Every year, Christmas tends to rush us by. With all the shopping and events and family commitments and the long lists of to-do list, the frantic pace often leaves us barely catching our breath.
That’s why Advent is so good for our hearts. If you didn’t grow up celebrating Advent, it’s a time for us to slow down and reflect and prepare our hearts for the significance of the “coming” of Jesus. That’s what Advent means: Coming.
This Advent we’ll be walking through four vignettes from the Gospel of Luke that surround Jesus’ coming in a series are entitled “The Greatness of Christmas.” Throughout the series, we’ll explore four vignettes, four opportunities to pause, and let the wonder in as we reflect on “The Greatness of Christmas.”
In this sermon, we look at the Angelic Announcement to Mary when she learns that she would be the mother of Jesus.
The angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary gives three clues to who this child will be:
- The Savior of the World: Jesus will the savior who will lay down his life on a cross and rise again to give us eternal life.
- The King of Israel: Jesus will be the Messiah, the one who would inherit the promises and covenants made with the house of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and who would fulfill the covenant made with Israel’s greatest king, David. In other words, Jesus will be the King of Israel.
- The Son of God: Jesus will be called Holy and will be uniquely set apart from all other children and every other birth, because he will be the Son of God. This means that Jesus is God incarnate, God come to dwell among us. He will be called Emmanuel, which means “God with us.”
Takeaways: There are three questions for us to pause and wonder in…
- What must God be like that He would choose such confinement?
- What must God be like that He would slip in incognito?
- What must God be like that He would arrive amidst scandal?
Luke 1:26-38
