Sermon Tone Analysis

Where is Hope

Introduction

So I tried something this week.

I literally Googled “Today's bad news” just to see what it would reply with.

The results were actually just news web sites.

USA Today, NBC News, CNN, that was the results of my searching for today's bad news.

So that means all the news we get is bad news.

An oil spill in Kansas, hospitals in major cities seeing spikes in admissions of flu/RSV/Covid, political divisions getting worse, power stations getting attacked, school violence, and unexplained deaths all events is the last few days.

News is usually just bad.

When a weary world receives good news, it rejoices.

It pays attention and wants more.

During the height of the global shutdown from the COVID-19 pandemic, actor John Krasinski started a YouTube show called Some Good News.

The show exploded in popularity, with over seventy-two million views in two months.

The premise of the show was short stories focusing on good things people were doing for others all over the world.

The world has always clamored for good news.

The world has always desperately craved hope.

The world has repeatedly through out history asked the question, “Where is Hope.”

In our scripture today the world was again craving good news.

Let’s set the stage for our story today.

There was a sense of urgency that filled the country.

A general expectancy was in the air concerning the long expected Messiah.

Many Jews looked back to Old Testament Prophecy and in particular the book of Daniel concerning their present day, and many of those people felt that the time was drawing near.

For 400 years foreign troops had occupied Israel and the feeling was that this Messiah would deliver them from their oppressors.

They were ready for the Messiah.

They were ready for a change.

They were asking, where is hope.

LUKE 1:1-14

Scripture Explanation

VS 1-4

Next to Paul, Luke is the most powerful writing force in the New Testament, and yet he is basically unknown.

Luke has a two volume set: The Books of Luke & Acts.

Luke starts with the birth of John the Baptist, the forerunner to Jesus, and it ends at the end of the book of Acts which is volume two of his writings, it ends with the gospel being preached at Rome which means the gospel has extended to the world.

No other writer wrote so comprehensive a history of Jesus and His impact.

No other writer goes all the way from the John the Baptist to the gospel having reached the capital of the Roman Empire.

He is the most complete story teller of the saga of salvation in the New Testament.

We know from Paul's writings, that Luke is a beloved physician.

We know he was a Gentile physician.

We also know he was a historian.

Luke the physician and Luke the historian.

Verse 1 of this gospel says, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us …” What’s he doing here?

He’s saying, “Look, folks, I’m speaking to you as a historian.

I’m writing as a historian.”

He uses that high-level classical literary Greek to establish the fact that this belongs on the library shelf with the classics.

I am writing a true and legitimate history.

And he starts by identifying his sources.

This is sort of like putting your footnotes at the beginning rather than at the bottom of the page or at the end.

The events of Jesus’ life, he said, have become the subject for many writers.

Many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us.

At the very outset he alerts the reader to the fact that he is aware of others who have provided records of the story of Jesus.

He is aware that there are many others who have written about Jesus.

He doesn’t say who the many were, but he does say he investigated everything, in verse 3, carefully from the beginning.

Every resource he could find he investigated.

Luke was personally acquainted with apostles, personally acquainted with firsthand eyewitnesses of the events of Christ’s life.

These four verses are important to always keep in mind when reading Luke & Acts.

Luke said from the beginning that he investigated the claims of Jesus, and here are the results of that investigation.

As a physician and a historian, Luke set out to write a complete and accurate account of what happen.

VS 26-28

Nazareth in this period was an insignificant village of an estimated sixteen hundred to two thousand inhabitants.

The announcement in Nazareth shows that Mary came from humble, agrarian roots.

Galilee was not a respected region.

It was hardly the expected locale for one sent from God.

It was not the place nor the person that the long awaited Messiah should come from.

The person Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph.

In this time period, marriage consisted of two distinct stages: engagement followed by the marriage itself.

Engagement involved a formal agreement initiated by a father seeking a wife for his son.

The next most important person involved was the father of the bride as he would have to agree.

A son’s opinion would be sought some in the process.

The daughter had little say.

Luke clearly emphasized that Mary was a virgin both before and after conception.

We just talked the person Luke & His approach to writing.

So Luke is writing about the virginity of Mary after he thoroughly investigated it as would be natural for a doctor to do.

And who would a woman be more open to about her pregnancy than a doctor.

You who are highly favored.

Mary had been “graced” by God in that she had been chosen to bear God’s Son.

She had not been chosen for this task because she possessed a particular piety or holiness of life that merited this privilege.

The text suggests no special worthiness on Mary’s part.

This was another example of God's grace shining through His plan of redemption.

VS 29-33

Mary’s surprise was not primarily because it was not customary for a man to greet a woman but because it was not customary for an angel to greet a woman.

Interactions of women and angels are rare events in biblical times.

But with God through Christ there's no difference between Jew & Gentile, between man & woman.

Do not be afraid.

Why should she not be afraid?

Mary found favor.

The Greek word here means unmerited, undeserved grace from God. God’s grace removes our sin and our fear.

The emphasis is on God’s sovereign choice, not on human ability.

You will be with child.

For the combination of conceive, bear, and call, which we find in this verse.

Here Luke began a fivefold description about “who” Jesus is.

He will be great.

He will be called the Son of the Most High.

This means “will be the Son of God.”

The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.

He will reign over the house of Jacob.

His kingdom will never end.

VS 34-37

Literally, Mary responds with "I know no man."

The word “know” is used to describe intimacy within a relationship.

Although technically Joseph was Mary’s husband, no sexual consummation had as yet taken place.

“So” (literally Therefore) is causal and has been explained in two ways: (1) Jesus is God’s Son because of the Spirit’s activity in causing the virgin birth, and (2) Jesus is holy because of the Spirit’s activity.