Holy Innocents, Martyrs: Audio Sermon (28-Dec-2014)

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Holy Innocents, Martyrs [Matthew 2:13-18] (28-Dec-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St Matthew. And we read from his gospel where it says:

Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus, send to all of us today your Holy Spirit, to me that I may preach well, and to all of us that we may hear well. Amen.

Our Gospel reading today has two parts: the first part is where we read about Joseph, Mary and Jesus flee to Egypt, and the second part is where we read about King Herod ordering that all the baby boys in Bethlehem should be killed.

We read: Now when [the wise men] had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.”

I don’t know if you realise that in the bible we don’t read about Joseph actually saying anything. He’s a very quiet man in the bible. We do read that when he woke up from his sleep, he took Mary to be his wife, and called the child’s name Jesus. Also, when Mary and Joseph went to the temple to present the baby Jesus to God and were met by Simeon and Anna, we read that Joseph together with Mary marvelled at what was said about him.

But nowhere in the bible does it say, Joseph said this or said that. He’s a very quiet man. Joseph is a very quiet man, who thinks things over in his mind. And also in the first chapter of Matthew, we read about four times where an angel comes and speaks to him in a dream. When the angel Gabriel comes to Mary, he speaks to her while she is awake. But when the angel speaks to Joseph, he is always asleep.

It’s almost as if God wants to show us that the most important things that happen to Joseph is what ticks over in his mind. There are many Christians too that are like that. In our church, we often make judgments about people based on what kind of fruit we can see growing on the trees. But when a plant or a tree grows, the fruit will come in its time—the first thing that has to happen is that the tree has to send down roots and grow a proper root system. We should realise that for many of us here, week after week, there is the quiet work of the Holy Spirit that goes on without any of us noticing it—we listen to God’s word, we think about it, and God shapes us through it, even while we are asleep. In fact, sometimes, sleep is the best time when God does his work on us. Sometimes, we might say: “I’ll sleep on it.” I also remember someone saying to me, that when you need to write someone a difficult letter, you should write it and then sleep on it. There’s a certain wisdom in this, especially since it says in Psalm 16: I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. And so here we see in the person of Joseph so many occasions where God works on him when he is asleep. This should be an encouragement to us, not to be lazy people in our faith, but to realise that God does his best work on us, when we stop working.

And so we read in our Gospel reading today: An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfil what the Lord has spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Could you imagine if you were Mary and Joseph and you had witnessed for yourself all the wonderful things that had happened at Christmas time? The shepherds had come to see the baby because they had been witnessed a wonderful multitude of angels when they were in their fields, and also we read about the wise men coming from the East to bring the baby Jesus precious gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. This family had witnesses some amazing things happening.

But now, they enter into a time of hardship. They have to up and leave their home and go to another country, to Egypt. And here, we see a wonderful great mystery—we see Jesus as not just any baby, but now as a migrant baby and as a refugee baby.

Now the journey from Israel to Egypt is not a long way by Australian standards: less than 200kms. If Mt Barker were Bethlehem, we might like to think of Jesus and his family travelling to somewhere like Keith or Loxton. It’s not that far for us. But still, the difference between Bethlehem and Egypt is the difference between their home and a foreign land.

It’s amazing, especially today, when it’s so easy to travel, how God makes us all of our different congregations up out of people that come from all kinds of places. In older times, people didn’t travel so much, but if we did a survey of our congregation, it would be a pretty amazing thing to consider just how many of us did not grow up in Mount Barker. But not only that, there are many of us that were born or grew up on the other side of the world, and yet, here we all are, together, in one congregation.

And what’s the reason why people have moved? Perhaps there were not the opportunities for work and for building a home in their home town. Maybe people got married and moved somewhere else. Maybe people came from overseas, because things were so bad in their home country because of a war or something like that.

But here in our gospel reading—we see Jesus and his family as refugees, as homeless people forced to flee from their own home. And through this very fact, Jesus blesses all of us who are without a home. For all of us, as Christians, there is a sense in which the whole world is our home, since we could travel just about anywhere in the world and meet fellow Christians. The gospel is for all nations. But also, there is nowhere in the whole world which is our home either, because the kingdom of Jesus is not of this world.

The book of Hebrews says: For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. Just like Abraham, we are pilgrims in a foreign land. The world around us is apathetic to God’s word, and ignorant of spiritual realities. The world around us doesn’t value Holy Baptism, and doesn’t value the Lord’s Supper, things which are so precious to Christians. The world doesn’t value Jesus, even though Jesus values the world so highly that he enters into it himself and lives upon it.

But what does the future hold for us? Especially for those of us who are younger, we never know what God might have in store for us in our lives. We never know where God might send us and use us for his glory. And also as a church, we never know who God might send to us, people who have gone through hard times, and have been moved around. When Jesus speaks of the final judgment, he speaks a special blessing on people who move around: I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.

Whatever the case, the thing we must realise is that the more we learn and read the Scripture, and hear God’s word, the more we come to feel an alien within the world around us. The more we seek our home in heaven, the more we become homeless on this earth. And there is a real and genuine sorrow that comes with this. But if and when you feel like this, then be strengthened with the words from our gospel today: And Joseph rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. Christian homelessness is something that is shared by Jesus and his whole family. Here he shares it with his parents, and throughout the rest of history he will also share it with the church, who are also his family, through baptism. The more we are alienated from the world, then the more we seek the living words of Jesus, and the company of fellow Christians and of fellow homeless travellers! And yet, we are never without a home. Jesus says: In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?

Also, in our reading, it also says: This was to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.” This is a prophecy that comes from the book of Hosea. And if we were reading the book of Hosea, we would probably think that this passage is talking about God rescuing the people of Israel out of Egypt at the time of Moses. But here this passage is applied to Jesus. All kinds of people in the bible—Abraham, Joseph and his brothers, and others—had to flee to Egypt. And just as the people of Israel were rescued from Egypt, now Jesus is going to come out of Egypt. The night before the people of Israel leave Egypt, they have to kill a lamb and paint it on their doorposts, and eat flat bread. But now, Jesus is also going to come out of Egypt, and shows us that He himself is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. His blood is going to be painted on doorposts all over the world. And just as the Israelites ate the bread of the Passover, Jesus is also going to the bread of life that feeds hungry souls continually all throughout history.

