhere in my theological reading over the years I came across the relationship between the res and the signo of this miracle.

There is the res — the thing itself.  That is the fact that Mary had not had relations with a man.

But then, even more importantly, is the signo — the sign. The sign is what the res (the thing) points to — and what the Virgin Birth points to is that Jesus is the divine Son of God and the human son of Mary.  He is both God and man.  This is of vital importance, because if Jesus is only human, he would not have the power to save us from our sins.  And if Jesus is only divine, he would not be able to identify with our suffering and weakness and temptation.  But in fact Jesus has become like us:

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

What difference does it make?

Joseph takes the leap of faith — and believes. And he becomes a key participant in salvation history.  We take the leap of faith — that Jesus is Immanuel — and we are incorporated into these mighty acts of salvation!  

RESPOND: 

There is an old saying — you can’t just be a little bit pregnant.  A woman is either pregnant or she’s not.  The same may be said of Mary’s virginal conception — either she was a virgin, or she was not.

The claim of Matthew and Luke’s Gospels, and of the historic Christian church, is that Mary was a virgin.  And this is vital, not because the creeds claim it, or the church has affirmed it historically, but because it is true.  And because it is true, the Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, and whose hands and feet were pierced by Roman nails, and who bled Jewish blood, is also God with us. 

Lord, the claims of the Gospel don’t depend on whether I believe them or not, or whether I understand them.  But because these claims are true, they confirm for me that I have a Savior who is more than a man, but who has been a human being like me.  You have humbled yourself to come to me, so that you could lift me up to yourself.  I can only give thanks!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Angel appearing to St Joseph" by Lawrence OP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 20, 2020

“The Annunciation” by Henry Ossawa Tanner [1898].

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 1:26-38
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is known as the Annunciation to Mary. This is the announcement that she would conceive the Son of God through the power of God.

Luke’s storytelling technique creates a sense of slowly building drama.  He beins first with the tale of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  This creates the impression that even the most humble characters in this Gospel are still of great value to God.

Elizabeth is already sixth months pregnant with John, the prophetic cousin of Jesus.

Mary is named only after this introduction, and her initial claim to distinction is simply that she is:

a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house.

But the Angel Gabriel’s visitation will change all that.  He greets Mary with great honor as though he is greeting a holy person.  She is highly favored  and the Lord is with her.  Note that this is all anticipatory.  She doesn’t have a clue yet what is about to happen, and so she is troubled.  She is merely a country girl from a small town in Galilee about to marry a local carpenter.

What ensues is a fascinating dialogue between a being from heaven and a being from earth.

The angel seeks to reassure her that she need not fear.  This greeting, Don’t be afraid may have a two-fold purpose:

• Encountering a heavenly being such as an angel is invariably described as a terrifying experience in the Scriptures.
• And the angel is also seeking to calm Mary as she hears this life altering news.

However, the attempt to allay her fears doesn’t work! When Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive a child who will be both the Son of the Most High and the heir of his ancestor David, her anxiety level seems to increase.

For one thing, this must be a surreal experience for her — encountering a supernatural being is not an everyday experience. For another, she is not naive.  She knows where babies come from and she knows that she is a virgin.

What is interesting is that when Zechariah is visited by the same angel and expresses doubt and asks questions, he is punished for his disbelief by being rendered mute until John’s birth.  But Mary asks:

How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?

Yet Gabriel seems to be gentle and patient with Mary.

Is the angel more gentle with Mary because he can read her heart?  Does the angel recognize that she is not asking the question out of a sense of skepticism, but sincere searching?  Or does the angel respect her role as the mother of the Son of God? Does the angel accommodate her youth? The Gospel writer doesn’t tell us.

In any event, Gabriel makes clear that the child to be born will be conceived through the power of God, when the Holy Spirit overshadows  her.  The child will be called the Son of God.

Then the angel tells her about her kinswoman, Elizabeth, as if to confirm for Mary that God has not only the power to invest life in a virgin’s womb, but also in the barren womb of an old woman.  This appears to be intended as a sign for Mary, because the angel then declares:

For nothing spoken by God is impossible.

Mary’s fears seem to be calmed, and she declares:

 Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

Mary surrenders her will to the will of God and becomes a key part of the Salvation History about to unfold.

APPLY:  

On the one hand, we may be able to identify with Mary. She is a young woman from an obscure town with no credentials to brag about. On the other hand, what happens to her is supernaturally unique.

This account gives us pause as Mary considers this shocking news.  The last thing on her mind is having a child.  Why, she’s not even married yet!

There is much to consider here.  First, the Angel Gabriel’s news carries a definite theological punch with it.  This child, who would be named Jesus, is to be:

 great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.

From a theological perspective, this tells us something very important about the nature of Jesus — he is both divine and human.  As the Nicene Creed puts it, Jesus is:

the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

But at the same time Jesus:

 was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man.

Jesus is fully God and fully man in order that he might be the bridge between God and humanity.

The second issue we wrestle with in this beautiful story is the virginity of Mary.  Some modern skeptics have scoffed at the virgin birth.  Some biblical scholars suggest that the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 has been misapplied to Mary:

 Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

These modern interpreters argue that the word for virgin in Hebrew, almah, simply means “young unmarried woman.”

