Isaiah 61:7-11; Galatians 4:4-7; St Luke 1:39-55
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
After twice defeating the Philistines at the Valley of Rephaim, King David assembled the chosen men of Israel, 30,000 of them, to meet at Baale-judah, to receive the Ark of the Covenant back from the enemies of the Lord (2 Sam 6). The Philistines had captured the Ark at Ebenezer some sixty years earlier during the reign of Saul (1 Sam 4). King David went now to receive it back. And David and the men with him carried the Ark of God, which is called by the Name of Yahweh Sabaoth, who sits enthroned on the cherubim, on a cart and brought it out (2 Sam 6:2-3).
But after Uzzah the priest was struck dead for steading the Ark when the oxen stumbled, King David feared Yahweh and said, How can the Ark of the Lord come to me? So rather than take the Ark of the Lord into Jerusalem, David turned aside and housed the Throne of Yahweh in the hill country of Judah at the house of Obed-edom for three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household (2 Sam 6:11).
Fast forward a thousand years. The mighty reign and dynasty of David is ended. The Ark is gone again, having been lost in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC. The exiles returned from Babylon 400 years ago. A new, Second Temple has been built on the sight of Solomon’s, but it is a shadow of its former glory. Especially since the Shekenah, the Glory of the Lord, never descended on this Temple because the Ark is absent.
Now, in those days, “the angel Gabriel from heaven came, with wings as drifted snow, with eyes as flame” (LSB 356:1) and he announced to the Virgin Mary, Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give 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” (Lk 1:31-33).
And Mary, very literally said to the angel, “How will this take place since a man I know not?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Shekenah of Yahweh will overshadow you; therefore the Child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God (Lk 1:35).
Did you catch that? The Glory of the Lord, the Power of the Most High that once overshadowed the Temple and signified the presence of Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, but has been absent from Israel for nearly 600 years, will now overshadow the Virgin Mary! “This is He whom seers in old time chanted of with one accord, whom the voices of the prophets promised in their faithful word” (LSB 384:3). He sits enthroned in the womb of the Virgin Mary!
So like the Ark of the Covenant, the Virgin Mary, carrying in her the Presence of God, Yahweh Sabaoth, makes haste across the hill country of Judah to reside in the house of the priest Zechariah. To which Elizabeth exclaims, Why is this granted to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? And Mary remained with her about three months.
St Luke presents the Blessed Virgin Mary as the new Ark. Even the new Tabernacle! Dear Christians, our temptation is likely not that of the papists who turn the Virgin Mary into the co-redemptrix, the queen of heaven, elevating her above her Son, our Lord, for prayer and intercession. Don't think they do that? See which is higher on a rosary sometime - the Crucifix or St Mary. Beloved, our temptation is probably more in line with the Protestants who tend to downplay the Virgin Mary to the point of insignificance and relegation.
St Luke, maybe when he visited Ephesus with St Paul, spoke directly with the Mother of God, who was living with St John the Evangelist. And he, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, presents her as a faithful daughter of Abraham, Judah, and King David. For now, in her, all the promises of God to those men and their children have come to pass. The promise to her first mother, Eve, has come to pass. The Seed has been planted in the virgin soil of St Mary’s womb.
As her father David once brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, where the Lord caused His Name and His Glory to dwell among His people, so now has St Mary herself become a new and better Ark of the New Testament in the flesh and blood of her Son. She carries in herself not signs or types of good things to come. Not simply shadows and promises. Nestled beneath her heart is the Reality, the one true God Himself, in His own flesh and blood.
It is in this way, beloved, by means of this dear woman, who is blessed above all others, that the Lord not only come to you, in His glory, to visit you in peace, but He has become like you in every way, save only without sin. In the fullness of time, when all the world was pregnant with the expectation of the Messiah, the long expected One, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Has Jesus not taught you to pray in this way? “Our Father, who art in heaven.” With these words He tenderly invites you to believe that God is your true Father and you are His true child, so that you may come to Him and pray to Him as a little child asks her dear father on earth.
It is for this purpose that the Incarnate Son of God, the blessed Son of the Virgin Mary, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the nations, comes. He who is Mighty took on the humble estate of a Servant, doing great things not only for His Virgin Mother, but for you and for all. Bearing the sins of the whole world to death in His Body on the Tree.
For the great reversal of which St Mary sings in her Magnificat - the humbling of the proud and the exaltation of the poor and lowly and despised - is accomplished by God through the Cross and Passion of His Son and hers. And it is fully realized in the Resurrection of the dead, which you do not yet see. For now, what you see and experience are persecution, suffering, and death. For now you live under the Cross. It is, of course, the very Cross of Christ which saves you. But nonetheless your experience and perception seek to choke out the joy of His victory for you and the peace of His forgiveness of your sins.
