Fourth Sunday in Advent 12/18/11

Fourth Sunday in Advent 12/18/11 Text: Luke 1:26-38 Title: Rorate Coeli (Rain Down from heaven) Sunday Today is Rorate (row-rate) Coeli (ko-a-lee) Sunday. This is the ancient Latin name for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, the Sunday we are celebrating today. It means “Raining down from heaven.” And comes from the Latin translation of God’s Word, the first part of Isaiah 45:8 which reads in English, "Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness.” As you will learn it is the perfect name for this Sunday, as we hear the angel Gabriel announce to Mary that she was going to be the mother of the God-man Jesus. In preparation for this Sunday and the Christmas celebration next Sunday we have for the past three weeks been studying the Incarnation. In this study we have learned many things about the Incarnation of God; that is the coming down of God to be flesh and blood. By looking at God’s Word we know that God from the time he created human beings wanted them to be in a loving trusting relationship with him. We know that because Adam and Eve use to openly converse with God. Then, for some reason that we will never know this side of heaven Adam and Eve quit trusting in God. We know the rest of the story, don’t we, for we don’t have to look too far to see war, hatred, crime, selfishness, greed, sickness and death. It has touched us all. We definitely know the consequences of living sinful lives in a sinful world. Because of sin God could no longer come into direct contact with his people because of their sin, but he continued to show his love, for those who many times turned their backs on him, he spoke to them by speaking through the prophets, showing himself in visions, fire, clouds, smoke, and last, but certainly not least he communicated with his people in the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. And because sacrifices could not appease God’s wrath toward sin God had to do something to reconcile his human creation to himself. It had to be, in human terms, something drastic, for his human creation could not, left on their own, no matter how many animals they sacrificed, grain or money they offered to God could ever make themselves right before God. They could not pray enough or worship him enough. Without God actively breaking into our existence all people are doomed. So God came himself to do what no one else could do; make peace between us and God. Angels could not do it. A human, even the most saintly of all humans couldn’t do it because we are all descendants of Adam and Eve. No one could reconcile humans to God except God himself. He had to come, for if he did not all of his human creation, the people he loved. The people he made to be in relationship with him would be destroyed. That brings us to our Gospel text for today; the “raining down from heaven, which we see in the story of Mary being told she was going to be the mother of the God-man Jesus, the Savior of the world. God himself coming down to be born, as one of us, except of course Mary became pregnant through the workings of the Holy Spirit. Jesus had no earthly biological father. She was a virgin before she was pregnant and while she was pregnant until after she gave birth to Jesus, for we are told in another Gospel that Joseph did know her until after Jesus was born. There are a few things in the Gospel for this morning that I would like to point out to you, so that you might have a deeper appreciation for “God raining down from heaven” to us. In the first verse the sixth month tells us that Mary’s aunt Elizabeth who was old and barren was six months pregnant. Her baby grows up to be John the one who baptizes Jesus. It is interesting to note that when an angel had told Elizabeth’s husband that she would become pregnant that he doubted and God made him mute while Mary on the other hand when she was told that she would become pregnant believed and praised God. Read down a little further to where the angel says, “Greetings O favored one, the Lord is with you. That greeting sounds a lot like the angel said something like, “Hello Mary, I bring you greetings from God, for you are a nice girl being a virgin and all. You are worthy of being the mother of Jesus. That sounds like what the angel is saying, but the English translation does not do a good job of giving us what he actually said to Mary. In the Greek the greeting carries the meaning of Mary you have been graced by God. In other words Mary you are favored, not because of who you are, or how good you are, but because God has chosen you to be the mother of Jesus. God in his picking of Mary to be the mother of Jesus made her to be the favored one. That meaning is reinforced by the verse just a little further down where the angel tells Mary that she has found favor with God. It is not her doing, but God’s doing that made her find favor with God. As we go through the text you hear the angel tell Mary how she will become pregnant. We see that Mary is confused and who wouldn’t be? I can just hear her say, “You said what?” She was a virgin and I am sure that she knew that at least back then, that you did not get pregnant without having intercourse with a man. It is impossible. Yet listen at what she says after the angel tells her, “For nothing is impossible with God.” Mary replies, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Mary in faith accepts what the angel has told her even though she did not have a clue as to how she was going to become pregnant. What a statement of faith! While Mary in her faith completely trusted and accepted what the angel has told her after he said, “For nothing is impossible with God.” that sentence is probably one of the most twisted and misused quotes in the Bible. You usually see it on a sign or hear it spoken in a prayer when an underdog team goes up against another team who is supposed to really outscore them. It is like a cheer. God will see that we win, if we just believe. The problem is that you really have to take the angel’s saying out of context, to say that it means anything close to that, for if you pay attention to what is taking place when the angel tells Mary that “For nothing is impossible with God.” the angel is answering her question of, “How can this be?” He is telling her that if God saw to it that her Aunt Elizabeth who was old and barren got pregnant then he can certainly do what the angel has said he would do. When you read the passage in the Greek you get a better idea of the meaning, for the Greek says what God says will happen will happen. In other words the angel is not saying that what Mary, you or I say God can do he will do, but that what God says he will do he will do. Nothing is impossible for God when he says he will do it. I hear quite often, “If only Jesus were alive today I could believe and trust in him. It had to be easier to believe in Jesus then. It is harder now with all the different truths that are being taught. “Which one is right.” Maybe all of them are right” they say. To think that way is to miss the true Jesus, God Incarnate. Jesus did not quit being active in our lives life just because he ascended to heaven, as some believe. He is the same incarnate Word though whom the Father created the universe. He is the same Savior who spoke forgiveness and life for us. He is the same living Word who promises to remain close to us until his final return. My dear brothers and sisters in Christ God continues to “rain down from heaven” on us today in his Word and Sacraments and the absolution that I speak to you in Jesus’ name every Sunday. He is here now, as he has always been and always will be, for he is the great, “I am.” God Incarnate. Amen.