Vespers - Advent 3

Vespers on Wednesday of Gaudete – December 18, 2024

Psalm 85; Isaiah 2:2-5; Isaiah 7:10-15

St. Luke 1:26-38a

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.[1]

The Divided Kingdom, that punishment for the idolatry and apostacy of Solomon when the northern tribes broke away and formed the Kingdom of Israel while the southern tribes formed the Kingdom of Judah around Jerusalem, is marked by a series of wicked kings who did not remember their father David nor obey the Word of God. Once in a while, you get a good king, who is said to “do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.” Uzziah was one such king, who did what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

However, Scripture is clear that none of these “good kings” was perfect. In fact, they were deeply flawed. Uzziah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, but he did not tear down the high places – those altars Solomon had built for his wives for the worship of false gods. People still offered sacrifices on those high places and burned incense to false gods. This was done in mockery of the true God who had revealed Himself to His people on the “high place” of Mount Sinai and promised to save them from their sins on the “high place” of Calvary.

Because Uzziah did not tear down these false altars, he was struck by leprosy by the Lord. His son, Jotham, likewise did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. But like his father, he failed to tear down the high places. In an act of righteous piety, he added to the temple of the Lord. He built the Upper Gate. Perhaps this act of piety spared him the leprous fate of his father.

Perhaps the son of Jotham would finally tear down those high places. Perhaps the son of Jotham would cleanse the land of the plague of false worship, restoring it to the land of milk and honey promised by the Lord and suitable for His holy habitation. Ahaz was the son of Jotham and was poised to do what is right in the eyes of the Lord.

Early in his reign, however, the king of the Kingdom of Israel joined forces with the king of Syria to attack the Kingdom of Judah. Jerusalem was under siege. For a while, Ahaz successfully drove off the invaders. But they kept coming. As the forces of Israel and Syria bore down on Jerusalem yet again, God sent the prophet Isaiah to Ahaz with a message and a question. The message was simple,

It shall not stand, nor shall it come to pass. For the head of Syria is Damascus [the capital], and the head of Damascus is Rezin [the king of Syria]. Within sixty-five years Ephraim [the region of Samaria] will be broken, so that it will not be a people. The head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is Remaliah’s son [the king of Israel]. If you will not believe, surely you shall not be established.[2]

God will deliver Ahaz from his enemies. He will deliver the Kingdom of Judah from the northerners. This promise is certain and true. But the consequences of not believing such a promise of God is that the promise will be delivered to another, not Ahaz. So the Lord asks a question,

“Ask a sign for yourself from the Lord your God; ask it either in the depth or in the height above.”[3]

The Lord God knew this to be a pivotal moment in the life of Ahaz. Would he trust the Lord, doing what is right in the eyes of the Lord? Or would he place his trust in man, like so many before him? Believing in the promise wouldn’t make it come true – it was already true. But failing to believe – that would result in the destruction of Ahaz.

His response is very curious. It almost sounds pious. “I will not ask, nor will I test the Lord!”[4] Whenever Jesus tests someone’s faith in the New Testament, He tries to get them to settle for the least He will give them; sometimes nothing at all. Those who pass these tests do so by holding God to His Word, making Him keep His promises. Ahaz does the opposite. The Lord has spoken and offered any sign in heaven or earth to bolster his faith. God knows that Ahaz is in a difficult position. Ahaz has won several significant battles by a large margin, but his back is also against a wall. The Lord is willing to strengthen his faith by a sign—and Ahaz refuses that sign. He refuses the gift of God. He refuses to trust in the Lord.

We shall see that this arrogance led to the downfall of Ahaz. Not only did he not destroy the high altars to false gods, but he also increased their worship. He offered his own sons on altars of fire to false gods. Let me say that again, he put his sons on altars to false gods and burned them alive. What’s more, he encouraged such disgusting practices throughout the Kingdom of Judah. He welcomed child sacrifice in the land of the Lord’s promises.

God does not leave Ahaz without a sign, though it is no longer the sign of Ahaz’s choosing. “The Virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.”[5] Just as the Angel Gabriel came to the Blessed Virgin to announce the coming Savior, God sent Isaiah to Ahaz to announce the same. God would Himself be born among these hills of idolatrous worship that He might be offered on the altars of fire in the place of Mary and Ahaz.

Where Ahaz declined the offer of God’s miracle, Mary received it with joy. She was not without questions. She had no idea how she would be the mother of God since she was not yet married. She was even a bit confused by the greeting of the Archangel. But she did not refuse the Word of God for even a moment. She did not decline to have God visit her, where Ahaz did.

And do not mistake this praise of the Blessed Virgin as praise of her actions or the particular strength of her faith. She could not believe the words of Gabriel any more than Ahaz did if the Lord did not provide her with faith. The Angel’s first words are, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you.”[6] If the Lord was not with her, she could not have believed. Faith is itself a great gift of God. It is the presence of the Holy Spirit, who opens the hands of our heart to receive the great gift of Love that is Christ. The Lord was also with Ahaz, but he refused. He refused the presence of God and as such, refused faith, refused to believe.

The fact of the virgin conception and birth of Christ is true whether you believe it or not. God does not depend on man for His miracles. Yet when God tells you He will come to you for your salvation, it is best to believe. It is best to believe because it is already true. In your hearing the promises of God, the promises are true. Do not be unbelieving but believe.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] This sermon was originally written for The Feast of the Annunciation in 2024.

[2] Isaiah 7:7-9.

[3] Isaiah 7:11.

[4] Isaiah 7:12.

[5] Isaiah 7:14.

[6] St. Luke 1:28.

Wednesday Vespers following Gaudete (Advent 3)

Ember Wednesday – December 14, 2022

Psalm 19; Isaiah 2:2-5; Isaiah 7:10-15

St. Luke 1:26-38a

In the Name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Annunciation refers to the event recorded in today’s third reading: the Archangel Gabriel is sent from God to announce to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she has been chosen to be the Mother of God. We might choose to number three miracles in this event.^[1] First is the miracle of the Incarnation. “Incarnate” simply means “in flesh.” The Son of God, Second Person of the Holy Trinity, is sent by the Father, deposited by the Holy Spirit, and becomes man. God himself becomes a man to redeem mankind.

The Annunciation connects the two greatest feasts of the Church – Christmas and Easter. The Son of God took on flesh precisely so that he could die upon the cross. Christmas must happen first so that Good Friday and then Easter Sunday may follow. The Incarnation makes the Atonement possible. ‘To pay the debt of our sinful state, God, who is incapable of suffering, joined Himself to humanity, which can suffer. Thus, in keeping with the healing that we needed, one and the same mediator between God and men, the man Jesus Christ, was able to die in one nature and unable to die in the other.’^[2] Christ our Lord was born in the city of little branches, Nazareth, that he would die upon the ultimate Tree of the Cross.

Far less grand than the Incarnation, is the miracle of the Virgin Birth. From the perspective of a created being, the Virgin Birth might seem like the greater miracle. For the Creator of the cosmos, such a miracle seems almost a parlor trick, but it is not without purpose.

In the first place, the Savior of Man required a pure vessel in which to be born. God is already without sin, but He must remain so after taking on the flesh of man. He must have been born the seed of a woman, without the help of man so that Original Sin would not stain His flesh.

In the second place, the virgin womb of Mary is to indicate the holiness of God’s dwelling place with man. The Church is to be the holy dwelling of God. It is to be unmarred by the stain of sin. This holy space is set apart from the temporal. It is not like other buildings for it is the house of God.[3] During the gathering of the saints in the Divine Service, heaven comes to earth, and we experience a glimpse of heaven. It is unstained by sin for it is holy.

At the same time, the Church militant—both the location and the people on this side of glory—exists in a sinful world. Outlets need replacing. Walls need paint touched up. Sinners fill the pews and pulpit. This is seen in that Mary herself is not without sin. Twelve years after the birth of Jesus, Mary would forget her Son in Jerusalem and then be surprised to find Him in the Temple. It is also seen in the attacks of the world, those who inevitably whispered of the young woman, betrothed to be married yet becoming great with child. The Church endures sin from without and within.

Yet the womb of Mary is preserved from such sin. The Holy Ghost overshadows Mary and delivers the Son of God to her holy womb. The Holy Body and Precious Blood of the same Savior who grew within the Virgin Mary now sits upon the altars of the faithful, untainted by sin, given to be eaten and drunk by all who would be called holy children of God.

Now the third miracle of the Annunciation might be considered the greatest of all. It is the faith of Mary. This young woman, in her early teens, barely even a woman, hears the words of St. Gabriel and receives them with humility. This humility, this faith, is not a quality of Mary’s own.

The text does not reveal the moment at which Christ is conceived nor when the Holy Ghost overshadowed the Virgin Mother, but it would seem to have occurred during this conversation with Gabriel. The angel appears and Mary is troubled. Gabriel consoles her by saying, “Fear not dear child, for you have found favor with God.”

Mary’s troubled conscience is the reaction of sinful man in the face of holiness and yet it is not the reaction of one who does not believe. Zechariah, met by the same angel, is troubled and fearful. Mary is only troubled. She trusts in the greeting of Gabriel and that the Lord is with her. Gabriel then speaks the absolution – a word of forgiveness that all the faithful, Mary and us included, require – and proceeds to announce the conception of the Savior.

This faith of young Mary is then displayed in feminine virtue. The chief biblical, feminine virtue is submission. Submission is not weakness nor frailty. Submission is the recognition that you are not in authority. You are not in control. Women are called to submit to their husbands as the Church submits to Christ.[4]

At the same time, men must recognize our calling to be the head of woman. We are given authority in the household because God created Adam first, and then Eve. Eve was deceived first, and then Adam. Man is given authority for the sake of caring for and preserving the family—not to satisfy the desire for power.

Blessed Mary exhibits true humility when, barely more than a child, she submits to the words of St. Gabriel and proclaims, “Let it be to me according to Your Word.”[5] She is not accepting a tempting business proposal. She is submitting her will to the Will of God. We do not know if Mary was excited to be a mother in those moments. We don’t know if she was concerned what others might think. She didn’t know exactly what would happen either. She knew her son was to be the Son of God, the Savior who would reign forever.[6]

Faithful and humble Mary is strengthened by the Word of God, spoken to her by the messenger. The miracle of the Word of God turning the hearts of man from stone to flesh is the greatest miracle of the Annunciation. To emphasize this point, God chose a lowly handmaid to be the mother of God. A young woman, of David’s lineage but of humble birth, displays faith only possible by the gift of the Holy Spirit and this gift is delivered on the lips of an angel.

In + Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] The outline of the three miracles of the Annunciation comes from Martin Luther, The Christmas Book, trans. by Roland H. Bainton (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1948), 22-23. The original thoughts from St. Bernard come from a series of sermons found in Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, “On the Missus Est,” Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Collection [8 Books] Aeterna Press, Kindle Edition, beginning on p. 1317.

[2] St. Leo the Great, The Feast of the Annunciation: In Mary’s Womb, God Becomes Man, available at http://www.lectionarycentral.com/stmaryannunc/Leo2.html. Also found in the Annunciation file.

[3] Psalm 122:1.

[4] Ephesians 5:22-24.

[5] St. Luke 1:38.

[6] St. Luke 1:31-32, 35.