26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee,  27 to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David.  The virgin’s name was Mary.  28 The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you.”  29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.  30 But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.  31 You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.  32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,  33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”  34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”  35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.  36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month.  37 For nothing is impossible with God.”  38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered.  “May it be to me as you have said.”  Then the angel left her.  - Luke 1:26-38, The New International Version, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House) 1984.

In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:

The first four years of my life were spent in Cibecue, Arizona, where my father served as a missionary to the Apache Indians.  Even though that was a long time ago and I was very young, I can still remember a few things.  I remember when an Indian who went by the nickname, "Leo the Lion," grabbed a huge snake from under our porch and wrapped it around his arm. I remember when my dad shot a skunk right outside the church building.  And I remember Easter.

Like many other Christian churches, our small mission celebrated Easter with a sunrise service.  I understand that this is the tradition at St. John’s.  Our Easter sunrise service begins at 6 AM.  On the reservation, however, the sunrise service was not at 6 AM, or 5:30 AM, or any other set time.  The congregation gathered on a high hill outside the town at … sunrise.  Only a few minutes before dawn, it looked like no one was going to show up.  But as the first rays of sunlight began to peak over the horizon, the people somehow made their way up the hill to worship on time.

This morning we find ourselves in a similar position.  I know that next week marks the beginning of the Christmas season, not Easter.  The front of the church will soon be decorated with poinsettias, not Easter lilies.  But we are still looking forward to the Son-rise, the coming of Jesus, God’s Son, into the world.  With our Sunday School Christmas service this morning, you could say that the first rays of Christmas light are peaking over the horizon.

It was the angel Gabriel’s privilege to share the good news with Mary, the good news that God had chosen her to give birth to the Savior of the world.  In the text for this morning, the conversation between Mary and the angel Gabriel, Luke reminds us that the dawn is rapidly approaching.  Christmas is almost here.  As this Advent season draws to a close, we look to the horizon and prepare to…

The words of our text immediately follow the account of the angel Gabriel’s encounter with Zechariah the priest.  Gabriel told Zechariah that God would give him and his wife, Elizabeth, a son in their old age.  John had been chosen for a special purpose, to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus.  But because Zechariah responded to this wonderful news with disbelief, God made it so that he was not able to speak until this birth had taken place.

The angel Gabriel was a busy messenger.  Several months later, when Elizabeth was six months pregnant, God sent Gabriel to a young woman by the name of Mary.  The message he carried this time was even more amazing.

Gabriel came to Mary and said: "Greetings, you who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you."  These may be the only words in the Bible that are more recognizable in Latin than they are in English.  The Latin translation serves as the basis for "Ave, Maria," a song that is especially popular at this time of year.  Mary was highly favored, but not because of anything that she had done.  She wasn’t rich or famous, but she was still special.  Mary was highly favored because the Lord had chosen her for a very important task.  She was a poor girl from a backwoods town, but of all the women in the world, God had chosen Mary to bring the Savior into the world.

If one of God’s holy angels appeared to you out of nowhere, how would you react?  Would your mouth drop open in awe?  Would your body quiver with fear?  In the presence of such glory, would you think back and remember all the things you had done wrong and feel guilty?  When Gabriel appeared to Mary, she was "greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be."  We don’t know exactly what Mary was thinking, but its safe to say that she was a little afraid of the unknown.  She was minding her business, when all of the sudden an angel appeared to her without warning.  She may have been thinking: "Why is this happening to me?"

Gabriel calmed Mary’s fears right away.  He came with wonderful news and he didn’t waste any time sharing it.  "You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus."  It is a joyous day in a home when a couple finds out that they are going to have a baby.  They can’t wait to tell their families and friends the good news.  But in this case, it’s turned around.  The mother did not share the good news.  She was the recipient.  The angel told Mary that she was going to have a baby, but he didn’t stop there.  He gave her even more information.  Long before the age of ultrasounds, Gabriel told her that she would give birth to a son.  And the couple didn’t have to worry about arguing over baby names because this child’s name had already been chosen.  The name was to be Jesus.

"When the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman…" (Ga 4:4).  God’s time had come, and he sent Gabriel to Mary to put his plan in motion.  Because Jesus was born just like you and me, he is true man.  Because Jesus came to earth as a man, he was tempted in every way that we are, but was without sin (He. 4:15).  Because Jesus was born as one of us, he is not ashamed to call us brothers (He 2:11).

Jesus is truly the son of Mary.  The celebration of his birth in Bethlehem is only a few days away.  But Gabriel’s announcement to Mary was not the first of its kind.  The Old Testament is rich with prophecies that point forward to the coming of God’s son.  These prophecies tell us that the son of Mary is also the son of David.

Jesus was the son of David in two different ways.  First, both of his parents were descendants of David.  The most famous record of this is in Luke 2.  Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem for the census because "he belonged to the house and line of David."  About a thousand years before Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem, their forefather David had been king over Israel, and under his leadership, the nation prospered.

