Our Hope Anticipated
(For a brief personal intro to this sermon manuscript - Before I Began)
Our Hope Anticipated - A Christmas message about God's redemption story and the utterly impossible hope that may now be yours. (Preached on December 9, 2012)
The Distinguished Professor & Reverend David Needham taught my Theology 101 class at Multnomah University a few years back now. He was a master illustrator, which made him a wonderful Theology professor, because much of Theology is best understood with illustrations. Often enough he shared an illustration that may help us with what follows.
The Distinguished Professor & Reverend David Needham taught my Theology 101 class at Multnomah University a few years back now. He was a master illustrator, which made him a wonderful Theology professor, because much of Theology is best understood with illustrations. Often enough he shared an illustration that may help us with what follows.
Imagine a tapestry; an embroidered artwork large enough to
cover your living room wall. Perhaps it
depicts a banquet feast with countless chairs placed neatly around a massive
table heaped with dressed culinary delights and set with the finest china, golden
flatware, jeweled goblets, and royal blue linens. Or perhaps it depicts a rugged hill country
with tall stands of trees and a raging river rushing over giant boulders with a
bear sweeping the whitewater for salmon, a six point buck tucked in the shadows
and eagles soaring overhead. Or you can
imagine whatever… But get in your mind
the bright colors, the defined shapes, the detail of each stitch; thousands of
tiny threads carefully weaved together, smooth to the touch.
Now turn the tapestry over.
What do you see? Same bright
colors, sort of, but without definition of shape or detail, and rough to the
touch. The tiny threads appear
carelessly intertwined with many tied up in knots or apparently left to dangle
with frayed ends and loops. One side
appears as an unbelievably intricate and beautiful work of intention and
accuracy. The other side appears, though
brightly colored, as a childishly chaotic and uninspiring work of accident and
error…It doesn’t make sense?
Mary lived – as do we
– behind the tapestry of God Most High. Often
enough what we see occurring in and around us, though brightly colored, appears
without defined shape or detail, and rough to the touch. The threads of our lives carelessly
intertwined like an uninspiring work of accident and error…It doesn’t make sense.
And the idea that on the other side of
things God is carefully weaving the threads of our lives into an unbelievably intricate
and beautiful work of intention and accuracy, smooth to the touch – well, an
idea like that seems utterly impossible. Allow me to remind you this morning that God has
always been up to something far greater than we can grasp and far more
impossible than we can imagine, because nothing will be impossible with God.
Read Luke 1:26-38 below…
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. (ESV, throughout)
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| Rembrandt - "Adoration Of The Shepherd's" |
Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was Adam
and there was Eve and there was God. And
everything was good, very good,
because God is very gracious. But after conversing with the Deceiver, God’s
enemy, Adam and Eve didn’t think things were so good or God was so gracious at
all. So Adam and Eve arrogantly turned
their backs on God’s graciousness. Everything
that was very good broke; including their very
good relationship with God himself.
The damage was impossibly irreparable…for Adam and Eve, that is. And they ended up outside the land far, far
away…but not without a promise. The
promise of a plan to redeem what was broken and lost. One day God would make things right; one day
an offspring of Eve would inflict a
crushing blow on the Deceiver and, though the Deceiver would wound Eve’s offspring, he would ultimately be
defeated and the grace of God would make a way for salvation through faith;
right relationship restored. And not by
the hands of humankind. That again would
be impossible. Rather, by the hand of God himself: A hope
anticipated.
Well, Adam and Eve had a son,* who had a son, who had more sons. Seth had Enos, who had Cainan, and on it went
for four generations until Lamech had Noah.
But by then things had merely gotten worse. “Every intention of the thoughts of
[humankind’s] heart was only evil continually.” (Gen. 6:5) God saw it coming and it “grieved him to his
heart.” (Gen. 6:6) So God, as planned,
decided to cleanse the earth of humankind with a flood. He looked around and Noah found favor in the eyes of God. Noah and his family would be saved by God’s
grace from the flood, but the rest of humankind would be wiped out. At the end of it God revealed, though the
earth was newly cleansed, the intentions of humankind’s heart remains evil from
their youth. Hope for salvation by God’s grace
through faith, though tasted by Noah, remained yet a hope anticipated.
