The Annunciation of our Lord (Observed)

Luke 1:26-38

March 31, 2019

Zion Lutheran Church + Nampa, ID

This morning we do something a little different.  It is the 4th Sunday in Lent, yet we have white paraments instead of purple because today we are observing an important festival, that of the Annunciation, which falls on March 25, this last Monday.  Normally, holidays during the week wouldn’t be transferred to a Sunday, especially during the season of Lent. But given some of the current issues within our culture, there is some benefit to take time and consider this important topic.

So first off, the Annunciation is the account of when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced to her that she would conceive in her womb and bear a son, and that she shall call His name Jesus.  Luke records Mary’s response to the angel’s announcement that she had been chosen to bear the Son of the God, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.”  Before this moment of His conception, God the Son was not yet man; but from this moment onward He assumed humanity.  By means of the Word of God proclaimed through the angel to this young woman, Jesus enters the womb of His mother, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 

Jesus’ first dwelling wasn’t in Bethlehem, but in the womb of Mary.  This is why the Church has long affirmed in specific terms (at least since the Council of Chalcedon in AD 451), confessing that Mary is the Theotokos, the mother of God.  This is not as much a confession about Mary as it is about Jesus.  For the Son of God becomes flesh at the very moment of His conception by the Holy Spirit. From that moment, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity was both fully divine and fully human.  When the Son of God took up temporary residence in the ark of his mother’s womb, the real divine nature and human personhood of Jesus is joined for eternity through the smallest of beginnings.  Our early Christian counterparts prayed, sang, and remembered that Christ’s incarnation was ­immediate and complete at the moment of his conception.  While most of the time we think and focus on the truth that God has become man at Christmas, the Annunciation is the beginning of that union – and on a side note, this is part of the reason for when we celebrate Christmas, for 9 months after the Annunciation is Dec 25.

This truth of the union of the two natures of Christ, fully God and fully man in one person, begotten of the Father before all ages, and born from the substance of His mother, perfect God and perfect man, has always been foundational for the Christian faith and holds a timeless message for us 21st century Christians in light of what it means to be human and when human life begins.  Nine months before the shepherds heard the angelic song of the Gloria in excelsis, and years before the Magi travelled to Bethlehem, John the Baptist, 6 months old in his mother’s womb, leapt with joy in the presence of his Savior.  The unborn Jesus, whom Elizabeth and John greet, was smaller than the point of a needle.

And Elizabeth responds with a loud cry calling Mary the mother of her Lord, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” (Luke 1:42).  The Son of the Most High sanctifies the womb of Mary, and in doing so, sanctifies the wombs of all women ad bestows an innate value on all unborn children. From the first children of Adam and Eve onward, all people are conceived body and soul, created and known by God and recipients of His providential love. The recognition of each human person known by God even from the moment of conception and called to eternity by the work of the Holy Spirit through the means of grace is a hallmark of Christianity. 

The witness of the annunciation and the visitation of pregnant Mary and pregnant Elizabeth proclaim and demand that God’s people respect and protect human life. This truth has led the Christian Church throughout the millennia to have a high regard for human life from the moment of conception to natural death and to condemn the abuse, the disregard, the murder of those who are weakest and most vulnerable in society.  Because all life is from His hand, He abhors the shedding of innocent blood.  

The message of Scripture and of Christ’s Church is clear – abortion, euthanasia, both of which are murder - are sins against humanity and more importantly, against the Author of Life.  Those within Christianity who brazenly support abortion or euthanasia, or who are fooled into thinking these are acceptable solutions to difficult problems, are deceived by the devil and the sinful world.  These things are not compatible with the Christian faith, and God does not take kindly to the false prophets who proclaim otherwise and lead others into sin.

 Yet this is not the only message of Scripture and Christ’s Church.  While Satan whispers a double message into our ears, either, “This is no sin or at all,” or worse, “This sin is too big to be forgiven.” We are to proclaim the good news that we have received of forgiveness and hope that brings true healing.  Jesus did not assume human body to condemn sinners, but to save sinners.  He assumed a human life and body at His conception, a life that was not esteemed by the world nor considered worthy of affection, a body that would be nailed to the cross, buried in the tomb, raised on the third day, ascended into heaven forty days later, and still sits at the right hand of God the Father.  He does this to redeem, to save, to sanctify, to heal, to reconcile sinful and broken and suffering humanity to Himself.  Because Jesus came to bear the shame, the guilt, and the punishment of sin, anchored in Christ’s incarnation, there is hope for you, for those who suffer in this life, and for the sinful world. Confess your sin.  Confess your indifference to sin. And trust in God’s promise of mercy that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

The Annunciation affirms the fullness of a human person upon conception in fresh ways in contemporary times. And we celebrate the fact that we are, as soon as we are conceived, unique, irreplaceable, and infinitely valuable in the sight of God. Today, that hope and that promise and benefits of the incarnation comes to you in the body and blood of Jesus.  The Annunciation makes the Sacrament of the Altar possible. The annunciation of the Words of Institution spoken over the bread and wine communicate the real presence of Christ. The real life of Christ, the life that overcomes death itself, the very body and blood of the Son of God is offered here from the Lord’s altar for you.  As the Blessed Virgin Mary confessed, so join in her words as you receive the Lord Himself, “Let it be to me according to your word.”

 

* Some of the sermon is gleaned from various devotionals put out by Lutherans for Life, Grounded in God's Love, which is highly recommended.

 

Over the last 20 years, the country of Iceland has worked to decrease Down Syndrome in their country.  In the 21st century, almost 100% of those who received even the potential of a positive test result for Down Syndrome are aborted.  The plan to eliminate Down Syndrome is genocide. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/down-syndrome-iceland/ This is plain evil.