Text: Luke 1.26-38
songs available :
Wonderful is the Lord AeC 174
Oh! Come, Jesus, oh! Come, Emmanuel AeC 307
I exalt God (Magnificat) AeC 171
26 "the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee named Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man of the family of David, named Joseph. The virgin's name was Mary.
28 The angel came to her and said "Hail, thou to whom a pardon was made, the Lord is with you. Blessed art thou among women. "
29 troubled at his word, Mary wondered what it meant such a greeting .
30 The angel said: "Do not be afraid, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God.
31 Here you'll be pregnant. Thou shalt bear a son and shalt call his name Jesus.
32 It will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his ancestor .
33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, his kingdom will never end . "
34 Marie told the angel "How can this be he, since I have no relations with a man?"
35 The angel replied: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow. So the holy child born will be called the Son of God.
36 Here Elizabeth, your relative is She also became pregnant with a son in his old age. This so-called 'barren' is in her sixth month.
37 Indeed, nothing is impossible with God . "
38 Mary said "I am the servant of the Lord. Make your words be to me. "And the angel departed from her."
(NASB 21, 2007)
Dear Assembly Advent
Let me start by apologizing. I announced a series of three Advent sermons on Abraham - done - on Isaac and Jacob.
Already last Sunday, the Christmas party for children led me to replace Isaac as "the golden thread" of Messianic prophecies throughout the Old Testament.
And now it turns out that the text proposed by the "Bible Reading Plan" joined the issue raised by a participant in the "Evangelical Lutheran Forum" . As there it is difficult to answer in detail by analyzing a biblical text as proposed on this day, I suggest you do so now.
What's this? I read a few excerpts:
"[...] The apocryphal Gospel of Jacques gives us a very beautiful text about the birth of Mary.
[...] she was born in a miraculous manner. [...] She went to live in very young temple of Jerusalem by being totally dedicated to serving the Lord.
[...] The fidelity of Mary was full to our Savior.
[Without it, our Savior would not have taken the human condition to save us. [...] Mary full of grace. [...] Another verse speaks of Mary chosen from eternity, then Mary was not interchangeable in case of refusal.
[...] Mary has participated in history the salvation of the world. [...] "(Eucalyptus Festival of Lights, Forum Ev. Luth., 12/09/2010)
It is important to separate fact from fiction. The intent of this stakeholder forum is commendable, "Do not confuse Mariolatry (action to worship an idol) and Marian" (The Bible teaching about Mary).
But where the speaker is wrong is when he said that Mariology, teaching about Mary, we would be in a "forgotten branch of theology or rejected. "
No, education about Mary is not forgotten or rejected us, but:
education on
Jesus and Mary
1. is based on "sacred writings" e t no other sources
2. Mary sees what God told her
3. Reserve all glory to God
4. famous "the holy child, the Son of God"
X X X 1 X X X
teaching about Jesus and Mary
is based on "sacred writings"
and not other sources.
I read the story of the birth of Mary in the alleged "Gospel of Jacques' , apocryphal, that is to say, wrote the late 2 nd century of also probably written by a pagan ..., Egypt or Palestine.
It is also called "Proto of Jacques' , That is to say who is at the beginning, as it focuses on what happened before the start of the 4 Gospels stories of the Bible. The original title was "Nativity of Mary" . This shows what the author focused on something quite foreign to the New Testament.
is actually moving, as may be moving novels. We also note immediately that we are not in the simplicity of biblical stories.
By trying to emphasize the unique position of Mary in the salvation plan of God - And they do occupy a unique position - the narrative falls in excess of bucolic, and then, above all, it is the work that launched ideas such as the immaculate conception and perpetual virginity of Mary.
It also fails to shake off the impression of being in the presence of a plagiarism stories of the birth of Isaac, Samuel and John the Baptist.
More importantly, the story already instilled the poison of Mary without sin, which, as we shall see later, does not correspond at all to that the Bible says, and especially our text of Luke.