Noah’s son had a son.
Shem had Arphaxad, who had Cainan, surely named after his great X9
grandpa. And on it went for six more
generations until Terah had Abram. By
this time, however, the hope anticipated
had begun to feel more like hope forgotten, or hope blurred at best. The depravity of humankind recorded in the
Bible in Genesis 11 had reached new heights with the arrogant attempt at
constructing the Tower of Babel (pun intended).
So God scattered humankind throughout the region, and likely around the
globe, by coloring their language variously.
Then He looked again and, just as He planned, Abram was found.
God called out the childless man along with his wife, Sarai,
and made him a promise he couldn’t refuse, really. God said:
“I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your
name great, so that you will be a
blessing.” And from then on, for the
remainder of Abram’s life, soon to be Abraham or “father of a multitude,” God
assured this promise of blessing through an offspring. Not “offspring’s,” as Paul reminds us in Galatians 3, but “offspring,” singular. And indeed, chapters later, after a visit
from Melchizedek the Gentile Priest of God
Most High (Gen. 14), and after a visit from God himself in whose sight Abraham
found favor (Gen. 18), Abraham and
Sarah had a son, Isaac, who has a couple sons himself, one of which was Jacob
(later renamed Israel), who adds 12 sons to his household, all of which add many many more sons and daughters to the household…and
from somewhere in this household will eventually come an offspring who will receive, yes even fulfill, the promise to
Abraham, to be a great nation, blessed by God, whose name would be great; indeed
a blessing to many. Hope anticipated.
Eventually, however, the whole house of Jacob lands in Egypt where they are reigned over by the Pharaoh and the people of a foreign kingdom;
brick-making slaves for 400 apparently hopeless years. But during those years Judah, one of the 12
sons of Jacob, had a son, who had a son, who had a son, and on it went for five
generations until Admin (the first assistant) had Amminadab, whose daughter by the
way, married a guy (Ex. 6) who had this little brother – named Moses – whom God
empowered to bring the message of redemption not only to the house of Jacob, now so large they’ve become the
people of Israel, but as well to
Pharaoh himself: The grace of God making a way for
salvation through faith. An impossible idea according to Pharaoh. A hope
anticipate for the people of Israel.
Besides that daughter who married Moses’ brother, Amminadab
had a son, Nahshon, who had Sala, who had Boaz, who had Obed, who had Jesse,
who had Eliab? Nope. Abinadab?
Ah, nope? How about Shammah? Not-ta?
“The LORD God has sought out a man after his own heart, and [He] has
commanded him to be prince over his people…”
(1 Sam. 13:14). Jesse, who had
David? Yup…a hope anticipated.
The LORD God made David a king…but not yet the king (1 Sam. 16 – 31), which is
complicated to explain, but finally David received the throne and began to
reign over the people of Israel. And
right at the outset the LORD makes a promise to David: “When your days are fulfilled and you lie
down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will
establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever. I
will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And your house and your kingdom shall be made
sure forever before me. You throne shall
be established forever.” (2 Sam. 7:12-14a, 16)
Hope anticipated.
Well David did have a son, who had a son, who had a son, and
on it went for sixteen generations, and as the nation of Israel splintered into
two nations and as the moral temperature of the now two nations fluctuated, mostly
in the lows, many voices echoed from the shadows in an effort to keep hope anticipated.
Isaiah sings out: “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.” (9:6-7) Hope for Messiah anticipated.
Again Isaiah declares: “Then a throne will be established in steadfast love, and on it will sit in faithfulness in the tent of David one who judges and seeks justice and is swift to do righteousness.” (16:5) Hope for God’s grace anticipated.
Micah cries out: “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 coming forth is from of old, from ancient days (or eternity past). Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has given birth; then the rest of his brothers shall return to the people of Israel. And 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. And he shall be their peace.” (5:2-5a) Hope for salvation anticipated.
But the divided nation of Israel didn’t buy the hope. They didn’t catch God’s grace. They missed the way for salvation. “Impossible,”
it was assumed. “It’s already been so long?”
