Today we were unable to have worship on account of the weather conditions. All the same, the focus would have been on the announcement of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary Luke 1:26-38. This woman in the strictest sense was the first convert to Christianity. She shows us how the Gospel is presented before all people. The angel’s words preached the message of Christ’s presence straight into her body (literally). It was hard to imagine, but her being “highly favored” rested on the gracious act of God’s message of salvation coming to her. Mary was not forced into bearing the Son of God but neither did her welcoming spirit lie from a freewill. Instead, the whole bestowal of grace and salvation into her life came from and continued in the Word.
It is the Word of God that we still hear to day that preaches Christ into our life as well. There is only one Virgin Mary who humbly received the vocation to be the Mother of God. However, we still receive the same overshadowing of the Holy Spirit of Christ into our lives. By the preached Gospel we hear of God’s favor for us declaring, “The Lord is with you.” That is exactly what the pastor speaks to the congregation beginning the service of communion declaring, “The Lord be with you.” The united response of “And with your Spirit” acknowledges the promise of Christ’s Word that lies in the office of the holy ministry that preaches the Gospel. As the baptized, we have received the incarnation of the savior into our lives. He lives in our flesh not because of our righteousness, but by His righteous grace that pours out to all people. Communion continues to take that true presence of Christ and join Him to our lives with the victory of the cross.
Mary gladly bore the child of God in her body, but it was His body that suffered and died at the cross where she fully understood the angel Gabriel’s importance in calling Him, “Jesus” which means savior. He was her savior just as He is ours. We have been honored to bear Him in our lives by what is heard from the preaching of God’s Word. No one has earned the right for such a welcome gift, but God gladly wants to bring it by His messengers of the Gospel. The office of the holy ministry is given by Christ to His Church for that very purpose. It is why the greatest joy and activity of the ministry is to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. Here is where pastor and people find the one whom they have bore in their lives to be the savior of them all. Humbly like the Virgin Mary, we have called Him, “Jesus†for the very reason He was given to us to out of God’s grace to save sinners. Amen.