Malachi 3:1-6; St Luke 1:39-56
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
People loved by God, tonight we conclude our midweek Advent services for the year. Next week at this time we will be celebrating the Nativity of our Lord, the joyous arrival of the Mary’s Son and Mary’s Lord, our own Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the Nations, Come.
For the story doesn’t end here! These weeks we’ve spent meditating upon, rejoicing in, the catechesis of the Evangelist St Luke, does not conclude here, but continues on, even through the outrageously joyous celebration of the birth of the Savior in the readings assigned to Christmas Midnight - celebrated this year at 11p when it will be be not just the kids making music with their instruments, but the very angel choirs of heaven singing glory to God in the highest!
But it doesn’t even stop there. The Father’s Son will continue from His manger to His awesome suffering, death, and resurrection according to Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms. This is the fullness of the catechesis St Luke desires to show to Theophilus, and, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to you as well. Its as if he’s inviting you to come along with St Mary on this journey!
For in those days Mary arose and journeyed into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. Upon hearing the impossible to believe Word of the angel concerning the miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and prophesied birth of her Child, the Son of God, St Mary speedily goes to visit her relative, St Elizabeth. Remember that Gabriel informed Mary of Elizabeth’s likewise miraculous pregnancy. This served as a visible sign to the Blessed Virgin that the Word of the Lord to her was indeed true. And so she runs to confirm this news with her own eyes. She must behold pregnant Elizabeth.
Now St Luke is not as overt as St Matthew in his emphasis upon the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies and types. He doesn’t cite book and chapter like Matthew does. St Luke is a little more subtle. And if you’re listening, you can hear that subtly in these verses.
Recall the Old Testament narrative of King David returning the Ark of the Covenant from the Philistines to Jerusalem. The prophet Samuel begins this way, David rose up and made a journey with all the people (2 Sam 6:2) to the hill country of Judah to bring the Ark of God. Upon arrival to the Holy City, David greeted the Ark with shouts of joy (2 Sam 6:12).
But before it came into the City, recall, the Ark was taken to the house of Obed-edom, for David, in terror over the untouchable Ark and the death of Uzzah, said, How shall the Ark of the Lord come to me? (2 Sam 6:9). And so the Ark remained in the house of Obed-edom for three months and brought him and his household blessing. The Ark was a temporary and portable vessel which carried the presence of the Mighty God, the Holy One of Israel.
St Luke is almost at pains to point out the parallels with the Virgin Mary! She arose and made a journey into the hills of Judah. Upon arriving at Zechariah and Elizabeth’s house she is greeted with “shouts” of joy. The word used for Elizabeth’s greeting, ανεφωνησεν, like antiphon, means she intoned her loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! That is, Elizabeth chanted this receptive and responsive, almost liturgical, greeting with the Mother of her Lord, who then stayed with her for three months!
St Mary carries over hill and dell of Judah the One who dwelt in the Holy of Holies atop the Mercy Seat, the Most High God. Only its not in an Ark of wood and gold conveyed by an ox cart, but in the lowly virgin’s womb, which the Son of God did not spurn, but in humility and meekness, the Dayspring from on High came, to cheer by His drawing nigh and put to flight death’s dark shadows.
This is why not only St Elizabeth, but her unborn son, St John, also rejoices! When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby εσκιρτησεν, skipped, for joy! The two great figures of salvation now come together, while still in utero. The Forerunner is brought into the presence of the Messiah while both are still hidden in their mothers wombs!
And like the Psalm calling for a new song from the sea and the hills themselves, St John, filled with the Holy Spirit, that is, in faith - yes, infant, unborn, yet saving faith - leaps in the presence of the One who will make the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead raised, and the poor hear the Gospel preached to them. Even as you heard last Wednesday, You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall (Mal 4:2), for He is the Coming One who makes all things new.
And indeed the Virgin Mary is blessed among women for she has been favored by God to be the instrument of the fulfillment of the threat given to the Serpent way back in the Garden: I will put enmity between you and the Woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise His heal (Gen 3:15). She is a daughter of Eve and child of Zion, uniquely blessed on account of the fact that the Fruit of her womb is the promised Seed - the GodMan - whose heal will firmly crush the skull of the devil and undo the curse of the Fall. For all of this the Blessed Virgin Mary is rightly called the Mother of God by the Council of Ephesus and the whole Christian Church.
People loved by God, consider just how momentous and joyous an occasion this is! The physical coming together of the mothers of the two final salvation figures, St John, the Forerunner and our Lord Jesus Christ, who is but days old, a miraculous fertilized egg, a minuscule Embryo, acknowledging the reaction of of the presence of God from the Temple to St Mary’s womb. I imagine old Zechariah, unable to speak these six months, just sitting in the corner observing, listening, and just laughing to himself.
