The Ember Wednesday in Advent

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

Marveling is something we don’t do much of today. Now, to marvel is to be in wonder, admiration, or astonishment as we reflect deeply on something. To marvel, by its very nature, takes time as we stop and ponder something amazing. We don’t marvel much today. A huge part of our failure to truly marvel is that our minds move too fast and our attention spans are far too short. Sure, we appreciate amazing things. We’ll notice and appreciate the beauty that we see. We might even snap a picture of it. But then we move on with our day and forget about it. Or, we’ll see a video online of an impressive accomplishment. We’ll “like” it. We might even tell others about it. But then we move on with our day and forget about it. We appreciate things, but we rarely take the time to marvel. This morning, however, our text invites us to shake that tendency to appreciate something and then immediately move on. Our text invites us to truly marvel at one of the greatest mysteries the world has ever known—the mystery of our Lord’s incarnation. As we consider further our text for today, we’ll see that there are three ways in which we are being invited to marvel:

1.) We are invited to marvel at Mary as the Mother of our Lord.

2.) We are invited to marvel at how God fulfills His OT promises.

3.) We are invited to marvel at the virgin birth.

First, we consider how verses 26-30 invite us to marvel at Mary as the Mother of our Lord. We read:

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God” (Luke 1:26-30).

Have you ever spent time contemplating Mary as the Mother of our Lord? Church tradition suggests that she was probably quite young, likely no more than an early teenager. She was just an ordinary Jewish girl living in an ordinary Jewish town, yet God had decided: “She’s the one!” She was not special in any way of herself, yet the Lord chose to use her to be the mother of our Lord. And so, the angel Gabriel was sent to this ordinary girl to say to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” Why is Mary highly favored? It’s not her own uniqueness or goodness which makes her highly favored, as we’ve said. In fact, the angel tells her why she is highly favored: “The Lord is with you.” See, the Lord chose Mary, not because she deserved it, but because He wanted to. He wanted to use this young, unsuspecting girl for one of the greatest tasks mankind has ever been given. Mary was naturally a bit surprised by this out-of-the-blue appearance, but the angel assured her that there was no reason for fear because of the Lord’s favor and presence with her. And I would suggest that it was a profoundly deep understanding of the Lord’s favor and presence which enabled Mary to respond to the angel’s message in faith, as we see later in the reading. See, Mary is favored by God and is chosen to be the mother of our Lord not because of herself and her own goodness, but because of the goodness and grace of God which was given to her. It’s not about her. It’s about God’s choice of her. This is just one of the ways in which we marvel at Mary as the Mother of our Lord.

Second, we consider how verses 31-33 invite us to marvel at how God fulfills His Old Testament promises. The angel Gabriel continued speaking to Mary, saying:

“And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give 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” (Luke 1:31-33).

When we hear these words, I suspect that we often focus on the name Jesus, how He is the “Son of the Highest”, and how He will be given the throne. However, it is the Old Testament allusions which were likely of greater significance to Mary and to those first men and women who heard her report of this encounter. Jesus is the Greek translation of the Old Testament name Joshua. The Old Testament Joshua was the successor of Moses who offered deliverance for God’s people from their wandering in the wilderness. He was the one who brought them through the waters of the Jordan and into the Promised Land—their eternal home. He was the one who defeated their enemies and provided safety and security for them. But now, in the son of Mary, God is fulfilling His Old Testament promise to send the new successor of Moses (of which we’ll hear more on Sunday). This new Joshua, Jesus, would deliver God’s people from their wandering in the wilderness of sin. He would bring them through the waters of Baptism to their eternal home with Him in the Promised Land of the new heavens and new earth. He would deliver them from their chief enemies of the devil, the world, and the sinful flesh by His death on the cross. God is keeping His promises. And the mention of David, too, is important. The Lord had promised to establish David’s kingdom forever (2 Samuel 7:13) through his offspring. David likely thought that this would happen through his son Solomon, whose name means “Man of Peace.” But true peace was coming into the world through another descendent of David—through Mary’s son Jesus. As the angels would proclaim to the shepherds on the night of our Lord’s birth: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:14). It was Christ’s birth, His life, His death, and His resurrection which brought true peace on earth and established the throne of His father David forever. God is keeping His promises. Lastly, we cannot forget the mention of Jacob. Jacob was the third and final patriarch of Israel. In fact, the nation of Israel bore the name given to him by God (Genesis 32:28). Jacob was the one through whom the promise made to Abraham had passed: “in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 28:14). In the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, this promise was finally being fulfilled. Through the offspring of Jacob, our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s blessing would come to all the families of the earth. God keeps His promises. What greater truth is there to marvel at?

Finally, we consider how verses 34-38 invite us to marvel at the virgin birth. We read:

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” 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. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:34-38a).

From the youngest of ages, we all learn and know that it takes a man and a woman for a child to be produced. We don’t need to understand all of the details of how that works. But we know that it takes man and woman together to bring forth children. This is one of the many reasons why Adam was incomplete in the Garden of Eden before Eve was created (Genesis 2:18). Man was incomplete without his wife. The two are meant for each other. This is precisely Mary’s confusion at the angel’s announcement to her. It’s not as if she doubted the Lord’s messenger. She just did not understand how it was possible to subvert the Lord’s normal ordering. She was a virgin. She was not married. She had never been with a man so as to produce children. The fact that she would be pregnant seemed impossible from her perspective. But, as the angel reminded her, “with God nothing will be impossible.” The Virgin Mary would give birth to our Lord Jesus Christ. And so, the church fathers always saw a fitting parallel between Eve and Mary. Just as the serpent had deceived the virgin Eve, so now will the Virgin Mary give birth to the seed who will crush the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15). So, in the same way that the resurrected, glorified Christ would later pass through the door into the upper room to greet the disciples (John 20:19, 26, etc.), so now has the pre-incarnate Christ passed into the Virgin’s womb by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. One would be hard pressed to find in all of history a greater mystery than this: Our Lord achieved the impossible by bringing the Savior into the world through the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. If our Lord could bring this to pass, then “with God nothing will be impossible.” And so, we marvel at God’s goodness and grace to us. Through the incarnation of His Son, He reminds us of His grace toward the undeserving. He reminds us that He keeps His promises. And He reminds us that nothing is impossible with God. Thanks be to God that He has revealed such mysteries so that poor sinners like us can marvel at His goodness.

In Jesus’ name. Amen.