2nd Mid-Week Advent Service (12/13/06)
Sir, we would see JESUS! 
Emmanuel, Asheville, NC

John 1: 40-46
by Rev. Frederick A. Stiemke
IN THE NAME OF JESUS!

In the name of our Advent King and only Savior, Jesus Christ, dearly beloved:

?¨Can any good thing come out of Nazareth??Æ is the poignant question asked as our Advent journey leads us to that small town today. This village was tucked away in the southernmost foothills of the great Lebanon mountains. I lay nestled in a valley and hidden way up north in Galilee from the view of most of the world. It was a tiny hill country village ?± the least known, least visited, least romantic, and the least remembered of all the stops on our Advent journey. 

It lacked what Jerusalem had ?± the hustle and bustle of a busy metropolitan capital, the history and warfare of a mountain fortress, the blood and fire of centuries of sacrifices, the splendor of the temple of the living God. It certainly was no Bethlehem ?± where Caesar??s census would attract all the descendents of ?¨the house and lineage of David.?Æ It had no hills on which sheep grazed to which the heavenly host would be drawn to sing praises to God at the birth of the Savior of mankind. In Nazareth newborn babies were spared the wrath of King Herod who sought to snuff out the life of a ?¨newborn king?Æ whom he mistakenly thought would threaten his family??s retaining the throne in Jerusalem. 

This is not to say that Nazareth was a backwards place populated by unrefined people. After all, it was from this region that Israel??s early judge, Gideon, had recruited his small army of 300 sturdy and faithful men who drove away that Midianite horde long ago. That was a glorious memory of God??s intervention on behalf of His people never to be forgotten by the Jewish nation. But in the days of Caesar Augustus it was a quiet, unpretentious town, safe and secure in its little green valley. It was a simple home town, where family farms were handed down to the next generation along with the knowledge of how to work them.

It was also the village where two seemingly insignificant people lived who would play a major role by God??s grace in the Lord??s great saving work of providing salvation to all who trust in His deliverance. Strange as it may seem to us, but here, miles away from where King David had lived and ruled, these two folks were blood descendents of that great King David to whom the Lord had promised that from his family line the world??s Savior would come, whose kingdom would know no end.

One of these was a carpenter who fashioned sturdy wooden plows and other farm equipment for the area??s farmers, along with fabricating house furnishings. His name was Joseph. The other was a young lady ?± probably a lass in her teens ?± by the name of Mary. The parents of this man and maid, as was the custom of the day, had arranged for these two to be married. Little did those parents realize that the hand of the Lord was guiding that process to accomplish His eternal will.

Imagine how startled this young maid was on that day when the holy angel Gabriel suddenly appeared, saying, ?¨Greetings, you who are highly favored. The Lord is with you.?Æ Luke, who sought out eyewitnesses to the accounts in his Gospel, recalls that Mary was highly troubled by these words and somewhat confused by the angel??s greeting. Gabriel calmed her fears, as he did to with all other sinful human beings, by adding, ?¨Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God.?Æ Then the angel went on to tell the blessed virgin that she would give birth to a son, whom she was to name Jesus. Then came even more shocking news that this baby is the very Son of God and that He would reign over God??s people, not for a time, but ?± forever! 

Apparently then, not in unbelief like that of Zechariah who was told by this same angel that he would soon have a son in his old age, but simply in wonder and awe Mary responded, ?¨How can this happen, since I am still a virgin??Æ The angel answered her inquiry by stating that the life of her baby would begin by the miraculous outpouring of God the Holy Spirit. To reassure Mary that her pregnancy would be the Spirit??s working and not the result of a human sexual union, Gabriel went on to tell Mary that her cousin Elizabeth in her old age was miraculously six months along in her pregnancy, adding that both events took place because, ?¨With God nothing is impossible.?Æ And what was Mary??s amazing response? In humble faith she submitted to the Lord??s will as His servant, not questioning the Lord??s way of doing things in spite of what would lie ahead.

Once Joseph learned of Mary??s expecting a child out of wedlock, he decided privately to break the agreement to wed Mary. Here we get a glimpse of his character. According to the Law of Moses, Mary being with child and unmarried could have been stoned to death. But Joseph with his loving heart did not want to expose Mary to public disgrace and execution. He planned privately to divorce Mary. It took God to intervene to see that the marital union He desired for Joseph and Mary was preserved. The Lord sent his angel to tell Joseph in a dream that Mary??s account of the Holy Spirit??s being the cause of the new baby??s life beginning was true and that he should not be afraid to marry her. Then the angel added the reason: Mary??s Son would be the promised Savior to rescue people from their sins. Thus, the precious baby should be given the name ?¨Jesus,?Æ which means ?¨Savior.?Æ 

Without the intervention of God in our lives, would we upon Gabriel??s coming with God??s messages to us have reacted with the same childlike faith of Mary and Joseph? They faced ridicule, being harassed, and even being ostracized, since pregnancy out of wedlock was by no means acceptable. Times haven??t changed much. The natural bent of people is to find fault with others?? sins and short-comings. We do this as a defense mechanism as we foolishly try not to face our own sins and failings before our holy God. Here we see clearly once again that when we do what is pleasing in the eyes of our holy Lord that it is solely the Lord God at work in our hearts and lives. Recall the words of Jesus in His parable of the vine and the branches, ?¨Without Me you can do nothing.?Æ Why then are we prone to pat ourselves on the back for what good people we are? Tragically that??s our sinful nature.

In these events at Nazareth we also see an important truth that we need to take to heart. God??s ways are not our ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Our merciful Father in heaven often acts in surprising and apparently strange ways in our human judgment. Did our Lord choose one of the leading great church dignitaries, great Biblical scholars, or the cream of society to be the human vessel through which our Savior came into the world, or in His selecting the man who would be the protector and provider for the young maid who was to bear the Christ Child? Would you have sent your son, your only son, into the world to be born in a stable, to flee with parents who adopted him as a youth to far off Egypt to protect him from Herod??s wrath? Would you opt to deliberately surrender your son to the torture and death on a cross and your own desertion of him for the good of others? I know I would not choose those paths. But God our Father did, and ultimately we see that He does all things well. Why then do we fret and stew and worry when we are tested and tried during our earthly pilgrimage or when things are not going as we would choose? Beloved, that??s sin and unrighteousness in the eyes of our holy and just God.

Thus, once again we come face to face with the amazing grace and love of our Triune God. For Jesus entered our world not primarily to show us how we ought to live. True, He did just that. But the main reason He was sent by His Father in heaven to earth was to do precisely what the angel told Joseph ?± to save His people from their sins! As a result, you and I are not only forgiven children of our heavenly Father, but like Mary and Joseph we are also called to serve our Lord God in the way He has chosen for each of us. And wondrously we are precious and accepted in His sight.

With these realities of God??s extraordinary love etched indelibly on our hearts and minds, may your Advent be one of a living hope and great joy and peace in believing! Amen.

To God alone be all glory!

© The Reverend Frederick A. Stiemke, DD, Vacancy Pastor