Yet the Maiden with Child, who is indeed rightly called Blessed, does not attract attention to herself. She doesn’t take the limelight and praise. Indeed, her visit to Elizabeth is not only for confirmation of her own conception and to share in the joy of Elizabeth’s, but St Mary is also there in love to help and serve her elderly relative in the final months of her no doubt difficult pregnancy. How much more striking, then, the humility of the Virgin Mother and her humble yet rich confession of faith.
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Luther is right, the Magnificat is a hymn to God and God alone for His gracious gifts to the least in this world, whom He has lifted out of despair solely because of His grace and mercy. Not toward St Mary, but with her, “the saints will do nothing in heaven but praise God, because He looked upon them when they were in the depths and there made Himself known to them and loved and praised by them” (LW 21:301).
For the Evangelist, St Mary is an excellent example of a catechumen, a hearer of God’s Word. Not only from Gabriel, but as is evidenced from her song, she read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested the Word of the Lord, the Torah, Psalms and Prophets. Echoes of Old Testament hymns and psalms are found through the Magnificat. She has made those godly prayers of the saints her own, even as we teach our catechumens, and we ourselves are given to do. Especially heard as allusions to Hannah’s song from 1 Samuel 2 and her joy and praise of the Lord for the gift of her son.
But it is not her humility, but God’s regard and favor that is to be praised. For Mary is recalling the Word of the Lord through the angel to His lowly maidservant. Mary is indeed the God-bearer, but she shifts the emphasis from herself to the One whom she bears. This One, His Name is Holy. And the great things He has done are not only for St Mary, but for all His people.
He who draws near for judgment, as the prophet Malachi preached, will come with swiftness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourners, and do not fear Me, says the Lord of Hosts. That is, those who reject the mercy of the Christ of God, reject His Christ!
Mary sings, though, in the confidence of the Great Reversal. The Mighty One who topples the powerful from their lofty heights and raises the lowly. Her Son, Jesus, comes as the merciful and compassionate Messiah and not as the God of vengeance. Remember how He spoke to St John while in prison last Sunday. Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not scandalized by Me (Lk 7:22-23).
He is the One who fills the hungry with good things, both literally and spiritually. Does He not feed the masses with loaves and fishes, yet also called those blessed who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they are filled with His own? For He remembers His mercy and covenant to Abraham and to all Israel. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in his Seed.
The Seed of Abraham now rest in Mary’s womb. The Arm of God that scatters the proud and arrogant is the very Arm of her Baby Boy which shall be stretched out upon the Tree and nailed to the Cross for our reconciliation. This is the strength of His Arm. A power made perfect in weakness. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate Great Reversal, God the Creator come down to His creation as creature. The Father exalts all humanity in the Incarnation of His Son, so now the Son will exalt those of low estate. He is the Stone rejected by the builders but made the head of the Corner, the Chief Stone. He who was powerless upon the Cross there performed His mightiest work, conquering sin, death, world, hell, devil and all evil.
Thus do you, dear Christians, sing with Mary and all the saints, her Magnificat, her Song, in magnifying praise of your Lord and rejoicing in God your Savior, her own Son, who helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy. For what has been spoken to you by the Lord has been fulfilled for you already in Christ Jesus, the Son of Mary, and it shall be fulfilled for you in, in your heart and mind, body and soul, just as He has promised. For by your Holy Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection, you have received the benefits of His Great Reversal, you are born again to a new and living hope. Blessed are you who thus, by His grace, believe His Word and promises.
Here He has brought you to His House by His Word and Spirit. And as soon as you hear the sound of His greeting, the proclamation and confession of His grace, mercy, and peace, you also are filled with the Holy Spirit, with the great joy and gladness of His Gospel. So do you sing and chant and pray and confess int eh confidence of Christ the Lord, in the presence of His holy Ark and Altar.
From this Altar, in this place, by His Word and with His Spirit, hidden in the womb of His Church, the dear Lord Jesus Christ visits you with His own flesh and blood. He feeds your mortal body with His own Body, conceived and born of Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead and buried, risen and ascended. And by this gracious Visitation, He feeds you and He fills you with good things, His mercy rests upon you, and He is borne in you unto the life everlasting of your body and soul. For He has done great things for you, even by the nailing of His strong hands and outstretched arms upon the Cross. His mighty deeds of salvation are manifested and given to you in His deep compassion for you, in His tender mercy and kind pity on your misery.
Blessed of the Lord, do not be afraid. He shall exalt you at the proper time. Behold, He is with you even now, and you have found favor in His sight. Surely, He will help you at all times and in all places, for He will never leave you nor forsake you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
People loved by God, tonight we conclude our midweek Advent services for the year. Next week at this time we will be celebrating the Nativity of our Lord, the joyous arrival of the Mary’s Son and Mary’s Lord, our own Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the Nations, Come.
For the story doesn’t end here! These weeks we’ve spent meditating upon, rejoicing in, the catechesis of the Evangelist St Luke, does not conclude here, but continues on, even through the outrageously joyous celebration of the birth of the Savior in the readings assigned to Christmas Midnight - celebrated this year at 11p when it will be be not just the kids making music with their instruments, but the very angel choirs of heaven singing glory to God in the highest!
But it doesn’t even stop there. The Father’s Son will continue from His manger to His awesome suffering, death, and resurrection according to Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms. This is the fullness of the catechesis St Luke desires to show to Theophilus, and, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to you as well. Its as if he’s inviting you to come along with St Mary on this journey!
For in those days Mary arose and journeyed into the hill country with haste into a city of Judah and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. Upon hearing the impossible to believe Word of the angel concerning the miraculous conception by the Holy Spirit and prophesied birth of her Child, the Son of God, St Mary speedily goes to visit her relative, St Elizabeth. Remember that Gabriel informed Mary of Elizabeth’s likewise miraculous pregnancy. This served as a visible sign to the Blessed Virgin that the Word of the Lord to her was indeed true. And so she runs to confirm this news with her own eyes. She must behold pregnant Elizabeth.
Now St Luke is not as overt as St Matthew in his emphasis upon the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophesies and types. He doesn’t cite book and chapter like Matthew does. St Luke is a little more subtle. And if you’re listening, you can hear that subtly in these verses.
Recall the Old Testament narrative of King David returning the Ark of the Covenant from the Philistines to Jerusalem. The prophet Samuel begins this way, David rose up and made a journey with all the people (2 Sam 6:2) to the hill country of Judah to bring the Ark of God. Upon arrival to the Holy City, David greeted the Ark with shouts of joy (2 Sam 6:12).
But before it came into the City, recall, the Ark was taken to the house of Obed-edom, for David, in terror over the untouchable Ark and the death of Uzzah, said, How shall the Ark of the Lord come to me? (2 Sam 6:9). And so the Ark remained in the house of Obed-edom for three months and brought him and his household blessing. The Ark was a temporary and portable vessel which carried the presence of the Mighty God, the Holy One of Israel.
St Luke is almost at pains to point out the parallels with the Virgin Mary! She arose and made a journey into the hills of Judah. Upon arriving at Zechariah and Elizabeth’s house she is greeted with “shouts” of joy. The word used for Elizabeth’s greeting, ανεφωνησεν, like antiphon, means she intoned her loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! That is, Elizabeth chanted this receptive and responsive, almost liturgical, greeting with the Mother of her Lord, who then stayed with her for three months!
St Mary carries over hill and dell of Judah the One who dwelt in the Holy of Holies atop the Mercy Seat, the Most High God. Only its not in an Ark of wood and gold conveyed by an ox cart, but in the lowly virgin’s womb, which the Son of God did not spurn, but in humility and meekness, the Dayspring from on High came, to cheer by His drawing nigh and put to flight death’s dark shadows.
This is why not only St Elizabeth, but her unborn son, St John, also rejoices! When Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby εσκιρτησεν, skipped, for joy! The two great figures of salvation now come together, while still in utero. The Forerunner is brought into the presence of the Messiah while both are still hidden in their mothers wombs!
And like the Psalm calling for a new song from the sea and the hills themselves, St John, filled with the Holy Spirit, that is, in faith - yes, infant, unborn, yet saving faith - leaps in the presence of the One who will make the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead raised, and the poor hear the Gospel preached to them. Even as you heard last Wednesday, You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall (Mal 4:2), for He is the Coming One who makes all things new.
And indeed the Virgin Mary is blessed among women for she has been favored by God to be the instrument of the fulfillment of the threat given to the Serpent way back in the Garden: I will put enmity between you and the Woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise His heal (Gen 3:15). She is a daughter of Eve and child of Zion, uniquely blessed on account of the fact that the Fruit of her womb is the promised Seed - the GodMan - whose heal will firmly crush the skull of the devil and undo the curse of the Fall. For all of this the Blessed Virgin Mary is rightly called the Mother of God by the Council of Ephesus and the whole Christian Church.
People loved by God, consider just how momentous and joyous an occasion this is! The physical coming together of the mothers of the two final salvation figures, St John, the Forerunner and our Lord Jesus Christ, who is but days old, a miraculous fertilized egg, a minuscule Embryo, acknowledging the reaction of of the presence of God from the Temple to St Mary’s womb. I imagine old Zechariah, unable to speak these six months, just sitting in the corner observing, listening, and just laughing to himself.
Yet the Maiden with Child, who is indeed rightly called Blessed, does not attract attention to herself. She doesn’t take the limelight and praise. Indeed, her visit to Elizabeth is not only for confirmation of her own conception and to share in the joy of Elizabeth’s, but St Mary is also there in love to help and serve her elderly relative in the final months of her no doubt difficult pregnancy. How much more striking, then, the humility of the Virgin Mother and her humble yet rich confession of faith.
And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” Luther is right, the Magnificat is a hymn to God and God alone for His gracious gifts to the least in this world, whom He has lifted out of despair solely because of His grace and mercy. Not toward St Mary, but with her, “the saints will do nothing in heaven but praise God, because He looked upon them when they were in the depths and there made Himself known to them and loved and praised by them” (LW 21:301).
For the Evangelist, St Mary is an excellent example of a catechumen, a hearer of God’s Word. Not only from Gabriel, but as is evidenced from her song, she read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested the Word of the Lord, the Torah, Psalms and Prophets. Echoes of Old Testament hymns and psalms are found through the Magnificat. She has made those godly prayers of the saints her own, even as we teach our catechumens, and we ourselves are given to do. Especially heard as allusions to Hannah’s song from 1 Samuel 2 and her joy and praise of the Lord for the gift of her son.
But it is not her humility, but God’s regard and favor that is to be praised. For Mary is recalling the Word of the Lord through the angel to His lowly maidservant. Mary is indeed the God-bearer, but she shifts the emphasis from herself to the One whom she bears. This One, His Name is Holy. And the great things He has done are not only for St Mary, but for all His people.
He who draws near for judgment, as the prophet Malachi preached, will come with swiftness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourners, and do not fear Me, says the Lord of Hosts. That is, those who reject the mercy of the Christ of God, reject His Christ!
Mary sings, though, in the confidence of the Great Reversal. The Mighty One who topples the powerful from their lofty heights and raises the lowly. Her Son, Jesus, comes as the merciful and compassionate Messiah and not as the God of vengeance. Remember how He spoke to St John while in prison last Sunday. Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the Gospel preached to them. And blessed is the one who is not scandalized by Me (Lk 7:22-23).
He is the One who fills the hungry with good things, both literally and spiritually. Does He not feed the masses with loaves and fishes, yet also called those blessed who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they are filled with His own? For He remembers His mercy and covenant to Abraham and to all Israel. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed in his Seed.
The Seed of Abraham now rest in Mary’s womb. The Arm of God that scatters the proud and arrogant is the very Arm of her Baby Boy which shall be stretched out upon the Tree and nailed to the Cross for our reconciliation. This is the strength of His Arm. A power made perfect in weakness. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the ultimate Great Reversal, God the Creator come down to His creation as creature. The Father exalts all humanity in the Incarnation of His Son, so now the Son will exalt those of low estate. He is the Stone rejected by the builders but made the head of the Corner, the Chief Stone. He who was powerless upon the Cross there performed His mightiest work, conquering sin, death, world, hell, devil and all evil.
Thus do you, dear Christians, sing with Mary and all the saints, her Magnificat, her Song, in magnifying praise of your Lord and rejoicing in God your Savior, her own Son, who helped His servant Israel in remembrance of His mercy. For what has been spoken to you by the Lord has been fulfilled for you already in Christ Jesus, the Son of Mary, and it shall be fulfilled for you in, in your heart and mind, body and soul, just as He has promised. For by your Holy Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection, you have received the benefits of His Great Reversal, you are born again to a new and living hope. Blessed are you who thus, by His grace, believe His Word and promises.
Here He has brought you to His House by His Word and Spirit. And as soon as you hear the sound of His greeting, the proclamation and confession of His grace, mercy, and peace, you also are filled with the Holy Spirit, with the great joy and gladness of His Gospel. So do you sing and chant and pray and confess int eh confidence of Christ the Lord, in the presence of His holy Ark and Altar.
From this Altar, in this place, by His Word and with His Spirit, hidden in the womb of His Church, the dear Lord Jesus Christ visits you with His own flesh and blood. He feeds your mortal body with His own Body, conceived and born of Mary, crucified under Pontius Pilate, dead and buried, risen and ascended. And by this gracious Visitation, He feeds you and He fills you with good things, His mercy rests upon you, and He is borne in you unto the life everlasting of your body and soul. For He has done great things for you, even by the nailing of His strong hands and outstretched arms upon the Cross. His mighty deeds of salvation are manifested and given to you in His deep compassion for you, in His tender mercy and kind pity on your misery.
Blessed of the Lord, do not be afraid. He shall exalt you at the proper time. Behold, He is with you even now, and you have found favor in His sight. Surely, He will help you at all times and in all places, for He will never leave you nor forsake you.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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