Conception: The First Step Towards The Cross
Text: Luke 1:26-38
Grace and Peace to you from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
In today’s Gospel reading we
hear that the Angel Gabriel came to Mary in order to foretell the coming of the
Messiah. Yes, the Angel Gabriel comes
bearing a message for this no-name insignificant peasant girl, who is living in
a dumpy town called Nazareth. He comes
to this young virgin who is probably not much older than 14-16 years old; he
comes to her with a profound message that she is favored by God, for God will
work through her to bring forth the Messiah of the whole entire world.
Needless to say, Mary
becomes greatly perplexed from the message and the messenger. Yes, she becomes agitated, troubled, and
confused. This is completely
understandable, sense this is a very common response of people who come into
contact with mighty angels. Would we not
also experience the same rush of confusion, agitation, and anxiety, if we were
visited from such a powerful messenger of God?
To intensify things a bit
more, as if encountering an angel of God was not already extreme enough; the Angel
Gabriel tells Mary that the Holy Spirit will work an absolute miracle in her to
bring forth the Messiah. He basically tells her that the Holy Spirit will
provide the DNA that is necessary for one of her reproductive eggs. That is to say, the Holy Spirit will deliver the DNA that was
missing from Mary’s egg, thus a cell would form; not just any cell, but a holy
and great physical life; not just any life, but the eternal Son of God will
come down from heaven to take up bodily residency in the womb of the Virgin
Mary.
Now, with all of this stated
thus far, there is a pretty good chance that you are familiar with this story. In fact, we talk about this each and every
Sunday when we confess in the Apostle’s Creed and Nicene Creed that Jesus was
conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. This scriptural story is also celebrated
every March 25th in the church as the Feast of the Annunciation.
Considering that the story
may be somewhat familiar, we must be careful not to rush over the message from
the Angel Gabriel and we mustn’t yawn at the passages of our Gospel reading
saying, “I’ve heard the story of Mary conceiving a child a hundred times!” The reason why this is so, is because this is
where the grand salvation plan of the Old Testament Scriptures actually comes
to fruition; it is where the salvation plan of the Old Testament begins to be
executed—executed for you and for me.
Permit me to explain.
At the very beginning of
things, our first mother, Eve, was confronted by an angel as well. This angel though was not a messenger of God
like Gabriel, but an evil messenger of twisted lies and hellish deceit, a
fallen angel who had rebelled against God.
This angel’s name was Lucifer, also known as Satan. To get back to the point, this evil, fallen,
and pathetic angel of deceit spewed forth lies about God in that Garden of Eden,
thus introducing temptation to Adam and Eve.
In response to the message of the evil angel, Adam and Eve distrusted
God’s Word and aspired to be God themselves, thus conceiving not a child within
Eve, but conceiving sin in themselves which gave birth to sin, sin that
infected and tainted every aspect of life as we know it. Tragically, temptation was planted by the evil
one; evil desires formed in Adam and Eve. Once the evil desires were conceived,
they gave birth to sin thus wreaking havoc on everything.[1]
All was not lost though, for
God gave a promise to Adam and Eve that there would be a seed, a child, who
would come in the future. This seed—this
child—would crush the head of the ol’ serpent.
Indeed, God did not promise an impersonal force; He did not promise some
sort of intelligent spiritualized battle plans communicated to us through
spiritual radio frequencies; He did not promise a waiflike or dainty savior;
and He did not promise an airy insubstantial energy to deal with the evil one
and the sins of the world. No, God
promised flesh and blood; He promised that a child would be born. The physical, bodily, and fleshly person who
was promised from long ago is none other than Jesus Christ, the seed that was
conceived in Mary’s womb. Yes, the child
that was conceived in the womb of Mary was conceived so that He could crush the
head of Satan, pay for sins, and redeem you and me. He is the promised seed, the promised child,
the promised flesh and blood that would save and make things right.
This means that, “Mary is
like a new and better Eve . . . [she] was the “Eve” who bore that promised
seed, [the seed] who crushed the power of our ancient foe, even as the venom of
death struck that seed in His crucifixion death. Indeed, if any woman should
have the name Eve, it should be Mary, for the Hebrew word for Eve means “mother
of life.” And such Mary is, for she gives birth to the Savior who is the way,
the truth, and the life.”[2]
Here we once again see the
tremendous reality that God was at work coming to us. As we have heard in previous Advent messages,
the Lord’s first coming to us some two-thousand years ago was not a coming of
condemnation, but a coming of grace and mercy.