But in the second part of the reading, we read: Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.

This was such a terrible thing. You might remember that Herod had said to the wise men that they should come back to him after they had found Jesus and tell him where to find him, so that, as he says, “I too may come and worship him”. But we read: And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

And so Herod gets so angry, that he decides to kill every baby boy in Bethlehem, two years and under. Often people think the reason for this is that Herod was simply a tyrant. And yet—he was a tyrant! But there’s more to it than that—we have to realise that he was descended from the Edomites. And the Edomites were descended from Esau. In the Old Testament, we read about Jacob and Esau who were twin brothers, the children of Isaac and Rebecca.

Esau was the oldest, but he sold his birthright to Jacob for a bowl of lentil soup. And then later, Isaac gave his blessing to Jacob instead of Esau. Jacob later was given the name Israel and it was his descendants that received God’s promises. But Esau’s descendants all throughout history always had a jealous streak, angry that they had been left out.

And so, this is the jealousy that is also at work in King Herod. He knows that he is not the true king of Israel, even though he rules over that area. And so we read, when he finds out that the wise men are looking for the king of the Jews: When Herod the king hear this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. He is so intimated by this, that eventually, to make sure the job is done properly, he orders that every baby boy, not just in Bethlehem, but in all that region, should be killed. Now big the area in which this was to carried out, we don’t know—but of course, we know that it was so bad that he family had to flee, not just to the neighbouring town, or to Nazareth, but all the way to Egypt in order to escape.

And so in the first part of our reading, we read about the family being homeless and refugees. They live in a country which doesn’t know them and doesn’t value them. But in the second part of our reading, we read about their home country which is hostile to them. It is dangerous for them. And so, we also should take notice of the fact that all throughout history there is going to be a constant stream of people which hates Jesus and seeks to destroy the church. And sometimes, we hear about Christians even being killed for their faith.

Here in our reading today, we read about a whole group of baby boys who are killed, purely because they could be Jesus.

We read in our reading: Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.

Now what’s this all about? Rachel was the wife of Jacob, and we read in the Old Testament that she had trouble having children of her own, and that this was a great pain and sadness for her. Eventually, she became the mother of Joseph and Benjamin. But when Benjamin was born, she died in childbirth. And do you know where she was buried? In Bethlehem. So when these children die in Bethlehem, it’s almost as if Rachel is weeping for the children in her own town. The tragedy is so great, that even the dead join in with the grief. Now, Bethlehem is about 10 kms south of Jerusalem. But it says: A voice is heard in Ramah. But Ramah is north of Jerusalem. The weeping and the lamentation and the anguish and the bitterness and the wailing is so great, that the crying is even heard many miles away in Ramah. A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.

And yet, if we continue reading from the book of Jeremiah, it says: Thus says the Lord: Keep your eyes from weeping, and your eyes from tears, for there is a reward for your work, declares the Lord, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy.

If it weren’t for this passage in the gospel of Matthew, we would probably read Jeremiah as if this passage is talking about Rachel’s descendants being carried off into exile, into Babylon, when many years before, Jerusalem was attacked. But here we read about a whole group of children lead not just into exile, but into death. But just like the Israelites were lead back to Jerusalem from exile, so also Jesus himself will lead these children into life.

You see, the bible doesn’t know anything of senseless tragedy, of senseless killing. Here we learn that Jesus fills his kingdom not as an earthly kingdom but as an eternal kingdom. Here, even children fill the kingdom of heaven, and even though they die, Jesus is protected and he later dies himself for the sin of the world, and even for these children who die in our reading today.

I remember reading a letter by an old pastor to a younger one who had lost his child and wife in childbirth. He bring to mind the passage where Jacob sends his children and wife ahead of him on a journey across the River Jabok. In the letter, he says, that this younger pastor has now sent his wife and child across the river of death to meet Jesus ahead of time. It is not senseless and meaningless, but Jesus fills the kingdom of heaven, not so that we would lonely here, but later would be filled with joy, not just the joy of meeting our relatives and friends who have died in the faith, not perhaps our own children who might have even died, but Jesus himself. Sometimes, for many people, Christmas is a time which awakens great sadness, because they remember the people who they used to share this happy time with who are no longer here anymore to share it. But all the more so that we yearn for that unending joy in eternity, where the angels sing day and night before God’s throne.

And so there’s a beautiful passage in 1 Thessalonians, which I’d like to finish with, where it says: We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. Therefore encourage one another with these words.

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, strengthen us and all your people all throughout the world who are pilgrims in a foreign land. Comfort those who mourn with the joy of your word, your presence and of your Holy Spirit. Bless us at this Christmas as we remember the great joy that you bring to our troubled world. Amen.

Christmas Day: Audio Sermon (25-Dec-2014)

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Christmas Day Year B [John 1:1-14] (25-Dec-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 9am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St John. And we read from his gospel where it says:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Prayer: Come Lord Jesus, the Word become flesh, and dwell among us with your Holy Spirit. Fill us this morning with your grace and truth. Amen.

In the bible, we have the life of Jesus told by four different people: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If we want to know about Christmas, then Mark isn’t the person to go to. He doesn’t say anything about Christmas at all, but starts his gospel with Jesus’ baptism.

The person who writes the most about Christmas is St Luke. So much of what we read on Christmas Eve we find in the gospel of Luke. Luke tells us about the angel Gabriel who goes to visit the father of John the Baptist, Zechariah, while he is serving as a priest in the temple, to tell him that his wife Elizabeth will bear a son in her old age. Then St Luke tells us about the same angel Gabriel going to visit Mary to tell her that she will also become pregnant through the Holy Spirit. We read about Mary goes and visits the old lady Elizabeth, and how Elizabeth’s unborn baby, John, leaps for joy in his mother’s womb. We also in Luke about how everyone at the time of Jesus’ birth was moving around because the emperor had called a census, and Joseph and Mary had to go to Bethlehem, which was Joseph’s home-town, where Mary gave birth to Jesus in a stable, since there was no room in the inn. We also read from the Gospel of Luke, how the angels went and visited the shepherds and told them about the birth of Jesus. So if we want to learn the most about the history of Christmas, we need to go to the gospel of Luke.

But also Matthew has a few things to say about Christmas too. First of all, Matthew tells the history of Jesus’ family tree all the way back to Abraham. Then he tells us about the birth of Jesus, but from Joseph’s perspective. We read from Matthew how the angel went to Joseph in a dream, encouraging him to take Mary has his wife, even though it was obvious that she was carrying someone else’s child—in this case, it was actually God’s own son! Then we also read in the gospel of Matthew how these strange wise men came from the east, following a star which shone over the place where Jesus was born, bringing wonderful treasures of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Matthew also tells us how the family had to flee to the country of Egypt to hide from King Herod who was trying to kill Jesus, and we also read how King Herod killed all the baby boys in Bethlehem who were 2 years old or younger, because he was so intimidated by the news of Jesus’ birth.

So here we learn what we know about the history of Christmas from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. But today, as we come here together on Christmas Day, it is our custom—and it has been a custom in the church for well over a thousand years—not to read from either of these two gospels, but to read from the Gospel of John. John doesn’t tell us the history of Christmas—what happened here, what happened there—but he tells us who this baby is. Who is this Jesus, whose birth have we come to celebrate? Was he just a nice guy, that walked around and taught people? Was he just a good teacher? Sure—he was a good teacher—but this wasn’t simply because he had an eloquent way of speaking, and entertained people, and gave the people what they wanted. He was the living son of God. In fact, St John in his gospel calls Jesus the word of God.

You see, there are two things we need to believe at Christmas time. The first thing is: we want to know who Jesus’ mother is. Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary—Mary was a young woman, and she had had no sexual relations. And yet, Jesus is born from her. Jesus takes on a human body from her body.

But the second thing we need to know at Christmas is this: who is Jesus’ father? Is it Joseph? No—Joseph was engaged to Mary, and they were soon to be married. But this was a special miracle of God that Joseph was able to look after Mary—Mary couldn’t have just lived as a single mother. She needed a husband to look after her and protect her.

So who is Jesus’ father? Jesus is the son of God the Father. God the Father is the father of Jesus. And Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit.

So this is what we read about in the Gospel of John this morning.

Martin Luther summarises this very well in the Small Catechism, where he says: I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord. And this gives us such tremendous help as we navigate our way through our Gospel reading today.

Jesus is true God. St John calls Jesus the Word of God, he also calls him God, and he calls him the true light which enlightens everyone. When we say the Nicene Creed in a few minutes, we will say that Jesus is God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God. Our Gospel reading from John today is where these words come from.

So let’s think about how John calls Jesus the Word of God. He writes: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.

What John is saying here is that before anything in the whole universe actually existed, God was there. But also, God was a not a silent person—he spoke, he had a voice. We hear this voice for the first time in the bible when we read: And God said: Let there be light. And there was light. Here we see just what power God’s word actually has. All God needs to do is to say something and immediately it happens. Just to think, that even here in the church, we are reading and preaching that same word of God, that has the power to even create light.

But here’s the wonderful mystery that John talks about. God always spoke, even before he created the world. He was not a silent God, and then later created for himself a voice. God’s voice, his word, is a part of who he is. If I want to get to know someone, I have to talk to them. This is the only way I can know what’s really on someone’s mind. And so, God himself, right from the very beginning, has a mind, he speaks, and he is the one who has created our minds and has created our voice and our words, since his word and his voice and his mind came first.

But also, God has existed from eternity. God is without beginning and without end. This is completely different from us. We are like a piece of music—we have beginning and a middle and an end. However, God is eternal. He has no beginning, and no end. We only experience the “middle” of God. Some people try to cram God into their human understanding, thinking that he must have begun at some time, and he must die at some time as well. Some people think that God is already dead, and that they are now in charge. How pathetic! How pitiful! We even haven’t begun to think about who God really is.

But let’s go back to John. John tells us that God and his mind, his voice, his words have always existed together with him. So he says: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. Can you hear this? God’s word was always there. And God’s word was always with God. And in fact, this word of God in actual fact is God. Here we see the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Father is God, the Son is the Word, and the Holy Spirit is also here in this text as the one tells us about this wonderful mystery.

So long before the Virgin Mary came along, Jesus always existed. He didn’t exist for the first time at Christmas—he is true God, as Luther writes, begotten of the Father from eternity. So what does it mean, “begotten of the Father from eternity?” Begotten isn’t a word that we tend to use anymore. But in older times, “to bear a child” and “to give birth to a child” is what we normally say about a woman. But to beget a child is what a father does. So to say that Jesus was begotten by the Father, is simply to say that he was fathered by the Father.

But here’s the amazing thing—John writes: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Just as God the Father has always had his mind and his voice and his word—this word that God speaks is such a powerful word, that we speak of him as a separate person. The word of God is not a separate god, as if we believe in more than one God, but is equal to God. And what this means, is that Jesus, God’s Son, has always existed, and he is equal to God the Father. God the Father didn’t bring Jesus into existence later—but just as God has always spoken and always thought, he has always had a son, so that his Son is also true God. And this Son is the person we believe has entered into the word through Jesus.

Let’s read what John says about him. He says: He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

So here we learn about the son of God, as he has existed from eternity. I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord.

But now, what is going on at Christmas? We read in John’s Gospel: And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Here we read that the eternal word of God actually did something that had never happened before. He was always a spiritual, eternal being. But now, he adds something to himself. He actually becomes a true human being. He takes on human flesh. We read: the Word became flesh.

