Immanuel
The Third Wednesday of Advent - 12/18/2024
Isaiah 2:25-, 7:10-15; Luke 1:26-38
Rev. Christopher W. Brademeyer
That portion of God’s holy Word for consideration this evening is our second reading from St. Luke’s first chapter with special emphasis on verses thirty through thirty-three which read as follows:
“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.””[1]
Thus far the Scriptures.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Names are an important thing. This is not an old time, ancient world thing alone, it is also the case today. Think of the damage that would come to such a person by naming him Sue, as the famous Johnny Cash song points out. Think of the strong desire for novelty among us today, to the point that we all know someone with an impossible to spell or properly pronounce name and the amount of frustration and vexation that it leads to on the part of those who have those names. The reason for this is very simple: our names are the simplest and clearest way to identify us and point us out. Messing up a name is to imply that someone is of too little importance to pay attention to or to really know. To forget a name is to say that someone isn’t worth one’s time.
One of the unfortunate things about modern naming is the lack of attention to their meanings. We spend more time worrying about novelty and the sound of the name than about the meaning. But this was not the concern of those in older times. They spent much time thinking about what names meant. Immanuel, as seen in our reading from Isaiah, means, “God with us.” Jesus, the name given in our reading from Luke, means “the Lord is Salvation.” Both of these names are signs from God through prophet and angel about the Messiah, the One who was anointed to carry out the salvation of Israel and, indeed, the whole world.
This is the important thing to remember about this: Jesus is no mere prophet or holy man, no simple guru or religious authority. No, He is far more than that. He is the very source of true religion. That is to say, in Jesus we do not have a story-teller, miracle worker, or exorcist alone. No, we have the very source and foundation for all these spiritual things. He is God, the very God through whom we are created, the one who orders and controls the forces of the universe. And this God is not some distant, foreign reality, content to sit as all idols do to give us religious and spiritual aphorisms so that we might read into them whatever we might wish. No, God Himself has come to be one of us, to be among us, to save us.
Mary, the blessed Virgin, gave birth to God the Son, Jesus Christ. Not that He originates there in the womb of His mother, but that the child she gave birth to is none other than God Himself. And this is a central thing to the whole of our religion and the Truth of God Himself: God is come to save us. And none other than Almighty God is able to do this thing.
As St. Athanasius noted in his book, On the Incarnation, around the year of our Lord 440, only God is able to effect salvation. Such is the weight of sin that no mere human being can bear the load. But, it is also true that only a man can die for the sins of the world. This is both proper since it was a man, Adam, who brought sin, but also because God is immortal by nature and cannot die. So, then, our God became a man in order to suffer and die, bearing the weight of all the sins of the world, so that you could be redeemed, saved, and given the forgiveness of sins and with that eternal life.
There is, in certain circles, the idea that our Lord becoming a man was a plan B on the part of God. That is to say, our Lord Jesus, God in the flesh, was born because other things did not work out. I’ve heard this in a couple of different ways. Some argue that God’s plan A was Israel, the ethnic nation descended from Jacob and that once they fell hopelessly into sin, God had to come up with a new plan. Others have argued that the fall into sin on the part of Adam caught God off guard, so He had to figure out something to do about it after this surprise.
But this is not the case. God walked with His people in the Garden of Eden before the Fall into sin, and Scripture says that He is Almighty and All-knowing. Nothing is outside of His gaze. Our Lord meant from eternity to be one with us, His people. And this occurred in the birth of our Lord.
God has become man so that we might be united to God, given over to His Kingdom, and that we would be brought to and kept in the one true faith unto everlasting life.
This Kingdom is endless; it cannot be broken or overcome. It is stronger than any earthly government, stronger than sin, stronger than the devil, even stronger than death.
And it is yours by faith in the shed blood of Jesus. Your entrance has been paid for by His blood.
In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] Luke 1:30-33 English Standard Version
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