“The Song of Mary” Luke 1.46–56 Advent Mid3 Dec. ‘24

 

1.                Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The message from God’s Word as we continue our Advent Midweek Series, the “The Nativity: Songs of God and Men,” is taken from Luke 1:46-56, it’s entitled, “The Song of Mary,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                When Mary sings her song of praise, after the unborn John the Baptist has confirmed that the Christ Child is growing in her womb, she doesn’t sing a completely original song. Her words, a song we call the Magnificat, are largely derived from a song sung about a thousand years earlier, a song proclaimed by Hannah, the mother of Samuel.

3.                Now, this is a rather interesting choice. As the words of the Magnificat show, Mary clearly wanted to focus on the justice of the Christ, how her Son is going to give to those who have nothing and take away everything from the wicked. Because of this, there were plenty of other songs from the Old Testament she could have adapted for her own song of praise. She could have sung a variation on the Song of Moses, the boasting, joyful words the Israelites sang after watching the Lord drown the armies of Pharaoh. She could have sung a variation on one of the psalms or a section of the Prophets as they proclaimed the wonders of the Lord who was going to tear down the mighty and lift up the lowly. So then, why would Mary choose to sing her song from the song of Hannah?

4.                One reason, of course, is that Hannah was a barren woman singing her song in response to the Lord opening her womb. So, in both cases you have women responding with joy to a miraculous pregnancy. But maybe more important, Hannah’s song of praise is deeply personal. For years, her husband’s other wife Peninnah has mocked and ridiculed Hannah for her barrenness, so when Hannah sings about God bankrupting the rich and enriching the poor, when she sings about the full going hungry and the hungry being filled, she’s not just speaking vaguely here. Listen to what Hannah sang: “My heart exults in the Lord; my horn is exalted in the Lord . . . because I rejoice in your salvation. . . . Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn. . . . The Lord makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts. He raises up the poor from the dust . . . to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor” (1 Sam 2:1b, 5, 7–8).

5.                Hannah is speaking about her own personal enemy in her little town, the one who’s been tormenting her over a conflict that most people will never know. Hannah is proclaiming that, yes, her God is the one who pours out mercy on entire nations, but he’s also the God who gives salvation and victory to individuals, to the unknown and insignificant. And the more you feel like that kind of person, the more you sing the song of despair, the lament of the worthless. You look at your life, and the people who are supposed to love you lose interest in you. They don’t understand your troubles, and they absolutely don’t want to be burdened with them. They keep their distance from you and make you feel invisible.

6.                You want to leave a legacy behind you in your life, but your work doesn’t seem to matter. Your accomplishments don’t seem to matter. You worry that the world is going to forget you not long after you’re gone. Then you look at your sins and can’t imagine how things could be any different with God. You sing the song of despair. “Why would God love me? Why would he notice me? Why would he keep room in his mind and heart for someone who keeps going back to the same sins over and over again? Why would God remember me when I can’t remember my promise to follow him for more than five minutes? I give in to anger and bitterness all the time. I keep returning to laziness, to greed, to lust, and to jealousy. I’ve accomplished nothing and thrown away everything. Sure, God is the God of nations. He’s the God of kings and prophets and apostles. But why should I expect him to come near me?”

7.                You should expect it because the mother of your Lord told you he would. She promised you this when she sang her own version of Hannah’s song of praise: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. . . . For he who is mighty has done great things for me. . . . His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm. . . . He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things” (Luke 1:46–53).

8.                Your God is not just the God of big broad groups or world-famous figures. He’s the God of weeping women with barren wombs, the God of unknown maidens from hick towns, the God who sent his Son to find you & forgive you personally, and to save you personally. And at the cross, this is precisely what Jesus did, in fulfillment of everything his mother sang about him. There at Calvary, the Mighty One did great things for you by surrendering his might, by being betrayed and crucified, by allowing men to take the blood he would use to forgive your sins and make you worthy of eternal life. At the cross, he showed his strength by placing his foot on the devil’s head until he heard that serpent’s skull crack into pieces, setting you free from the condemnation he pumped into your veins. There, as Christ thirsted, he filled your hungry soul with good things. He fed you with the bread of life, with the salvation that he promised Abraham would come to all those who believed his Word.

9.                This is what God gave to Mary through the child he put in her womb. This is what God gives to you through that same child named Jesus. There at Calvary, your Lord was not merely the Savior of nations, of big groups, of seas of people. He wasn’t just the Savior of people whose names will never be forgotten. He was the Savior of the forgotten. He was your Savior, the one who ripped you out of the hands of the devil and placed you into the arms of the God who will always love you, cherish you, always call you by your name.

