Advent Week 4

Psalm: Psalm 89:1-4, 19-26 or Luke 1:47-55 
Old Testament: 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16 
Gospel: Luke 1:26-38 
Epistle: Romans 16:25-27

Welcome to the final week of Advent. Hopefully at this point most of us are done with our preparations for Christmas. (Other then maybe the whole cooking the meals thing.) After reading our passage from Luke this week, I have been thinking about about the song "Mary, did you know?" If you don't know the song, it asks the question of whether Mary knew exactly who and what the child Jesus would become. One reason I like the song is because it reminds us that Jesus was fully God from the moment of his conception. Even at his birth in the manger, Jesus was God incarnate-fully God and fully man.

Getting back to the song, it seems like the answer to the question, at least in Luke's Gospel, is yes.  in some sense at least Mary knew that her child would be special. The angel announces that the child would be called the Son of the Most High and that his kingdom would have no end. But perhaps most intriguing to Mary, and even to us today, is that the child would be conceived by the Holy Spirit. Even today, the virgin birth boggles the mind. Yet, Mary understood that God was beginning something new in his interactions towards creation. Through Jesus, the literal Son of God conceived by the Holy Spirit, God was doing something new in God's plan of salvation. But Mary was open and faithful to what God wanted to do through her. It is interesting that Mary is perplexed by the angels appearance and message, not fearful. A normal reaction, typified by the shepherds later in the story, is fear, but Mary is perplexed and then obedient. The angel still tells her to fear not, but honestly that could be because he is about to tell her that she will give birth to the Son of God. But it is Mary's response that really challenges me. In response to this strange and new thing God wanted to do, Mary says, "may it be with me as you have said." For this response, she deserves to be honored in our memories and churches as one of the saints of the faith. And her response should also encourage us to do likewise.

Our theme this advent season across the four weeks has been preparation and faithfulness in preparing the way of the Lord. In the Christmas story there are many examples. Mary was faithful. Joseph was...there, doing what all dads are capable of doing during child birth, which is very little. The shepherds, the wise men, John the Baptist, Elizabeth, and we even mentioned a few weeks ago how king Herod (and we can add other secular rulers as well) were all a part of what God planned to prepare the way for the Messiah. And this is our calling as well. We all have various roles to play in preparing the way of the Lord. Yet each is an important act of obedience, worship, and preparation. May God's kingdom come in our hearts, in our cities, and in the whole of God's creation. Through God's Spirit, may we be granted the privilege and power to prepare the way of the Lord!

Grace and peace.