The Announcement of Jesus’ Birth
St. Luke 1:26–38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
~Prayer~
Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,
Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,
Within my heart, that it may be
A quiet chamber kept for Thee
ELH 123:13
Dear Fellow Redeemed,
Last week, we looked at the angel Gabriel’s announcement of John’s birth to Zacharias. The angel foretold how Zacharias would have a son who would be great in God’s sight. He would be the last and final prophet. Gabriel appeared to Zacharias in the temple and he was a priest. If anyone should have believed the angel’s word—it was him. But he doubted the angel’s words—because his wife was not only barren but well beyond the years of childbearing. Because of this Zacharias could not be able to speak until his wife, Elizabeth, gave birth to John the Baptizer nine months later. God humbles the proud.
In late March, six months after Gabriel appeared to Zacharias in the temple, he appeared to Mary. Yet, the person and location differed greatly. Here, the angel makes the announcement not in God’s holy temple, but in the insignificant town of Nazareth. Instead of a respected priest in the temple, Gabriel presents himself to the humble virgin Mary. If there was anyone who you would expect to doubt God’s promise, it was this lowly girl from this insignificant town. Yet, we hear the response of a humble faith in God’s Word, “Let it be to me according to your word.” God exalts the lowly.
As Lutherans, we can sometimes have a hard time understanding how we should speak about the virgin Mary. We know we should not pray to Mary, because Jesus is our only Mediator (I Timothy 2:5). We know that Mary was not sinless, because Jesus is the only person to live without sin. In fact, it was not until the mid-1800s that the Roman Catholic Church decreed the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which is the teaching that Mary herself was without sin. Even our lesson contradicts that teaching. When the angel greeted Mary, she was afraid. Why? Because when sinners are confronted by heavenly majesty, their conscience becomes afraid that they will come under God’s righteous judgement. We also see times during Jesus’ life, when Mary forgets his purpose (The Boy Jesus in the Temple). Besides this, Mary calls herself God’s humble servant, who he has exalted (Luke 1:48). Mary never claims to be without sin, nor does she tell us to pray to her.
And yet, our Lutheran Confessions say, “She is truly the mother of God and yet remained a virgin (SD VIII, 24). We confess in the Creed, “I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son our Lord, Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary.” And the angel said that Mary had found favor with God.
Whenever there is a false teaching, there can be a temptation to overreact. But we shouldn’t vilify Mary—she is the mother of God. She is blessed among women! Yet, the reason Mary is favored by God is not because she earned such merit, but rather, she received this special honor completely by God’s grace alone. She is a recipient of God’s grace in Christ. Our Lord Jesus, the Savior of the world and Mary’s Savior too, was conceived by the Holy Spirit in her own womb. This is what led Mary to proclaim, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.”
The angel’s announcement to Mary was the long-awaited fulfillment to all of God’s promises. The angel’s greeting is reflective of the language of God’s Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah, “the Seed of the woman,” who would crush Satan’s head. The root of Jesse and the Son of David! Yet, the most pertinent is God’s announcement through the prophet Isaiah seven hundred years before Christ’s birth, the sign given to all Israel, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14).
Immanuel means, “God with us.” Here, in the womb of Mary, the Son of God would become incarnate. In wonder, Mary asks Gabriel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” The Holy Spirit would come upon her and the power of the Most High overshadow her. The same Spirit that hovered over the waters and brought forth creation (Genesis 1:2). As the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary, she conceives Jesus as holy, the Son of God. This is the moment of the incarnation of our Lord (Luke 1:35).
The eternal Son of God, the Word by which the heavens were made, became flesh and blood in the womb of the virgin Mary. God and Man in one person. This was a miraculous conception. Jesus was born in this special way to be our Savior. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit instead of descending from Adam in the natural matter, so that he could be without original sin.
Now an important question to ask is—why did our Savior have to be both God and Man? Let’s say you were at a basketball game. Your team is losing. Suddenly, a father of one of your team’s players jumps up and enters the game. As a former NBA player, he could quickly get your team back in the game. But what’s the problem? He’s not on the team. He could never help the team win, because he couldn’t sub into the game. In fact, he would be an illegitimate player, and the referee would have to kick him out of the game or you forfeit the game. However, let’s say, there was a player on the bench who was a member of the team, who could lead the team to victory, that would be totally appropriate because he was a real substitute.
Jesus had to be a human being, just like you and me, because otherwise, he couldn’t be our substitute. Yet, by becoming man, born of the virgin Mary, he could be our substitute. As a man, Jesus put himself under the law to fulfill it in our place. The law required that a man fulfill it and therefore Jesus had to be a man. What’s more, Jesus had to be a man, so that he could suffer and die in our place. God could only die in the person of the God-man Jesus Christ. Why was it necessary for our Savior to be true God? So that his holy life in our place and his holy death for our sin would have sufficient value for all people—so that his life and death could pay for the sins of the whole world.
Our greatest need was saving from our sin. Eternal death and hell was what we deserved for our sin. You and I were born in sin. From our first selfish cries to our daily offenses, grievances, and selfish decisions, we sin against a holy and righteous God. Like the Israelites who were terrified of God’s presence on Mount Sinai, you and I would be absolutely terrified to stand before the almighty God in our sin and shame.
But God became man to save us from our sin. Yet, even more, God becoming man is our greatest comfort. The God of heaven and earth came to our side, joined our team, and sought to win us the victory. You don’t need to be afraid of him or too ashamed to confess your sins. Look what he did for you! “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). Jesus died on the cross, so that any sinner, thief, tax-collector, or prodigal son, could be forgiven and be welcomed into Paradise.
Now won’t you believe it? God has spoken to you. Jesus is God your Savior. He was born poor and lowly to raise you to divine glory. Just as much as he was born to Mary and for Mary’s salvation, he was born for you. God grant us faith to trust in this announcement to us and say, “Let it be to me according to your word.” Amen.