The 2^nd Sunday in Advent

SERMON

INI

Text: Luke 1:49-53

Mary said “For He who is mighty had done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.”

In Christ Jesus, our Prince of Peace, dear fellow redeemed:

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace good will toward men!” (Luke 2:14) So sang God’s angelic choir over the fields of Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago, announcing the birth of the Savior and proclaiming God’s gift to mankind. Yet, the blessings of peace for many seem so illusive in this sin-filled world. In fact, some people might even claim that the message of the angels is just a cruel hoax. After all, how can you talk about peace, when suicide bombers blow themselves and others up in places like Israel and Iraq? How can you talk about peace, when sex offenders kidnap college coeds, as in the case of Dru Sjodin up in Fargo? How can you talk about peace, when families perhaps even here in Mankato are approaching the upcoming holidays so divided that they will not even speak to each other?

We can speak of peace in spite of all of these distressing situations, for the peace of which we speak is not the peace our world seeks. Our world seeks a peace among men, frequently without any reference to God. Our world seeks a peace, which will secure man’s economic well being and man intellectual freedom, but it has no solution for man’s insatiable greed and man’s rebellious nature, which make all such peace short-lived. The angels proclaimed and Jesus promised a different peace. The peace proclaimed and promised was a peace of mind and heart worked in the lives of men, women, and children by the Holy Spirit. It is a peace, first and foremost, between God and men—a peace based upon the removal of sin through the sacrifice of Christ. It is a peace, secondly, which extends from man to man, as faith is nurtured through the preaching of the gospel and fruits of faith become evident in people’s lives.

My dear friends, it was just such a peace of mind that Mary sought and enjoyed as she prepared her heart for the birth of her son, Jesus. LET US PREPARE OUR HEARTS AS MARY DID WITH PEACE! This we can do when we as Mary recognize and rejoice in the power, the holiness, and the mercy of our God!

I.

In this second portion of Mary’s hymn of praise, she speaks of the attributes of God—His power, His holiness, and His mercy. All three had great meaning and comfort for Mary, as they do for us. But all three, as they apply to us and bring us comfort, are connected to the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Mary confessed, “For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name.”

God’s power and holiness by nature bring no comfort to sinful mankind. By nature we fear God’s power and resent His holiness, for our consciences convict us and tell us that we deserve God’s judgment. Think, for instance, of the children of Israel standing below Mount Sinai, as pictured for us in the book of Exodus. They were God’s Old Testament people, and yet we are told that they fear God and did not even want to listen to Him. Moses writes, “It came to pass on the third day, in the morning, that there were thunderings and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain; and the sound of the trumpet was very loud, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled…. Now Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire. Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly…. The people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, ‘You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.’” (19:16,18; 20:18-19) Think of Martin Luther, who grew up in a Christian home, knowing God was all-powerful, but assuming that God who was holy demanded of man absolute holiness as well. For Luther, the picture of Jesus Christ that dominated his mind was not that of a loving Good Shepherd, but rather the fearsome judge of the Revelation, leading His armies against His enemies with a sword proceeding out of His mouth to strike the nations (cf. Revelation 19:14-15). He knew of God and believed in Him, but came to the point of hating Him for demanding of him a righteousness He could not produce.

God’s power and holiness can only comfort our hearts and souls when we know that we have been justified by the grace of God through the work of Jesus Christ. The righteousness God demands of us in the law, is the very righteousness He gives to us through the promises of the gospel. Consequently Mary saw her mighty and holy God as one who had done mighty things for her—rescuing her from sin and bestowing upon her—a lowly human being, the status of God’s daughter and heir.

We, too, can take great comfort in God’s power and holiness in view of our blessed Savior Jesus. We are confronted by crises in our lives and in the lives of those we love. For some of us those crises may be few, but for others they may be a daily occurrence. Where do we find help? Where do we find hope? We find that hope and help in the power of our holy God, and in the mercy He has promised us. The Psalmist assures us, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (46:1). When we are weak, He provides strength; when we are weary, He provides a safe haven. He is not only willing, but also able and present! As Mary states so encouragingly, “His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.” My dear friends, LET US PREPARE OUR HEARTS AS MARY DID WITH PEACE, recognizing and rejoicing in the power, the holiness, and the mercy of our God!

II.

Let us do so, secondly, knowing that He has and will through His power and by His mercy deliver and bless us! Mary states, “He has shown strength with His arm; He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty.” Mary here alludes to the words of several Psalmists and Old Testament prophets to affirm her faith in her Savior God who controls history and personally guides, directs, and blesses our lives. Who among men can stand before and defy God? Can the proud and powerful rulers of the kingdoms of this world successful defy God? Of course not! Can the rich and famous buy their way into the good graces of God? Is God so impressed by the stars among men, that they can do and say whatever they wish without responsibility before God? Of course not! All men are subject to our God—our just and righteous God. Consequently, the Scriptures can and do tell us, not only that our Savior Jesus Christ will judge both the living and the dead on the last day, but that at that time “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth” (Philippians 2:10).

Consequently, we can have absolute peace and confidence in our hearts, for as we go through life, we may rest assured that God is in control and will deliver and bless us. While He warns us that we are in a spiritual battle in this life against powerful spiritual enemies under the leadership of Satan himself, we need never fear with Christ at our side. The Scriptures assure us that “he has ascended on high, He has led captivity captive, and gave gifts of men” (Ephesians 4:8). Jesus Christ has defeated Satan for us. He can and will then conquer all of our enemies, protecting us from all danger, guarding and defending us from every evil, as Luther suggests in his explanation to the 1^st Article.

As Mary pondered the revelation that she was going to give birth to the Son of God, she no doubt recognized that God was thereby indeed exalting the lowly and feeding the hungry. Mary was lowly, not just and not even primarily because of her social statis, but lowly in faith and spirit. She was hungry for the righteousness of God and for the fulfillment of God’s promises. As she contemplated the fact that God was now in the process of fulfilling His ancient promises of a Savior, she was filled with a peace of mind and heart. She was in the powerful, yet merciful hands of her Savior God.

My dear friends, may our hearts and souls be filled with such peace as we review the Christmas story once again this Advent Season. May we take great comfort in the power and mercy of God by which He has delivered us from our sins and spiritual enemies above all, but also in the fact that He will always be present in our lives to fill them with blessings for Jesus’ sake. Yes, LET US PREPARE OUR HEARTS AS MARY DID WITH PEACE! Amen.

Soli Dei Gloria!

—Pastor Paul D. Nolting