Even if that is so, Luke (a physician who presumably knows something about babies) doesn’t appeal to Isaiah for proof of Mary’s virginity,  Matthew does.  But both Gospel writers insist on her virginity.  She either is or she isn’t!  And if she isn’t, then the Gospels fail the test of truth.

So, since I believe in the Gospel record, what does it mean?  Primarily it underscores the point above, that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God.  That he has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.  But he is also the Son of Man through his human birth as the child of Mary.

Third, where this passage becomes accessible to us is in Mary’s complete and total surrender to this mission:

Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

This is the essence of the ideal Biblical relationship with God, a paradigm followed from Abraham and Moses up to the fishermen by the Sea of Galilee.  It is certainly legitimate to ask questions, to wonder.  But ultimately the only acceptable response to God’s grace and favor is surrender.

RESPOND: 

Like Mary, and so many other biblical characters, when I encounter the Word of God, the first thing I do is ask questions.  Of course, I don’t usually encounter angels — most of my encounters are while reading the Bible, or in the situations of my daily life, and in moments of prayer and discernment.  But my response to the initiative of God in my life must be the same:

Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

I must surrender completely to God, just as Mary does.

Our Lord, you come to each of us in different ways — a burning bush, an angel, a still, quiet voice.  But you invite us into an adventure with you that changes our lives and the lives of others.  And the only appropriate response is surrender to you.  Which means that we trust you with our very lives.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“The Annunciation” by Henry Ossawa Tanner is in the Public Domain.

Gospel for December 22, 2019

“Angel appearing to St Joseph” is a photograph taken by Lawrence OP of windows by Clayton and Bell in the south wall at Freeland which commemorate the life of the Virgin.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Matthew 1:18-25
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The birth of Jesus begins with what seems to be a scandal.  His mother is pregnant before she has been married to her fiance, Joseph.  And Joseph knows that he has not been with her.

As the readers of the Gospel, we know what Joseph does not:

she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

This is a serious claim, that Mary has not been with another man, but has been impregnated directly by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph reacts as nearly every man would react — he knows where babies come from, and he doesn’t believe this story for a second.  But he is also a decent and compassionate man:

Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

Here was his dilemma — according to the law of Moses, a young newlywed bride could be stoned to death if her husband found evidence that she was not a virgin (Deuteronomy 22:20-21).  Pregnancy would certainly apply!

Therefore Joseph wishes to hush up Mary’s “mistake” and put her away secretly. This suggests that he would quietly end the engagement and send her away where she might be safe from condemnation.

Enter divine intervention:

But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

Like his patriarchal namesake, Joseph the dreamer and the interpreter of dreams (cf Genesis, chapters 37, 40, 41), Joseph the son of David receives a message through a dream.  Joseph’s  genealogy, recorded in Matthew 1:1-17, confirms that this obscure man is actually an heir of the greatest king in Israel’s history.

But that isn’t what sets Joseph apart.  What sets him apart is that he believes that this dream is from God.  He accepts the impossible premise that Mary is telling the truth:

 that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And the Scriptures also corroborate Joseph’s experience:

Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,
and shall give birth to a son.
They shall call his name Immanuel”

Matthew the evangelist is quoting Isaiah 7:14 (see the Old Testament lectionary reading for this Sunday, from Isaiah 7:10-16 for more background).

Not only does Isaiah’s prophecy confirm the virgin birth of the Messiah, it also reveals the nature of Jesus as the divine Son of God.   Immanuel means:

“God with us.”

Joseph is convinced by his dream, and takes Mary as his wife, fulfilling the instructions of the angel:

Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;  and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

APPLY:  

It is very clear that Matthew and Luke both firmly believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.  This is made clear by the angelic visitation recorded in both Gospels.  In Matthew’s Gospel, the angelic visitation comes in Joseph’s dream.  In Luke’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel appears directly to Mary. Gabriel confirms that despite her virginity Mary will conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High who will also be a descendant of David through her bloodline (Luke 1:26-37).  The Angel Gabriel is also named twice in his appearances in the Old Testament book of Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21); and Gabriel also appeared to the priest Zechariah and announced he would be the father of John (Luke 1:19).

When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, he is corroborating the experience of Mary and the angelic witness to Joseph.  Scripture and experience reinforce one another.

Why does it matter whether or not Mary was a virgin, as the Scriptures claim?  Somewhere in my theological reading over the years I came across the relationship  between the res and the signo of this miracle.

There is the res — the thing itself.  That is the fact that Mary had not had relations with a man.

But then, even more importantly, is the signo — the sign. The sign is what the res (the thing) points to — and what the Virgin Birth points to is that Jesus is the divine Son of God and the human son of Mary.  He is both God and man.  This is of vital importance, because if Jesus is only human, he would not have the power to save us from our sins.  And if Jesus is only divine, he would not be able to identify with our suffering and weakness and temptation.  But in fact Jesus has become like us:

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

What difference does it make?