10.             With his song of forgiveness, with his song of victory over the grave, Jesus Christ silenced your song of despair. And he has now given you the right to join the song of joy that Hannah and his mother sang, the song proclaiming the mercy of the God who has filled the hungry with good things, cast the mighty from their thrones, and welcomed you into his kingdom. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

“Our Newborn King” Micah 5.2-5a, Advent 4C Dec ’24

 

1.                  Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer.  Amen.  The message from God’s Word this 4^th Sunday in Advent is taken from Micah 5:2-5 and is entitled, “Our Newborn King,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                  The Book of Micah is a little-known portion of the Word of God, but if there’s any part of Micah likely to be known to the average person, it’s that which foretells the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). It was the part quoted by the chief priests and teachers of the law at the time of the birth of Christ, as recorded in Matthew 2. Jesus had already been born in Bethlehem when the Magi came to Jerusalem seeking him; and Herod, who had not the slightest idea where Jesus might be but worried about any budding pretender to the throne, asked the priests and teachers: “Where is the Christ to be born?”  They replied in Matthew 2:5-6, “In Bethlehem in Judea, for this is what the prophet has written:  “But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.”  In their response the priests and teachers combined Micah 5:2 and 5:4 and predicted that the coming divine King of Judah would be born in Bethlehem.

3.                  Micah 5:2 says, “² But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.”  Here Micah names the place where Christ was to be born seven hundred years before He was born there. But, after seven hundred years there was little likelihood that one in the line of David could be born in Bethlehem. The odds were against it. No members of the family of David were living in Bethlehem any longer. They were scattered. There was one family in the line of David living in Nazareth; but Bethlehem must be the place where the Son of God was to be born, according to Micah. 

4.                  The circumstances which led up to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem are so familiar to us that we may not realize how remarkable they were. The record in Luke’s Gospel gives us some of the details: Caesar Augustus signed the tax bill which moved Mary out of Nazareth. If that little donkey on which Mary rode had stumbled and Mary had fallen, Jesus would probably have been born somewhere along the route. But, that little donkey couldn’t have stumbled, because seven hundred years earlier Micah had written that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem. The little donkey got her there on schedule; it was timed from eternity. 

5.                  Micah says, “From you shall he come forth for me.” The words for me indicate that this One was coming to do the will of the Father and to accomplish His plan.  Micah also says, “Whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” Jesus’ birth, the Incarnation, has to do with His humanity. He clothed Himself in humanity when He came to Bethlehem. But His existence was before His birth.  Isaiah, a contemporary of Micah, verifies this: “… Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Isa. 7:14). And he has more to say of this coming one: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given …” (Isa. 9:6). When Isaiah wrote “unto us,” he was not thinking of the United States; it was Israel that he had in mind. “A child is born”—that’s His humanity. “A son is given”—not born, because this speaks of His divinity. The “child” was born in Bethlehem, but the “Son” was “from everlasting.”  In Proverbs 8:23 we find, “I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” “Set up” in this verse means “anointed” and could read, “I was anointed from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was.” Before there was any creation, He was God; but into creation He came, at the appointed time, into a little town, Bethlehem.

6.                  The Lord Jesus said in John 16:28, “I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.”  His goings forth have been of old. He is the everlasting God. He told the Pharisees, “… Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). Christ appeared many times in the Old Testament. Go back to the creation. In John 1:3 we read concerning Christ, “All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made that was made.” He was the Creator. In the Garden of Eden He was the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. He was the Word of God. He was the communication from God to man. We find Him in pursuit of man throughout the Old Testament. You see, what Micah is saying here is of tremendous significance. Although He was born in Bethlehem almost two thousand years ago, His goings forth have been from old, from everlasting.

7.                  We have been considering His preincarnation; now let’s look again at His incarnation, His humanity. When God came to Bethlehem, He got something He never had before, and that was the name of Jesus. He received a humanity, and Jesus was His human name. He was YHWH. That is the name of deity. He’s Jesus now, and He’s a Savior. He came out of Bethlehem to save. Remember, the angels said to the shepherds, “For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). Matthew 1:23 says, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” But His name was to be Jesus. He can’t be Jesus unless He is Emmanuel, which means “God with us.” He must be a man to take our place, to be our representative, to die a substitutionary death.

