Rev. Cary M. Richert

4^th Sunday of Advent (C)

December 24, 2006

Faithful, Obedient Servants
Luke 1:38; Matthew 1:24; Philippians 2:8

          Perhaps some of you have seen Hollywood's big-screen religious movie of the season:  THE NATIVITY STORY.  According to The Lutheran Witness (our synod's official journal) the movie is a "surprisingly accurate and wonderfully moving portrayal of what Mary and Joseph might have felt, said, and believed." ⁽¹⁾

          Mary and Joseph were real people!  Flesh and blood human beings.  People with real joys, real sorrows, real stresses and strains, thoughts and emotions, hopes and dreams.  People not terribly different from you and me.  Sinners in need of God's love and forgiveness.  And so, we give ourselves in meditation upon the God who graciously used these two humble, faithful and obedient servants to bring about His mighty act of rescuing and saving sinful mankind.

          Mary is highly revered by many, as well she should be.  God highly favored her by choosing her womb among all the women on earth to bear the infant Jesus.  As the angel said to Mary, "Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!  Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus," [Luke 1:28, 31].  At that moment, in her womb, the Holy Spirit conceived the unborn child, Jesus, the Savior of the world. ⁽²⁾  And after an assortment of mixed feelings, she humbly accepted God's will and faithfully obeyed His divine plan:   "I am the Lord's servant," Mary said, "May it be to me as you have said." [Luke 1:38]

The Lord didn't choose Mary because she was without sin, or because there was anything about her that made her more worthy in His sight than other women.  He chose her simply as an act of His unmerited grace.  She says as much in her divinely inspired song of praise, the Magnificat:  :My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant." [Luke 1:46-48]

          Then there was Joseph, engaged to Mary.  A simple carpenter from Nazareth, whose family roots were in Bethlehem.  Engaged to Mary, Joseph was understandably confused when he found out that his bride-to-be was pregnant, and he wasn’t the father!  Imagine his thoughts, when He found out that, he was to be the earthly father of the Son of God!

          Perhaps, as this news sunk in, he reflected as we heard in the song before our meditation:  "Father, show me where I fit into this plan of Yours.  How can a man be father to the Son of God?  Lord, for all my life I’ve been a simple carpenter.  How can I raise a King?" ⁽³⁾  A simple carpenter!  Not a high-society mover and shaker.  Not a Levite priest.  Not a member of the religious establishment.  Just a simple carpenter!

          I suppose he was surprised, perhaps even angry, when Joseph learned of Caesar's decree, that required him to take his pregnant wife and unborn child to Bethlehem, a journey on foot of some 70 miles (Pontiac to Saginaw).  As Mary’s husband, he was responsible for their safe travel.  There were no advance reservations!  Imagine his concern on the journey for Mary’s health and the Baby's.  Would we fathers be any different?

          And that’s the point!  Joseph was a common, ordinary man.  Nothing about him captivated the Lord God's attention.  Before God Joseph was an unworthy sinner, like all other men on earth.  Like you and me!  Yet, in His grace and mercy, God chose Joseph among all men to be the earthly father of Jesus.  And, as Scripture tells us . . . in faith Joseph did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him. [Matthew 1:24]

Both Mary and Joseph were simple, common people, faithful and obedient to the Lord and His divine will for their lives.  God, in His grace, used them in mighty ways to fulfill His promises and to bring about His salvation of sinful mankind.

          Jesus, the Baby conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, enters humanity as a humble, faithful and obedient servant as well, albeit the only holy One!  The apostle Paul reminds us of our Lord’s humble earthly circumstance:  But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. [Galatians 4:4-5]   The only-begotten, infinite Son of God . . . born of a humble, earthly virgin . . . confined to space and time!  The King of all creation . . . born under the law of God and subject to the earthly law of Jerusalem and Rome.  All this our Lord did willingly, obediently, lovingly.

It was for you and me and all sinful mankind that our Lord, being found in appearance as a man, humbled himself and became obedient to death -- even death on a cross! [Philippians 2:8]   It was to spare us lost and condemned sinners from eternal condemnation and punishment that our Lord prayed in obedience, "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup (of suffering and death) away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." [Luke 22:42]   It was for the complete forgiveness of our sins that Jesus, our Redeemer, spoke in love from the cross:  "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." [Luke 23:34] . . . and, a little while later, "It is finished." [John 19:30]   It's Jesus' attitude of humble faith and obedience that Paul writes of, when he says:  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus. [Philippians 2:5]

Look at your bulletin cover!  Today’s message encompasses the humble, faithful and obedient servants you see . . . Mary, Joseph and Jesus.  It also encompasses the one looking at the picture -- YOU!  God once worked His divine will through people not much different than you and me.  We recently read in one of our Advent Devotions that, God gives us vocations in life, stations in which we serve (Him and) others.  Christian living means that we do these things as God's forgiven people. ⁽⁴⁾  With the same faith as Mary and Joseph, we, too, can see in our life-callings opportunities to reflect God's love by serving Him in humble and joyful obedience . . . by praying as our Lord taught us, "Thy will be done" . . . by living each day as forgiven men, women and children . . . by letting the light of our faith and good works shine so brightly, that others may see Christ living in us and give glory to God in heaven. [Matthew 5:16]

          Jesus, the Word made flesh, who came and dwelt among us, is still, as Isaiah prophesied, Immanuel, which means God with us. [Isaiah 7:14; 8:8, 10]  He's with us in love today, serving us the gifts of His grace.  Come to the table He sets for you.  Receive Him in faith.  Follow Him in trust.  And serve Him in love, as His humble and obedient servants.

"Joy to the world.  The Lord is come!"  Amen.
 

(1)            Ardon Albrecht, The Nativity Story in The Lutheran Witness, v. 125, n. 11, December 2006 (St. Louis: Board for Communication Services, The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod) 10.

(2)            As held by Martin Luther in "The Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ—Against the Fanatics," (LW:36, 341, American Edition, 1955).

Take yet another example. How did (Jesus’) mother Mary become pregnant? Although it is a great miracle when a woman is made pregnant by a man, yet God reserved for him the privilege of being born of the Virgin. Now how does the Mother come to this? She has no husband [Luke 1:34] and her womb is entirely enclosed. Yet she conceives in her womb a real, natural child with flesh and blood. Is there not more of a miracle here than in the bread and wine? Where does it come from? The angel Gabriel brings the word: "Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, etc." [Luke 1:31]. With these words Christ comes not only into her heart, but also into her womb, as she hears, grasps, and believes it. No one can say otherwise, than that the power comes through the Word. As one cannot deny the fact that she thus becomes pregnant through the Word, and no one knows how it comes about, so it is in the sacrament also. For as soon as Christ says: "This is my body," his body is present through the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit. If the Word is not there, it is mere bread; but as soon as the words are added they bring with them that of which they speak.^[1]

(3)            Michael Card, The Promise: A Celebration of Christ’s Birth (Franklin: Michael Card Music, LLC, 1991).

(4)            Tim Pauls, When Jesus Comes (Boise: Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 2006).

^[1]Luther, M. 1999, c1959. Vol. 36: Luther's works, vol. 36 : Word and Sacrament II (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald & H. T. Lehmann, Ed.). Luther's Works. Fortress Press: Philadelphia