Which is why, beloved, you so desperately need your mother the Church and the Ministry of the Gospel. For Christ your Lord delivers this life and forgiveness to you by the preaching of His messengers. As Gabriel announced the Word to St Mary. As St John the Baptist, while yet in the womb, proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ. So too by the washing of water with the Word and Spirit of Christ, which is the new birth of Holy Baptism in the womb of the Church, are you brought to life in the household and family of God.
For the selfsame Word and Spirit which once conceived in St Mary and gave birth to the Son of God, continues to give birth to the sons of God in Christ by the same Word and Spirit in the Church.
Here He gives to you, into your body, the same Body and Blood of the same Lord Jesus Christ, which were conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which were crucified under Pontius Pilate, which were dead and buried, which are now risen and ascended, alive forevermore.
This is most certainly true. But is it also true that this is hidden from your eyes and your experience in the dark womb of the Church.
Therefore learn from St Mary, not only to receive the Word in meekness and humility. Did she not respond to Gabriel, Let is be to me according to your Word? Learn from her also, dear Christians, to seek out your brothers and sisters in Christ, even as she did St Elizabeth. Not only your close relatives, but the fellow members of the family of God. Love them in faith and be loved by them. Resist the temptation, beloved, to withdraw into your ever narrowing circles and personal isolation. Faith and love, body and soul are strengthened and sustained through fraternal fellowship and the mutual conversation and consolation of those who are bound together by the Gospel in the one Body of Christ Jesus.
This doesn’t mean you’ll never be afraid or lonely or confused or doubtful or worried or anxious. Even the Blessed Virgin Mary and righteous Elizabeth bore the burdens of their mortal flesh, the frailty and weakness of their sinful hearts and mind, along with the burden of their baby Boys.
We’re not going to stride forward in confident faith and never falter. But learn from King David in the example of Uzzah to fear the Lord above all things. When your mind balks, your heart aches, your body trembles, and your frail flesh falls short, follow the example of St Mary in hearing and heeding the Word of the Lord. Get yourself here, in the hill country of His Word, where He still remembers His mercy and His holy Covenant in the flesh and blood of Christ.
Here, indeed, is where the gift of that victory, the Cross which pierced St Mary’s own soul as well, is bestowed to you. Here He fills the hungry with good things and His mercy is for those who fear Him.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
After twice defeating the Philistines at the Valley of Rephaim, King David assembled the chosen men of Israel, 30,000 of them, to meet at Baale-judah, to receive the Ark of the Covenant back from the enemies of the Lord (2 Sam 6). The Philistines had captured the Ark at Ebenezer some sixty years earlier during the reign of Saul (1 Sam 4). King David went now to receive it back. And David and the men with him carried the Ark of God, which is called by the Name of Yahweh Sabaoth, who sits enthroned on the cherubim, on a cart and brought it out (2 Sam 6:2-3).
But after Uzzah the priest was struck dead for steading the Ark when the oxen stumbled, King David feared Yahweh and said, How can the Ark of the Lord come to me? So rather than take the Ark of the Lord into Jerusalem, David turned aside and housed the Throne of Yahweh in the hill country of Judah at the house of Obed-edom for three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household (2 Sam 6:11).
Fast forward a thousand years. The mighty reign and dynasty of David is ended. The Ark is gone again, having been lost in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586 BC. The exiles returned from Babylon 400 years ago. A new, Second Temple has been built on the sight of Solomon’s, but it is a shadow of its former glory. Especially since the Shekenah, the Glory of the Lord, never descended on this Temple because the Ark is absent.
Now, in those days, “the angel Gabriel from heaven came, with wings as drifted snow, with eyes as flame” (LSB 356:1) and he announced to the Virgin Mary, Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a Son, and you shall call His Name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give 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” (Lk 1:31-33).
And Mary, very literally said to the angel, “How will this take place since a man I know not?”
And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the Shekenah of Yahweh will overshadow you; therefore the Child to be born will be called holy - the Son of God (Lk 1:35).
Did you catch that? The Glory of the Lord, the Power of the Most High that once overshadowed the Temple and signified the presence of Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, but has been absent from Israel for nearly 600 years, will now overshadow the Virgin Mary! “This is He whom seers in old time chanted of with one accord, whom the voices of the prophets promised in their faithful word” (LSB 384:3). He sits enthroned in the womb of the Virgin Mary!
So like the Ark of the Covenant, the Virgin Mary, carrying in her the Presence of God, Yahweh Sabaoth, makes haste across the hill country of Judah to reside in the house of the priest Zechariah. To which Elizabeth exclaims, Why is this granted to me that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? And Mary remained with her about three months.