This is what happens at Christmas. Jesus’ life didn’t simply begin, just like our lives begin when we are conceived. But Jesus life had already existed. Now—he unites himself to human flesh. He now takes on a human body, so that when this man speaks this is God who is speaking. Sometimes we speak God’s word too, but this is only because we are repeating what God has already said. Jesus speaks God’s word, and speaks it as that which hasn’t been said before, before he is actually true God. And this human body is now God’s body. This human flesh is God’s flesh.

In the early church, they often used a good picture to help people understand this. They spoke of a piece of iron which is placed in a fire. Imagine yourself a long time ago, maybe in one of those old shops in Hahndorf, with a blacksmith who is going to put shoes on a horse. And the blacksmith has to put a piece of iron in the fire and it starts to glow red hot. He wants to use the fire in a particular way, and to channel the fire into one particular place.

This is the same with Jesus. As true God, Jesus is like the fire. He has been burning hot through every century of history and long before history ever began. But now, when Jesus becomes a true man, when the Word becomes flesh, it’s like his human body is iron. But Jesus is both true God and true man. At the blacksmith’s shop, there are two things at work: the iron and the fire. Whatever the iron touches, it burns, so that these two things are always together.

The same goes with Jesus, he is true God and true man at the same time, just like iron and fire. The iron is still iron, and the fire is still fire. Jesus has not stopped being God, and yet he is still completely 100% man.

This Jesus is the person who will then suffer under Pontius Pilate. It’s not just a man who suffers, but this is true God who suffers, not because God can suffer, but because he has taken on flesh. It’s not just a man who dies, but this is God who dies, not because God can die, but because God has taken on flesh. It is God who is buried in the tomb, not because God can actually stay dead, but because he has taken on flesh.

And now, what a miracle it is that this human flesh rises from the dead on Easter Sunday, not because human flesh can raise itself up from the dead, but because this flesh is also true God. What a miracle it is that this human flesh sits at God’s right hand and prays for each of us every single day, not because God needs to pray to himself, but because he is also true man who is our mediator. What a miracle it is that this human flesh actually descends into our church to baptise people with his own hands, and to breathe out upon people his Holy Spirit through his own words through his own mouth, not because human flesh can normally be in more than one place, and more than one church at the same time, but because he is also true God. What a miracle it is that Jesus actually descends into our church to feed us with his own body and blood, not because we human beings can normally do such a thing, but because Jesus is true God, the flesh and the blood that he feeds us with is the true flesh and blood of God, which Jesus took when he became flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary.

And so we read in John: The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace of truth.

But you know—Christmas is actually about something else! It’s not really about Jesus taking on human flesh. Jesus took on human flesh right when the angel Gabriel went to the Virgin Mary and told her that she would become pregnant. If we want to celebrate the fact that Jesus became flesh, we probably should have celebrated it 9 months ago, and celebrate the time when Jesus was conceived.

So what happens at Christmas time? What has been hidden now comes to light! Jesus is born! This is not the first time that he took on human flesh—this is the first time that the world is able to see Jesus’ wonderful and glorious face! And because Jesus is the Word who has become flesh, this little baby face is the true face of God! And so this is what St John says, when he says: The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.

We have seen it! Can you begin to imagine what is going on? Here for the first time, we get to see the living, wonderful face of God, the face of the baby Jesus! And so it’s no wonder that St John today calls Jesus the light—He says: In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

Christmas time is the first time when this holy face shines out into the world! And now the world has seen it! And this is the face that the angels have come out of heaven to see for themselves! This is the face that even stars align themselves against, so that wise men would come and see this beautiful face for themselves. This is the face that brings life and joy and happiness to everyone! This human face, this tiny baby Jesus is a glorious face. As John says: The word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory. And this is such a wonderful glory, because it is the glory that Jesus is God’s true Son. We have seen his glory, glory as of the only son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

No wonder the angel said: I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Great joy! Think about this. We also read about the wise men, that when they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. Think about this. Great joy! How much joy there really is at Christmas—the joy that is created not from our hearts, but from God’s living word, that living word that has become flesh, and shines with brilliant light into the darkness, that word which is full of grace and truth.

May God bless you this Christmas with angelic and heavenly joy, as you welcome this baby Jesus into your own arms, the word who has become flesh, and now dwells among us, full of grace and truth!

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, we can’t begin to imagine the fullness of the mystery of what is happening at Christmas. But the deeper we delve, the greater our joy! Fill us with the light of your Holy Spirit this Christmas. Shine the light of your face, dear Lord Jesus, into the darkness of our hearts, so that the darkness will never overcome it. Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! Amen. 

Christmas Midnight Year B [Luke 2:8-14] (24-Dec-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 7pm.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St Luke. And we read from his gospel the history of the event of Christmas, where the angel says:

Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

Prayer: O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord, Immanuel. Amen.

The thing about Christmas is that it completely changes the way we think about everything. So often, we learn our bible stories as children, but then the only thought we give to them is when we are children. When we get to Christmas, we just get together to be all sentimental and nostalgic about all the things we learnt long ago when we were children.

No—it’s time for us to think about the history of our Saviour’s birth as grown-ups, as adults! But you know—instead we often just sit around and enjoy the vibe of the thing!

Do you know what’s behind the vibe of Christmas? Do you know what lies hidden behind the Christmas trees, and the decorations, and the Christmas lunches, and the family fights, and the Christmas carols, and the pretty lights, and the commercialisation, and the shopping, and the reindeers, and the jingle bells? Do you know what’s hidden in all of this?

Right in the middle of all of our celebrations, is something that completely changes the way we think about everything. Right in the middle of all this is something that is not sentimental, nostalgic, magical. Right in the middle of all this is a living creature of the living God—a supernatural being—an angel, a creature of light, a creature of purity, a creature made for one purpose only—to worship before the throne of God and sing praises to him day and night—a creature who shines light into the darkness of the night, who holds the sword of God’s word, a sword which flashes fire all around, with wings, with a trumpet. And this living creature of the living God appears in all the darkness of the world on a dark night to tell you something.

And so, what’s he going to tell you? We read: And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.”