8.                  Micah 5:4-5 says, “⁴And he shall stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And they shall dwell secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth. ⁵And he shall be their peace.”  Here the Lord Jesus is depicted as the Shepherd who feeds His flock. He’s the Shepherd to the church, and He’s also the Shepherd to the nation Israel. The One who was born in Bethlehem, the One who was rejected, will feed His flock. I can’t think of anything that sets Him forth more wonderfully than the figure of the shepherd. It speaks of His care, His protection, and His salvation. Jesus is the Good Shepherd who will lay down His life for the sheep (see Ps. 22); He’s the Great Shepherd who keeps His sheep even today (see Ps. 23); and He’s the Chief Shepherd who is coming in glory (see Ps. 24). His entire ministry is set forth under the office of a shepherd.

9.                  In John 10:10-11 Jesus our Good Shepherd says, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”  How we do need a Good Shepherd, especially in the aftermath of the shooting at Abundant Life Christian Day School in Madison, WI this past week. In the event of a school shooting 12 years ago, Pastor Ken Klaus, Speaker Emeritus of the Lutheran Hour wrote that on Friday December 14^th, 2012 a thief and a shepherd entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut.  First-grade teacher Victoria Soto had gone on record as saying she loved her "little angels." When the shooting at Sandy Hook School began, she showed exactly what those words meant to her. Rather than trying to save herself, she hid the children in the classroom closet. When the gunman entered her room, she didn't hide.  Victoria Soto, teacher and shepherd, looked the murderer in the eye and said her students "were in gym class." Victoria Soto died, but all of her children lived.

10.              The media called Victoria a "hero." Without question that word describes the young teacher. But she’s more than a hero. She’s also a caring shepherd, who gave up her life to save her children, her flock.  In the next few days we will be celebrating the birth of God's Son, our Savior. More than 2,000 years ago Jesus entered this world to confront and conquer sin, death and devil -- the thieves who had stolen the souls of humankind. Common sense says Jesus should have run away from those enemies, not toward them. That's not what Jesus did.

11.              Read through the Gospels and you will see a description of the conflict that took place between the Good Shepherd and the thieves. You will hear how, in a seemingly one-sided battle, those well-armed and up-until-that-time undefeated forces of evil laughed at God's Son, mocked Him, rejected Him, tortured Him, and saw Him nailed to a cross. Anyone who was there that day would have said the Good Shepherd had lost, and the thieves had won.

12.              Of course, on Friday Dec. 14^th, 2012 those same folks would have said first-grade teacher and shepherd Victoria Soto had lost.  Nothing could be further from the truth. Take a look at the procession of first-graders who left Victoria's classroom, and you will know the shepherd won the great victory. Similarly, stand at heaven's gate and see the hundreds of millions of souls, once doomed and damned, which have been rescued by the Savior's sacrifice.  Jesus our Good Shepherd has won. His resurrection from the dead has defeated death and devil, has sent sin scurrying in defeat. The Good Shepherd has laid down His life for the sheep and because He did we are saved.  Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

“Rejoice!” Zeph. 3.14-20, Advent 3C, Dec. ’15

 

1.                Please pray with me.  May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our redeemer.  Amen.  The Third Sunday in Advent has traditionally been called by the Latin word, Gaudete, meaning “Rejoice!”  That’s why traditionally many Christian churches throughout the world light a pink candle on their Advent wreaths for this particular Sunday. For as you’re called to repentance, so also you’re urged to rejoice in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. By His own Cross, He’s accomplished salvation for you and has come to rule in your midst.  As the prophet Zephaniah tells us today from Zephaniah 3:14-20, He rejoices over you with gladness! That’s why, even from prison St. Paul in Philippians chapter 4 encourages us to “rejoice in the Lord always,” knowing that the peace of God will keep us in Christ Jesus. We also find encouragement in John the Baptist. As he suffers in prison, he calls upon Jesus and is strengthened by the Word of the Gospel that he receives. The same good news is preached to you, by which all things are made new and even “the dead are raised up.” The message today is entitled, “Rejoice!” Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

2.                Depressed. Feeling blue, stressed out, frustrated. These are not the words we use to describe a joyful time such as Christmas. But, some people feel this way at this time of year. Part of it comes from unrealistic expectations. Part of it comes from a misunderstanding of what this season is all about. Part of it comes from cramming too much activity into too little time.  Still, we come to church and hear God calling us to rejoice and be glad. That’s easy for him to say! He’s up there in heaven, where everything’s safe and bright, unhurried, unhassled. Let him come down here and see how it feels. Then we’ll see who’s rejoicing, celebrating!  Well, in our text this morning, the prophet Zephaniah gives us God’s answer: God did come down here, and he does celebrate, and we can rejoice because the Lord came here and rejoices over us.