St Luke presents the Blessed Virgin Mary as the new Ark. Even the new Tabernacle! Dear Christians, our temptation is likely not that of the papists who turn the Virgin Mary into the co-redemptrix, the queen of heaven, elevating her above her Son, our Lord, for prayer and intercession. Don't think they do that? See which is higher on a rosary sometime - the Crucifix or St Mary. Beloved, our temptation is probably more in line with the Protestants who tend to downplay the Virgin Mary to the point of insignificance and relegation.
St Luke, maybe when he visited Ephesus with St Paul, spoke directly with the Mother of God, who was living with St John the Evangelist. And he, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, presents her as a faithful daughter of Abraham, Judah, and King David. For now, in her, all the promises of God to those men and their children have come to pass. The promise to her first mother, Eve, has come to pass. The Seed has been planted in the virgin soil of St Mary’s womb.
As her father David once brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem, where the Lord caused His Name and His Glory to dwell among His people, so now has St Mary herself become a new and better Ark of the New Testament in the flesh and blood of her Son. She carries in herself not signs or types of good things to come. Not simply shadows and promises. Nestled beneath her heart is the Reality, the one true God Himself, in His own flesh and blood.
It is in this way, beloved, by means of this dear woman, who is blessed above all others, that the Lord not only come to you, in His glory, to visit you in peace, but He has become like you in every way, save only without sin. In the fullness of time, when all the world was pregnant with the expectation of the Messiah, the long expected One, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
Has Jesus not taught you to pray in this way? “Our Father, who art in heaven.” With these words He tenderly invites you to believe that God is your true Father and you are His true child, so that you may come to Him and pray to Him as a little child asks her dear father on earth.
It is for this purpose that the Incarnate Son of God, the blessed Son of the Virgin Mary, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the nations, comes. He who is Mighty took on the humble estate of a Servant, doing great things not only for His Virgin Mother, but for you and for all. Bearing the sins of the whole world to death in His Body on the Tree.
For the great reversal of which St Mary sings in her Magnificat - the humbling of the proud and the exaltation of the poor and lowly and despised - is accomplished by God through the Cross and Passion of His Son and hers. And it is fully realized in the Resurrection of the dead, which you do not yet see. For now, what you see and experience are persecution, suffering, and death. For now you live under the Cross. It is, of course, the very Cross of Christ which saves you. But nonetheless your experience and perception seek to choke out the joy of His victory for you and the peace of His forgiveness of your sins.
Which is why, beloved, you so desperately need your mother the Church and the Ministry of the Gospel. For Christ your Lord delivers this life and forgiveness to you by the preaching of His messengers. As Gabriel announced the Word to St Mary. As St John the Baptist, while yet in the womb, proclaimed the Lord Jesus Christ. So too by the washing of water with the Word and Spirit of Christ, which is the new birth of Holy Baptism in the womb of the Church, are you brought to life in the household and family of God.
For the selfsame Word and Spirit which once conceived in St Mary and gave birth to the Son of God, continues to give birth to the sons of God in Christ by the same Word and Spirit in the Church.
Here He gives to you, into your body, the same Body and Blood of the same Lord Jesus Christ, which were conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which were crucified under Pontius Pilate, which were dead and buried, which are now risen and ascended, alive forevermore.
This is most certainly true. But is it also true that this is hidden from your eyes and your experience in the dark womb of the Church.
Therefore learn from St Mary, not only to receive the Word in meekness and humility. Did she not respond to Gabriel, Let is be to me according to your Word? Learn from her also, dear Christians, to seek out your brothers and sisters in Christ, even as she did St Elizabeth. Not only your close relatives, but the fellow members of the family of God. Love them in faith and be loved by them. Resist the temptation, beloved, to withdraw into your ever narrowing circles and personal isolation. Faith and love, body and soul are strengthened and sustained through fraternal fellowship and the mutual conversation and consolation of those who are bound together by the Gospel in the one Body of Christ Jesus.
This doesn’t mean you’ll never be afraid or lonely or confused or doubtful or worried or anxious. Even the Blessed Virgin Mary and righteous Elizabeth bore the burdens of their mortal flesh, the frailty and weakness of their sinful hearts and mind, along with the burden of their baby Boys.
We’re not going to stride forward in confident faith and never falter. But learn from King David in the example of Uzzah to fear the Lord above all things. When your mind balks, your heart aches, your body trembles, and your frail flesh falls short, follow the example of St Mary in hearing and heeding the Word of the Lord. Get yourself here, in the hill country of His Word, where He still remembers His mercy and His holy Covenant in the flesh and blood of Christ.
Here, indeed, is where the gift of that victory, the Cross which pierced St Mary’s own soul as well, is bestowed to you. Here He fills the hungry with good things and His mercy is for those who fear Him.
In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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