Luke 1.39-56

How do you feel loved at Christmas time?

Do you feel loved when you spend quality time with family and friends?

Do you feel loved when you receive a well thought out gift?

Do you feel loved when you hear words of appreciation for all your planning and execution of the holiday?

Or, do you feel loved when people come alongside of you to help you with all of planning and execution of holiday?

Today is the Fourth Sunday in Advent.  The liturgical calendar tells us that this is the Sunday that we celebrate LOVE.

During this season, we have continually heard about

Waiting for Jesus to come to us during Advent;

Jesus’ coming to us on Christmas morning;

And, Jesus’ coming to us again at the end of history.

So, what’s love got to do with it?

Well, in this morning’s Biblical text from the Good News of Jesus according to the doctor and research scholar Luke, we enter into a piece of history that records for us an encounter of two pregnant women.  One is pregnant with the Lord and Savior Jesus.  And, the other is pregnant with John the Baptist, the cousin of the Lord and Savior Jesus.

This encounter tells us that Jesus’ coming to us is all about love.  

Specifically, it is about God’s unconditional love for each one of us.

Let’s here about what happened when Elizabeth and Mary met up during their pregnancies and how it relates to love.

Luke 1:39–56 says this:

[39] In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, [40] and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. [41] And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, [42] and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! [43] And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

[46] And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

[47] and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

[48] for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;

[49] for he who is mighty has done great things for me,

and holy is his name.

[50] And his mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

[51] He has shown strength with his arm;

he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

[52] he has brought down the mighty from their thrones

and exalted those of humble estate;

[53] he has filled the hungry with good things,

and the rich he has sent away empty.

[54] He has helped his servant Israel,

in remembrance of his mercy,

[55] as he spoke to our fathers,

to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

[56] And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home. (ESV)

Elizabeth, Mary, and even unborn baby John, tell us what Christmas is about.

They all know and believe that Christmas is about God’s love causing him to pour out His favor upon us.

To say that we have God’s favor is to say that we have God on our side.

In Romans 8:31–39, Paul speaks of the confidence we can have in life, regardless of our moment to moment situations and feelings.  In this passage, that is labeled in our English Bible’s as, “God’s Everlasting Love,” the apostle Paul says to us:

[31] What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32] He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [33] Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. [34] Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35] Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36] As it is written,

“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;

we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”

[37] No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38] For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39] nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

Christmas is about sharing and proclaiming the Good News that God is always for us. That means God is always fulling his promises to us in the gift of a Savior, a forgiver of sins, and a giver of righteousness and eternal life.  This occurs for us in the birth of Jesus (and the life, death, and resurrection that follow).

First, Elizabeth recognized God’s love come to her as she shared and proclaimed that Jesus was Lord and Savior the moment that pregnant Mary entered her presence.

Many think that Peter was the first person in the Biblical narrative to publicly proclaim Jesus as Lord, but it was actually Elizabeth, Jesus’ aunt, as we hear in this morning’s text.

Second, the unborn baby, still growing and maturing in the womb, recognized God’s love come to him, and also shared and proclaimed Jesus as Lord and Savior by leaping and dancing with joy, inside Elizabeth, the moment that pregnant Mary entered his presence.

And, third, Mary, the mother carrying God’s Lord and Savior, Jesus, recognized God’s love come to her and the whole world, when the angel spoke to her and gave her the Good News.

Luke records this event for us earlier in Luke 1:26–38.

Luke says:

[26] In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, [27] to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. [28] And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” [29] But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. [30] And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. [31] And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. [32] 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, [33] and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

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

[35] And the angel answered her, “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. [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. [37] For nothing will be impossible with God.” [38] 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. (ESV)

Mary is so overwhelmed with God’s love for her and for the world and that Mary sings a song, in this morning’s text, that praises God for taking care of the lowly and humble through doing what He said He would do for thousands of years—save people from their sin.

This text gives us something very interesting to note.  

Here in this Biblical text we are shown clearly that knowing God’s love for you in the person and work of Jesus, and understanding God’s love for you in the person and work of Jesus for you , and believing God’s love for you in the person and work of Jesus, is not something that is limited to age, gender, or socio-economic status.

Here in this short text, we see a baby in the womb, a poor elderly woman (who lives off people’s donations at the temple), and a poor unwed but pregnant teenage girl, all believing and rejoicing in God’s love for them in the Christmas gift of Jesus Christ.

When it comes to believing and rejoicing in God’s love for you, there is no age of accountability, there is no level of wealth or charitable giving, and their is no biologically determined body part that makes you more lovable in the eyes and arms of God your Father in Heaven or in the eyes and arms of Jesus Christ your brother and Savior.

These facts are important to note, because there are many that will tell you that you have to be a certain age or have a certain mental capacity before you can know and believe God’s love.  And, there are many that will tell you that because you struggle financially, the love of God isn’t active in your life.

Those that teach these things are nothing but false teachers who have no Biblical basis for the things they are saying.  This morning’s Biblical text disproves all of those false teachings.

Later on in the Gospel of Luke, Luke records this encounter between Jesus and the religious teachers of His day.

[1] Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. [2] And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

[3] So he told them this parable: [4] “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? [5] And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. [6] And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ [7] Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:1–7, ESV)

Do you know what the religious leaders were complaining about?

They were complaining about Jesus loving the people around him.

You see, the religious teachers of Jesus’ days believed the exact opposite of what God teaches about love.