Joseph takes the leap of faith — and believes. And he becomes a key participant in salvation history.  We take the leap of faith — that Jesus is Immanuel — and we are incorporated into these mighty acts of salvation!  

RESPOND: 

There is an old saying — you can’t just be a little bit pregnant.  A woman is either pregnant or she’s not.  The same may be said of Mary’s virginal conception — either she was a virgin, or she was not.

The claim of Matthew and Luke’s Gospels, and of the historic Christian church, is that Mary was a virgin.  And this is vital, not because the creeds claim it, or the church has affirmed it historically, but because it is true.  And because it is true, the Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, and whose hands and feet were pierced by Roman nails, and who bled Jewish blood, is also God with us. 

Lord, the claims of the Gospel don’t depend on whether I believe them or not, or whether I understand them.  But because these claims are true, they confirm for me that I have a Savior who is more than a man, but who has been a human being like me.  You have humbled yourself to come to me, so that you could lift me up to yourself.  I can only give thanks!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Angel appearing to St Joseph" by Lawrence OP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for December 24, 2017

“The Annunciation” by Henry Ossawa Tanner [1898].

START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Luke 1:26-38
CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is known as the Annunciation to Mary. This is the announcement that she would conceive the Son of God through the power of God.

Luke’s storytelling technique creates a sense of slowly building drama.  He beins first with the tale of Zechariah and Elizabeth.  This creates the impression that even the most humble characters in this Gospel are still of great value to God.

Elizabeth is already sixth months pregnant with John, the prophetic cousin of Jesus.

Mary is named only after this introduction, and her initial claim to distinction is simply that she is:

a virgin pledged to be married to a man whose name was Joseph, of David’s house.

But the Angel Gabriel’s visitation will change all that.  He greets Mary with great honor as though he is greeting a holy person.  She is highly favored  and the Lord is with her.  Note that this is all anticipatory.  She doesn’t have a clue yet what is about to happen, and so she is troubled.  She is merely a country girl from a small town in Galilee about to marry a local carpenter.

What ensues is a fascinating dialogue between a being from heaven and a being from earth.

The angel seeks to reassure her that she need not fear.  This greeting, Don’t be afraid may have a two-fold purpose:

• Encountering a heavenly being such as an angel is invariably described as a terrifying experience in the Scriptures.
• And the angel is also seeking to calm Mary as she hears this life altering news.

However, the attempt to allay her fears doesn’t work! When Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive a child who will be both the Son of the Most High and the heir of his ancestor David, her anxiety level seems to increase.

For one thing, this must be a surreal experience for her — encountering a supernatural being is not an everyday experience. For another, she is not naive.  She knows where babies come from and she knows that she is a virgin.

What is interesting is that when Zechariah is visited by the same angel and expresses doubt and asks questions, he is punished for his disbelief by being rendered mute until John’s birth.  But Mary asks:

How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?

Yet Gabriel seems to be gentle and patient with Mary.

Is the angel more gentle with Mary because he can read her heart?  Does the angel recognize that she is not asking the question out of a sense of skepticism, but sincere searching?  Or does the angel respect her role as the mother of the Son of God? Does the angel accommodate her youth? The Gospel writer doesn’t tell us.

In any event, Gabriel makes clear that the child to be born will be conceived through the power of God, when the Holy Spirit overshadows  her.  The child will be called the Son of God.

Then the angel tells her about her kinswoman, Elizabeth, as if to confirm for Mary that God has not only the power to invest life in a virgin’s womb, but also in the barren womb of an old woman.  This appears to be a intended as a sign for Mary, because the angel then declares:

For nothing spoken by God is impossible.

Mary’s fears seem to be calmed, and she declares:

 Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

Mary surrenders her will to the will of God and becomes a key part of the Salvation History about to unfold.

APPLY:  

On the one hand, we may be able to identify with Mary. She is a young woman from an obscure town with no credentials to brag about. On the other hand, what happens to her is supernaturally unique.

This account gives us pause as Mary considers this shocking news.  The last thing on her mind is having a child.  Why, she’s not even married yet!

There is much to consider here.  First, the Angel Gabriel’s news carries a definite theological punch with it.  This child, who would be named Jesus, is to be:

 great, and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father, David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. There will be no end to his Kingdom.

From a theological perspective, this tells us something very important about the nature of Jesus: he is both divine and human.  As the Nicene Creed puts it, Jesus is:

the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.

But at the same time Jesus:

 was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man.

Jesus is fully God and fully man in order that he might be the bridge between God and humanity.

The second issue we wrestle with in this beautiful story is the virginity of Mary.  Some modern skeptics have scoffed at the virgin birth.  Some biblical scholars suggest that the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 has been misapplied to Mary:

 Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

These modern interpreters argue that the word for virgin in Hebrew, almah, simply means “young unmarried woman.”

Even if that is so, Luke (a physician who presumably knows something about babies) doesn’t appeal to Isaiah for proof of Mary’s virginity,  Matthew does.  But both Gospel writers insist on her virginity.  She either is or she isn’t!  And if she isn’t, then the Gospels fail the test of truth.

