Favoured by God! Luke 1:26-38

Luke 1:26-38 Gospel reading for Sunday 18th December (4th Sunday in Advent)

A fascinating story to close out the year. Unlike the Catholics, who regard 'The Annunciation' as a major festival, Lutherans (and protestants generally), pay relatively little attention to this event. Regardless of the status that we attribute to Mary, the story definitely warrants closer analysis.

Firstly some interesting peripheral observations. Luke is the only Gospel account that gives any degree of detailed attention to Mary's situation leading up to the birth of Jesus. Matthew has a brief mention in the opening chapter, but the focus is more on Joseph. Mark jumps straight from John the Baptist to the temptation of Jesus, while Mary is not mentioned by name at all in John's Gospel. (There are brief mentions of Mary in Mt 13 and Mk 6 in reference to Jesus being the carpenter / carpenter's son.) It seems that there may be good reason for the detailed description that Luke includes in relation to Mary. Luke is thought to be the only non-Jewish author in the whole of the Bible! As such he had an agenda of highlighting the plight of the outsiders, the marginalized. This is beautifully articulated by Eugene Peterson’s introduction to the book of Luke in THE MESSAGE version ... see the following excerpt ...

"Luke is a most vigorous champion of the outsider. An outsider himself, the only Gentile in an all-Jewish cast of New Testament writers, he shows how Jesus includes those who typically were treated as outsiders by the religious establishment of the day: women, common laborers (sheepherders), the racially different (Samaritans), the poor. He will not countenance religion as a club. As Luke tells the story, all of us who have found ourselves on the outside looking in on life with no hope of gaining entrance (and who of us hasn’t felt it?) now find the doors wide open, found and welcomed by God in Jesus."

So we definitely have in Luke's Gospel an intentional highlighting of and raising up of women.

There are a couple of other things here too which seem to naturally attract our attention ...  there's the whole issue of the virgin birth, but even setting that aside ... there is the incredible faith, trust and servant response of Mary ... a template for us in our lives and a gentle reminder for us to pay attention to what God has to say to us.

Pay attention you say?  That reminds me of another profound quote ...

"Whether we are aware of it or not, at every moment of our existence we are encountering God, who is trying to catch our attention … but we are not always conscious of or alert to, the presence of God."   Finding God in all things.  William A. Barry 

But for one more final twist in a Gospel reading to close out the school year ... as we step back and look for hidden surprises ... seek to take in the bigger picture of this passage. The words of verse 28 as we view them from the other side of the cross 2000 years later, contain one of the great mysteries and surprises of the Christian faith ...

“Greetings, you who are highly favored!
The Lord is with you.”  Lk 1:28

Guess what folks? That's us!!! WE are highly favoured. The implication of this passage is that every single person is highly favoured by God - chosen by Him, through the Christ whose birth we are again preparing to celebrate.

"And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” John 12:32

... and that's why we have Lutheran Schools ... to bring this sensational news to young people and families in our community that we are all highly favoured!

Nev