During World War 2, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy are sent from London to an old professor’s large country house. A rainy day leads to an inside game of hide-and-seek. Lucy hides in a large wardrobe. Pushing through winter coats, she finds herself in winter outside the wardrobes’ missing back wall. A talking faun tells her wonderful tales about this strange land of Narnia. Finally, realizing she’s been gone a long while, she retraces her steps to the wardrobe and tells her older brothers and sister about her adventure. They don’t believe her (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis).
Luke’s Christmas Story reminds me of Lewis’ Narnia. Both open to me a world of wonder and call me to be a trusting child again (quite desirable for a disabled 73-year-old!). Here’s part two of Luke’s story. (You can find the first at https://theoldpreacher.com/christmas-old-empty/.)
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy God sent the angel Gabriel to a town in Galilee named Nazareth. He had a message for a young woman promised in marriage to a man named Joseph, who was a descendant of King David. Her name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Peace be with you! The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you!” Mary was deeply troubled by the angel’s message, and she wondered what his words meant. The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Mary; God has been gracious to you. You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High God. The Lord God will make him a king, as his ancestor David was and he will be the king of the descendants of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end!” Mary said to the angel, “I am a virgin. How, then, can this be?” The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and God’s power will rest upon you. For this reason the holy child will be called the Son of God. Remember your relative Elizabeth. It is said that she cannot have children, but she herself is now six months pregnant, even though she is very old. For there is nothing that God cannot do.” “I am the Lord’s servant,” said Mary; “may it happen to me as you have said.” And the angel left her (Luke 1:26-38, GNT).
“God sent the angel . . . to a town in Galilee named Nazareth” should spike our curiosity. Galilee in Nazareth are real places. This isn’t a “once upon a time in a land far away” story. But “God sent the angel”—that’s, well, fairy-tale-like. Don’t doze because God sending angels happens in the Bible. Luke is telling us God sent an angel to a real town and at a particular time (“In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy . . . “). A strange mix of the historical (see Luke 1:1-4) and the wonder-ful!
The angel had a message for a young woman named Mary. What surprises me is how she responds to the angel’s greeting. I think angels appeared as men, unless Scripture describes them otherwise. No wings. No holy glow. Maybe that led to Mary’s response. She’s not afraid of the angel, just “deeply troubled by the angel’s message”— “The Lord is with you and has greatly blessed you.”
The angel tells her (a talking angel, like the talking faun) she’ll become pregnant and birth a son whom she’ll name “Jesus”. A common name. But his next words must get Mary tingling. Her son will be great, will be called “the Son of the Most High God” and God will make him king of Jacob’s descendants like his ancestor David and his kingdom will last forever.
It’s been said that every pregnant Jewish woman wondered if the child in her womb was a son, and if he might be the Messiah. Mary must have thought the same at the angel’s words. She must have known prophecies like these . . .
At the time of those rulers the God of heaven will establish a kingdom that will never end. It will never be conquered, but will completely destroy all those empires and then last forever. (Daniel 2:44)
During this vision in the night, I saw what looked like a human being. He was approaching me, surrounded by clouds, and he went to the one who had been living forever and was presented to him. He was given authority, honor, and royal power, so that the people of all nations, races, and languages would serve him. His authority would last forever, and his kingdom would never end (Daniel 7:13,14).
The angel practically quoted them of her son! So it’s understandable that she didn’t ask the angel for some identification. This was every Israelite woman’s dream! Ah, but, she’s got a problem. She’s a virgin!
Turns out the angel’s ready with the solution: The Holy Spirit will come upon her and conceive the holy child in her. Did Mary’s face show a twinge of doubt? In any case, the angel told her that her barren relative Elizabeth is now six month’s pregnant. See: God can do anything!
Mary’s final response stuns me still. “I am the Lord’s servant; may it happen to me as you have said.” She just accepts it. She submits to it. No more questions. No arguments. No thought of personal cost. (A promised-to-be-married pregnant woman!) Just, “I serve the Lord. Let’s go for it.”
Mary is one special young lady because the Lord has specially favored her. The Greek word, charioto–o, means “kindness with the implication of grace on the part of the one showing kindness.” That grace, I think, was not merely in the Lord’s choosing her, but in enabling her trusting response.
So the scene ends. If we’re child-like enough to believe it really happened, we might ask, “So what? So 2000 years ago in northern Israel an angel appeared and told a virgin she’ll give birth to Israel’s long-awaited Messiah. What’s that to me? Mary’s son, according to the angel, will be king of Jacob’s descendants. Far as I know, I’m not on Jacob’s family tree. And that he’ll be king forever, well, there’s a lot of such talk in the Old Testament and it could be a metaphor for a long time, or it could mean he’ll reign “forever” in his descendants; you know, a Jesus-dynasty.”
We could explore the rest of the New Testament to learn what this wonder-ful message from angel to young woman means to us. But let’s check out just one place. The angel said Mary’s Son would be king of Jacob’s descendants forever, right? Well, here’s what the apostle Paul wrote of him later . . .
“[Christ Jesus] being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:6-11, NIV).
There it is: “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord . . . “ Turns out he’s not just Israel’s Messiah; he’s the world’s Lord. Every knee will bow. Every tongue will acknowledge him as King.
See Mary bowing before the angel? Every one will take Mary’s place. Either compelled on Judgment Day. Or willingly now. How much better to become like a child today and step into the wonder-ful Christmas Story forever!
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