So, since I believe in the Gospel record, what does it mean?  Primarily it underscores the point above, that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God.  That he has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.  But he is also the Son of Man through his human birth as the child of Mary.

Third, where this passage becomes accessible to us is in Mary’s complete and total surrender to this mission:

Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

This is the essence of the ideal Biblical relationship with God, a paradigm followed from Abraham and Moses up to the fishermen by the Sea of Galilee.  It is certainly legitimate to ask questions, to wonder.  But ultimately the only acceptable response to God’s grace and favor is surrender.

RESPOND: 

Like Mary, and so many other biblical characters, when I encounter the Word of God, the first thing I do is ask questions.  Of course, I don’t usually encounter angels – most of my encounters are while reading the Bible, or in the situations of my daily life, and in moments of prayer and discernment.  But my response to the initiative of God in my life must be the same:

Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.

I must surrender completely to God, just as Mary does.

Our Lord, you come to each of us in different ways – a burning bush, an angel, a still, quiet voice.  But you invite us into an adventure with you that changes our lives and the lives of others.  And the only appropriate response is surrender to you.  Which means that we trust you with our very lives.  Amen.

PHOTOS:
“The Annunciation” by Henry Ossawa Tanner is in the Public Domain.

Gospel for April 16, 2017 (Easter)

“The Angel Is Opening Christ’s Tomb” by Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp [1612-1652]

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 28:1-10

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

After the traumatic events of the days just before the Sabbath, one might expect some quiet.  There has been an arrest in the dark of night, a sham court trial, a politically motivated conviction, and a horrific execution.  It is understandable that those who are grieving the death of a charismatic rabbi are seeking solace.

The Sabbath day of rest is over, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary come to the tomb.  From other Biblical sources we know that Mary Magdalene was one of Jesus’ most devoted followers.  She had much for which to be grateful — Jesus had cast out seven demons that had possessed her (Mark 16:9; Luke 8:2).  Matthew’s Gospel describes her as one of the many women who had served Jesus as followers. Mary Magdalene is distinguished from other Marys by identifying her hometown, Magdala, a small fishing village on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

The other Mary is a little harder to pin down.    So, is this other Mary the mother of Jesus? Or is she Mary the mother of James and Joses who was also with Mary Magdalene at the cross (Matthew 27:56)?  This is a little confused by the fact that Jesus had brothers who were named James and Joses (Matthew 13:55). Then there is the Mary who was the sister of Martha and Lazarus, with her own unique relationship with Jesus (Luke 10:38-42; John 11; John 12:3).  We could go further, but apparently the name Mary was very common in these times, named after Miriam the famous sister of Moses and Aaron from ancient times (Exodus 15:20).

Most likely this other Mary is simply the mother of James and Joses, as indicated in the other Gospels.

Why does this matter?  Because it is these two women who become the first witnesses of the resurrected Jesus!  And this is significant because they are women.  In the patriarchal, male-oriented culture of Palestine, the fact that women are featured is quite surprising.

The account unfolds in stages.  First, there are natural and supernatural phenomena:

Behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from the sky, and came and rolled away the stone from the door, and sat on it.

Obviously, for the stone to have closed the entrance to the tomb, it would have been extremely large and heavy.

Second, there is the reaction of the guards, who are terrified:

and became like dead men.

This suggests that they have either fainted and/or are paralyzed with terror.  They are likely unconscious.

Third, there is interaction between the angel and the women.  We note that the angel does not address the soldiers:

The angel answered the women, “Don’t be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus, who has been crucified.  He is not here, for he has risen, just like he said. Come, see the place where the Lord was lying. Go quickly and tell his disciples, ‘He has risen from the dead, and behold, he goes before you into Galilee; there you will see him.’ Behold, I have told you.

The angel is fulfilling an angel’s primary function — to be a messenger.  The word anggelos means messenger.  The content of the message sums up the deeds of Jesus, and then provides instructions for the disciples.  This is the essence of the message that the angel is telling the women to tell Jesus’ disciples:

• Jesus has been crucified and raised from the dead. This is the heart of the message of the Gospel.
• The disciples are to go to Galilee where they will see the risen Jesus.

Entrusted with this message, the women quickly leave the tomb. Their emotions are an understandable mixture of fear and great joy.  But then their joy is profoundly deepened when something even more astounding than their encounter with the angel occurs.  They meet the risen Jesus himself!

As they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them, saying, “Rejoice!”

Jesus’ greeting to the women is translated here as rejoice.  It is the Greek word chairete in the plural imperative mood, often used as a greeting.  The word is sometimes translated hail.  But it seems appropriate that the risen Jesus would greet these women with such a double meaning — he is saying hello to them, but he is also commanding them not to fear, but to rejoice that he is alive again!

The women react appropriately — they kneel at his feet, even taking hold of them, and worship.  But he repeats the instructions of the angel:

Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”

The word brothers doesn’t merely mean the males who are Jesus’ followers.  According to the  Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, adelphois  may be inclusive — brothers and sisters. Given the fact that the first witnesses who encounter the risen Jesus are women, this inclusion would be appropriate.  The angel (anggelos)brought the message of the resurrection of Jesus — now the women are the evangelists (euanggelos) who take the message to the disciples.

