Sept. 12, 2021 Sermon Introduction

 

September 12, 2021   Sermon Introduction          Rev. Peter Hofstra 

Luke 1: 26-38; Hebrews 2: 11-18

          Our first passage is usually included in at Christmas.  The angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her she shall be the mother of the “Son of the Most High”, a child who shall be conceived by the Holy Ghost.  To this she shall agree and, in so doing, become the most revered person in the church (next to Jesus of course).

          Luke’s purpose was to write an inclusive history of Jesus and Jesus’ work here on the earth for an unknown reader named Theophilus.  So he lays out this progressive, miracle filled narrative of the life and work of Jesus.

          Luke shares this as part of his long opening chapter that places births of John the Baptizer and Jesus in parallel to each other, John heralding Jesus’ birth as he would herald Jesus’ coming to ministry.  The pregnancy of Elizabeth, in her ‘old age’, is Gabriel’s proof to Mary of the power of God in these circumstances.  Mary’s response will be what we know as the “Magnificat”.

          Mary’s place as the ‘mother of God’ is far more prominent in the Roman Catholic tradition than it is in the Protestant tradition.  One reason is the rollback of many of the traditions of the RC church at the Reformation.  It was felt that the veneration of Mary far outstripped what the Bible shared of her place and role in the church. 

          She ties Jesus to humanity.  We know Jesus as the Son of God, and God’s sovereignty, God’s power is a central pillar of the Biblical message, both here and in Hebrews.  But as Mary’s unique place is often downplayed, the humanity of Jesus is often also downplayed in our understanding of Jesus as God.  But his humanity is key to what Jesus does among us.

          In Hebrews, we are brothers and sisters of Jesus because we share flesh with him.  The word ‘flesh’ here is used differently than by Paul, for example, who contrasted ‘flesh’, as broken versus ‘spirit’ of God.  Hebrews uses the word to refer to humanity.  Jesus, as human, could experience death and, in so doing, destroy the one with the power of death-the devil.  He is human, for humans, in contrast to something ‘heavenly’ coming, say, for the angels.  As human, he serves as our high priest as in the pattern of the Old Testament, making the ultimate sacrifice of atonement on our behalf to the Lord.

          The writer of Hebrews is anonymous but the author is writing for a Jewish audience, doing the most to connect Jesus explicitly with what came before, what was the Bible of Jesus.  Many of these connections are otherwise implicit in the New Testament.