Opening Prayer
O my Immanuel, come and be born in my heart!
Text: Luke 1:26–38
Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; 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.” Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?” And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.” Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Devotion
In the midst of the Lenten season we shall meditate on this Gospel and Jesus’ deity and His two natures in one Person, so that we do not forget who it is that suffers. We consider it seriously and worship His love. Then we shall know this love in our hearts, and the Lord Himself shall gain better stature in us both as King of pain and King of glory. It is necessary for Jesus to be spiritually conceived in our heart, – and it is blessed!
The Holy Spirit testifies in the Scripture so clearly and faithfully about the mystery of the Deity in Christ, because it is so absolutely important that we know it. And the Church has understood this, so it often presents to us these testimonies of the Spirit for meditation in our Divine Services.
Can anyone who simply reads the Gospel about Jesus’ conception get a different meaning from it than that the Son Mary would bear is God’s Son? Isn’t it clear that He had no earthly father? And doesn’t the angel say repeatedly that He shall be called the Son of God? But to be called the Son of God is to be the Son of God, according to Scripture’s use of language. Doesn’t Mary also understand the angel’s words in this way? And doesn’t the angel even refer back to the prophecies of the Messiah in which His Deity is expressed? We remember 2 Samuel 7 where David is promised a Descendant who shall sit on his throne forever, and whose Father shall be God, and He shall be God’s Son. We may think of Isaiah 9 where the same Heir of David’s throne is called “Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” with a kingdom of peace without end, which He rules over forever. How can the Holy Spirit in Scripture say this and how can the Lord’s angel say it if this Son of Mary is not God’s Only-begotten, true and eternal God with the Father? The whole Bible teaches that He is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and that He is true God and true Man in one Person. We may freely and loudly call them fools who deny that Christ is true God. They read the Scripture wrongly and do not see its true meaning, because they want to be wiser than what is written. When mankind follows its pride, it walks in darkness.
Let us rather worship and thank God for His incredible gift. It is glorious to be fully assured of Christ’s Deity. For then He is for us a perfect Savior and His name is great and outshines all other names. Why should it trouble me that His Person is higher and more wonderful than what my poor reason can comprehend? On the contrary, God’s wisdom and power must surpass all my understanding, and here is all God’s Wonder of wonders, the highest and deepest and greatest, so that all the angels wish to look into it (1Pe 1:12). So I bow myself gladly and happily before His wondrous power and believe that His love is infinitely greater than all that we comprehend and understand. Or should anything be miraculous for God?
What then shall keep us from saying with Mary: “Let it be to me according to your word.” He says: “I love you with eternal love. I give you My only-begotten Son and in Him I give you eternal life.” And I answer: “Let it be to me according to Your word.” Was Mary disappointed when she believed the Lord’s Word? Then shall we be disappointed if we rely on His Word? No! It has pleased God in His eternal love to give us His Son as our Savior and to let Him become Man so that we shall partake of His glory. Let the sages and champions of unbelief keep their messiah: a man whose person and teaching has its time and then drops out of sight forever.
We are not served by such a savior. We must have One who is Lord over time and eternity, over earth and heaven, over life and death, over sin and righteousness, over men and angels and devils, and that we have, praise be to His name! With the whole Christian Church we believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only-begotten Son, true God and true Man, who suffered and died, rose again and lives and is seated at God’s right hand.
Closing Prayer
God the Holy Spirit, give us such a simple and childlike mind. Amen.
Hymn
There came a message from the sky:
God has the earth befriended,
His Son who dwells in heaven high,
By angel hosts attended,
Will now your flesh and blood put on
As David’s Son;
Your wretched state is ended.
It first to Nazareth did come
By Gabriel expounded;
To Mary, in her humble home,
So wonderful it sounded;
O Mary, hail, thou shalt not fear,
The Lord is near,
To thee hath grace abounded!
Thou shalt a Son conceive and bear,
Who is the Prince of heaven,
Who shall to David’s throne be heir
And Jacob’s house be given;
He shall extend to ev’ry race
His reign of grace,
His kingdom, like a leaven.
The Holy Spirit shall to thee
His boundless power render,
Abundant shall the mercy be
From Him, thy strong Defender;
This Child is therefore from above,
Whom thou shalt love
As mother kind and tender.
Come, Christmas-Child, and be my guest,
Give me Thy Holy Spirit,
Prepare my heart and make it blest
Forever through Thy merit,
That I at last may dwell with Thee,
Thy kingdom see,
And all its gifts inherit.
Kingo: Nu kommer Bud fra Englekor L 294:3-7 tr. HCH 84 P. C. Paulsen;
tune: Maria, hun er en Jomfru ren (ELH 268); alternate hymn: We all believe in one true God ELH 38:2