APPLY:  

As with the passion and crucifixion account of Jesus’ life, so it is with the account of the resurrection of Jesus — the interpretation of the resurrection and its full implications is fleshed out in the Acts of the Apostles and the Epistles of the New Testament.

Here in this narrative from Matthew’s Gospel, we are given the powerful story of the resurrection, and our proper emotional response to this history-changing event — fear and great joy!

However, there is a difference between the fear of the guards and the fear of the women.  There is no welcome and warmth in the fear of the guards.  They are terrified by an event that to them is supernatural and bizarre.  They fear for their lives!

The fear of the women is awe, which becomes worship when they encounter the risen Jesus.  And united with this reverential fear, there is unbounding joy.

This is a cue to us as we celebrate on Easter Sunday.  We shout with great joy “Christ is risen!”  But we should never lose the sense of reverential awe and worship inspired by this profound event.

RESPOND: 

Some skeptics  like to point out apparent contradictions in the resurrection accounts in the Gospels.  There are a few important things to remember.  First, each Gospel has its own audience, and its own perspective.  That doesn’t mean that they are contradictory.

A friend of mine who is an active lay member in his church tells me that his pastor likes to point out that it’s important not to get hung up on the differences.  He borrows a concept from the secular world of therapy to help his congregation understand.

He says there is “Big T” truth and “Little t” truth.  First, the little t truths are the minor discrepancies between the Gospels when they describe the resurrection accounts.  One mentions two angels, another mentions one.  One has different women, or only one woman who go to the tomb, and so on.

The “Big T” truth that we need to pay attention to, he says, is the Truth all four of the Gospels share — Jesus has been raised from the dead!

I agree in part, although I don’t have a serious problem with so-called contradictions in the accounts.  The Church could have “cleaned up” the Gospels if it had chosen to do so.  There was a figure in the early church who actually tried, a guy named Tatian who compiled the Diatesseron, which was an effort to “harmonize” the Gospels.

I think if pushed, I could do that.  I could explain each of the various events of the resurrection accounts and weave a plausible narrative chronologically that could make sense of them.

But we also must remember something else.  None of the Gospels pretends to be an exhaustive account.  Each is presenting just a slice of what happened.  I think something that John says near the end of his Gospel helps me to understand that we only have a part of the picture:

This is the disciple who testifies about these things, and wrote these things. We know that his witness is true. There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written (John 21:24-25).

Even if we harmonized all of the Gospels and all of the Epistles that address the resurrection of Jesus we still wouldn’t have the whole story.  What is really  important is that we respond to the news of the resurrection the same way the disciples did — with worshipful fear and great joy!

Lord, when I consider that you have been raised, and you are alive, I join the early disciples in fear and joy. You are alive, and life is now worth living!  Amen. 

PHOTO:
“The Angel Is Opening Christ’s Tomb” by Benjamin Gerritsz Cuyp is in the Public Domain.

Gospel for December 24, 2016

“Adoration of the Shepherds” by Gerard van Honthorst

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Luke 2:1-20

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

There are three different “realms” represented in this passage, two different “mediums” of communication, and a commingling of two different “realities.”

First, there is the confluence of three different realms.  On the one hand, the context of this nativity story is set in the oppressive realm of the Roman Empire.  Caesar Augustus’ decree requiring a census, executed by his subordinates like Quirinius Governor of Syria, represents the power of human totalitarianism.  Little people like Joseph and Mary are required to dishevel their own lives in order to accommodate Roman whims and bureaucracy.

The second “realm” that is represented is the dynastic line of King David of Israel, now humbled and obscure: Joseph is a descendant of David’s House.  So lowly is he that a foreign dictator can command the repatriation of scattered peoples to their ancestral homes, and the descendant of the ancient king must obey. It isn’t mentioned here that Joseph is a carpenter, and not a king, but that observation makes this contrast of Caesar and Joseph more poignant.

Then there is the “realm” that transcends all others: the divine, heavenly realm.  The sudden breaking in of the  great company of the heavenly host  upon a ragged collection of shepherds represents the majesty that surpasses the dynasty of David and the glory of Rome.  God’s own ambassadors have delivered this message!

So that brings us to the two different “mediums of communication” represented here.  The first is the angelic message. Although the audience of shepherds seems unlikely, that doesn’t diminish the significance of the message.  And the message is truly divine:  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

And if the message begins with the divine, mediated through the angels, it is spread on earth by human means through the shepherds.  They verify the message of the angels by going to Bethlehem to see this child for themselves. And then they go through the land spreading the news about what they have seen and heard.

If  angel means messenger, then the shepherds are the first human evangelists who carry the good news of Christ to the world.

Finally, there is the “commingling” of two different realities.  One is the humble reality of the birth of a child in difficult circumstances.  His first bed is a feeding trough!  But the other reality is that he is the divine child whose birth is heralded by angels.

His first “guests” are shepherds, who were regarded by the interpreters of the law of Moses in that day as unclean.  And yet they are the first introduced to the Savior of the world.  Heaven and earth are mingled, the supernatural and the natural, the exalted and the humble.