This is no fairy story. This is recorded by St Luke as living history, history that completely blows our minds, so that we may never think the same again. Just the thought that there is a complete other supernatural realm, where angels live—just the thought that there is another brilliant order and army of creatures other than ourselves, should completely blow our minds—let alone the fact that in a manger in Bethlehem is a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord.

The world will never be the same again. It has never been the same again since.

Once a few years ago, I remember meeting a German man, who was a soldier during the Second World War. He was an avid photographer, and one afternoon, he showed me an album full of photos that he had taken during the war, particularly when he had visited Slovakia, in Eastern Europe. One of the photos he showed me from Slovakia was that of two shepherds. This photo was unlike anything I had ever seen—it was like it was straight out of the mediaeval times. Here they were with clothes all moth eaten and tattered, wearing old floppy hats, holding sticks in their hands.

What struck me was just how poor these men were, what a simple life they lived in hard times. When we imagine these shepherds in the field on the night of Christmas, let’s not forget that these are poor people, etching out a simple existence for themselves, eating from hand to mouth.

And from God’s perspective, we are all like that! All of our ambition for our own lives, all of our plans, all of our goals, all of our measuring and statistics—in God’s eyes, he sees us all as a group of simple lowly shepherds, simply living in the same clothes we have had for our whole lives, living from hand to mouth. All of our human achievements are nothing. Do we realise just how much we depend on God for everything, for every crumb of food, for every day of work, for every cent in our bank account, every tile on the roof over our heads? God has provided it all—we are completely dependent on him.

And don’t you think that it’s significant that the angel should come tearing out of heaven on Christmas night, not to bring the good news to those in the world who think they have everything, the Caesar Augustuses of the world, the King Herods of the world, those who are building their empires and stocking up their bank accounts. No—the message of Christmas goes to simple shepherds, to show us that God is the father of the afflicted and the oppressed. This shows us something very special—the message of Christianity is only going to be received by those who need it. The church is going to be strongest throughout history in hard times, in times of persecution and oppression. The church is going to be ridiculed by the world as something for the weak and simple-minded. So be it—but that same church is the choir of the living God that joins in with the angels and sings: Glory to God in the highest and peace on earth to those with whom he is pleased. That same group of nobodies in the eyes of the world is going to be the ones that go to Bethlehem to see the thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.

I read recently a story about St Ambrose, who was a Christian pastor and bishop in the 4th century, who was particularly known for his writing of beautiful Christian hymns and songs. He was the bishop in the Italian city of Milan, and still to this day, the cathedral in Milan is named after him. In fact, he is one of the few fathers of the early church that you can go and see if you want—after 1600 years, he doesn’t look to good, but you can still see him if you want!

Now the story goes that Ambrose was travelling with some companions and he stopped off at a farm, and asked the landlord how he was doing? The landlord said: Things are going brilliantly for me! I’ve got an abundance of fruit on all of my trees, my bank account is full, my fields are full of corn, my children are strong and healthy. In fact, there’s nothing wrong with life at all right now! And Ambrose was terrified and said told his companions to pack their bags and leave immediately, because he said that God must have abandoned these people, since they had no hardship, and God is the one who heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds. He is the father of the wretched and the afflicted.

I think that it’s not insignificant that Christmas time is often surrounded by so much materialism and spending and shopping! Let this be a constant reminder to us that the good news of salvation is preached to the poor. Now, am I saying that rich people, wealthy people like us, who enjoy such a rich life with so many material blessings, can’t be saved? No—not at all. There are many rich people in the bible. But poverty isn’t just about finances and material blessings—there has been an increase of awareness of mental health in Australia on the TV this year, and depression. We look at the events in the news in the last couple of weeks and we might think the future is bleak. We might worry about what’s going to happen in the years to come now in light of what has happened with ISIS in Iraq and Syria. Many people in our country have no purpose in life, no hope. What a wonderful blessing it is when God sends suffering to us so that our ears may become all the more attuned to God’s word, and that we might hunger for it more! St James says in his letter: Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Count it all joy, says James. Whatever hardships are given to you are God’s gift to you—to humble you, to clothe your mind and your heart and your soul and your spirit in the simple dress of a poor shepherd, going about everyday life, looking after sheep through the night.

What hope is there for our troubled world? What hope is there for our frantic, fleeting lives?

We read: An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear. And the angel of the Lord said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.

The message that the angel brings at Christmas is the end of all fear and it is the beginning of all joy! Fear not. I bring you not bad news, but good news. And not news of doom and gloom, and scaremongering and hatred, but good news of great joy. And this news of great joy is not simply for these shepherds, but it is for all people. All people: this means rich and poor alike, happy and sad alike, sick people and healthy people.

And what is the good news of great joy for all people? For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Of all the things Jesus could be called—he could be called a king, a wise man, a mighty prophet, a priest, a teacher. But the angel goes right to the centre of what all people throughout the whole world needs more than any of these things—we need a Saviour.

And so where is he? Is he going to be in a palace, in a nice comfortable room? No—This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. Can we imagine the simplicity of this event, the humility, the gentleness in which Jesus descends to earth to meet us? There’s an old song which says: What a great mystery it is that the animals should see their creator, lying in a manger. Think about this—everything you have ever thought about how the world works will be completely changed by the angel’s message to these simple shepherds on Christmas night.

One of favourite passages in the Old Testament is where the prophet Elisha and his servant are going out to face a mighty army. We read: When the servant of the man of God rose early in the morning and went out, behold, an army with horses and chariots was all around the city. And the servant said, “Alas, my master! What shall we do?” He said, “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Then Elisha prayed and said, “O Lord, please open his eyes that he may see.” So the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

In our prayers before the Lord’s Supper tonight, there is a prayer for Christmas that says: that seeing you in the person of your Son, we may be drawn to the love of those things which are not seen. I pray that that may also be true for you this Christmas, that your hearts may be drawn to the love of those things that are not seen, and that just like Elisha’s servant faced with this mighty army, you may be encouraged and strengthened and enlivened as you sing together tonight with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.