And they failed miserably to be a blessing. And one of David’s offspring had a son, who
had a son, who had a son, who was sent with the rest of his generation into the
foreign land of a foreign kingdom, but maybe there they’d learn to be a
blessing. For even there voices would emerge; Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel for
example, with reminders of the hope
anticipated – the grace of God making a way for salvation through faith in one of Eve’s
and Abraham’s and David’s offspring who would reign over the house of Jacob on
David’s throne as King of a kingdom without end! – this message both for
the people of Israel and the people
of the foreign kingdom.
Four generations – a son, who had a son, who had a son, who
had a son – all exiled from their land, until Shealtiel had Zerubbabel, (perhaps
the most fun name in the Bible besides Mephibosheth) who left the foreign kingdom
and returned home and made a new start by building a new altar and a new house
for the LORD. A new hope anticipated spread throughout the
land. But not for long…
See Zerubbabel had Rhesa, who had Joanan, who had Joda…who
had a son, who had a son, and so on, but their names are unimportant because
for twelve generations all they knew were battles and restlessness and an eerie
prophetic silence that waxed far too long to be comfortable. Long lay the world in sin and error
pining…and the longer it lay the more the people felt the LORD had given them
up and the more impossible the hope
anticipated began to feel. Until a
son, had a son, and named him Joseph and arranged for him to be married to a young
girl named Mary. Ah, hope anticipated again.
And here we arrive back in Luke 1:26, the scene of a great
announcement. Not merely that Mary would
soon be a Mommy. No, there is far more
hope at stake than that; a hope
anticipated for centuries, even millennia, that the grace of God would make a way
for salvation through faith alone in a particular offspring; a son…and all this not by human means mind
you. This all is far too impossible that humankind should get to
handle it. No, redemptions’ story is
carried along by God alone, because nothing will be impossible for God… Watch.
Nazareth was less than impressive. It was situated in the hill country of
Galilee. Translation: It was hick-ville. Well off the beaten path, it was small and
sparse with no major commerce. A couple
trailer parks, an all night bar, a motel with a flickering “Vacancy” sign, and
more cars up on blocks than on the road.
You’ve probably been to a town like it…but you probably drove right
through. Roman soldiers hunkered down in
Nazareth. Ruffians and outcasts found
refuge in Nazareth. And the locals just
kept to their own poor estates. Indeed,
the reputation of Nazareth was of the lesser appeal. But that was not so with a particular
resident.
Mary was young, a virgin with no experience in dating or
boyfriends. But she found herself engaged…to
Joseph, which was fine with her since he came from good stock – the house and
lineage of David to be precise. Well, one
day while Mary was weaving or kneading bread or scrubbing tunics or whatever girls
did to pass the day in late first century BC, an angel sent from God visited
the young virgin. It was Gabriel,
powerful and chiseled; a cosmic warrior and messenger alike, drenched in the
glory of God Most High, and boy did he have a message this time: “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with
you!” (Luke 1:28)
Mary was certainly startled.
Favored one…favored one…favored
one, she thought quickly to herself.
What did I do? What does this mean? What did I do for this? She was so confused.
Gabriel continued: “Don’t
be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God….”
I have found favor
with God? Mary’s mind swirled with
the remembrance that Noah found favor with God and Abraham found favor with God,
and surely countless others. And this favor is the same thing we mean when we
talk about grace. It is, as a professor of mine once suggested,
“the unmerited release of God’s limitless love”…to us…to Mary. She has found
favor with God, as one commentator has said, “not because of her own merit or
because she has done anything but
simply because she is the chosen vessel for this [epic] demonstrating of God’s
grace.” Mary just got graced.
Gabriel continued: “And
behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son…”
Mary’s mind flashed to that promise of hope in the Hebrew
Scriptures in Isaiah 7:14, and quickly caught up with the angel: “Behold,
the virgin will conceive and bear a son…” – wait, I’m a virgin, she thought.
Gabriel continued as Mary silently quoted the passage with
him: “…and you shall call his name
Jesus.”
Jesus? Mary questioned quietly, I thought you were going to say Immanuel, God is with us. Mary’s eyes darted back and forth as she
began connecting the dots. Jesus!
Yeshua! The LORD saves!