God and earth meet.

APPLY:  

The underlying theme of this passage is God’s communication with his world.

God communicates with the shepherds through the supernatural medium of the angels.  And the message that is communicated can only be supernaturally revealed: a Savior is born who is Christ the Lord.  In this message we find our salvation from sin, and our ultimate loyalty to Jesus.

The second form of communication is the earliest practice of evangelism by the first evangelists: not priests or royalty, but working men who presumably knew little about scripture.  But they knew what they had experienced, and they shared the good news that they had been told.  That is what we are to share with others as witnesses – what God has revealed in our lives.

The third form of communication is unveiled in the form of this baby.  This Christ-child is the communication of God himself with his world. God has taken on a human body in order to share his reality of love and grace and truth.  That is underlined by the Prologue to the Gospel of John, in which the “medium becomes the message”: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2, 14)

The message derives from God, is declared by angels, but spread throughout the world by human beings.

RESPOND: 

Each of us who come to faith do so in different ways, but the message is always the same: that Christ has come for us!  For me, and I think for all who believe, receiving that message means we want others to know what we now know: Jesus is our Savior, our Christ, our Lord.  I must spread the word just as the shepherds did.

Our Lord, you have sent the Message of your love and salvation into this world through your Son.  Give me opportunities to pass your Message on to others every day and in every way possible.  Amen.

Gospel for December 18, 2016

“Angel appearing to St Joseph” is a photograph taken by Lawrence OP of windows by Clayton and Bell in the south wall at Freeland which commemorate the life of the Virgin.

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Matthew 1:18-25

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

The birth of Jesus begins with what seems to be a scandal.  His mother is pregnant before she has been married to her fiance, Joseph.  And Joseph knows that he has not been with her.

As the readers of the Gospel, we know what Joseph does not:

she was found pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

This is a serious claim, that Mary has not been with another man, but has been impregnated directly by the Holy Spirit.  Joseph reacts as nearly every man would react — he knows where babies come from, and he doesn’t believe this story for a second.  But he is also a decent and compassionate man:

Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, intended to put her away secretly.

Here was his dilemma — according to the law of Moses, a young newlywed bride could be stoned to death if her husband found evidence that she was not a virgin (Deuteronomy 22:20-21).  Pregnancy would certainly apply!

Therefore Joseph wishes to hush up Mary’s “mistake” and put her away secretly. This suggests that he would quietly end the engagement and send her away where she might be safe from condemnation.

Enter divine intervention:

But when he thought about these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take to yourself Mary, your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.  She shall give birth to a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins.”

Like his patriarchal namesake, Joseph the dreamer and the interpreter of dreams (cf Genesis, chapters 37, 40, 41), Joseph the son of David receives a message through a dream.  Joseph’s  genealogy, recorded in Matthew 1:1-17, confirms that this obscure man is actually an heir of the greatest king in Israel’s history.

But that isn’t what sets Joseph apart.  What sets him apart is that he believes that this dream is from God.  He accepts the impossible premise that Mary is telling the truth:

 that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And the Scriptures also corroborate Joseph’s experience:

Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying,
“Behold, the virgin shall be with child,
and shall give birth to a son.
They shall call his name Immanuel”

Matthew the evangelist is quoting Isaiah 7:14 (see the Old Testament lectionary reading for this Sunday, from Isaiah 7:10-16 for more background).

Not only does Isaiah’s prophecy confirm the virgin birth of the Messiah, it also reveals the nature of Jesus as the divine Son of God.   Immanuel means:

“God with us.”

Joseph is convinced by his dream, and takes Mary as his wife, fulfilling the instructions of the angel:

Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took his wife to himself;  and didn’t know her sexually until she had given birth to her firstborn son. He named him Jesus.

APPLY:  

It is very clear that Matthew and Luke both firmly believe in the virgin birth of Jesus.  This is made clear by the angelic visitation recorded in both Gospels.  In Matthew’s Gospel, the angelic visitation comes in Joseph’s dream.  In Luke’s Gospel, the Angel Gabriel appears directly to Mary. Gabriel confirms that despite her virginity Mary will conceive and give birth to the Son of the Most High who will also be a descendant of David through her bloodline (Luke 1:26-37).  The Angel Gabriel is also named twice in his appearances in the Old Testament book of Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9:21); and Gabriel also appeared to the priest Zechariah and announced he would be the father of John (Luke 1:19).

When Matthew quotes Isaiah 7:14, he is corroborating the experience of Mary and the angelic witness to Joseph.  Scripture and experience reinforce one another.

Why does it matter whether or not Mary was a virgin, as the Scriptures claim?  Somewhere in my theological reading over the years I came across the relationship  between the res and the signo of this miracle.

There is the res — the thing itself.  That is the fact that Mary had not had relations with a man.

But then, even more importantly, is the signo — the sign. The sign is what the res (the thing) points to — and what the Virgin Birth points to is that Jesus is the divine Son of God and the human son of Mary.  He is both God and man.  This is of vital importance, because if Jesus is only human, he would not have the power to save us from our sins.  And if Jesus is only divine, he would not be able to identify with our suffering and weakness and temptation.  But in fact Jesus has become like us:

For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15).