Let’s read from our reading where it says: And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”

As we think about the birth of our Saviour in the city of David this night, let our hearts and our souls and our spirits and our minds be raised up with all of God’s angels, that what we begin to sing here on this earth may continue to be sung with more and more increasing joy into eternity, where we will see our Saviour’s face not just in the midst of swaddling cloths but in full view.

The birth of Jesus is good news of great joy for all people! May it also be the good news that brings and creates and uplifts our hearts with great joy as well!

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, we thank you for being born in the city of David so many years ago. Come, and dwell in each of our hearts this night, and encourage us as we join the voice of angels in singing our praises to you! Amen.

Christmas Eve Year B [Matthew 1:18-25] (24-Dec-2014)

This sermon was preached at Cornerstone College, 7pm.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St Matthew. And we read from his gospel the history of the event of Christmas, where the angel says:

Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

Prayer: O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today. We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell. O come to us, abide with us, Our Lord, Immanuel. Amen.

I’d like to begin tonight by talking about Easter. On Easter Sunday morning, we read about a small group of women, who were sad about the fact that Jesus had died. Jesus had been buried by two rich men, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, who had given him a rich man’s burial. And here early on Sunday morning comes Mary Magdalene and another woman, also called Mary, and they want to come and see the tomb.

They are coming early on Sunday morning because they want to put spices on Jesus’ body. But there’s one problem – only one day before, Pontius Pilate, the man who had had Jesus put to death, ordered that the tomb be made extra especially secure. We read: So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.

So when the women went to the tomb, how were they even going to get into the tomb? The door to the tomb was rock solid—how were the women going to roll this stone away themselves? I don’t know if the women who were going to the tomb even knew that they would have had such a hard time getting into the tomb. They got up so early, and maybe they were so consumed with their grief, that they rushed to the tomb with their spices without really thinking about what needed to be done.

But when they got there, what happened? Matthew tells us: And behold, there was a great earthquake, for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow. And for fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men. But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples that he has risen from the dead.”

Can you imagine what must have been going through the women’s minds? Could you imagine if you were there on this occasion what you must have thought? Jesus was actually risen from the dead. Here were these women, who had no idea how to roll back the stone, but when they got there, God himself sent an angel not just to let them enter the tomb, but to show them that Christ himself was not even there.

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St Paul says: Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Listen to those words: be transformed by the renewal of your mind. Here the bible offers us a worldview, a mindset, a completely different perspective that explains the world and how it works that could never even occur to us. We often think treat human life, as if we have a body and a mind and that’s it. I think, therefore I am. No – there is so much more. People carry on as if the only thing that exists is what they can see—no, there is so much more. What is written here in the bible, about the life of Jesus, is like a colour movie—and yet do we want to live our lives in black-and-white?

Be transformed by the renewal of your mind. This passage about Easter and the angel rolling the stone away is a wonderful encouragement to us, when we find ourselves in some stalemate situation in our life. We find ourselves standing in front of an enormous boulder, and we have no idea how to remove it. And yet, the more we think about how to remove it, we live as if the only thing we are hoping to do is to anoint a dead Jesus on the other side.

And yet, Jesus is not dead—he is alive. Do we expect God to intervene and interfere with our life? Do we expect him to send his own angel to roll the stone away? Do we even believe that God exists, that he has created not just human beings and animals, but all kinds of living creatures, angels and archangels, or as the bible calls them, cherubim and seraphim? Have we noticed the colour, the variety, the wonderful picture of creation that God paints? What a wonderful thing it is that God should send an angel to roll the stone away for these women! What a wonderful thing it is that God should even come and roll away all kinds of stones, all kinds of boulders, all kinds of stumbling-blocks, brick-walls? You know, when we die, he will even roll away that stone—and behind it will be not a dead Jesus, but the living gate to heaven! Can we, who think we are so intelligent, so rational, so wise, even begin to imagine the way in which the world works, not from our perpective, but from God’s perspective?

But let’s come to Christmas—here’s a man, Joseph. And he is engaged to a woman called Mary. And in those days, there was a custom that people who were going to be married had to be engaged (or betrothed) for 9 months before they were married. During that time, they were not allowed to live together or to go to bed together. The reason for this is that a 9 month engagement gave everybody the opportunity to make sure that the woman who was going to be married was not carrying someone else’s child. And yet, right in the middle of this engagement period, we read: Before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit.

What do you think you might have done if you were Joseph in this situation? What a blow this must have been for him! I’m sure that he hadn’t picked Mary to be a loose woman. How he must have felt quite some hurt, quite some betrayal. Now, it so happened that if a woman was caught during this 9 month period, carrying someone else’s child, she could be very seriously punished, and even stoned to death. And we read: And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly.

Can you imagine Joseph staying up late at night, wondering what he was going to do? How was he going to fix this problem? He obviously loved Mary, and he didn’t want her to be faced by a lynch mob. And so it says, that he wanted to do things quietly, not to expose her to shame. But he also didn’t want to ahead with the wedding, because he knew that Mary was pregnant with someone else’s child—and yet, I’m sure he was looking forward to the wedding. Here is Joseph standing in front a brick wall in his life—not knowing how to get over it, and so he tries to work out what is the most rational, friendly way to get himself out of this tricky situation.

And yet—now is the time for God to act. When our strength fails, when our ideas have come to an end, it is now time for God to come and sort the situation out. St Paul writes: My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Joseph is weak, he is all out of ideas, and now it is time for God to come and make his power perfect in Joseph’s weakness.

And what happens? Just like at Easter, an angel comes—an angel comes and rolls Joseph’s stone away. And what’s behind the stone—a dead body? Does Mary have to be stoned to death after all? Will she made a spectacle of? No—behind the stone is an empty tomb. There is no death at all, there is no shame—there is only encouragement, joy, life, and more than that—a living child, a living baby, a living Jesus.

