Luke 1:26-38 (Advent 4B)
St. John, Galveston 12/24/23
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

The message on this last Sunday in Advent, is based on the Gospel reading from Luke 1. The Angel Gabriel comes to Mary to tell her that she will soon conceive a Son. “He will be Great, and He will called the Son of the Most High.”

Our lives are filled with all sorts of conversations. Every day we talk with family and friends, with colleagues and neighbors, with classmates and even strangers. The subject matter of our conversations is usually pretty is predictable. We speak of the weather, the kids, school, work, and the like. Nowadays we could add to that list things like the pandemic, Christmas plans, perhaps our New Years goals and aspirations. Most of our conversations are imminently forgettable. They fly away as soon as the last mouth stops moving.
There are other conversations though that we tend to remember. It was the last heart-to-heart you had with your mother or father before they died. It was the deep discussion you had with your future spouse that sealed the deal. It was the key exchange that led to your change of careers, or your choice of a college, or the naming of your child. These sorts of conversations stay with us. We couldn’t forget them if we tried.
Again, at the center of the gospel reading for this morning is a conversation. It was of the memorable variety. It involved a peasant girl from a small town and a mighty messenger, an angel from God.
“Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

The entirety of such of a conversation is, of course, memorable. But there are a couple of things the angel said to Mary that I’d like to highlight, as we prepare this morning to receive this Child who was born of her.

“Do not be afraid, Mary (the angel said), you have found favor with God.” If there is a single phrase most associated with the birth of Jesus, it would be the first few words of this one. “Do not be afraid.” The angel Gabriel calmed Mary’s anxious heart with these words, the same words that were spoken to the shepherds who were out in the fields the night of Jesus’ birth. “Fear not.” “Do not be afraid.” “Perfect love (the Scriptures say) cast out all fear.” “God is love.” Jesus comes into the world to drive out our fear, to give us a spirit of confidence, certainly not in ourselves, but in Him. Perhaps more than anything, Jesus drives out our fear because, in taking on the sins of the world, He is, in all things, for us. And, indeed, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” And so, “Do not be afraid.”

“Mary, the angel said, you have found favor with God.” God never chooses anyone on the basis of the worthiness of the one chosen. Mary found “favor” with God. The word translated here as “favor” is actually the Greek word “charis,” which literally means, grace. “Mary found grace with God.”

It’s the same with all of us. “You have been saved by grace, through faith (the Scriptures say), and that, not of yourselves, it is the gift of God and not of works lest any man should boast.” Very shortly, we’ll be celebrating Jesus’ birth, His coming into the world. Of Him, the Apostle John wrote, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

God is born into the world and He comes to you in grace. In preaching on John’s Gospel in 1537, Martin Luther said, “A good song may well be sung often. Grace consists in this, that God is merciful to us, shows Himself gracious for the sake of the Lord Christ, forgives all sins, and will not impute them unto us for eternal death. This is grace; the forgiveness for sins for the sake of the Lord Christ, the covering up of all sins.”

“Behold (Mary, the angel said), you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” To this day, the world remains divided over Jesus. Some deny He ever existed. Others accept His existence, but they deny His divinity. At one point, Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do the people say that I am?” There were, of course, all sorts of opinions even then regarding Jesus. Some thought He was Elijah, or John the Baptist, or one of the prophets. The crucial question though was yet to come. “Who do you say Jesus is?” It’s not that your answer makes Jesus who He is. Rather, your answer constitutes your confession of faith. Peter answered for all of the disciples. “You are the Christ (he said), the Son of the Living God.” And so the angel said to Mary, “He will be called the Son of the Most High.” God would take on human flesh. He would be made in the likeness of men. And so, Mary, would rightly be called, “theotokos,” the Mother of God.

Finally, “the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Kingdoms, of course, come and go. For that very reason, we are reminded in a hymn we often sing,

“Trust not in rulers; they are but mortal;
Earth born they are and soon decay.
Vain are their counsels at life’s last portal,
When the dark grave engulfs its prey.
Since mortals can no help afford, 
Place all your trust in Christ, our Lord.
Alleluia.”

“Of His kingdom, there will be no end.” All of us lost a beloved friend this last week in Myles Knape. His committal service was yesterday up at Forest Park Cemetery in Houston. “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, in the sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, who will change our lowly bodies so that they will be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him to subdue all things to Himself.” Indeed, “Of His kingdom, there will be no end.” In Christ, it is no longer death to die.

The conversion the angel had with Mary was quite memorable. Perhaps not in the sense that we could recite it from our memories, but in the sense that it has formed our lives in Christ. Do not be afraid, Jesus has come to you by grace. He is the Son of the Most High and of His Kingdom there will be no end.

“O ye heights of heaven adore Him;
Angel hosts, His praises sing.
Powers, dominions, bow before Him
And extol our God and King.
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert ring
Evermore and evermore.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +