Fourth Sunday in Advent (2023)

Goal: Recognize God’s Grace in the ordinariness of Life.

It is just another day on the calendar; except this day is filled with hectic busyness. Shopping and gift wrapping and parties fill our list of things to do and our calendar to overflowing.

I’m sure Mary and her family were busy with wedding plans, with Mary looking to her mother, perhaps her grandmother too, for guidance as the wedding day approaches.

Then one day God sent the angel Gabriel to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a young virgin named Mary. He said to her, Luke 1:28 “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” This is somethings we have heard time and again. What is amazing about this greeting is the root word for highly favored one. It is the word “Grace.” Rejoice, Mary, you are full of God’s undeserved grace. No wonder ordinary Mary was greatly troubled and was trying to figure out what it all meant. God’s messenger visited ordinary Mary in the midst of her ordinary life and pronounced “Grace” upon her.

God visits us, too, in the ordinariness of our lives and His powerful acts of grace come to us. For you see, it is in God grace that He conceives and enables us to receive what He conceives.

Therefore, Mary shows us what happens WHEN ORDINARY LIFE IS TRANSFORMED BY GOD’S GRACE.

In God’s Grace He Conceives

Where religions often deal in prescription, here is a description of God coming to us. God conceived Jesus Christ in the mystery of the incarnation (Luke 1:31 “And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” Luke 1:35 “And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.”

This declaration from Gabriel answers the question of the entire Church as to how the Savior could be born of a virgin, and the answer is adequate in every way. Therefore, we have confessed ever since: “Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”

The Holy Spirit is not operating from a distance but shall himself come upon Mary; he shall work the conception by his almighty power; and this shall occur when, like the Shekinah (Exod. 40:34–38) the power shall overshadow Mary.

Where religions often appeal to logic, here is true divine logic passing all understanding. God conceived the Gospel message of undeserved love and grace and salvation through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is His plan, not ours. Human logic is always looking for another way, besides the cross.

1 Corinthians 2:9 “But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.””

Where religions often place truth beyond grasp, God is giving us His very Word. God conceived in Holy Scripture a record of His love and grace in Jesus Christ.

Because it is God’s Word, you can depend on every Word, for it will never fail you.

2 Peter 1:21 “for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” And, 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,”

The Virgin Mary experienced the total activity of God. A humble Galilean, she became the bearer of all mankind’s hope and dreams, “conceived by the Holy Spirit.” The Virgin Mary also illustrates the wonder of receiving an exalted privilege in her “insignificance, lowliness, poverty, and inferiority” (Luther).

Goal: Recognize God’s Grace in the ordinariness of Life.

God’s Grace He Enables us to Receive What He Conceives

We are tempted to wallow in the ordinary. Luke 1:34—Mary's innocent question—“How can this be, since I do not know a man”— sometimes becomes our jaundiced, skeptical approach to God's activity.

We sometimes want to turn God’s gifts into our meritorious achievements. But that would be just plain silly, because the only thing we deserve from God is His Wrath.

We sometimes want to define God’s gifts of grace according to our standards. We see, Simple Water. Simple Bread and Wine. Simple Words in a Book. But God declares them to be more than meets our sinful, human eye. It is a life-giving, cleansing flood. It is the very body and blood of His Son, given unto death, for the forgiveness of our sin. It is the actual Word of God, written down by people who were driven along by the Holy Spirit. The very same Spirit that overshadowed Mary, causing her to conceive the Son of God.

Recognition of the extraordinary lies in an attitude of acceptance (Luke 1:38 Just look again at Mary’s response to the angels word. “Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

The coming Savior’s rescue mission shows the extraordinary length He travels for His people (Luke 1:37 — “Nothing is impossible with God.”

The coming Savior gives the words that fill our lives with the meaning of His rescue mission(Luke 1:38). “Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.”

Does God still turn the ordinary things into His powerful acts of grace? Simple water, simple bread and wine, words in a book, flesh and blood—these are all ordinary things turned into powerful acts of grace.

The angel Gabriel's words, “with God nothing will be impossible,” still hold true. Can God fill our ordinary lives with acts of grace? In Jesus Christ, the answer is yes—yesterday, today, and forever. Our contribution to this miracle? The joyous response of faith that exclaims, “Let it be to me according to Your Word!”

As this Advent season comes to a close with Christmas being ushered in, may God find us pondering His incredible acts of Grace toward us. Amid the busyness of today and tomorrow, I pray that you will recognize God’s grace in the ordinariness of life.

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