Ember Wednesday in Advent

The angel answered Mary, “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 called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk 1:35–37).

Barrenness is a major theme in the narrative of salvation. It began with the first promise of Christ which the Lord God made to the serpent: “The seed of the woman shall crush your head” (Gen 3:15). Satan knew at that moment that a child would be born to destroy him and his kingdom, and for this reason he hates all childbirth. From that day Satan plotted to murder the promised seed and prevent his birth. He appears in Revelation as a great red dragon who “stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child he might devour it” (Rev 12:4).

The Old Testament tells the story of how Satan sought to use barrenness to prevent the coming of Christ. It begins with Abraham. God chose him from all people of the earth saying, “Through your lineage all nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Gen 12:3). But Abraham had no children; his wife, Sarah, was barren. God originally intended for the union of a man and his wife to be fruitful always, but now the whole world was subject to the curse of sin, which includes barrenness. Abraham was one-hundred years old and Sarah was ninety! Yet the Angel of the Lord appeared to Sarah and said, “By this time next year, you shall have a son.” Sarah laughed and asked, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” This was the first of many questions surrounding barrenness. God answered her question with his own question, “Is anything too hard for the Lord?” Sarah had no answer, but a year later Isaac was born.

Sarah was the first of seven barren women within the narrative of the lineage of Christ. Again and again Satan tried to prevent the coming of the promised Messiah. Isaac’s wife was also barren. She too had questions: “Why is this happening to me?” God opened her womb and she gave birth to Jacob. In the third generation, Jacob’s wife, Rachel, was barren. She cried out to Jacob, “Give me children or I die!” Jacob asked her, “Am I in the place of God, who has withheld from you the fruit of the womb?” Once again, barrenness and questions. The Lord opened Rachel’s womb and gave her Joseph, who saved the sons of Jacob from destruction.

In the days of the judges, the Angel of the Lord appeared to a barren woman and said, “You shall have a son and he will deliver his people from their enemies. The woman’s husband had many questions, “What is to be the child’s manner of life? What is his mission? What is your name that we may honor your?” The Angel of the Lord answered once again with his own question, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is too wonderful?”

Ruth, the widow, was also barren. Her husband was dead, and she had no prospects. Her mother-in-law asked, “Have I yet sons in my womb that they may become your husband?” Yet God gave Ruth a husband, and she bore a son, who was the grandfather of David and ancestor of Christ.

Hannah was also barren. Her husband asked, “Why do you weep? Why do you not eat? Why is your heart sad? Am I not more to you than ten sons?” Once again, questions that were left unanswered. Yet God opened Hannah’s womb and she bore Samuel the prophet, who anointed David king of Israel.

Elizabeth is the sixth barren woman. Like Sarah she was old, past the age of child-bearing. When the angel Gabriel announced to Zechariah that his wife would bear a son, he asked in unbelief, “How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”

Six months afterward, when the fullness of time had come at last, the angel Gabriel is sent to the seventh and most barren woman of all, the Virgin Mary. The day of salvation is now at hand. The questions of barrenness will now be answered. His name, which is indeed too wonderful, will now be revealed. You shall call him Jesus, which means, the Lord saves. His name is Emmanuel, God with us. He is the promised seed who shall do battle against the ancient serpent. He will sit on the throne of his father David, and of his kingdom there will be no end.

But Mary has one more question, the last question in the great history of Christ’s triumph over barrenness, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered 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 called holy—the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God” (Lk 1:35–37). With these words God answers the question that was asked of Sarah thousands of years earlier, “Is anything to hard for the Lord?” The answer serves as the book-end in the history of salvation, and marks the end of Satan’s futile struggle to prevent the birth of Christ. The questions surrounding barrenness have lain unanswered for thousands of years, because we are not capable of giving answer. God must provide his own answer to the problem of sin, barrenness, death, and the devil. Emmanuel, God with us, is that answer. By his coming he destroys the kingdom of Satan and crushes the head of the serpent. At his birth the cursed ground of our fallen world is made fruitful once again. By his victory on the cross he redeems his children from the curse of sin and gives them eternal life. Is anything too hard for the Lord? Christ Jesus answers: No, nothing is impossible for our God. Amen.