The religious teachers of Jesus’s day believed that you had to get your life in order before God would love you.

But, as God speaks and shows, He has come to you in the person and work of Jesus because you cannot get your life in order without His help.

Only through faith in Jesus do you receive the forgiveness of your sin, as well as the indwelling Holy Spirit to daily help you choose to think, speak, and act in ways that are Godly.

In this deeply touching parable, there is no note of scolding or recrimination directed at the wayward sheep.  The shepherd doesn’t lecture the lost lamb: “Do you realize how much I worried about you?  Did you even think about the danger you were in?  Or how I had to leave your 99 bothers and sisters to come all this way to find you?? I mean, what were you thinking?! Believe, me, there are going to be consequences for your actions, young man.”

Instead, He joyfully puts the sheep on His shoulders and carries it home.  The consequence? A big party.

Preaching on a Christmas morning almost five hundred years ago, Martin Luther reminded his congregation that the proper response to the Christian story is not mere rejoicing or casual interest but faith. Beyond this, Luther understood that this faith has two important dimensions. 

Luther argued that most persons know how to rejoice when they are given a Christmas gift. “But how many are there who shout and jump for joy when they hear the message of the angel: ‘To you is born this day the Savior?’ Indeed, the majority look upon it as a sermon that must be preached, and when they have heard it, consider it a trifling thing, and go away just as they were before. This shows that we have neither the first nor the second faith.”

As Luther understood, to hear the Christmas story and respond with mere interest is an indication of faith’s absence. 

Furthermore, Luther helpfully reminded his congregation that a mere affirmation of the fact that the incarnation occurred is not saving faith. “We do not believe that the virgin mother bore a son and that he is the Lord and Savior unless, added to this, I believe the second thing, namely, that he is my Savior and Lord.” 

In other words, the message of Christmas is received when Jesus Christ is not merely affirmed as the baby in Bethlehem’s manger but as one’s own Savior and Lord. 

“When I can say: This I accept as my own, because the angel meant it for me, then, if I believe it in my heart, I shall not fail to love the mother Mary, and even more the child, and especially the Father,” Luther continued. “For, if it is true that the child was born of the virgin and is mine, then I have no angry God and I must know and feel that there is nothing but laughter and joy in the heart of the Father and no sadness in my heart. For, if what the angel says is true, that he is our Lord and Savior, what can sin do against us?” 

With those words, Luther articulated the majestic faith of Christmas—the faith that saves. When Christmas is rightly understood, we know that God loves us, even as we are sinners who deserve no love. We also understand that this love is demonstrated in the gift of the Son, who would die for our sins and would be raised by the Father in order to secure our salvation. 

Thus, a true Christmas is celebrated when we come to understand, to know, to celebrate, and to receive the fact that Jesus Christ is not merely a Savior but our Savior–even my Savior and your Savior.

Because of Sin, we often get love wrong.  But, God in his grace and mercy for you always gets love perfectly right.

Christmas is about God’s love for you; a love that gives you peace and joy and allows you to hope in the wrongs being made right and the dark things being made light.

God’s love, shown to, known by, and believed by Elizabeth, John, and Mary, comforted their anxious hearts that were burdened by sin and therefore separated from God.  

In Jesus, God came to Elizabeth, John, Mary, and you so that you could rejoice in the comfort of God’s concern and care for you.

In Jesus’ coming to you, in His birth, in His life, in His death, and in His resurrection, you are rescued from the suffering and disappointment that life in a broken body in a broken world can often cause.

And, you like Elizabeth, John, and Mary, can jump for joy, sings songs of thanksgiving and praise for God’s love that actively sought you out, and you can share and proclaim the rescue mission of Jesus to the people and world around you.  

Go, tell it on a mountain, that Jesus Christ is born.

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

December 22, 2024

Prayer:

Faithful Father, heavenly Husband, Your love for us is changeless and unending. We confess that our love for you is weak, flickering, variable, and laced with selfish ambition and desire. Your love is like a mighty ocean that rushes toward us each day and envelops us with kindness, mercy, and steadfast faithfulness. Our love for you is like a fleeting mist: a vapor that rises from time to time and quickly evaporates in the heat of life’s pain and suffering. Father, forgive us for loving so many other gods and giving our lives to them, while failing to notice your hand of love at work for us each day. You govern the entire universe and work all things together for our good, but we are quick to blame you, to turn away from you, and to give our worship and love to many other husbands. Lord, forgive us for our many sins. 

Jesus, thank you for your changeless and unending love. You loved us before the foundation of the world and entered history in order to redeem us. As a human being, you loved God and your neighbor perfectly, loving and serving God and keeping every one of his statutes and commandments. You did this because you knew that we never could, and so you gave us the gift of your spotless perfection. 

Holy Spirit, fill us with gratitude for the love we have in Christ that will never let us go. Though our sins are many and increase in number every day, lift up our heads and show us the cross. We thank you that we cannot close our hearts to you, for your love is relentless, and in faithfulness you pursue us and draw us back to you time and time again. Show us the beauty of our beloved husband, Jesus Christ: his wounds that paid our ransom and his faithful obedience that makes us perfect in him. Help us to love and cherish him in growing obedience until we bow before him at last and sing his praises for all eternity. Even so, come quickly, LORD Jesus. Amen.

Benediction:

Go in peace.  God’s love is poured out upon you as Christ your Savior is born.