3.                It’s a great story.  A British fleet stood off Baltimore, bombing the fort that guarded its harbor. All through the night the guns roared.  Through the clouds of smoke explosions could be seen over the fort.  The darkness covered the stone walls of the fort, but the sounds of war—convinced every shipboard witness that the fort must fall and Baltimore would be overtaken.  And then as the morning’s first light appeared, the witnesses saw an astonishing sight.  The fort still stood!  And there, flying proudly above the fort was the American flag. Hurrying down below one witness seized a pen and dashed off lines that every citizen has heard a thousand times.  “O Say can you see,” wrote Francis Scott Key, a prisoner that night on the British flagship, “through the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming.”  The fort and the flag had survived.

4.                What a picture of the scene we see in Zephaniah chapter 3.  The city of Jerusalem was under siege, being punished for her many sins.  The Lord Himself was the assailing force, pouring out his wrath and striking the city with his anger.  The devastation seemed enough to consume the entire world.

5.                And then in the rest of the chapter we make an amazing discovery.  As that dreadful night of judgment comes to an end and a new day dawns we realize there are survivors!  We see God’s scattered people, purified, return to worship their God.  We realize that the pride that characterized Jerusalem had been burned away and the city now held only the humble, those who feared the LORD.  And then we hear a voice rise in song singing in Zephaniah 3:14-20, “¹⁴Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel!  Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!  ¹⁵The Lord has taken away the judgments against you; he has cleared away your enemies.  The King of Israel, the Lord, is in your midst; you shall never again fear evil. ¹⁶On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem: “Fear not, O Zion; let not your hands grow weak.  ¹⁷The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.  ¹⁸I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival, so that you will no longer suffer reproach.  ¹⁹Behold, at that time I will deal with all your oppressors. And I will save the lame and gather the outcast, and I will change their shame into praise and renown in all the earth.  ²⁰At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned and praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes,” says the Lord.”

6.                Here in Zephaniah 3, we see how God gives His people the honor and praise they thought that they had forfeited forever by their sins of idolatry and wickedness.  Zephaniah reminds the people that they should rejoice in the Lord.  The reason is simple.  He says that the Lord has taken away the judgments against you and cleared away your enemies.  Scripture tells us in Romans 6:23, “The wages of sin is death.”  But, if the punishment of sin is gone and if that great enemy death has been removed, then what remains is simply the sleep of the body until the day of resurrection when our Lord Jesus promises to return.  One thing we look forward to during the season of Advent the coming of our Lord Jesus on the clouds on the Last Day.

7.                This is exactly what has happened.  The prophet Isaiah speaks of the work of Christ in these words.  Isaiah 53:5 says, “He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by His wounds we are healed.”  The punishment our sin deserved has been placed on Christ.  That’s a cause for rejoicing my friends.  That’s why Zephaniah can speak the way he does in verse 15 because the Lord has taken away the sins of the world through His Son.  They are removed in Christ.  Death and hell are no longer a threat to the one who clings to Christ in faith.

8.                The second result of the removal of sin is that God is present with his people with his protecting power.  The prophet says in Isaiah 59:2, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.”  God hates sin and he won’t dwell among a sinful people who lie, cheat, swear, worship after false gods, commit sexual immorality, disobey their leaders, hate their neighbor and fail to worship the Lord and serve Him only.  That’s why Isaiah speaks the way he does.  But when sin is forgiven and its guilt has been removed by Christ there’s no reason why the Lord must stay separated from us any longer.  That’s why Zephaniah now says in chapter three, “The LORD, the King of Israel, is with you.”

9.                Rejoice dear friends in Christ!  The LORD God is with YOU!  He is protecting you from harm, delivering you from evil and comforting you in your fears and worries.  In fact, the Lord rejoices with singing because we are living with him.  What a glorious revelation of our God.  We’re the ones who should be filled with joy and singing, because we have the privilege in Christ of living with our God for eternity.  But, Zephaniah says that the Lord is just as happy as we are.  God is happy because the goal of his work of salvation in saving us has been completed by our Savior Jesus.  The LORD is joyful because the crown of His creation, mankind, can live in his presence forever.

10.             As we move ever closer to Christmas during this Advent season we know that there are those who are dreading that day.  People without families anticipate another lonely Christmas.  Fathers and mothers who are unemployed are disappointed that they can’t buy gifts for their children.  Still others, because of a death in the family are spending their first Christmas without their loved one.  It can be easy to think that there’s nothing to be excited about.  But, no matter what circumstance we find ourselves in, we remember today from the prophet Zephaniah that God gives us a reason to REJOICE!  God is near to us to forgive, sustain and support us.  With the assurance of his love and presence in Christ Jesus we can rejoice in his grace and mercy toward us.  Thanks be to God!  Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.