What Child Is This? Luke 1:26-38 4 th Advent - Love Dr. Greg Anderson December 20, 2015 Riverdale Baptist Church Whitehorse, Yukon
Introduction 1 Okay, here is how I will approach what we have just heard read. Is it fact or fiction? And by fiction, it could be cleverly designed myth by the Apostle Paul and his circle who were attempting to make the Jesus of history into the Christ, the god/man of Christian theology Or fiction as Luke s literary device, a story designed to convey what Luke believed to be the history of Jesus of Nazareth. A literary device, common among ancient authors, to write about matters in a sensible way. In Luke s case to account for the beginnings of the remarkable experience of Christian faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, Or fact, an eyewitness account of an experience. Fact or fiction: I believe a decision we must make and a decision with consequences Namely, if we accept this account as fact, the natural consequence is worship Advent/Christmas begins the Christian year, how we understand what Christmas is, will effect the rest of our year. I am aware of dozens of scholarly accounts by respected academics most of them practicing Christians labeling Mary s story as fiction of one type or another. I believe it is not fiction, but fact and here is why. Text In clear unambiguous language Luke begins his Gospel: Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses... I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account... Luke was a physician, a man trained in the scientific pursuit. Trained to observe, to make careful investigation, to consult sources, to best understand a matter. In the travel account of Acts 20 and 21 Luke records his journey from Philippi in Macedonia to Jerusalem in the company of Paul the Apostle. Upon arriving in Jerusalem Paul is quickly taken into custody where he remains for over two years before being shipped out to Rome where again Luke accompanies him. It makes sense to me that during those years in Palestine Luke in the course of his investigations most likely sat down with Mary herself and listened to her story.
2 Church history tells us Mary along with the Apostle John left Jerusalem sometime before the city was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and traveled to Ephesus where she lived out the remainder of her life. When Luke was in Jerusalem, in all likelihood, so was Mary. Yes, these facts are contested, the accuracy of the Bible questioned, but after a lifetime of study, I see no substantial reason to not believe these simple recorded matters. Alright, Luke and Mary sit down together, the tea is poured, and the talk began: First the context is given: six months after the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary s relative Zechariah the angel also appeared to her. This is important verification of the story because the last thing told to Mary as proof to the impossible acts of God was what was happening to Elizabeth and Zechariah and Mary rushed off to see for herself the truth of it. It is also important because what happened to Mary was quite different than what happened to Zechariah. Now, this mulling over is important. Zechariah, as a typical man wanted proof, and he got proof or more likely comeuppance by having his mouth shut for nine months. For Mary, her response to the glory of an angel and his message was great trouble and wonder. The nuance of the great trouble is a mix of fear, perplexity and an intense curiosity which resulted in Mary mulling over the angelic announcement which then produced a sense of wonder. Luke gives us three instances of Mary s mulling over: Gabriel s visit and message At the conclusion of the Shepherd s visit to the manger and the newborn child 2:19 And Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. And at the end of the incident when 12 year old Jesus stays behind in Jerusalem 2:51 But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. What is in the treasure box of our hearts? The week before last I was on Salt Spring Island to attend to the burial of my aunt. This aunt had a special place in my life, she was a kindergarten teacher like my mom, she was smart as a whip and did not hesitate to use the whip. It took me several days to write the eulogy and the graveside words.
3 As I wrote I discovered something. A few things rose up from the treasure box of my heart. Some memories from when I was 12 years old, when my aunt and her family lived with my family. We all have a treasure box with precious experiences that have shaped our lives. When Luke sat down with Mary she was an old woman close to the end of her days. We do not open up the treasure box for just anyone but now it seemed to be a God appointed occasion and Mary opened her heart to Luke. She shared the things she had pondered over. And there in the depths of the treasure box was a gem wrapped up in the silk of a song sung to Elizabeth so many years ago, the Magnificent, and the gem was the words of the angel Gabriel: Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you... And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. Mary is probably around 16 years old. She is engaged to Joseph of the house of David, she may not be of that house. Engagement in 1 st century Palestine is different than it is today. Probably not more than a year, given she is already of child-bearing age, the year allows all to see she is a virgin. And while she remains in her family s home under her father s authority, there is a contract and bride-price paid that really does make her Joseph s wife. So what is she to make of Gabriel s announcement? She knows where babies come from. As I said last year on this Sunday, she knows Joseph loves her and I cannot imagine anything in her heart but love to Joseph. So she asks Gabriel about the how, since she is a virgin. And if I could read between the lines, in the passions of her 16 year old body, she is probably good with consummating the love between Joseph and her right now! And then the most sacred of those precious words of the angel, from deep in her treasure box, are spoken: The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; and he will be called Son of God. The first generation of Christians, the eyewitnesses, bequeathed to the Church their conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth was both the long promised Messiah of the Jewish nation and, in mystery untold, both God and man. John, the one who leaned on Jesus during the Last Supper tells us: Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.... All things came into being through the Word... And the Word became flesh and lived among us... Peter, first among the companions of Jesus tells us:
4 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, This is my Son, my Beloved... We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain. When Mary tells us the child conceived in her womb resulted from the power of the Most High overshadowing her; Luke uses this same word, overshadow to describe Peter s experience on the Mount of Transfiguration:... a cloud came and overshadowed them... Then from the cloud came a voice that said: This is my Son... The first Christians, the eyewitness, bequeath to us that Jesus of Nazareth was born Son of God. Application Some 400 years later the Christian Church formulated this bequest in language that ever since that time has best described the person of Jesus and forms for us one of the markers of what it means to be an orthodox Christian. I know this is academic, but at least once a year, as we are considering Christmas and the incarnation of the Son of God, it is good for us to remember and decide to once again hold fast to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And of course, I believe it is more than academic, it is intensely practical because it is what lies at the heart of our worship. Here is how the reformed theologian Oliver Crisp summarizes the Council of Chalcedon from AD 451: 1. Christ is of one substance (homoousios) with the Father 2. Christ is eternally begotten of the Father according to his divinity and temporally begotten of the Virgin Mary according to his humanity. 3. Christ is one theanthropic (divine-human) person (hypostasis) subsisting in two natures, which are held together in a personal union. 4. Christ s two natures remain intact in the personal union, without being confused or mingled together to form some sort of hybrid entity. 5. Christ s two natures are a fully divine nature and fully human nature, respectively, his human nature consisting of a human body and rational soul Or as put simply in the Catechism of the Catholic Church: We believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, born a Jew of a daughter of Israel at Bethlehem at the time of King Herod the Great and the emperor Caesar Augustus, a carpenter by trade, who died crucified in Jerusalem under the procurator Pontius Pilate during the reign of the emperor Tiberius, is the eternal Son of God made man. On Christmas morning, before anything else, may we fall on our knees and in an act of worship, give thanks to God the Father for sending his Son into our world, into our flesh, to save us and to save the world. Amen.