The Fourth Sunday of Advent

The Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 20, 2020 | A Sermon on Luke 1:26-38 | by The Rev. Dr. Ryan D. Mills |

²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. ²⁸And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” ²⁹But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. ³⁰The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. ³¹And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. ³²He 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. ³³He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” ³⁴Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” ³⁵The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. ³⁶And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God.” ³⁸Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26-38, NRSV).

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

            Several years ago at our congregation’s Sunday School Christmas pageant, I spotted a little girl dressed for the pageant in a pink robe.  “Who are you,” I asked, “a pink angel?”  And she very proudly and indignantly said, “I’m not an angel, Pastor, I’m Mary!”  And I have to admit, to my shame, that my first thought was, “Really? That seems impossible! You’re too little, too small, too unprepared for such an important role.” With two growing daughters I now know better! But today in our gospel lesson we hear St. Luke’s account of the Annunciation, the story of the Angel Gabriel coming to Mary, announcing to her that she will bear the Son of God.  It’s such an unbelievable and incredible task, that our human reaction to this announcement, even Mary’s own reaction, is similar to my Christmas pageant objection: “Bear the Son of God? How can this be? Isn’t this impossible? Isn’t she too little, too small, too unprepared for such an important role?”

Luke’s gospel tells us that the Angel Gabriel arrived in little nowhere Nazareth, and coming into Mary’s house the first words out of his mouth were, “Greetings, favored one.”  What must it have been like for Mary–probably very young, probably very poor with nothing to her name–what must it have been like for a young unmarried teenager living out in the sticks of Galilee, as far away as possible from anywhere important, a nobody in the world’s eyes, the kind of person you wouldn’t look twice at–what must it have been like for her to hear those words from God’s own angel: “Greetings, favored one!  The Lord is with you!”  Mary is noticed!  Mary is seen!  Mary is given favor just because.  Mary is chosen, not because of anything extra special about her, but just because God chooses her out of pure grace, out of pure undeserved love.

That’s the kind of God we have.  A God who notices us, who sees us, who gives us his favor and love not because we’ve earned it, but just because he does.  You too, as little and unworthy as you may be, are also chosen to belong to God, not because of anything special you have done, but you’re chosen out of God’s pure grace, his pure undeserved love.

We think: “Well, that’s fine, but let’s not take this too far! This is fine for Mary, but not for me! I am too small, too unimportant, too much of a sinner, spiritual but not too religious, I’ve seen far too much, I’ve been far too broken. In fact, if God knew me, he’d change his mind and yank that Angel Gabriel all the way back up to heaven!”

Even Mary herself wonders about this. The Bible tells us that “she was much perplexed by the angel’s words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”  Which is really saying something, that when you see an angel you might only be perplexed!  But Mary pondered, debated, reasoned, and wondered about this.  Mary is smart: she is a thinker, a theologian, her still waters run deep. So what does this mean, to be favored by God?  What a joy, and how terrifying to be favored!  Most of us are starving for, but also terrified of really being known, of really being loved for who we really are.  And now God does it!  “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you.”

But into that terror, into that anxiety, the angel speaks the most repeated command in the New Testament. In fact, any time an angel comes with a message from God, this is how the ‘angel manual’ says you have to start off your speech:  “Don’t be afraid.”  What could a penniless, teenage, unmarried girl out in the sticks having just been visited by an angel to announce an unplanned pregnancy have to be afraid of, except for everything?  And what are you and I scared of, what do we most dread, what are those things that keep us up at night, or that we try and not even think about?  The angels’ message to you today is clear: “Do not be afraid.”  Isn’t that what we say when we try and comfort a child? Isn’t that what we say when we hold onto a loved one? Isn’t that what we all need to hear, like children this season: “Don’t be afraid!”

But God’s grace and favor always come with a job, with a task, with a vocation, and so Mary receives the greatest one ever:  “You will conceive in your womb, and bear a Son, and his name will be Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the son of the Most High, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

God is establishing his kingdom, God is establishing his dwelling place, God is establishing his throne in the most unexpected place, in the womb of Mary. This is the place where each and every one of us begins, where our lives begin, where we are cared for and develop before we can do a thing to help ourselves.  And God meets us right there!  Of all the places God should keep out of, Jesus enters! The one who created the heavens and the earth, whom heaven could not contain, is now contained within his mother’s womb.  The one who gave spread out the waters and created all things, now grows himself, floating in the waters of his mother’s womb.

But Mary also knows about the birds and the bees, and so asks the angel, “How can this be, since…?” “The Holy Spirit will do this,” the angel says.  “And remember your old cousin Elizabeth, down at the nursing home, she is also pregnant too, all around you what cannot happen is happening, for nothing will be impossible with God.”

Perhaps that’s the message this morning for us all.  We who think ourselves so wise, so in control, we who like actuaries tabulate up what we know is possible or not possible, we need to hear that nothing will be impossible with God.  Whatever it is in our life, whatever it is in our family, whatever it is in our church, whatever it is in this world, whatever we have already closed to the door to, whatever we cannot hope for anymore, we need to hear the angel’s truth: that “Nothing will be impossible with God.”

Mary waits a moment.  And responds in faith: “Here am I, the servant of the servant of the Lord, let it be with me according to your word.”  W.W.M.D.–What Would Mary Do?  She trusts God.  As Martin Luther observed, she is quick to hear and believe the Word she heard. Mary invites us to open our lives all the way to God, to trust that we have his favor and to say, “Yes, here I am, Lord”. She is truly the first Christian believer, the first to believe in the promise of the child growing within her. Her exalting obedient faith is the undoing of our disobedient fall, her openness to the Word fills her with the Word, she so overflows with grace as she carries God’s Word for us that now you and I and all generations will call her blessed. Trusting in the Lord she herself will bear, she shows you and me how to trust today: “Yes, Lord, let it be with me according to your Word.”

And she says this, knowing that the child she will bear will be taken away from her.  Her pain of childbirth will be nothing compared to the pain she feels as her Son offers his life upon the Cross for broken sinners like you and me.  Mary says yes, so her Son can say yes.  Mary says to her Son today, “This is my body, given for you” so that on the night in which he was betrayed, her son can say to us, “This is my body, given for you”.

Mary, little, humble, fierce, wise, trusting Mary, found favor from God.  So have you.  She said, “Yes,” and so now God waits upon you to answer with your life. As we wait and watch in these last days before Christmas, listen to the angels sing: “Do not be afraid. You have found favor!  And now nothing will be impossible with God.”

And the Peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, Amen.

The Rev. Dr. Ryan Mills

New Haven, Connecticut

Pastor@TrinityLutheranNH.org