Luke's Gospel 1:26-56

Last week we started our journey through Luke’s Gospel. In the first four verses, he tells us exactly why he wrote the book. So that someone he calls Theophilus “may know the certainty of the things he had been taught.” Theophilus may have been a Roman official, he may have been a wealthy patron—someone who put up the cash so Luke could travel and do all the research to write the book. Some people think it’s just a name for all Christians—people who are “loved by God” or “dear to God” which is what the name means. No one knows for sure who Theophilus is but we do know for sure that Luke wrote his Gospel so that him and other believers could once and for all know with certainly all about Jesus. So there wouldn’t be any confusion.

Good thing. So glad there’s no confusion about Jesus. Everyone completely understands who Jesus is, what He taught, what He came to do—what it means to believe in Him and be one of His followers. Glad everyone’s got all that sorted out.

Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild is the flower child hippy who taught us that all we need is love, right? Just be really nice to everyone and don’t stir up any harsh vibes. He’s also a member of the NRA, wears an American flag draped over his shoulder, and turns over the tables of the liberals while driving them out of office. He’s our buddy, our life coach, our therapist, and the guy we’d definitely pick first to be on our team or on our side. Basically, whatever we want to believe whatever we want to do, we just slap a Jesus fish sticker on it and figure out how that’s exactly what Jesus would do. Jesus always seems to be exactly like us.

If you’re sensing a little sarcasm, that’s because I’m laying it on pretty thick.

The world is massively confused about who Jesus is, what He taught, and what He came to do. We shouldn’t be surprised by this. Most people haven’t taken the time to read the Gospel of Luke, but they have been reading us—they’ve picked up on our “life lessons” just fine. We need to take this to heart: we’re the only Bible most people we know are ever going to read. We’re the only Gospel they’re ever going to hear. 

That’s why we’re taking our time and walking through Luke’s Gospel. We need to get to know, with certainty, who Jesus said He is, what He taught, and what He came to do. 

We’ll pick up in chapter one at verse 26:

In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. Luke 1:26-27

Last week we talked about Zechariah and Elizabeth, two old people that the Angel Gabriel told would have a baby that would prepare the way for the Lord. When it says “in the sixth month,” it’s talking about the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. God sends Gabriel on another errand, this time it’s in a podunk, backwater town called Nazareth. We’ve all heard of it because it’s where Jesus came from, so it sounds majestic to us: Jesus of Nazareth! In the 70s there was a hard rock band called Nazareth. It sounds like a really cool name to us. That’s not how the people in Bible days would have heard this. Think Port Arthur or Jesus of Cut And Shoot. 

So the mighty Gabriel is sent from the heavenly throne room of God on a mission to talk to a 13-year-old girl living in poverty in the middle of nowhere. Her name was Mary and she was engaged to a man named Joseph. 

Their betrothal, kind of like what we would call en engagement, but it had a very specific purpose. The whole point was to make sure the woman wasn’t already pregnant when she got married—so it lasted about a year. And just in case we’re wondering, Luke let’s us know from the start, Mary is a virgin.

Verse 28:

And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Luke 1:28-30

“Greetings, O favored one” could also be translated “graced one.” The angel has to be thinking “of all the women who have ever lived, or will ever live, this is one He chose to be His mother.” “My goodness, girl! It is such an honor to meet you! We’ve been waiting since the Garden of Eden for this. You are the favored one. God has shown you grace. The Lord is with you.”

For some reason, the 13-year-old girl didn’t know what to think of that. Gabriel tries to comfort her a little, “don’t be afraid, Mary, you’ve found favor with God.”

Are you feeling it? This is quite a moment. Then the angel gets down to business, verse 31:

And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name 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 father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Luke 1:31-33

Mary, you’re going to have a baby. His name will be Jesus, which means YAHWEH SAVES, He’s going to be the Savior of the world. He will be exceedingly great, mighty to save. The Son of the Most High, the Son of God. He’s the promised King who will sit on David’s throne, the King that was promised to Jacob through Judah—your son is going to be the king and His kingdom will never end. 