As I wrote in an article on another subject, in the magazine "Friendship Lutheran" to be published this week, "Holy Scripture remains the only rule and the only standard: it alone has the authority to judge and it is like a touchstone to which we must test all doctrines to recognize if they are good or bad, true or false. ( "Formula of Concord" , Epitome, Preface)
As our text tells of Mary?
X X X 2 X X X
teaching about Jesus and Mary
sees Mary
what God said to her,
but
nothing but what God says about her.
First marital status. It is "a virgin betrothed to a man of the family of David, named Joseph" (v. 37). At the time, the public document, legal and religious was held at the betrothal, when the bride and groom are "trusted," he confided, gave themselves to each other. This is where a priest was present.
After Engagement is not living together yet, but we were already regarded as husband and wife before the law, what emerges from the narrative to the next chapter.
Besides, when "angel Gabriel" (v. 26) announced to Mary that she was pregnant, "Mary said to the angel: "How can this be he, since I have no relations with a man?" " (v. 34). She did not even conjugal relationship with Joseph. This, it's for after the wedding, the celebration of festivities with a banquet, when the groom fetches the husband wife relied engaged to him.
Why did God choose Mary? ... Good question. Why did he choose Abraham? Why did he chose you? I remember the answer given by a trainer, Bob Scudieri, at a seminar in the United States. He often asked the question, how it was an Italian as he is Lutheran. His response? - "By grace alone! "(Cf. Eph 2:8-9)
This is akin to what the angel Gabriel Marie said: "A grace hath been done! " (v. 28), an unmerited favor - that's the definition of grace. One could even make it through: "You have been promoted." It does not say she is "full of grace" (plural) full of exceptional qualities. The most that can be translated: "You have been filled by the grace (NBS), the unmerited favor of God.
Oh! Certainly, in Mary's case, this is a favor quite exceptional, even unique, because no man - it makes sense - but also any other women that same "grace" or favor n ' "was made" : to be the mother of the incarnate Son of God. "Thou shalt bear a son and shalt call his name Jesus. It will be great and will be called Son of the Most High " , "the holy child born will be called the Son of God. " (v. 31-32 +)
She did not deserve this role by a hypothetical sanctity following a chimerical" immaculate conception ": it was marked by original sin as we do, and we see Jesus later return at least twice in his place because she got carried away by her through here by impatience, or even the desire to advise the Son of God (Jn 2:1-4 ), then by fear and desire distracted from its mission to protect him from the hostility of Jewish leaders (Luke 8.19-21).
She also confesses in her voice, "Magnificat" (Lk 1.46-55), she was expecting and needed "Savior" like all believers of the Old Testament. She knew and confessed these words from Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament: "There is no man on earth who just does good and never sins. " (Ec 7.20) She confesses recognizing "the humility of his handmaid" his "humble" (Lk 1.48).
It does not, moreover, to the angel: "Okay, me, Mary, I will make the coming of the Messiah by my collaboration possible. "
No, she said to the angel, messenger of God " "Thy word fulfilled for me. " (v. 38) Me, I'm passive " your word " God will act on me, me. The important thing is that this word "accomplished" born and "the Son of God" , "Jesus" the Savior. If it should be done by I "Thy word fulfilled" ! "It "the Almighty" which "has done great things for me" (Lk 1.49), not me for him! "
can say, as does the speaker of the Forum, that" Mary has participated in the history of hello world "on condition of leaving his place of "servant" . Relatively speaking, it's a bit like us when we "take part in the history of salvation" by someone when we are "gave thanks" can bring to faith in Jesus Christ. We do not necessarily become "colleagues" of God, but let her "servants."
Mary recognizes the important, even unique, that God made him play in his plan of salvation, but for her, the important thing that overrides all is that " Savior " (Lk 1.47), the Savior of the world to come, as promised, to save sinners like us.
