The Coming One

Luke 1. 26-38

December 20, 2020

I believe that today’s reading is one with which we are so familiar that it has lost its power when we hear it. Oftentimes when I hear an “old familiar story” from the pulpit, my mind begins to wander because, “I have heard this before, I know all about this one.” And when I do this I am sure that I miss something that would bring the power of the Scriptures to life again.

So let’s step back for a bit and take another look at the story in the second reading. Imagine with me the time and the place. The time is antiquity in the very early Roman Empire. The place is a remote province of the empire between Egypt (a major province) and Anatolia (what is now Turkey and also a major province). In this remote province is a people whose religion has earned them some favor with the Romans so that they are allowed to practice it without having to syncretize (or blend) with the Roman religions. While we have always called this the “Holy Land”, to Rome it is really a pit stop on the way to Egypt or Anatolia, a place where one does not want to spend a long time or fraternize with “the locals”. And in this province, there is a town, a village really. A village of no more than 400-500 people, if that many. Here everyone literally knows everyone and their business. If not related, they soon will be.

And in this village lives a young woman of about 14-16 years of age, maybe older, maybe younger. She has no distinguishing marks about her, no known beauty, intelligence, or anything that make her stand out. Just a common young woman doing the jobs in her family that will help prepare her to run her own household. In fact, even her name is common, Miriam, being named after the sister of Moses. But you might know her by her Greek name, Mary.

Now one day Mary is doing her work, just like any normal day. And suddenly there is someone, a messenger from God named Gabriel, before her saying “Greetings favored one.” Now if you are like me, the response by Mary as told by Luke seems a bit…calm. She was “much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be”. I wonder if there might have been bit more…anxiety about this. Angels come with power and almost everyone who sees one is fearful. Speaking for myself I am sure I would have been. In fact, earlier in the chapter we find that Zechariah was fearful when the very same messenger came to visit him.

And it is here where I believe familiarity with the text causes us to miss some of what Mary heard from the messenger. She is told that A) she is going to bear a son, B) that this son will be called the Most High and rule over the House of Jacob, and C) that this son will be conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit. This last is very important as Mary is a virgin when this child is to be conceived. There would be questions because, let’s face it, these people might not have known the science and biology that we know today, but they knew where babies came from. His name will be Jesus, which is the Greek for Yeshua, or Joshua, which means God is Salvation. And one more thing with what Gabriel tells the young woman: nothing will be impossible with God.

We have heard about John for the past couple of weeks. What we have not heard is his complete story. He was born to parents who were older. His mother Elizabeth was considered barren. And then Gabriel announced to his father Zechariah that a child would be born to them. Due to his fear and incredulity that was mentioned before, Zechariah was struck so that he would not be able to speak until the child was born. And so, we come to the text for today.

In 2 Samuel 7 we heard that God would establish a line for David that would last forever. But what happened to the human line of David? They died out as kings. The kingdom was crushed by the major empires of the time and the people were under the rule of those major powers. And so it was with the people of the time of Mary, only replace the old major powers with the Romans. What had happened to the promise of God?

Notice that the people of Israel held on to the promise that God had made. Usually a prophecy that was made and did not come to pass was tossed to the rubbish heap and forgotten. It was a sign that it was not a true prophecy. So, why hold to this one? Notice that it was God who spoke to Nathan who told David the prophecy. If this was a purely human endeavor then it would have indeed failed. But God was the one who was holding the prophecy. God was the one who was merciful to the people of Israel and continued through the line of David.

And so we come to the second reading for today. Gabriel has come to Mary, plain, ordinary, peasant Mary of Nazareth. It is interesting that God sent the messenger to this little village of no importance to announce the coming of the one who would continue the line and kingdom of David. One would expect an announcement like the one to Zechariah, to be in the temple of Jerusalem to a princess or some form of royalty. But no, God does not work like that. God does what God does and sometimes there is no explanation for it. This is one of those moments where God does what God wants and human beings cannot understand it.

The first thing that Gabriel announces is that Mary is the favored one. The Lord is with her. Now, as I said before, Mary was perplexed by this. What did all this mean? How was she, plain ordinary Mary a favored one?

