Favor Shown

I hope you’ve had a good couple of days away from work and maybe with friends or family. I know for some of us it’s been pretty restful and a nice break, while others of us… not so much.

But listen:

No matter who you are, where you’ve been (geographically or mentally or emotionally) these past few days...

You’re welcome here.

You’re in the right spot. You’re right where you’re supposed to be.

You can look for God here.

AND… and, you can be sure of this, too:

God is looking for you. That’s kinda what this Christmas story is all about.

Series Intro

In fact, that’s exactly what we’ll be talking about this weekend and the next few weeks leading up to Christmas Eve. Today is week 1 of a series we’re calling “Highly Favored.” It’s taken right out of the Christmas story.

There’s a couple of books in the Bible that spend a lot of time telling the Christmas story—the story of how Jesus was born: and those are Matthew and Luke. But this theme of “favor” kinda jumps off the page in Luke’s account.

The first time it appears is when the angel, Gabriel, announces to a priest named Zechariah that he and his wife Elizabeth will have a son—even after being unable to conceive for all of their adult lives. Their son will go on to be John the Baptist, who will be the prophet announcing to Israel that Jesus, the promised Messiah, has come.

So let’s jump in together here in Luke and see how he starts to develop this theme of “favor” first with Elizabeth as she responds to this news in Luke 1:25:

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Luke 1:25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

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And then the same angel, Gabriel, announces to Mary that she will be the mother of Jesus, and will conceive him supernaturally:

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Luke 1:28, 30 “The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you… do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”

Luke 1:30 “But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”

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Mary and Elizabeth are relatives, turns out—and so when they meet to share their news with each other, take a look at how Elizabeth describes herself in Mary’s presence:

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Luke 1:43 “But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

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Later, even more angels announce Jesus’ birth—this time to a group of shepherds out tending sheep in the fields at night:

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Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

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Then as Jesus grows up into a young man, Luke describes him this way:

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Luke 2:52 “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.”

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And finally, in the first sermon that Luke records Jesus preaching, he stands up in the synagogue and he reads this from the book of Isaiah:

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Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

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Transition: “Favored”

(7) times in (4) chapters. It’s almost as though Luke wants us to catch on to something here.

Believe it or not, even though it’s the same word in English translated as “favor,” it’s actually several different words in the original language.

Nevertheless:

Elizabeth feels favored. Gabriel tells Mary she’s favored. The angels tell the shepherds they’re favored. And Jesus announces in his first sermon: he’s come to proclaim the year of God’s favor.

So… we probably should spend a little time asking ourselves this question:

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What does it mean to be favored by God?”

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But that’s the thing: every single word in the Bible, even though it’s translated into a word we use today, is actually a different word the languages the Bible was originally written in.

See, a lot of things in the Bible are kinda hidden in plain sight. This is one of those—discovering what Jesus meant when he said that he came to proclaim the year of the Lord’s “favor.” While it seems pretty straightforward on the surface, and pretty easy to just read and keep cruising on by…

Illustration: The Chronicles of Narnia

Have you ever read the book or seen the movie “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe?”

I just made my kids watch the most recent movie version with me last Saturday morning (again). It’s a remake of C.S. Lewis’ book in the Chronicles of Narnia series. I think the movie came out back in 2005; you can stream it on Disney+.

But I always get the itch to watch that movie this time of year. C.S. Lewis was a Brit who wrote the story in the 1940’s, and so the setting was the just concluded World War II.

But it’s about 4 kids who get shipped off to the English countryside away from the London bombings.

And if you’ve seen it: there’s this scene where the youngest, little Lucy Pevensie, is playing hide-and-seek and walks into the spare room of this old English manor where they’re staying. And in this room is a huge wooden wardrobe. She opens the door and backs her way behind these huge fur coats, thinking she’s found a killer hiding spot.

But then her heel hits some snow, and she stumbles back into the snowy pines of a completely different land—which she eventually finds out is a land called Narnia.

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Show Picture: Narnia Lamppost

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I get the same feeling every time I watch that scene:

It’s this feeling of wonder.

Right there, hidden in plain sight, while the war rages on in the world around them is this land with this epic story just begging to be discovered.

Transition

I think the Christmas story is much the same way. Right there, hidden in plain sight on these pages is a story that’s begging to be discovered.

And this story is about a lot of things—but one of the main things | is this thing called “favor.”

So I’m begging you, very much like Lucy begged her older siblings when she first told them how real Mr. Tumlus and the White Witch really were:

I’m begging you to believe me. There’s an epic story just waiting to be discovered underneath this word.

Explanation: Favor as “Charity”

Let’s talk about when Gabriel uses the word “favor” in his message to Mary. Here it is, one more time:

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Luke 1:28, 30 “The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you… do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.”