Now nearly floored, Mary told her mind to shut up and
listened as Gabriel continued: “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 1:30-33)
That sounds an awful lot like “redemption’s story” talk,
doesn’t it? Salvation talk through and
through. And let me tell you, there is
much about those two verses that is flat out rad.
Where John the Baptizer was revealed in Luke 1:15 as “…great before the Lord,” here Jesus will
be simply “…great,” an adjective that
needs no qualification when used in reference to Him. And where John the Baptizer will be revealed
in Luke 1:76 as a “prophet of the
Most High.,” Jesus will be the one and only “Son of the Most High.”
And I just learned this week that the name “Most High” is a name
for God that is one of the most commonly used names for God by non-Israelites throughout Hebrew
scripture? You remember Melchizadek, the
Gentile King of Salem and, by his own admission, “the Priest of ‘God Most High.’” Perhaps you remember the Gentile prophet
Balaam? In Numbers 24:16 he refers to
God as “the Most High.” And then Nebuchadnezzar, in several places in
Daniel, refers to God as “the Most High” or “Most High God.” (Dan. 3:26; 4:24,
34, etc.) Yes, that is right, a gentile priest,
prophet, and king! Yet, as well, David
and other Psalmists sing to “God Most High” two dozen times throughout the
Psalms. The point is…Gabriel uses this name of God here to indicate Jesus
will be Son of the God of both Jew and
Gentile. This will be a salvation
for all people.
And certainly, if one has listened closely to redemption’s
story and followed the hope anticipated,
as certainly Mary had done for her young years, the mere mention of Jesus
receiving from the Lord God “the throne of his father David” ought to remind us
of God’s promise to David in 2 Samuel 7 and anticipate the obvious mention by
Gabriel of Jesus’ reign over the house of Jacob and subsequent rule over a
kingdom without end! (also in Daniel
2:44; 7:14)
Certainly a very exciting message for us, and I hope you
catch that. Right here we see the
grace of God making a way for salvation! Certainly a very exciting message for Mary as
well. One problem, of course…
As Mary rapidly tried to put all this together in her mind
and in her heart – I’ve been graced by
God Most High…to bear a child…named Jesus, who will actually be God’s Son, and
He will be the offspring God promised David, who will make a way for my people
and…well…everyone into a Kingdom without end! – suddenly her mind and her
face stopped, and she looked up at the angel and asked, “How will this be,
since I am a virgin?”
And the thing about her question was that it wasn’t one of
disbelief. Her amazement and overwhelm
trumped any once of disbelief at this point.
No, rather, the tone is that of curiosity, like she’s sitting down with
paper and pen ready to take notes, “Okay, go!”
So Gabriel answers…
And I’ll stop for a minute because you know what the angel
is about to say, and it has generated not a short supply of debate over the
centuries. But really, I’m not so sure
it is here in the text for us to pause and ask questions of its possibility, or
even historicity, are you? I don’t see
any question marks in Mary’s response at the end of the passage. And I might suggest as well, this is the
third time in the passage we learn Mary is a virgin. But really, I’m not so sure it is here in the
text to indicate an immaculate conception and thus suggest the holiness of the
Mother Mary unto worship, are you? No,
rather, I suggest to you these two points of issue are here in the text to
indicate the heightened level of impossibility
of this conception and suggest not only the holiness of God Most High unto
worship, but as well, as we’ll see in a minute, the holiness of Jesus himself;
the Son of God.
So, as I mentioned, Gabriel answers Mary: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the
power of the Most High will overshadow you…”
Which is to say, this conception will not quite be the same as what you,
Mary, were taught in fifth grade sex education class? This will be far more impossible than that. This will not involve a man, but rather a
mysterious movement of God the Holy Spirit settling upon Mary such that this child
will not inherit humankind’s evil heart from youth, but instead, as Gabriel
says, “the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35)
And just in case Mary is yet unconvinced, though I suspect
it is not her, but we the reader centuries later who need further convincing,
Gabriel continues, “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. For nothing…”
Now catch this, because this will set a precedent for how
you leave this passage. Whether you
believe or don’t believe this next statement from Gabriel will determine whether
you even need to keep reading. Because
this next statement from Gabriel is the theological footing on which is built the
way for salvation by God’s grace through faith. For it is not a way that is made by human
possibility; it is not a way devised by human minds nor crafted by human hands
nor earned by human efforts. No, the
way of salvation by God’s grace through faith is utterly
impossible…humanly speaking. But, as
Gabriel now declares in the text, “…nothing will be impossible with God.”
