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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Amen.)
The 20-24 General Election is still more than ten months away, but the rhetoric about it is almost scary already. People seem to have had enough of both former President Trump and current President Biden, and neither of them are part of what we might think of as an “American presidential dynasty”, such as those “dynasties” associated both with presidents John Adams and his son John Quincy Adams and with presidents George H. Bush and his son George W. Bush. More of a true “dynasty” is the House of Windsor, which has had descendants rule the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms, such as Canada and Australia, for more than 100 years. Though at first we may not realize it, the House of David and its eternal throne and kingdom, which today’s Gospel Reading ascribes to the Virgin Mary’s Divine Son, are more important to us and ultimately give us reason not to fear any other “dynasty” or rule. This morning we consider primarily today’s Gospel Reading, directing our thoughts to the theme, “The Son of David’s Kingdom includes you”.
Today’s Gospel Reading is the Divinely-inspired St. Luke’s unique report of the angel Gabriel’s announcing Jesus’s birth to the Virgin Mary, usually understood as having taken place right before Jesus was conceived in the Virgin Mary’s womb. On the Feast of the Anunciation of Our Lord, nine months before Christmas, this same Gospel Reading is used but paired with an Old Testament Reading about the virgin’s conceiving and bearing a son and calling his name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:10-14). But, today, the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the Gospel Reading gets a bit of a different emphasis, if you will, as it is paired with an Old Testament Reading about the Lord’s covenant with David, who had finished building his own house (that is, a “palace”), and who wanted to build the Lord a house (that is, a “temple”), but the Lord said that He would make David a house (that is, a family of descendants or “dynasty”), establishing David’s house, his kingdom, and his throne forever (2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; confer Goldberg, TWOT 1:105). That promise is clearly fulfilled in Jesus’s birth, as the angel Gabriel describes it to the Virgin Mary in today’s Gospel Reading, with implications for all of Jacob’s house (that is, descendants), also called the people of Israel, to whom we ourselves truly belong by repentance and faith.
Today’s Old Testament Reading skipped over a few verses between its beginning and its end. Those skipped verses in part talk about David’s immediate successor as King, David’s son Solomon, whom, the Lord through the prophet Nathan told David, would sin and be disciplined but would continue in God’s steadfast love, or “mercy” (2 Samuel 7:12-15; confer Psalm 89:30‑36, omitted from today’s Psalm). We might think particularly of Solomon’s love for many foreign women, his 700 wives and 300 concubines, which forbidden foreign wives turned away at least part of Solomon’s heart from the Lord to their own other gods, false gods whose false worship Solomon facilitated (1 Kings 11:1-8). You and I may not sin in quite the same way that Solomon sinned, but we are no better or worse by nature. So, we fail to lead sexually pure and decent lives in what we think, say, and do. We fail to hold sacred and gladly hear preaching and learn God’s Word, perhaps not receiving the Holy Supper very often, and thereby suggesting that we despise the Supper. Worst of all, we fail to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. God’s law shows us our sin and its consequences of temporal and eternal death, and so God’s law shows us our need for our Savior. The Virgin Mary certainly knew her need for her Savior (Luke 1:47), maybe that was why initially she was greatly troubled at what Gabriel said and tried to discern what sort of greeting it might be. But then, Gabriel told her to stop being afraid and about the favor (or, “grace”) of God that would have her give birth to God’s Son, to be named “Jesus”, for He would save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).