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Believe it or not: the same word found here in the Christmas story with Mary is used only (1) other time in the whole New Testament. It’s in Ephesians 1, verses 5 & 6, which I’ll put on the screen for us:

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Ephesians 1:5-6 “He [God] predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.”

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See it? See the word “favor” in those verses?

Well… no. No, you don’t. But it’s not because it’s not there.

If that verse was an old English manor, let me show you where the wardrobe is:

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Same word that we saw in Luke translated as “favor” when Gabriel delivered his message to Mary. Only here it’s translated as “grace.”

Now, we just spent a couple of weeks talking about grace. But this is a little different—which is why they don’t translate it as “grace” in Luke, even though they do here in Ephesians.

The word in the original language is charitṓ:

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Luke 1:28: “favor shown” as χαριτόω/charitóō (care-eh-TAH-oh)

Describes God’s grace when it’s directed at us.

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Now, those funny Greek letters aside, you can see in the English transliteration right next to it is a word that kinda looks familiar:

C…h…a…r…i…t...

You guessed it. This is the Greek word from which we derive our English word “charity.”

And now, maybe you can start to see just how far away we’ve drifted in our language from what the word originally meant. We’re way outside the wardrobe on this one now.

Here’s what I mean:

When you and I talk about “charity” today, especially at this time of year, different pictures probably come to our mind:

Maybe it’s a red kettle where we drop in some coins or a bill or two.

Maybe it’s a huge cardboard bin filled with donated canned goods or toys.

In other words: there’s lots of calls to be “charitable” at Christmastime. And there’s no doubt about it: in both of those examples that I’ve described, those kinds of charity can make a pretty big impact. We’re able make some of those less fortunate “objects of our grace or favor” in those kinds of ways.

But as good as those can be:

They fall short of what the Bible talks about when it talks about charitóō.

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Luke 1:28: “favor shown” as χαριτόω/charitóō (care-eh-TAH-oh)

Describes God’s grace when it’s directed at us.

Not only the impartation of God’s grace, but adoption into God’s family.

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This is why Gabriel uses this word in his message to Mary: not only was she an object of God’s charitóō:, but she (and for her, very literally) was going to be a part of the family of God.

This is why Paul in Ephesians, when he talks about us being objects of God’s charitóō, attaches it to being adopted into sonship or daughtership: becoming a child of God.

And this is so different than the mostly transactional examples that we settle for at Christmastime when we think about “charity.” It’s a blessing to give someone something to eat or to open up at Christmas. But they’re still a stranger to you. They’re not sitting at your table or around your tree.

And yet: that’s exactly what God wants with all of us. He doesn’t want us to be charity cases; he wants us to be family! It’s not just him imparting; it’s him inviting!

This is the difference between putting a tract under someone’s windshield wiper and putting an invite card into someone’s hand. The truest form of charity is an invitation into a relationship.

Transition

So that’s the first part of what it means for God to show us favor.

But remember when I said that there’s a few different words in the Christmas story translated as “favor?”

Let’s take a look at the next one, this time from Luke 2:14 when the angels announce to the shepherds in the field watching their flocks at night.

One more time for us:

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Luke 2:14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

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So, same word in the English language—“favor”—but different in the original. Here it is:

Explanation: Favor as “Delight”

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Luke 2:14: “favor shown” as εὐδοκία/eudokia (you-doh-KEE-uh):

Good will, good pleasure, good intent; blessedness.

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So the shepherds were #blessed - which, kinda like “charity,” has drifted quite a bit in our day from what that word used to mean. So let’s round out our definition a little more:

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Luke 2:14: “favor” as εὐδοκία/eudokia (you-doh-KEE-uh):

Good will, good pleasure, good intent; blessedness.

Particular delight in any person or thing and hence good will, favor.

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Here’s what the angels wanted the shepherds to know:

God liked them.

Not just tolerated them. Not just begrudgingly blessing them this message. No!

He genuinely liked them. He delighted in them.

And because God was so fond of them, he took great pleasure in ripping open the sky that night to tell them about the baby that was born in the city of David, wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.

Now… this is a tougher idea for some of us to wrap our minds around: that God actually… likes us. Like, he delights in us.

I mean, if I asked you this question:

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“What do you think God thinks about when he thinks about you?”

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What do you think God thinks about when he thinks about you? If I asked you that question, I’m guessing I’d hear a few different kinds of answers:

Some of us would give the Sunday School answers:

“Love. Mercy. Grace. Forgiveness.” And you wouldn’t be wrong.

I think others of us would give some insecure but maybe a little more honest answers. Like:

“I’m not sure.” Or: “I don’t really want to think about it.”

But I’m guessing that very few if any of us would say without hesitation:

“Oh… he likes me. A lot. Yeah. Loves who I am. What I’m about. Just can’t get enough of me.”

I mean, this is the sense of this kind of eudokia favor that the angels are talking about here:

God. Delights. In. You.

And because he’s so crazy about you, he loves any chance he gets to let you know about it.

Illustration: Grandparents

Let’s camp out on this just for a little bit here—go a little deeper into the wardrobe, if we’re gonna hammer on the Narnia metaphor. Because if you can carve out a little more space in your heart for this idea to grow, it can really change your life.

Not all of us have been able to have kids of our own, but all of us, at one time, were somebody’s kid.

At one time or another, your mom or your dad held you in their arms for the first time and just beamed down at you, amazed at your little hands and feet and head and face.

When you first came into the world, someone absolutely delighted in you.

Here’s the bummer about that, though:

None of us remember that.

None of us remember the look on our parent’s face when they saw us for the first time—or for the hundredth time, even.

But some of us have gotten a chance to see it as adults—if you got a chance to watch your parents hold your child in their arms for the first time.

It’s that look of delight.

That was one of my favorite things as a new dad: to watch my parents or my wife’s parents hold my son or my daughter for the very first time. The look of absolute sheer delight on their face.

My friends:

God. Delights. In. You.

That’s why he ripped the sky open 2,000 years ago, and that’s why he wants to rip into your life today. Because he wants you to know just how much he truly loves you.

Transition

Okay. One more piece of the puzzle here to this favor idea. It’s from Jesus’ first sermon in Luke 4. Let’s just put it on the screen again. This is Jesus preaching from the book of Isaiah:

“Favor” as “The Right Time”

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Okay. Believe it or not, that last word “favor” is yet another word in the original language. It’s this word “dektos.”

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Luke 4:18-19: “favor” as δεκτός/dektós (dehk-TOHSE):

If paired with “year,” it means the “God-appointed time.”

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And that’s exactly what it is here in Luke 4. Jesus says it’s the “year of the Lord’s favor.” But what does that mean exactly?

Well… we actually get a clue in the previous verse, and in the broader context of what Isaiah was talking about.

Remember: Jesus is quoting from Isaiah. Chapter 61, actually. So what was Isaiah talking about back when he wrote several hundred years before Jesus quoted him?

In ancient Israel, God had set up a year that happened once every 50 years called “the year of Jubilee.” And this was what Isaiah was talking about an expounding upon. Every 50th year in Israel...

If you were a slave, you went free.

If you lost your family’s land, it was returned.

If you had an outstanding debt, it was canceled.

And God put this in place as a rhythm to remind his people:

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Luke 4:18-19: “favor” as δεκτός/dektós (dehk-TOHSE):

If paired with “year,” it means the “God-appointed time.”

God keeps a regular rhythm of redemption.

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Some people were bound up in poverty.

Some people were bound up in prison.

Some people were bound up in blindness.

Some people were bound up in oppression.

But in the year of Jubilee, God said: no more. Fresh start. Fresh vision. Clean slate.

You get a do-over.

Illustration: “Do Over”

How many of us, right here, right now, if given the chance, would take God up on that offer?

How many of us, right here, right now, are suffering in the present from some stupid decisions we’ve made in the past, and would love to go back and do it the right way? Or maybe a little differently put: maybe not go back in time, but somehow, someway, to have those mistakes go away? To get a do-over?

How many of us would like to be redeemed from the mistakes of our past so that our future wasn’t stained by them but instead was filled with hope?

This is what Jesus is saying. “Hey—

As surely as you’re hearing me read from this scroll right now, you can count on this: this is the year that God’s decided to wipe it all clean. If you want a do-over with God, now’s the time.”

You can’t go back and undo what you’ve done. But you can be released from the burden of guilt and shame you carry around with you because of it.

AND… and:

Jesus is saying that even in those areas—those areas where you swear that nothing will ever change, the damage is too permanent, the debt is too big—

Even in those areas, he can do something redemptive.

Sight to the blind. Blind people stay blind. Once you’ve lost your sight, it doesn’t come back. That’s permanent.

But not with Jesus.

Nothing and no one is ever too far gone. Nothing and no one is beyond his touch. There’s not a part of your life or your past that needs to stay in the dark, hidden away. Not one.

Because in Jesus, God decided that this is the year where whatever was bound up gets set free.

Summary

It’s just one word there on a page—this word “favor.” Pretty easy to read and just cruise on by.

So, let me provide a simple summary here as we close:

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“Favor” Shown:

God’s charity: not just imparted, but invited.

God’s delight: not just loved, but liked.

God’s timing: since Jesus, every day is a “do-over” with God.

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