What difference does it make?

Joseph takes the leap of faith — and believes. And he becomes a key participant in salvation history.  We take the leap of faith — that Jesus is Immanuel — and we are incorporated into these mighty acts of salvation!  

RESPOND: 

There is an old saying — you can’t just be a little bit pregnant.  A woman is either pregnant or she’s not.  The same may be said of Mary’s virginal conception — either she was a virgin, or she was not.

The claim of Matthew and Luke’s Gospels, and of the historic Christian church, is that Mary was a virgin.  And this is vital, not because the creeds claim it, or the church has affirmed it historically, but because it is true.  And because it is true, the Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, and whose hands and feet were pierced by Roman nails, and who bled Jewish blood, is also God with us. 

Lord, the claims of the Gospel don’t depend on whether I believe them or not, or whether I understand them.  But because these claims are true, they confirm for me that I have a Savior who is more than a man, but who has been a human being like me.  You have humbled yourself to come to me, so that you could lift me up to yourself.  I can only give thanks!  Amen. 

PHOTOS:
"Angel appearing to St Joseph" by Lawrence OP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic license.

Gospel for Dec. 28, 2014

“Adoration of the Shepherds” by Gerard van Honthorst

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Luke 2:1-20

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

There are three different “realms” represented in this passage, two different “mediums” of communication, and a commingling of two different “realities.”

First, there is the confluence of three different realms.  On the one hand, the context of this nativity story is set in the oppressive realm of the Roman Empire.  Caesar’s Augustus’ decree requiring a census, executed by his subordinates like Quirinius Governor of Syria, represents the power of human totalitarianism.  Little people like Joseph and Mary are required to dishevel their own lives in order to accommodate Roman whims and bureaucracy.

The second “realm” that is represented is the dynastic line of King David of Israel, now humbled and obscure: Joseph is a descendant of David’s House.  So lowly is he that a foreign dictator can command the repatriation of scattered peoples to their ancestral homes, and the descendent of the ancient king must obey. It isn’t mentioned here that Joseph is a carpenter, and not a king, but that observation makes this contrast of Caesar and Joseph more poignant.

Then there is the “realm” that transcends all others: the divine, heavenly realm.  The sudden breaking in of the  great company of the heavenly host  upon a ragged collection of shepherds represents the majesty that surpasses the dynasty of David and the glory of Rome.  God’s own ambassadors have delivered this message!

So that brings us to the two different “mediums of communication” represented here.  The first is the angelic message. Although the audience of shepherds seems unlikely, that doesn’t diminish the significance of the message.  And the message is truly divine:  Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.

And if the message begins with the divine, mediated through the angels, it is spread on earth by the human means through the shepherds.  They verify the message of the angels by going to Bethlehem to see this child for themselves. And then they go about the land spreading the news about what they have seen and heard.

If  angel means messenger, then the shepherds are the first human evangelists who carry the good news of Christ to the world.

Finally, there is the “commingling” of two different realities.  One is the humble reality of the birth of a child in difficult circumstances.  His first bed is a feeding trough!  But the other reality is that he is the divine child whose birth is heralded by angels.

His first “guests” are shepherds, who were regarded by the interpreters of the law of Moses in that day as unclean.  And yet they are the first introduced to the Savior of the world.  Heaven and earth are mingled, the supernatural and the natural, the exalted and the humble.

God and earth meet.

APPLY:  

The underlying theme of this passage is God’s communication with his world.

God communicates with the shepherds through the supernatural medium of the angels.  And the message that is communicated can only be supernaturally revealed: a Savior is born who is Christ the Lord.  In this message we find our salvation from sin, and our ultimate loyalty to Jesus.

The second form of communication is the earliest practice of evangelism by the first evangelists: not priests or royalty, but working men who presumably knew little about scripture.  But they knew what they had experienced, and they shared the good news that they had been told.  That is what we are to share with others as witnesses – what God has revealed in our lives.

The third form of communication is unveiled in the form of this baby.  This Christ-child is the communication of God himself with his world. God has taken on a human body in order to share his reality of love and grace and truth.  That is underlined by the Prologue to the Gospel of John, in which the “medium becomes the message”: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. . . The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-2, 14)

The message derives from God, is declared by angels, but spread throughout the world by human beings.

RESPOND: 

Each of us who come to faith do so in different ways, but the message is always the same: that Christ has come for us!  For me, and I think for all who believe, receiving that message means we want others to know what we now know: Jesus is our Savior, our Christ, our Lord.  I must spread the word just as the shepherds did.

Our Lord, you have sent the Message of your love and salvation into this world through your Son.  Give me opportunities to pass your Message on to others every day and in every way possible.  Amen.

Gospel for Dec. 21, 2014

“Annunciation” by John Collier (2000).

START WITH SCRIPTURE:

Luke 1:26-38

CLICK HERE TO READ SCRIPTURE ON BIBLEGATEWAY.COM

OBSERVE:

This passage is known as the Annunciation to Mary, the announcement that she would conceive the Son of God through the power of God.

