Wonder!

The Fourth Sunday in Advent

December 24, 2023

Luke 1:26-38

 “Wonder!”

We have come to the end of our Advent journey on this morning that is the fourth and final Sunday of the Advent season. But with sunset on this day, we transition to Christmas Eve – all in the same 24-hour period. It’s a bit strange, but it happens every seven years or so as the days happen to fall in the calendar year. We’re worshiping here in the Fellowship Hall this morning with our Advent blue to help distinguish what is happening this morning from what will happen this evening. The Sanctuary, now decorated in white and gold for Christmas, will have its big reveal this evening for Christmas Eve. We hear in today’s Gospel lesson of the Annunciation, the announcement to Mary by the angel Gabriel that she would be the mother of the promised Savior. Although the word “wonder” is not used per se in this passage of Scripture, that is exactly what Mary is doing – lots of wondering, but it is faith-filled wondering. It is both verb and noun here, as Mary wonders (verb) about what the angel has said to her. But Mary also willingly submits herself in humble obedience and wonder (noun) to God’s great plan that will center on the Child that she will bear. And so the message for this Fourth Sunday in Advent is entitled, “Wonder!” May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

Today’s Old Testament lesson tells of how King David contemplated building a grand house for God. But God turns the table on David’s plans and says that he will do something even grander: “Moreover the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house… And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:11b, 16). God’s promise is not about a physical, earthly house, kingdom and throne. God’s promise centers in that Child that Mary would bear, who makes clear that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). The kingdom of God centers not in a place, but in a Person – Jesus, who is both David’s Son and David’s Lord (Matthew 22:41-46). He would be born, he would live, suffer, die and rise again to fulfill all that is written in the Law and the prophets (Luke 24:27); to make us his own sons and daughters. That promise made to David is fulfilled in the word of the angel Gabriel to Mary as he tells her: “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,  and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:32-33).

The unborn Child in Mary’s womb, the One who was saluted by the unborn child in Elizabeth’s womb (Luke 1:39ff.), would grow into adulthood and say, “Without me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). And yet, as one Christian author has said: “Yet we act, for the most part, as though without us God can do nothing. We think we have to make Christmas come, which is to say we think we have to bring about the redemption of the universe on our own” (Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 2001. “To Be Virgin,” by Loretta Ross-Gotta; p. 98). “The intensity and strain that many of us bring to Christmas must suggest to some onlookers that, on the whole, Christians do not seem to have gotten the point of it. Probably few of us have the faith or the nerve to tamper with hallowed Christmas traditions on a large scale, or with our other holiday celebrations. But a small experiment might prove interesting. What if, instead of doing something, we were to be something special? Be a womb. Be a dwelling for God. Be surprised” (Ibid, p. 101). As Mary wonders about all that God has in store for her, in response to the angel messenger she says: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38a).

“Are you ready for Christmas?” That’s the big question we ask one another now in this final countdown to the holiday. My response is always the same when I am asked this question. I tell people: “The good news is that whether we’re ready or not, Christmas still comes.” Mary’s response to the angel is one of faith. She doesn’t ask as Zechariah did when this same angel, Gabriel, told him that he and his wife, Elizabeth, were going to have a child in their old age. In unbelief Zechariah asked, “How can this be?” (Luke 1:18ff.). Mary responds not in unbelief, but in in faith, as she asks the angel: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34). And the angel reassures her: “Nothing will be impossible with God” (Luke 1:37). That’s important for us to remember as well. When we are confronted with something that seems utterly impossible, let us remember and rejoice in the blessed truth that we worship and serve a God with whom all things are possible (Matthew 19:26; Mark 9:23, 10:27)

In many cultures, a person is given a new name at milestone events in life. The new name identifies him or her in a new way, and these are sometimes called naming ceremonies. So it is with Mary as the angel comes to her. She is given a new name: “O favored one” (Luke 1:28). Her life would never be the same. The truth is that we also have received a new identity and new name through the Child of Mary. In Jesus, we are now called “child of God,” and are baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus, giving to us everything that he has done for us through his life, death and resurrection. By faith in Jesus, like Mary herself, we also are now the favored ones of the Lord.

With Mary, may we also bow our heads and our hearts in wonder and worship as we look forward to the celebration of our Savior’s birth. Amen.