We read: As [Joseph] considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. I don’t know if you noticed in our play tonight, how many times Joseph had to go to sleep. I think it is about four times in the Christmas story. And what’s so significant about this? While the world is asleep, God is awake. When our powers and our strength and our ideas fail, God is in charge, and active, and powerful! And so, when Joseph is worn out from thinking, from planning, and falls asleep—then, the angel comes to him. Then God descends from heaven in all his glory and reveals to Joseph the answer to his problem: Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.

The child is not his child—he knew that. And yet, this child is God’s child. The mother is Mary—the father is God. And yet, what would an angry crowd do to this young woman without his protection?

So there’s no shame, there’s no calling off the wedding, there’s no disappointment—there’s only joy, joy, and more joy! There’s only delight, wonder, amazement, at the fact that this baby boy, will not bring shame to his family, but will bring delight to the whole world, especially on that day when the same angels of God that spoke to Joseph in his dream come again and roll back the stone to the empty tomb to show to our troubled world that he is not dead, but risen!

We read: All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us.

And when Jesus bursts from the empty tomb, he will also say to his disciples: I will be with you (I who am true God) always to the end of the age.

What do we think this Christmas? How has Jesus our God been with us, and we didn’t even know it? What stone has he rolled away, when all our strength has failed us? What trouble, what heartache, what sadness has he taken on himself? What happiness, what delight, what complete supernatural joy does Jesus himself give us for the taking?

Here at Christmas is the first time when we see the living face of God, surrounded by animals in a manger! And the living face of the baby Jesus is the face that brings joy and life to the world! And Easter time, he will also bring joy to the world that his dead face is not still in the tomb!

We read: When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.

Amen.

Dear Lord Jesus, bless us this Christmas with every joy and blessing of your Holy Spirit. Come and save your people from their sins, since your name, Jesus, means that. Come and be with us as our God, since you are our Immanuel, which mean God with us. Send us your living joy, that we may join in with all the angels of heaven in singing your praises this night. Amen.

Advent IV: Audio Sermon (21-Dec-2014)

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Advent IV Year B [Luke 1:26-38] (21-Dec-2014)

This sermon was preached at St Mark's Lutheran Church, Mt Barker, 8.30am, 10.30am.

Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our sermon text today was inspired by the Holy Spirit by the apostle St Luke. And we read from his gospel where the angel says

Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!

Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus—help us to hear your word today as your faithful servants. Let your Holy Spirit overshadow us, that we may also be strengthened with the same faith that says: Let it be to me according to your word. Amen.

When people have a new baby, it’s always interesting to talk about why people named the baby a particular name. In different cultures, there are all kinds of different customs and cultures about naming children. For example, in Holland, where my family is from, it was common a long time ago to name the first son after the father’s father, and then the second son after the mother’s father. Once I saw in someone’s family tree from England, where there were three sons in one family all with the same name, Nicholas. Why was this? The first two Nicholases had died, and there was a custom to name the next child of the same sex after the child who had just died. In Sudan, it’s common for people to name children after something that was happening when they were born. For example, if it was raining after a long drought, they might call the child “Rain”. If there was a war on, they might call the child “War”. If there was peace, they might call the child, “Peace”.

So you can see that there’s all kinds of reasons in all kinds of cultures why people name children what they do. Now, it’s strange, that half the women in the New Testament who were alive at the time of Jesus all seem to have the same name. On Easter Sunday, when Jesus rose from the dead, we read: Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. We read about Jesus’ friends in the town of Bethany, Lazarus, and his two sisters, Martha and Mary. And then of course in our reading today, we read about Jesus’ mother, who was also called Mary.

So why do you think there were so many people around at this time called Mary? Mary actually means “bitterness”. It’s a name that people gave their daughters in a time of great sadness. In the book of Ruth, we read about Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi, and the difficult times that they went through. Naomi says to the ladies in the town of Bethlehem: Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. The name Mara is very similar to Mary. Both names mean “bitter”, “bitterness”. And many of the Jewish people at this time were particularly saddened by the fact that their home country had been taken over by the Romans and there was no proper Jewish king. It was a bitter time, and so it’s not surprising that so many people at this time called their daughters, “Mary”.

And so we read in our reading today: In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!”

In this translation of the bible, the angel comes and the first thing he says to Mary is “Greetings!” Now the word in Greek was χάιρε, which was a common way in which people used to greet each other. But literally, it means, “Rejoice!” I think it would be much better to translate it like this! “Rejoice!” So here, the angel comes to Mary, this young woman, who lives in bitter times, who has a bitter name, and he has come to tell her about the fact that she will conceive a son, who is Jesus. And what’s the first word that the angel speaks? Rejoice!

You see, this little greeting from the angel is a wonderful prophecy which shows us that as Jesus enters this sinful, bitter, twisted world, he will bring with him complete, perfect, eternal joy! Wherever Jesus is going to be, there is always going to be joy!

Now sometimes, we might think: does this mean that Christians have to be happy all the time? Of course not. King Solomon in the book of Ecclesiastes has a wonderful word to say about that. He says: For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die…a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and time to dance.

Sometimes as we go along in our journey as Christians, and we experience so much more of the powerful light of God’s word, we also find that we notice the darkness of the world, and the darkness of our own hearts all the more. And so, we have to be careful that we don’t try to feign happiness to try and give other people the impression that we are true Christians simply because we are able to keep ourselves in a good mood all the time. This just breeds hypocrisy. Many Christians have sent themselves crazy with guilt because they find that they can’t keep themselves happy all the time.

But there’s something special about the fact that the angel says: Rejoice! This word, this greeting, creates the joy! It bring the joy! It fills Mary with the joy! And later an angel will go to the shepherds in the fields and say: I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.

God speaks, and creates the joy out of nothing, simply through his word. It’s just as at the beginning of the world. And God said: Let there be light! And there was light. Here, God sends his angel and says: Rejoice! And there was joy!

But there’s a reason for the joy! Here’s the reason why Mary can be filled with joy. It says: Rejoice, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!