If this was a Disney musical, the song Gabriel would be singing would be:
“Mary did you know that your baby boy would one day walk on water?

Mary did you know that your baby boy would save our sons and daughters?

Did you know that your baby boy has come to make you new?

This child that you’ll deliver, will soon deliver you?”

And Mary would be like, “I guess I do now.”

But what she actually said was:

And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Luke 1:34

Which was a perfectly legit question. People have been asking that question ever since. Some people are like, “she wasn’t really a virgin, she was just a young girl.” No. Her question doesn’t make any sense if she had already had sex with a man. She knew about the birds and the bees and didn’t understand how she was going to have a baby. She was betrothed and she was a virgin. Sometimes people say something like, “what do we really lose if we lose the virgin birth?”

Everything. We lose everything. Stop trying to tone down the miracles in the Bible just because unbelievers find them hard to believe. How stupid is that? Of course unbelievers have a hard time believing. Let’s hold on to God’s Word—all of it—and give them something to actually believe in!

The angel answers her, verse 35: 

“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 called holy—the Son of God.” Luke 1:35

“Mary did you know?” She knew. Do you? That’s really the question.

The curse of original sin had been passed down from Adam to every child that had ever been born. This is going to be something new. God’s Spirit had breathed life into the first man Adam—that same Spirit was going to create life in the womb of the new Eve. Jesus would be the first man since Adam to be without the guilt of inherited sin. He will be born holy. Like Eve had contained in her womb all humanity that was doomed to sin, now Mary contains in her womb the One who will give life and hope to everyone by His grace.

Verse 36:

“And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Luke 1:36-37

Gabriel’s like, “we’re talking about miracles here. Your grandma’s cousin, the one that couldn’t have any kids? Surprise! She’s pregnant, too. It seems impossible for you to be pregnant—and you’re right, it is—but this is what God does, He makes the impossible, possible.”

Mary’s response is our big take-away from this lesson. Here’s what Mary said…

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her. Luke 1:38

Gabriel had to be thinking, “well, that went a lot better than Zechariah.”

“Let it be to me according to your word.” Let it be.

When you find yourself in times of trouble, in your hour of darkness, when your heart is broken—remember how Mary responded to Gabriel—keep her example right in front of you. “Let it be to me according to your word.”

We need to talk about Mary for a minute. Christians get weird when she comes up. Some people want to elevate her to the level of God—pray to her and worship her. That’s clearly wrong, she wouldn’t want that. And then other Christians are like, “Meh. She’s just a woman like any other woman. Nothing special about her.” Also wrong.

Mary is highly favored by God. She’s the first Christian. She’s the mother of Jesus, which means she’s the mother of God. She’s the mother of the church—the church, according to Luther is “the mother that begets and bears every Christian through the Word of God.” This is a great honor and it’s not our job to diminish it in any way. We are to honor Mary and revere her—not worship her, not pray to her. Elizabeth, her cousin is going to show us what that looks like in a minute.

Mary heard the Word of the Lord and believed it. She also knew that word was going to mess up all her plans—she still believed it. It was the same kind of faith that Abraham had when God came to him and told him to pack his bags and go—that he’d be the Father of many nations. The Jews didn’t pray to Abraham, they remembered him, remembered his faith—the same way we honor him by responding with the same kind of faith whenever we hear the Word of God. We should do the same with Mother Mary as we do with Father Abraham. Respond to God with faith.

God says to you: “you are forgiven because of Jesus.” 

We respond, “let it be to me according to Your Word.”

God says to you: “you’re going to carry Jesus and deliver His message of salvation to the world.”

We respond, “let it be to me according to Your Word.”

Verse 39:

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 

She left immediately to go see her cousin and talk about their miracle pregnancies. 

And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? Luke 1:39-43

There are so many things going on in Luke’s Gospel that we just skim over. References to the Old Testament and the ways that Jesus fulfilled the Scriptures and how His whole life was a reenactment of the Old Testament story of Israel. This is one of those.

When David was king, there was a time when the Ark of the Covenant—which was the special location of the presence of God on earth—it was being transported back to Jerusalem and David said, in terror at the untouchable holiness of the Ark, he said:

“How shall the Ark of the Lord come to me?” (2 Samuel 6:9)

Then the ark stayed at the house of Obededom for three months, where it was a source of blessing for his house. 

