“The
Twelve Blessings of Christmas: Faithfulness”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen. During the Advent and Christmas seasons this year we are having a
sermon series on “The Twelve Blessings of Christmas.” The first nine of
these blessings are from St. Paul’s list in Galatians of the fruits of the
Spirit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” We began last Sunday with patience, and at our first Advent service
last Wednesday evening we considered love and joy. We continue this
morning with the blessing of faithfulness. The word “professor” has a meaning which we have forgotten.
Universities were originally founded by the Christian Church, and a professor
was first of all one who literally “professed” the Christian faith. That
was the most important qualification, to literally be a “professor.” The word “faithfulness” has the same kind of double meaning, which we
at first might not recognize. “Faithfulness” literally means to be
“faith-full,” full of faith, believing and trusting in God. There is an instructive contrast presented to us in today’s Old
Testament and Gospel Readings. King Ahaz in the Old Testament and the
Virgin Mary in the New Testament are both confronted with crises in their lives
calling for faith and trust in God. In response to these crises, King Ahaz
is a bad example of being faithless, but the Virgin Mary is a good example of
being faithful. As the King of Judah and heir to the great King David’s throne, Ahaz
was also heir to the promise of old given to Abraham, “Through your Offspring
all nations on earth shall be blessed,” and confirmed by the Lord in Jeremiah,
“I will make a Righteous Branch sprout from David’s line.” We are
impressed if someone has a famous ancestor. King Ahaz was in line for that
kind of honor in reverse. He was to have a famous descendant; one of his
royal successors would be the great King of all the earth, the promised Messiah,
the coming Savior of the world. But, King Ahaz was not faithful, but faithless. He had turned
away from the true God and turned instead to false gods and idols. He did
not believe the promises of old, he did not believe in the coming Messiah. Now he is facing a frightening crisis. The Hebrew nation had
split into the larger Kingdom of Israel and Ahaz’s own very small Kingdom of
Judah, which was not much larger than some of our counties. Against this
tiny kingdom, a powerful alliance of other nations was threatening an invasion
that would destroy both Judah and King Ahaz. But, the Lord could not let
that come to pass. For it was through the royal house of Judah that the
promised Messiah was to be born: “I will make a Righteous Branch sprout from
David’s line.” So, through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord assures Ahaz that
no invasion will occur. “It will not take place, it will not happen. . .
stand firm in faith.” Isaiah then asks Ahaz to seek a sign from the Lord to confirm this
promise, but Ahaz refuses: “I will not ask; I will not put the Lord to the
test.” Ahaz would not put the Lord to the test because he didn’t believe
in or trust the Lord, and he thought the Lord would fail the test. “Then Isaiah said, ‘Hear now, you house of David! Is it not
enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God
also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: Behold, the
Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel.’”
This is a humiliating proclamation for Ahaz. The Messiah will still be
born of David’s line, but, because of the unfaithfulness of Ahaz, he will not be
Ahaz’s heir, for he will be miraculously born of a Virgin, of female lineage
only. That brings us to today’s Gospel Reading. In contrast to Ahaz’s
lack of faith and trust in God when facing a frightening crisis in his life is
the example of the Virgin Mary and her faithfulness and trust in God. “Do
not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child
and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will
be great and will be called the Son of Most High. The Lord God will give
him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob
forever; his kingdom will never end.” The significance of these events for you, and the real meaning of
Christmas, is found in the meaning of the name “Jesus.” It is the Greek
form of the Hebrew “Ye-shua” or “Joshua,” which literally means, “The Lord
Saves.” Jesus’ name tells us who he is and what he does. He is the
Lord, God come in the flesh, as St. Paul says in 1st Timothy, “Beyond all
question, the mystery of godliness is great: He appeared in a body.” It was for us and our salvation that he came down to earth and was made
man, to save us from our sins by living a perfect life and dying a sacrificial
death in our place, as Hebrews explains, “He has appeared once for all at the
end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Because
of his incarnation, because of his nativity, because of his life, death and
resurrection, your sins are all forgiven. As the angel later told Joseph
in a dream, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people
from their sins.” Mary understood the significance of the angel’s words and the name of
the child she would bear, “The Lord Saves.” She believed her child would
be the Lord and Savior of the world, her Lord and Savior, and your Lord and
Savior too. Though this was Good News for the world, for Mary personally, it
represented a frightening crisis in her life. How would her fiancé Joseph
react to this news that she was pregnant? Would he believe her story of
the angel’s visit and the miraculous conception? Would she be ostracized
from her family and community? Might she even have the ancient penalty for
adultery carried out against her and be stoned to death? “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?
The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the
Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called
the Son of God. . . For nothing is impossible with God.’” Like King Ahaz and the Virgin Mary, there are times in our lives when
we are confronted with frightening crises. And every day of our lives we
are confronted with situations which call for faithfulness. The Book of
Revelation describes all the woes and struggles of this life and then says,
“This calls for patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints. .
. who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus.” But, all too often we are like King Ahaz. We forget the Lord, we
doubt his power, we turn away from him to our own false gods and idols, what
Jesus calls, “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the
desire for things.” An amazing thing in the Gospels is how often the 12 disciples
themselves were doubting and faithless. On one page we read how they heard
firsthand Jesus’ teaching and witnessed his miraculous power. Then we turn the
page and they are very bluntly and openly doubting him and his power. This
is, by the way, one of the testimonies to the truthfulness of the Gospels.
No other religion in the world reports in its own holy book its leader being
doubted, denied, and disowned by his foremost followers. If these were
made up stories they would never include such embarrassing details. “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” he said to them before
calming the storm. “You of little faith, why are you talking about having
no bread?” he asked in exasperation after feeding the 5,000. “You of
little faith, why did you doubt?” he says to the head apostle Peter.
“Trust in God; trust also in me,” he tells them at the Last Supper. “Stop
doubting and believe,” he says to Thomas. Even after his resurrection,
just before he ascended into heaven, Matthew reports, “When they saw him, they
worshiped him; but some doubted.” Unlike the doubting disciples, unlike King Ahaz, Mary is not of little
faith, but full of faith, faithful. “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary
answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” She trusts in the Lord and
his power and promises. Martin Luther comments, “To this poor maiden marvelous things were
announced: that she should be the mother of the All Highest, whose name should
be the Son of God. He would be a King and of his Kingdom there would be no
end. It took a mighty reach of faith to believe that this Baby would play
such a role. Well might Mary have doubted, but she shut her eyes and
trusted in God who could bring all things to pass, even though common sense were
against it. “There are here three miracles: that God and man should be joined in
this Child; that a mother should remain a virgin; and that Mary should have such
faith as to believe that this mystery would be accomplished in her. This
last miracle is not the least of the three. For the virgin birth is a mere
trifle for God; that God should become a man is a greater miracle; but most
amazing of all is that this maid should believe the announcement that she had
been chosen to be the mother of God. She held fast to the Word, proclaimed
by the angel. Even so we must believe.” How can you be a “professor,” “faith-full” like the Virgin Mary?
“With man this is impossible. But not with God. All things are
possible with God.” Just as the Lord through the angel proclaimed his Word to the Blessed
Virgin, and by the power of his Holy Spirit miraculously formed Christ in her
womb, by the power of his Word and Spirit he forms faith in Christ in your
heart. Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
|