Even during this golden age of Israel, this prosperity was only a shadow of the glory to come.  In the Old Testament lesson for today, God promised David: "Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever" (II Sa. 7:16).  What greater news could a king hear than that his family line would remain in power?  And David had the promise from God himself that his kingdom would last…forever.

But in the centuries that followed David’s reign, the political climate of Israel changed dramatically.  David’s kingdom was dismantled.  Israel and Judah were divided. Israel was completely destroyed. Judah was carried off to Babylon.  The Israel that existed at the time of Jesus was a far cry from the powerful nation that David had built.  So what did God mean when he told King David that his throne would be established forever?

In a few words, Gabriel explained to Mary the meaning of that prophecy.  "The Lord God will give him (Jesus) the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and his kingdom will never end."  Jesus was a physical descendant of David through his parents, but he was much more than that. Jesus came to earth in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  He came to re-establish David’s throne, but not with the sword and powerful armies.  As Jesus told Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world."

Jesus came to earth to establish a spiritual kingdom.  The strength of his kingdom does not rest in its vast resources or military might.  The power of his kingdom cannot be measured by the size of its territory.  This kingdom draws its strength from its king.  And this king rules in the hearts of believers.  How could Gabriel make such a bold statement?  How could he confidently proclaim that the kingdom of this unborn child would never end?  Because this child, the son of Mary and the son of David is also the Son of God.

This news must have filled Mary’s heart with joy, but she still had a problem.  She asked the angel, "How will this be since I am a virgin?"  Mary knew that she was not pregnant.  She also knew that she had done nothing to become pregnant.  She wanted to know how she could remain a virgin and become a mother at the same time.

Mary had a point, physically speaking, but God had a miraculous solution.  "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.  So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God."  Mary became pregnant through the working of the Holy Spirit.  The virgin birth was a miracle of God’s doing.  Jesus was born as the son of Mary, but he was also born as the Son of God.  He is true man, but he is also true God.  As true man he lived a perfect life and died under the law.  As true God, his death and resurrection paid for the sins of the whole world.

Gabriel knew that he was asking Mary to believe some pretty amazing stuff.  So without her asking, Gabriel gave her additional proof.  Her relative, Elizabeth, who had tried for so many years to have a baby of her own and had finally given up, she was six months pregnant.  This is not the way babies are born.  Barren women do not usually have children.  Virgins just don’t become pregnant.  But Gabriel did not even attempt to explain these miracles.  Instead, appealed to Mary’s faith and asked her to believe the words: "For nothing is impossible with God."

Now compare the two different encounters in the first chapter of Luke.  When Gabriel told Zechariah that he was going to be a father, his response was one of doubt.  The first words out of his mouth were: "How can I be sure of this?"  When Gabriel told Mary that she was going to be the mother of Jesus, her response was one of faith.  "I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said."

The Bible tells us that "nothing is impossible with God."  How do you respond to those words?  Do you exhibit the humble trust of Mary?  Or are your days filled with a healthy dose of Zechariah-like skepticism?  It is an easy thing for us to say that we trust in the Lord’s promises, but it is much more difficult to live that way.

The Lord promises that his Word is powerful.  But God wants us to trust in him with more than nodding heads.  God wants us to trust in him with believing hearts, hearts that believe in the miracle of the virgin birth, hearts that believe that Jesus is the son of Mary and the Son of God in one person, hearts that say "I am the Lord’s servant" and leave the results up to God.

Mary’s faith-filled words led her to faith-filled actions.  After the angel left her, Luke tells us that she immediately went to share the good news with Elizabeth.  Let Mary be our example in what she said and what she did.  Pray that the faith that God has created in our hearts will lead us to a joyful response.  Ask the Lord for the same spirit as Mary, the eagerness to share the good news that a Savior has been born.

Are you aware of the battle that has been raging in the state of Maine?  What is it about?  A small port town on the eastern tip of the state has laid claim to the distinction of being the first place in North America to see the sun in the new millennium.  But Bar Harbor, a city farther inland to the west at a higher elevation, is making the same claim.  So who is right?  Navy engineers were brought in to solve the dispute and, based on precise mathematical calculations, they determined that on January 1, 2000… both places will see the first light of the sun at the same time.

You may have questions about spending U.S. tax dollars on something so frivolous, but the argument itself is even more silly.  For Christians, the answer is obvious, and we don’t need a doctorate in mathematics to figure it out.  We will be the first ones to see the Son-rise.  This will take place before January 1^st.  In a few short days, we will celebrate Christmas, the day when God sent his Son into the world.  He is the son of Mary, born of human flesh and blood.  He is the son of David, who came in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.  And he is the eternal and unchanging Son of God.

Jesus is coming.  This calls for a celebration.  Amen.