So now Mary is the temporary and portable vessel housing the immanent presence of God—fulfilling the purpose of the Ark of the Covenant. Mary shows up on Elizabeth’s doorstep and she says, “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Then she’s going to stay there for three months. The Gospels are full of references like these that we miss if we don’t know the Bible.

Also, how amazing is it that when Elizabeth was greeted by her teenage cousin from Nazareth, her unborn baby started leaping in the womb! Elizabeth is six months pregnant and I’ve been told a six-month-old fetus can get your attention. John the Baptizer, the forerunner of Jesus, somehow recognized His Lord and cousin in utero. But the baby that’s causing all this commotion is only about a week old. Think about the implications of this for the debate on abortion. Think about the implications for infant baptism. Faith is a gift from God. It’s impossible to have faith unless God gives it to you. It’s just as possible for God to give faith to a baby, born or unborn, as it is for Him to give faith to an adult. Faith is a gift. Remember what the angel said, “nothing is impossible with God.”

So the unborn baby leaps with faith and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit. She says to Mary,

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” Luke 1:42-45

“Blessed” and “saved” are synonyms. Mary believed the Lord and it was counted to her as righteousness—just like Abraham. Just like you and me. You are saved by grace through faith. You hear the Word of God, believe what He says, and you are saved.

Now it’s time for another song. There are actually a lot of little sections that have become songs and liturgical treasures from the birth and infant narrative of Jesus. The Nicene Creed captures all this in a single phrase: Jesus “was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man.” Some of these have cool Latin names so we can sound really smart when we talk about them. Zechariah’s “Benedictus,” Simeon’s “Nunc dimittis.” This time Mary’s going to sing a song we call “The Magnificat” because she says her soul magnifies the Lord. It’s very similar to Hannah’s song from 1st Samuel chapter two—it’s very much in the style of Hebrew poetry like the Psalms. 

I’m going to read it to you. Think about what you believe Jesus came to do—what His ministry’s going to be. See if it lines up with the things Mary is singing about. 

Verse 46:

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. Luke 1:46-49

Mary rejoices in God, as opposed to most people rejoicing in the gift of salvation more than we do in our Savior—more about the Christmas gifts than Christ Himself. “Humble estate” means she knows she was nothing special—just a poor girl from a poor family. Later, Jesus will say “blessed are the poor in spirit.” When we confess that we are spiritually bankrupt, that’s when we are in the perfect place for God to save us. 

And his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. Luke 1:50-53

Are those the things you think Jesus came to do? Scatter the proud? Bring down the mighty? Feed the hungry and send the rich away with nothing? You should probably stop listening to prosperity Gospel preachers who don’t seem to have actually read the Bible—and conservative talk show hosts that wrap the flag around the cross hoping we’ll confuse the two. God knocks the mighty off their phony thrones—He breaks whoever thinks their whole without Him, and makes whole anyone who admits they’re broken.

Verse 54:

He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever.” And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home. Luke 1:54-56

Elizabeth was due in about three months so Mary probably stayed to help see the birth of John before she headed back to Nazareth.

The last line of Mary’s song is very important. Jesus is the seed of Abraham, the entire promise comes down to Him, He is Israel reduced to one person. He’s going to do what all the people of God who came before Him and all the people of God who come after Him weren’t able to do. Jesus is going to live for them, die for them, resurrect for them, and save them—take their sins on Himself and offer them His righteousness and eternal life.

I’m sorry, that was too abstract. Too impersonal. Let me say it like this: Jesus came to do those things for you. To show you mercy. To give you life and hope.

Did you hear it? The Word of the Lord? Whatever you got going on in your life, whatever your time of trouble is, whatever your hour of darkness is, no matter how broken your heart is—this is the Word of the Lord for you today: Jesus came to show you mercy and give you life and hope. 

Hear the Word of the Lord. Take a little faith and run with it. “Let it be to me according to your word.” Say that with me: “Let it be to me according to your word.”

AMEN