In this it is a model of faith and submission to us all. We must put ourselves in his place. Prophetically, she sings: "All generations will call me happy! " (Lk 1.48), but she knows she will start by being pointed at as a bad girl. It will first for a young girl who has sinned by falling pregnant before the wedding. He had the faith at the time, to accept this service to God and the world.
It is, moreover, curious, this insistence by some on the person of Mary, because they watching closely the texts that speak of her, they would realize that these texts are still putting Jesus in value, not her, Mary.
X X X 3 X X X
teaching about Jesus and Mary
famous
"the holy child, the Son of God" .
What is striking when you read the first chapter of "the Gospel according to Luke" , only to be told in some detail what happened fifteen months before the birth of Jesus is that the emphasis is always on the promised Messiah.
When his son, the future John the Baptist was born six months before Jesus, his father, Zechariah, begins not by thanking God for almost miraculous birth of this son, but it starts with "bless the Lord, the God of Israel, because he hath visited and redeemed his people" and "gave a powerful savior in the family of his servant David " ! (Lk 1.68-69)
six months ago, Marie also sang primarily "the greatness of the Lord" that "rescued Israel, his servant and recalled its goodness - as it had told our ancestors - to Abraham and his descendants forever " (54-55 Lk 1.46)
She knows the messianic prophecies, she awaited the Messiah, "Savior" , like all believers of the Old Testament. What upsets the foremost, this is not his role to her, her role "servant" in the salvation plan of God, who rejoices at the highest point, what it also learns without a doubt, that finally "the Son of God" , "Son of the Most High" , Savior would come - that's the meaning of the name JESUS : Savior.
If God "makes grace" to use for this, obviously it will be honored to be his "servant" ! It is so important "Son of the Most High" establish its "everlasting kingdom" (v. 33) on the hearts of men. It is so important that it tears us the terrible consequences of sin - God's wrath and eternal damnation - and include us in his kingdom of grace and life!
The Lutheran Church celebrated three feasts of Mary - February 2, the presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Lk 2.22-38), February 24, the Annunciation (The history of our text), July 2, the visit to Mary (Lk 1.39-56). But it does so quite in the spirit of Mary: not as worship Mary, but as worship of God, and particularly in "Son of God" .
X X X X X X
teaching about Jesus and Mary
reserve all glory to God.
must still return for a moment on a statement on the Forum. I quote:
"Without Mary, our Saviour would not take the human condition to save us. [...] Another verse speaks of Mary chosen from eternity, then Mary was not interchangeable in case of refusal. [...] "
Note that the speaker speaks of a "verse" of this alleged "Gospel of Jacques' . It is surprising that it takes a biblical book that is not the conclusion: "Without Mary, our Saviour would not take the human condition to save us. [...] So Mary was not interchangeable in case of refusal. "
Is not to question the assertion that the angel " nothing is impossible with God " ? (V. 37) Is not deliver the Creator "chained hand and foot" the power of a creature?
We are all "interchangeable" in the salvation plan of God, in the functioning of his Kingdom, in the march of the Church. Do we not irreplaceable, do not believe that God could do nothing without us.
Certainly, we have "called by the Gospel" (Martin Luther, Small Catechism ) - and we are both greatly relieved and honored at the highest point - but believe that without God we would be powerless. "Nothing is impossible with God. "
also true that in his freedom, he chose us from eternity, as he chose Mary for the unique role that was his. But there are others that Jesus wanted to call, "and they did not want" (Mt 23.37).
It is useless to break head to find the answer to the question: Why did Mary accepted the appeal and extraordinary individual who has been sent? Why call God, in our case, has been effective and others not?
us rejoice with Mary that a "grace has been made" and celebrate Christmas with joy, because God kept his promises: Mary was "pregnant" and gave birth to our "Savior," the "Son of the Most High" come to us to meet God in this time and forever !
Let's all around us, sing it! Maybe the Lord will use our testimonies to save others.
Amen.
Jean Thiébaut Haessig
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