Isn’t a wonderful thing to be favoured by God! Think about how the angel calls Mary: favoured one. The Lord is with you! I wish that we could all sit and think about all the wonderful treasures that are contained in these words. Have you ever thought about just how God favours you? He might have all kinds of reasons to disfavour you, to condemn you—but he doesn’t. He favours you, just like he favours Mary here. And the Lord doesn’t reject you, he doesn’t abandon you. He doesn’t abandon the world that he has created, even when the world goes through a bitter time. Instead it says: The Lord is with you!

Now, here of course, these words are talking about Mary specifically. She can rejoice, because she is favoured, and the Lord is with her! But there’s a reason why she is favoured, and the Lord is with her.

The angel says: Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

Do you see, all this joy, the favour which Mary has, and the wonderful presence of God, which is promised to her with the words: “The Lord is with you!” all comes down to one thing—there is a tiny Jesus who has been conceived in her womb.

Do you see? All the joy in the world comes from the presence of this one person, Jesus Christ. Here in our passage today—he is completely unseen, and so tiny, he could only be seen under a microscope. And yet, this tiny embryo, this tiny collection of cells is the child Jesus, and from him comes every joy, every blessing that the world will ever need. Rejoice, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!

All the favour of God comes from this one person. Mary, in our reading, conceives a child in a very unusual way. The angel speaks, the word of God enters her ears, and the child is conceived. And same goes from us—the word of God enters our ears, and Jesus is conceived in us, and grows in us. It’s always God who begins the life of a new child. It is always God who chooses just what this new child will look like and how their personality will be. And so, it is God who sends Jesus into our hearts through the word of God. And Jesus comes into our hearts, and even though there is so much sin there, he is happy to set up his home there, not because he loves sin, but because he forgives it. He is going to die for it, and pay for it with his own blood, and then he is going to rise from the dead. And so all of God’s favour comes from him. When God looks at us, he doesn’t see the sin and the corruption there, because it has all been paid for and covered up by the blood of Jesus. When you were baptised, all the blessings of Jesus’ death were given to you. When you were baptised, the blood of the lamb was painted on your own personal door-post, just like the Israelites did in Egypt. So when God looks at us, all he sees is Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus.

And just as the angel says to Mary: The Lord is with you! Jesus is also with us. In fact, right at the beginning of the gospel of Matthew, it says that Jesus will be called “Immanuel” (which means God with us). And then right at the end of the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus sends his apostles to go out and baptise and preach the Gospel and he says: Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. When Jesus is with us, then we can be with the Father. Jesus says: He who has seen me has seen the Father. And from Jesus’ mouth, from his lips, comes the Holy Spirit. And so when Jesus is with us, we also have the Father, and the Holy Spirit. And so what a wonderful thing that Jesus is conceived in Mary’s womb! What a wonderful thing it is that Jesus is formed and grows in us each time we hear the wonderful good news of the gospel. The Lord is with you!

Here in our reading today, where the angel goes to Mary, we learn about the great power of God’s word. So often we think that God’s word is only powerful when we feel it. We think the Holy Spirit is only here when we think that we feel the Holy Spirit. But our reading shows us something really wonderful: Mary says to the angel: How will this be, since I am a virgin? And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Here we see how God’s word speaks, and things happen. The Word of God comes into Mary’s ears, and the Holy Spirit comes upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadows her. She doesn’t feel it, she doesn’t see it—but the proof is in the pudding. The effects come 9 months later, when she gives birth to her wonderful son.

We have to realise that for us too, the Holy Spirit always comes to us, and creates something new in us all the time, not because we deserve it, but through God’s word out of nothing. It’s not us who are able to control the Holy Spirit, as if when we feel miserable, and bitter, and exhausted, the Holy Spirit leaves and goes outside. No—it’s precisely right in the middle of all that, that the Holy Spirit comes through God’s word and enters in and creates the joy. We might think we have so many reasons to be sad: bad things are happening in the world, we miss people who have died, we sin, we fail, we disappoint others, and we disappoint ourselves. And yet—this is exactly why Jesus came into the world. He comes and enters into the world, he is with us. He forgives and shines his favour over us. And he pours out the joy of the Holy Spirit.

Here in our reading today is a central part of our Christian faith. Not every Sunday, we read a passage which teaches us something which we say every week in the Apostles’ Creed. But today our reading teaches us that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. Jesus entered into the world and was conceived, just like all of us. But while we were all conceived by the union of a man and a woman, Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit. This is such a wonderful mystery.

Here we learn the wonderful value of human life. We see how the most important thing in the world at this time of history is tiniest of unborn babies. And this is exactly what the bible reveals Jesus as: a baby, a child that is precious, and highly valued by God. And this is also part of the reason why Christians throughout all time have always valued human life right from its very beginnings, and have always taught against abortion. And this is not my private opinion, but is a biblical teaching that can never be changed to suit our society. We live in a society where there are organisations and individuals that tell lies to parents, encouraging them to have abortions. People are told that this is OK if it is an “unplanned pregnancy”. But no parent has ever planned the conception of their own child—anyone who has ever had difficulty having children knows this—the child has only ever been given to them by God himself, and every child and every pregnancy is planned by Him. And it is an untold sadness that pervades our society where mothers have aborted their children, and now grieve their children’s death and they feel like they can’t tell anyone because of their shame. Jesus entered the world to forgive these people too, and to create the comfort and joy of his word and his Holy Spirit in the hearts of these mothers and fathers too.

If only people everywhere throughout our country would know the precious value of every single human life! But when sin is committed, if only people would hear the good news that there is not one sin that Jesus didn’t die for, and that especially includes abortion. There is such a mission in our society today to promote the value of every single human life, as we remember the wonderful blessing of Jesus entering into the world as a tiny embryo in his mother’s womb.

May we give great thought and attention to this wonderful miracle in our reading today, and listen to Mary’s words: Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.

Amen.

Yes, dear Jesus, let it also be to us. Let your word enter into us, grow in us, bear fruit in us. Come and be with us. Show your favour to us, dear Jesus. Create the living joy of your Holy Spirit in us. Behold, we are your servants, dear Lord Jesus. Let it be to us according to your word. Amen.