Luke’s storytelling technique creates a sense of slowly building drama.  He has begun with the tales of Zechariah and Elizabeth first, who will be somewhat marginal to the story as it unfolds.  This creates the impression that even the most humble characters in this Gospel are still of great value to God.

Elizabeth is already sixth months pregnant with John, the prophetic cousin of Jesus.

Mary is named only after this introduction, and her initial claim to distinction is simply that she is a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.

But the Angel Gabriel’s visitation will change all that.  He greets Mary with great honor as though he is greeting a holy person.  She is highly favored  and the Lord is with her.  Note that this is all anticipatory.  She doesn’t have a clue yet what is about to happen, and so she is troubled.  She is merely a country girl from a small town in Galilee about to marry a local carpenter.

What ensues is a fascinating dialogue between a being from heaven and a being from earth.

The angel seeks to reassure her that she need not fear.  This greeting, Do not be afraid may have a two-fold purpose: encountering a heavenly being would no doubt be a terrifying experience.  But the angel is also seeking to calm her as she hears this life altering news.

However, the attempt to allay her fears doesn’t work! When he tells her that she will conceive a child who will be both the Son of the Most High and the heir of his ancestor David, her anxiety level seems to increase.

For one thing, this must be a surreal experience for her.  For another, she is not naive.  She knows where babies come from and she knows that she is a virgin.

What is interesting is that when Zechariah is visited by the same angel and expresses doubt and asks questions, he is punished for his disbelief by being rendered mute until John’s birth.  But Mary asks “How will this be . . . since I am a virgin?”  And Gabriel seems to be gentle and patient with her.

Is the angel more gentle with Mary because he can read her heart?  Does the angel recognize that she is not asking the question out of a sense of skepticism, but sincere searching?  Or does the angel respect her role as the mother of the Son of God? Does the angel accommodate her youth?   The Gospel writer doesn’t tell us.

In any event, Gabriel makes clear that the child to be born will be conceived through the power of God, when the Holy Spirit overshadows  her.  The child will be called the Son of God.

Then the angel tells her about her kinswoman, Elizabeth, as if to confirm for Mary that God has not only the power to invest life in a virgin’s womb, but also in the barren womb of an old woman.  This appears to be a sign for Mary, because the angel then declares For no word from God will ever fail.

Now Mary’s fears seem to be calmed, and she declares “I am the Lord’s servant . . May your word to me be fulfilled.”  She surrenders herself to the will of God and becomes a key part of the Salvation History about to unfold.

APPLY:  

On the one hand, we may be able to identify with Mary, a young woman from an obscure town with no credentials to brag about. On the other hand, what happens to her is supernaturally unique.

This account gives us pause as Mary considers this shocking news.  The last thing on her mind is having a child.  Why, she’s not even married yet!

There is much to consider here.  First, the Angel Gabriel’s news carries a definite theological punch with it.  This child, who would be named Jesus, would be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,  and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”

From a theological perspective, this tells us something very important about the nature of Jesus: he is both divine and human.  As the Nicene Creed puts it, Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made. But at the same time he was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man.

Jesus is fully God and fully man in order that he might be the bridge between God and humanity.

The second issue we wrestle with in this beautiful story is the virginity of Mary.  Some modern skeptics have scoffed at the virgin birth.  Some biblical scholars point out that the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14 the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and his name will be called Immanuel  has been misapplied to Mary.  That the word for virgin in Hebrew, “almah,” simply means “young unmarried woman.”

Even if that is so, Luke (a physician, by the way, who presumably knows something about babies also) doesn’t appeal to Isaiah for proof of Mary’s virginity,  Matthew does.  But both Gospel writers insist on her virginity.  She either is or she isn’t!  And if she isn’t, then the Gospels fail the test of truth.

So, since I believe in the Gospel record, what does it mean?  Primarily it underscores the point above, that Jesus is uniquely the Son of God.  That he has been conceived by the Holy Spirit.  But he is also the Son of Man through his human birth as the child of Mary.

Third, where this passage becomes accessible to us is in Mary’s complete and total surrender to this mission: “I am the Lord’s servant . . May your word to me be fulfilled.”

This is the essence of the Biblical relationship with God, a paradigm followed from Abraham and Moses up to the fishermen by the Sea of Galilee.  It is certainly legitimate to ask questions, to wonder.  But ultimately the only acceptable response to God’s grace and favor is surrender.

RESPOND: 

Like Mary, and so many other biblical characters, when I encounter the Word of God, the first thing I do is ask questions.  Of course, I don’t usually encounter angels – most of my encounters are while reading the Bible, or in the situations of my daily life, and in moments of prayer and discernment.  But my response to the initiative of God in my life must be the same: “I am the Lord’s servant . . May your word to me be fulfilled.” I must surrender completely to God, just as Mary does.

Our Lord, you come to each of us in different ways – a burning bush, an angel, a still, quiet voice.  But you invite us into an adventure with you that changes our lives and the lives of others.  And the only appropriate response is surrender to you.  Which means that we trust you with our very lives.  Amen.