Gabriel goes on to say: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”[1] The first phrase one would expect. An angel always caused fear and confusion with those to whom it appeared. But it is the second phrase that should catch our attention. “Found favor with God”. The word used here is the word most often translated as grace. Mary has found grace with God. Not from anything that she has done, not for who she is, not for who she is poised to be. In fact, all we know of Mary is that she is a virgin, lives in Nazareth and is engaged to Joseph (who was of the house of David). So what would cause her to have favor or grace with God? Nothing that she has but what God has. The giver of grace is God and it will go to whomever God chooses.

Gabriel then goes on to tell Mary that she is to have a child and to name him Jesus. That this child will be the one who will be given by God the kingdom of his ancestor David: “He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”[2] Notice again who is doing the giving: it is God. This will not be any ordinary child born nor will it be any ordinary king. This one is to be the Son of the Most High which always means son of God. And God will do this therefore it is not of human making and is not of anything that humanity can claim credit for.

As stated earlier, Mary knew how babies were made and was a bit confused. How is she to have a child if she has not has relations with a man? Isn’t that impossible? Again, she is informed that this is something that God will be in charge of. The Holy Spirit will be the one who will bring this conception about. This will not be a child of the Holy Spirit but the Son of God. The power of the Most High will overshadow Mary and bring about this glorious conception. It will be God who does the moving. There is nothing that humans can do in all of this.

Just for good measure, Gabriel let’s Mary know that Elizabeth is in her sixth month of her pregnancy. Elizabeth had gone into seclusion when she found out she was pregnant. It is entirely possible that Mary did not know of her being with child and was hearing this for the first time. So, here is another miracle being explained.

Then Gabriel makes the most important declaration: That nothing will be impossible with God. Notice that this is in the future tense. What is going to happen to Mary is in the present tense, but what God has in store is in the future. The two children that are soon to be born will be the ones who will change the world. One will prepare the way and the other will take away the sins of the world.

But there is one last thing to know: Mary’s response. Her response is one of humility and of fearlessness. Mary could have said no. But she realized that she was the servant of the Lord. Therefore, her response is to say that it is to be done to her as it had been told. This is utter fearlessness as Mary knows that things will be hard for her in the time when she is pregnant. In those days she could have been killed for being pregnant without being married. And then there are the normal things that take place during pregnancy. That Mary was willing to face all of this and more is awe inspiring.

This is the last Sunday of Advent. Throughout we have heard messages about the Coming One. John announced what the Coming One would do and how he would change the world. Jesus told about what would happen when he returned in glory. Today we have seen the announcement of his coming birth and what will be his destiny as successor to the mighty king David.

But we also see that this is all God’s doing. All through the readings for today we hear “God will”, that Mary “found favor (or grace) with God”, that the “Holy Spirit will”. All of this tells us what God will do. In contrast the text also tell us what humans can and will not do. Theologian Karl Barth has this to say about the work of God: “From the nature of the acting Subject our first lesson is that it is God’s own act, the free disposing of the Creator over the creature, without cause or merit or co-operation on the part of the creature.”[3] This tells us that the Coming One will be the one who reconciles all of creation and that it is not anything that we can cooperate with or that we will be doing. It will all be God’s doing.

As we come into the time of Christmas we are reminded that God came to us, not us to God. God came in the person of Jesus Christ in the incarnation and did for us what we could never do. And in the announcement to Mary we find, according to Barth, that: “It was not, however, Israel or Mary who acted, but God—acting towards Israel, and finally.…. towards Mary”[4] This is the good news to us and to the ones who first heard it, that God was on the move and that the Coming One would lead the way. When we are told what God wants us to do may we have the courage and the strength to answer as Mary did, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”[5] Amen.

[1] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.

[2] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print.

[3] Barth, Karl, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Thomas F. Torrance. Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Reconciliation, Part 2. Vol. 4. London; New York: T&T Clark, 2004. Print.

[4] Barth, Karl, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Thomas F. Torrance. Church Dogmatics: The Doctrine of Reconciliation, Part 2. Vol. 4. London; New York: T&T Clark, 2004. Print.

[5] The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989. Print..