But today, we hear more specifically how the Savior came to us
two-thousand years ago. Oh yes, He came
in grace and truth. Oh yes, the heavens
were ripped open as Jesus came to us. However,
today we hear more precisely that the Son of God came to us via the womb. Otherwise stated, our Savior came to us in
grace and mercy and did so by being born of a Virgin. Truly, this promised Messiah did not come to
us in a ghostly and unearthly way through a spiritualized portal. No, He came to us in flesh and blood; born of
the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary. He
was conceived, thus He received a true human body and soul in the Virgin Mary;
He took up human flesh inside of Mary’s womb, which was His first step towards
the cross.
Dear Saints, please keep in
mind that the miraculous conception of our Lord Jesus Christ in the womb of
Mary is not just a finer point of theology that theologians argue about; furthermore,
it is not an insignificant doctrine that can be classified as a myth, as some
denominations have tragically done; and finally it is not a mere theological
hurdle that we need to jump over to get to the Christmas Story on December 25. No it is none of these things, but rather it
is a teaching of tremendous importance for us to believe, teach, and
confess. Christ had to be true man,
because our salvation depends on it. You
see if Jesus was not true man, He would not have been able to act in our place
under the Law and He would not have been able to fulfill the Law for us. You who have ears, hear, Jesus Christ being
conceived in the womb of Mary is indeed important, for if Jesus did not come to
us as true man—if He did not come to the world bodily—He would not have been
able to live for us, suffer for us, die for us, and rise for us. Otherwise stated, the eternal Son of God came
to live for you, suffer for you, die for you, and rise for you—He did that by
taking up human flesh; He did that by taking up the form of a slave, being born
in human likeness; He shared in all things, yet without sin, so that through
His death He might destroy the one who has the power of death.
The conception of Jesus
Christ in the womb of Mary is a gift to mankind, a gift of a God who can die on
a cross for mankind. A God who is not
true man, cannot bleed for His creation.
A God who is not true man, cannot bleed for you.
Yes, we believe, teach, and
confess that Jesus is true God and we believe, teach, and confess that He is true
man born of the Virgin Mary. Because He
is true God He is able to overcome death and the devil; He is able to fulfill
the Law; He is able to resurrect from the dead.
Only God can do these things. What
is more, because He is true man He can be nailed to a cross—for you and for me. He can suffer for you. He can bleed for you. Beware my friends, of people who portray a
Jesus Christ and a Christianity that cannot be nailed to the cross; if you
can’t nail it to the cross it is not uniquely Christian.[3] Our savior has a cross; our savior bled and
died and rose.
This week, “we will
celebrate the human birth of God in the flesh, Jesus Christ. We will celebrate the fact that God and man
come together in one person - Jesus the Christ—the Son of Mary—the savior of
the world. His conception by the Holy
Spirit and His birth of the Virgin are the beginning of His journey to save
[you and me].”[4] Truly, as we enter into the Church’s blessed
Christmas Season this week and press forward towards the seasons of Epiphany,
Lent and Easter, we will see how the little human in the womb of the Virgin
will grow up and live a life without sin.
We will see how He will suffer, die, and be buried. We will see how He will rise and ascend back
to His Father. We will see how He did
all of this for you and for me, so that wrath against sin could be satisfied
and so that the Lord could come to you and me with His mercy, grace, and love,
not only in the Word and Sacraments today, but also in the great Second Advent
where we will be resurrected from the dead and given a new heaven and new
earth.
Baptized Saints, you have
favor with the Lord, for Christ was conceived for you. You have favor with the Lord, for this gift
of salvation was set out to be delivered way back in Genesis 3 and arrived at the conception. You are
favored for Christ was conceived so that He could redeem you.
The peace of God, which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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[1] Chad Bird, “Four Reasons Why the Virgin Mary Deserves More Attention in Protestant Churches,” (23 August 2014) https://birdchadlouis.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/four-reasons-why-the-virgin-mary-deserves-more-attention-in-protestant-churches/ (20 December 2014).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Paraphrase of a Norman Nagel Quote (Source of Quote Unknown).
[4] James T. Batchelor, “Fourth Sunday in Advent Sermon,” (18 December 2011) http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=2512 (20 December 2014).
_____________________
[1] Chad Bird, “Four Reasons Why the Virgin Mary Deserves More Attention in Protestant Churches,” (23 August 2014) https://birdchadlouis.wordpress.com/2014/08/23/four-reasons-why-the-virgin-mary-deserves-more-attention-in-protestant-churches/ (20 December 2014).
[2] Ibid.
[3] Paraphrase of a Norman Nagel Quote (Source of Quote Unknown).
[4] James T. Batchelor, “Fourth Sunday in Advent Sermon,” (18 December 2011) http://lcmssermons.com/index.php?sn=2512 (20 December 2014).
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