Now if you’re floored at this point, I’m with you. The reality that nothing has ever, is now, nor
ever will be impossible with God is as lofty, as well as flattening, of any
reality there is. But from our position
on the floor I suggest we brace ourselves for verse 38.
Gabriel has closed his message to Mary and now awaits her
reply. I wonder how much time passed
between verse 37 and 38? I wonder how
much time would pass for me? It took me 24
hours this past week to realize that indeed nothing will be impossible with
God. But for some reason – and I don’t
think I’m putting Mary on any high pedestal here – but I don’t think much time
passed at all. I think the amazement and
overwhelm had mounted up into such immense joy by this time and I think she
burst out immediately: “Behold, I am the
servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
You know what that says in the Greek… “LOOK HERE!
I am a bondservant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your
word.” There is really no way around that text. There are no fancy linguistic tactics to make
it say something else or to soften its effect or to somehow trap it in an early
first century BC Jewish context in an effort to make it irrelevant and so
lessen the conviction we ought to experience when we contrast the faith of Mary
as heard in this statement with our own!
In fact the Greek text proves weightier yet. Between the exclamation of Mary’s tone and
the reference to herself as a bondservant or a bought and willing slave, the statement
becomes not a light load at all.
One commentator wrote:
“Her servant-hood is not a cringing slavery as in Egypt or some other
foreign Kingdom, but, rather, a submission to God Most High that in OT times
characterized genuine believers and that most certainly should characterize
believers today.”
Another commentator wrote:
“Mary reflects the person whom God unexpectedly chooses to use. She brings no outstanding credentials to the
task and lives on the edge of the nation.
She brings nothing on her resume other than her availability and
willingness to serve. Both these
characteristics are the most basic ones anyone can offer God. So he puts her to use in his plan.” Oh yes He does. He gives Mary a leading role in God’s
redemption story, right alongside Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Ruth, David,
Isaiah, and many other men and women.
Oh, to be of some such use in his plan; in God’s continuing
redemption story. When I woke up early
Wednesday morning and sat down on the sofa with this text open trying to
wrestle off the spearing insistence to go ahead and preach it, do you know what
reached out and shook me the most? Oh
the grace of God toward Mary was significant, and the rich salvation terms were
profound, and the position statement of nothing being impossible for God was
virtually halting at least. But the
thing that really wrecked me was Mary’s statement: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it
be to me according to your word.”
Because really, it ought to be our response, not only when confronted
with life’s seeming impossibilities, but even more, it ought to be our response
when confronted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Do you see it now?
There is so much more here than a scene in a pageant. This is a Gospel text. The grace of God is making a way for
salvation through faith alone in Jesus Christ. Paul says, in Ephesians 2:8-9, that it is…
· By God’s grace… – there it is in the text, God’s particular favor vs. 28-30
· …you have been saved… – there it is in the text, Jesus, Son of the Most High vs. 31-33
· …through faith. – there it is in the text, Mary, the bondservant of the Lord vs. 38
· And this is not [our] own doing… – nope, that would be far to impossible for you and I
· …it is the gift of God… – the grace, the salvation, the faith, all a gift of God
· …not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. – save boasting in the cross of Jesus Christ alone.
The grace of God has made a way for salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.
How about that for a hope anticipated?
Wednesday afternoon, when I got off the phone with Phil,
this amazing young man was sitting in my office on the other side of the desk
and as he was telling me all about what God is doing in him and through him as he
serves local teens with Young Life, this statement blew out his mouth and
nearly knocked me off my seat…he said: “It’s
crazy, when you give yourself to God, so much joy comes out of it. It’s humbling and beautiful.” Oh yes it is, and these last four days have
been just that for me… What about for
you?
* The line of genealogical descent is from Luke
3:23-38 throughout.
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