Do Not Be Afraid... Ever – 24 December 2017 – Fourth Sunday in Advent

Although Nathan's prophecy to David and Gabriel's announcement to Mary may lead us to expect a messiah bringing peace by ruling in splendor from "the throne of David his father," today's readings suggest that God's mysterious ways often overturn human expectations.

David is deterred from building a glorious house for God (temple). Instead, the Lord will build a house for him (dynasty). God's fulfillment of the "mystery hidden for many ages" is first revealed to Mary. . . in the out-of-the-way region of Galilee. As she obediently submits to the Lord's impossible plan for the messiah's birth, we may already anticipate that her child's rule is not going to conform to the standards of earthly power and prestige.

Luke 1:26-38

In a tone of wonder and joy, Luke's annunciation story describes the beginning of the fulfillment of the long-awaited time of salvation. . . .  

The scene is filled with improbabilities. The site is Nazareth in Galilee; there has been no Davidic court in Jerusalem for almost 600 years. The recipient is a virgin, "deeply troubled" by the angel's greeting who later must ask, "How can this be since I do not know man?" The child will be conceived by the power of the Most High, and the confirming sign that Mary's baby is indeed to be called Son of God is that her kinswoman Elizabeth has conceived a son in her old age.

In language reminiscent of the annunciation of Isaac's birth to Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18), Gabriel ends by affirming that, "nothing is impossible with God." In con- trast to the incredulous Zechariah and their laughing ancestor Sarah, Mary acquiesces to the mysterious divine plan: "I am the maidservant of the Lord. Let it be done to me as you say."

2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16

The scriptures remind us that our God is a god of surprise. The reading from Second Samuel describes Israel as a people firmly rooted in the promised land. This people has developed such a sophisticated urban life that it wants to establish a dwelling place for God, an act that in effect represents an attempt to domesticate God.

But Nathan receives a night-time revelation from God, an appeal to remember God's nomadic, sojourning, tent-dwelling presence for Israel. Nathan is reminded that God's power enabled Israel's enemies to be thwarted and that God desires no temple where the divine will exist under the domination of human designs. The Davidic covenant is not to be placed in a particular space but is to be rooted in a person, David, and his posterity. God speaks surprise. God takes a posture of presence with David and his posterity.

Romans 16:25-27

This concluding doxology gives praise to God who strengthens the Christian community in the gospel, now revealed to gentiles through Paul's preaching. . .  

Its emphasis on the hidden mystery of God's plan, which completes the message of the prophets and is now revealed to all the nations, is central to the theme of today's readings. The plan for salvation, now open to gentiles, is manifested not according to human timetables but "at the command of the eternal God."

These reflections were written by a number of different scholars who contributed to this volume of Homily Service without attribution according to specific sections.

Homily Service 36, no. 1 (2002): 35-42.

Let it Be – 21 December 2014 – Fourth Sunday of Advent

The angel Gabriel came to Mary and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” And, in the end, Mary’s response is “Here I am . . . let it be with me according to your word.” Said in another way, Mary embraces the power of the Messiah, the savior of the world, to change her life.

Today’s readings (Luke 1:26-38; 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16; Romans 16:25-27) are deeply intertwined, as Paul Bieber wrote in Homily Service in 2005, emphasizing that the identity of the Savior is two-fold: descendant of both David and of God.

The identity of the Messiah as the Son of David goes back to the promise we hear in the first reading, where the prophet Nathan promises David that his royal house will be established forever. But David's dynasty fell in 587 B.C.E. The promise was not fulfilled in the expected manner, but in a surprising, unexpected way.

Even before we get to the fulfillment, observe that notice of the promise comes about in a surprising, unexpected way. Living in his palace, King David has a bad conscience because God has to live in a mere tent. He wants to build the LORD a house to dwell in. Not an unusual desire. Down through millennia, people have built temples as places to worship their Gods. They thought of the deity or deities in territorial terms, the God of this place or that place. But the God of the Old Testament dwelt in a tent, leading [the] people on a pilgrimage. This God didn't need a fixed structure . . . but preferred to live within the community, moving about among all the people. Our God is not planted in one place but travels about with us. The God who dwells in a tent rather than a temple is a God on the move.

This God found residence in a house, a temple of human flesh. The central event in the building of this house is the coming of the Son of David—not to Jerusalem, to the daughter of scribes or priests, but to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin named Mary.  . . .

Mary's conception is a divine creative action; it is a new work of the overshadowing Spirit, that same Spirit that hovered at the creation of the world when all was void.

In revealing to Mary the twofold identity of Jesus, Gabriel is speaking both the language of the Old Testament prophets about the Son of David and the language of the New Testament preachers about the Son of God: language that Paul in Romans specifically calls “gospel.” Thus it is no exaggeration to say that Mary has heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and indeed is the first one to have done so. When she says yes to this Gospel, she becomes the first disciple. When she says yes to this Gospel, she shows us something important about our discipleship.

He is the unique Son of God as well, the very presence of God with us, Emmanuel. Anything less is not the Gospel, and assent to anything less will not make us disciples.  And assent to that twofold identity is not just intellectual assent; it involves being willing to hear Jesus’ proclamation of God's will and doing it.

That means being willing to face the annunciations in our lives. That means radical obedience, like Mary's, which is deceptive in its simplicity.

– Paul Bieber

Given the many prophetic voices we have heard in this Advent season, Ron Anderson asks us to consider whether Mary’s voice may be the strongest of all.

Paul Bieber is pastor of All Saints Lutheran Church, San Diego, California.  

E. Byron Anderson is the Ernest and Bernice Styberg Professor of Worship and the Director of the Nellie B. Ebersole Program in Music Ministry at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.

Homily Service 39, no. 1 (2005): 37-49.