A surprise, possibly pre-teen pregnancy, with a nearly in‑credible (or, “unbelievable”) explanation! The Holy Spirit came upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, therefore the child born of her was called holy, the Son of God. There is an “immaculate conception”, only the “immaculate conception” is not of the Virgin Mary (much less her parents or grandparents), but the “immaculate conception” is of the Virgin Mary’s Son, and His “immaculate conception” is for the purpose of and leads to the cleansing of our “sinful conceptions” (The Lutheran Liturgy, 190; confer Psalm 51:5). The sinless Son of God in Jesus personally unites the Divine and human nature, and, out of God’s great love and mercy, He goes to the cross because of our sin, and there He dies for us, in our place, the death that we deserved. On the cross, the Seed of the woman bruises (or “crushes” [NIV]) the head of the serpent (the devil), even as the devil bruises (or “strikes” [NIV]) the heel of the woman’s Seed (Genesis 3:15). Yet, the woman’s Seed rose from the dead, and, if needed, so also will we rise from the dead. The “favor” (or “grace”) of God towards Mary is like unto the grace of God towards us—grace for the sake of Jesus Christ, His death on the cross. When, enabled by God, we repent of our sin and believe that Jesus died for us, then God forgives us, our sinful nature and all our sin, those sins against the Sixth Commandment, the Third Commandment, the First Commandment, and all of the other Commandments. Jesus is “Immanuel”, God present with us (Matthew 1:23, with reference to Isaiah 7:14), and God present with us in order to save us. Arguably both the Virgin Mary and her betrothed Joseph were of the house of David (confer Matthew 1:8-16; Luke 2:4; 3:23-31), so, biologically and legally, according to His human nature, Jesus is the Son of David. Jesus is, as it were, a Shoot or Branch from the seemingly otherwise-dead stump and roots of Jesse, David’s father, and we are part of the fruit that Jesus as that Shoot or Branch bears (for example, Isaiah 11:1). We are under His throne and reign, and we are part of His Kingdom, as we let it be to us according to His Word.
In today’s Gospel Reading, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to the Virgin Mary, as Gabriel previously had been sent to speak to Zechariah and to bring him good news (Luke 1:19; confer Daniel 8:16; 9:21). Likewise, messengers are sent by God to speak to you and to bring you the Gospel, reading and preaching to groups such as this group, and applying the Gospel individually with water in Holy Baptism, with touch in Holy Absolution, and with bread and wine in the Holy Supper. As in‑credible and un‑believable as it might seem, in the Holy Supper, by the Word of the Lord, bread is the Body of Christ given for you, and wine is the Blood of Christ shed for you. For, as we heard Gabriel say in today’s Gospel Reading, “nothing will be impossible with God”, or, more‑literally, “no word from God will be without power” (confer ASV). Rather, through His Word in all of its forms, the Triune God creates and sustains our faith in Him, and so we are brought into the Son of David’s Kingdom and are blessed there with the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.
As Zylan Blake was so brought into the Son of David’s Kingdom on August 16, 2009, by Holy Baptism, here at Pilgrim Lutheran Church, and as he was to be today but now will be next Sunday Confirmed, so many of us were baptized as infants and confirmed as teenagers, having completed a phase of what is a lifelong process of being taught to treasure all that Jesus entrusted to His apostles (Matthew 28:19-20). We at our Confirmations personally answered questions that previously our godparents had answered on our behalf; we vowed to suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from our confession and Church; we received, as it were, another gift of the Holy Spirit; and then we received Christ’s Body and Blood for the forgiveness of our sins. So, each of us is forgiven, and, like the Virgin Mary, we are given vocations and the grace to fulfill those vocations, in which we love and serve God, as we love and serve our neighbors. We rejoice at the good news that is brought to us, and we look forward to the Last Day, when the Son of David’s Kingdom will exceed the size of David’s kingdom, which today’s Psalm described as from the Euphrates River to the Mediterranean Sea (Psalm 89:1-5, 19-29; antiphon: v.8), and instead will encompasses the whole world (for example, Revelation 11:15).
Already now, “The Son of David’s Kingdom includes you”, and, until His Kingdom comes in its fullness, we put up with problematic political processes, remembering that we in the United States threw off our monarch in 17-76, somewhat like the people of Israel did with God when they asked for a human king (1 Samuel 8:1-22). But, God has returned us to a King Who is both human and Divine, and so, as we heard St. Paul do at the close of his letter to the Romans in today’s Epistle Reading (Romans 16:25-27), we give, to the only wise God, glory forevermore through Jesus Christ!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +