THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN ADVENT
THE LORD WITH YOU
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ!
Amen. A VERY strange thing has happened in today’s Gospel. The divine messenger
Gabriel visited Mary, and Mary “was greatly troubled.” Mary was not “greatly
troubled” in the sense that she was irritated or anguished or shrieking. Mary
was greatly troubled in the sense that she felt confused or perplexed,
mystified or bewildered. “What does this mean?”
The strange thing is that Mary did not feel confused or perplexed by the
appearance of a messenger from heaven. Mary felt confused and perplexed by the
sermon this messenger preached to her: “The Lord is with you.”
By the way: the divine message to Mary is the very same divine message you
likewise hear every Sunday when it is declared to you, “The Lord be with you.”
Perhaps you should add a little bewilderment or perplexity of your own as Mary
tries “to discern what sort of greeting this might be.”
Dear Christian friends,
When he announces, “The Lord is with you,” Gabriel uses the same exact words
that you hear in every liturgy: “The Lord be with you.” I know these phrases
sound different: Gabriel’s words are translated, “The Lord is with you,” and
the liturgy is translated, “The Lord be with you”; the one phrase contains the
verb “is” and the other phrase has the verb “be”; but you can safely ignore the
verbs. Neither “is” nor “be” occurs in the original language. Gabriel only says
to Mary, “The Lord with you.” These same words in that same form came into our
liturgy during the most ancient days of Christian worship. We call it the
salutation. With Mary as with you, the divine messenger’s message is one and
the same: “The Lord with you.”
GIDEON HEARD “THE LORD WITH YOU” CENTURIES BEFORE MARY DID
In order to understand why Mary would feel so perplexed at these Words—and
perhaps to gain a little perplexity of your own—we should first return to God’s
Old Testament. Long before Gabriel said, “The LORD with you” to Mary, even long
before the birth of mighty King David, the angel of the LORD first appeared to
a young nobody named Gideon. Gideon lived during rough and difficult days.
Midianite raiders continually harassed God’s people. These were days of combat;
days of loss and hardship; days of scrape and struggle; days during which
Gideon thought God had left town:
Now… Gideon was beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the
Midianites. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The
Lord with you, O mighty man of valor.”
Now listen to Gideon’s response to the divine messenger. Gideon did not take
the time for perplexity. Gideon got straight to the point:
Gideon said to him [the angel], “Please, sir, if the Lord is with us, why then
has all this happened to us? And where are all His wonderful deeds that our
fathers recounted to us? (Judges 6:11b-13a)
There are two important things that we can learn from Gideon and his hearing of
the divine sermon, “The Lord with you.”
· First, God wants you to know that He is with you, even when you life
feels as though He is not with you. “Please, sir,” Gideon said, “if the Lord is
with us, why then has all this happened to us?” God’s Word had been spoken to
Gideon! God’s Word declared and promised and assured Gideon, “The Lord with
you.” God’s Word says what is faithful and true, even if everything that Gideon
sees in his life seems to say the opposite thing. “The Lord with you.” With
these Words, Gideon’s angel was essentially saying to him, “Forget the fact
that you have no food; ignore the dead bodies of your relatives, killed by
Midianite raiders; curse to hell your loneliness and your helplessness and your
despair. Close your eyes to what you see around you and listen to My Words,
Gideon: ‘The Lord with you.’”
· Then a second thing happened to Gideon when he heard the sermon, “The
Lord with you.” Beyond speaking assurance and comfort to Gideon, the words “the
Lord with you” now gave strength to Gideon’s arm and courage to Gideon’s voice.
By the divine power of the messenger’s message, he who once thrashed wheat in
lonely hiding now rises up to thrash the Midianites as captain of the armies of
Israel. “The Lord with you.” By the power of the divine Word spoken to Gideon,
“Midian was subdued before the people of Israel and they raised their heads no
more” (Judges 8:28).
AS WITH GIDEON, SO WITH THE CHRIST
Mary has a pretty good reason to feel “greatly troubled”—confused and
perplexed—more by the messenger’s message than the messenger himself. Mary had
just heard a greeting that carries with it the stupendous power of God! Yes,
the words, “the Lord with you,” were a common greeting for God’s people to
speak to one another. But Gideon shows that when the messenger of the Lord
speaks by the authority of the Lord, “the Lord with you” carries divine power
to the ears of those who hear these Words.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee
named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the
house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said,
“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord with you!”
· Yes, Mary, I know how humble you are (Luke 1:48). You will be humbled
even more. If you have not yet felt tempted to think that God has abandoned
you—as Gideon once though God had abandoned him—you will get your chance.
Joseph will soon be thinking about whether he should get rid of you (Matthew
1:19). That experience will not feel like a Lord-with-you blessing. Even after
that, “a sword will pierce through your soul also” (Luke 2:35). It will not
feel as though the Lord is with you as you present your Firstborn for your
rebellious acts and as you watch the fruit of your body get sacrificed for the
sin of your soul (Micah 6:7). As the Lord was with Gideon during his Midianite
loneliness, so the Lord with you, Mary; as the Lord was with Gideon despite
what Gideon could see, the Lord with you Mary. Close your eyes, girl. Listen to
my Words because they are God’s Words: “The Lord with you.”
· Look what accomplished through Mary, as a result of His powerful Word
and promise, “The Lord with you”! As strength came into Gideon’s arm by the
power of the Word, Eternal Life itself entered Mary’s womb! “The Lord with you!
… You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name
Jesus.” As courage came to Gideon’s voice, Mary now can sing, “My soul
magnifies the Lord” (Luke 1:46). As the Lord once helped Israel through
Gideon’s sword, now in Mary’s Son the Lord again acts “in remembrance of His
mercy” (Luke 1:54). Like Gideon, Mary’s Son “will be great.” Unlike Gideon,
Mary’s Son “will save His people [not from Midianites, but] from their sins”
(Matthew 1:21). The prophet had it right:
The yoke of his burden… You have broken as [You did] on the day of Midian. For
to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:2, 4, 6)
“THE LORD WITH YOU!”
We should not feel at all surprised that the appearance of a messenger from
heaven was not what “greatly troubled”—perplexed and bewildered—Mary. In light
of the amazing message, “The Lord with you,” the messenger himself is not
terribly impressive.
· Divine comfort and consolation comes to Gideon and to Mary through
Words, despite what they can see or feel.
· Beyond that, these simple, sinful human beings get put to the Lord’s
use by the power of these same Words. Through Gideon and through Mary alike,
God Himself shows neighborly and merciful love to other people. Using Gideon’s
arm, God Himself the Midianites to the sword for the sake of Gideon’s
neighbors. Using Mary’s virgin womb, God again destroys: Sin, death, and hell
get put to the Sword by the New Gideon whom Mary bore for your sake “and they
raised their heads no more” (Judges 8:28).
By the way: the divine message to Gideon and to Mary is the very same divine
message you likewise hear every Sunday when it is declared to you, “The Lord
with you.” Use Gideon and Mary as a way of thinking about the divine gifts that
likewise come to you through those Words, each and every time you hear them.
Bewildering, if you ask me.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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