Sunday, December 24, 2023… Fourth Sunday in Advent

“Deliver Us from Evil”

Psalm 89:1-5; 2 Samuel 7:1-11; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38

Order of Holy Matins

Hymns: #332 “Savior of the Nations, Come”; #359 “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming”; #934“My Soul Now Magnifies the Lord”; #362 “O Sing of Christ”

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

    Grace, mercy, and peace to you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

    We pray in the Lord’s Prayer, “Deliver us from evil.” The literal translation is, “Deliver us from the evil one.” The evil one is our enemy, the devil, Satan. His name in the Greek is the pornaru, and that’s just what it sounds like. The devil is the creator of everything pornos – everything pornographic, filthy, disgusting, and evil, and everything opposed to the will of God.

    Why do we need to be delivered from the evil one? Because right now he’s ruling in this world. Jesus Himself calls the devil “the prince of this world,” who needs to be driven out. That isn’t something you and I can do on our own. The devil may be only an angel, and a fallen angel at that, but he still has power and influence far beyond what we can hope to fight. Satan can make himself beautiful. He can tell lies that sound convincing and wise, lies that will fool even really smart people. He can do signs, wonders, and miracles that will deceive “even God’s chosen ones, if that were possible,” says Jesus. The devil talks in the ears and inhabits the souls of many influential and powerful people in this world. The devil works through governments, and through politics, and through the human desire for wealth and power.

    The devil puts armies in motion. The infamous four horsemen in the Book of Revelation come in a progression; first comes the white horseman, who lusts for power and wants to rule and conquer the world; followed by the red horseman of conflict and warfare; followed after by the black horseman of hunger and want and need; and at the end of the line comes the pale green horseman of death. That’s how things work in this world where the devil rules. What he wants is to have us all in hell. We could all so easily give in to the temptation to throw up our hands and give up, and to look at the world as it is and lose hope. But God hasn’t given up. We need to be delivered from evil. We need a Deliverer. And what I’m telling you this morning is that that’s what Christmas is all about.

    In Luke chapter one comes the great intervention. “In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.” A strange kind of intervention this is, to bring about our deliverance. God doesn’t come with an army. He doesn’t come to start a war, or to end all our wars (at least not right away). He doesn’t show up in a palace to declare Himself king, or to seize the reigns of human government. He doesn’t show up in pomp and glory where the crowds are there to see. God sends the holy archangel Gabriel -- a good angel, a white angel -- to begin the work of destroying the dark angel, the devil; and He sends him to the most unlikely place you could ever imagine; and to the most unlikely people you’d ever think would be given a part in the salvation story.

    The mighty angel Gabriel was sent to Galilee, the boondocks of Israel, a place even the Jews took no account of, to Nazareth, a tiny, sleepy little town, to a teenage Hebrew girl named Mary, as nondescript a girl as you could ever imagine. The Bible never says that Mary was remarkable in any way, or even beautiful. She was just… plain, ordinary Mary. And she was betrothed, engaged, promised in marriage, to an ordinary Joe. Joseph could claim to be descendant of David, but there was nothing remarkable about that; so could a thousand others. No one would expect a Savior to show up in this little place, to these quiet people. But our Lord does things His own way.

    “The angel went to her and said, ‘Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.’ Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.” And who could blame her? Who, me? Why me? Gabriel, what are you doing here? You must have taken a wrong turn someplace… “But the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give Him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; His kingdom will never end.’”

    “Do not be afraid, little Mary.” A tall order, that is. Gabriel was mighty, and she was small. God’s message to her was scary, and what could it possibly have to do with her? “You will be with child,” Gabriel tells her. But she’s a virgin, and she’s promised to someone. She’s a good girl, from a good family; what would people say?

    “And you are to give Him the name Jesus,” says Gabriel. The name Jesus means, “God is Salvation,” or “God has come to save His people.” Your Son, Mary, will be great, the Son of the Most High God -- the Savior, the Messiah your people have been waiting for, for all these years. He’ll come to take the throne of David; but He won’t come from a palace or from a royal castle. The Deliverer will come from you, little Mary. He’ll come from you.

    Mary had good reason to be afraid. God’s plan for deliverance made no human sense at all. It’s not the way you and I would have done it. "How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?” She may be young, but she knows how babies come to be; that’s been the same since Adam and Eve. And that’s the miracle of Christmas. It is a divine intervention. Our deliverance comes by an unmistakable sign, something that’s never happened before in the long history of the world, and will never happen again. It’s God’s ancient promise from prophet Isaiah: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a Son, and will call him Immanuel.” What’s happening in our Gospel with Gabriel and Mary is the beginning of God’s promise to us being kept.

    “The angel answered, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.’” It’s a Trinitarian deliverance we’ve been given, all three Persons of the blessed Trinity taking part in our salvation, all doing their part to deliver us from evil. The Father, in love and mercy, sends His precious Son to earth, to the belly of a very young Hebrew girl, to “bear our sin and be our Savior.” The Holy Spirit lights the spark of life, causes the holy conception to happen inside her.

    The devil had us wrapped in chains of sin, an unbreakable chain of sin, from Adam and Eve to their children, passed on to all their descendants, and now to you and me. That a child of God, a Son of God, would be born perfect and holy and without sin, breaks the devil’s unholy chain. The only sufficient payment for sin, God always said, was a perfect sacrifice, a Lamb without blemish or defect. None of us would do, flawed and defective as all of us are, both by the sin we’re born with and the sins we’ve committed since. We needed a Deliverer, a Savior, a perfect Son -- and there in the womb of Mary that Son has now been provided.

    What happened in Mary happened in the shadows, beyond what our eyes can see, or our minds could ever understand. It was a miracle, an intervention, God breaking into the way things are, to change the way things are – and to change the way that things will be. We don’t need to know the details. Mary keeps her modesty. We’re only asked to believe.

    Gabriel, merciful angel that he is, knowing that little Mary was young, and small, and afraid, gave her proofs to look for, something real to hang onto to, blessed assurance for her faith that God’s promise was true. (God does that for us, too, from time to time). He tells her, “Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."

    Mary’s Aunt Elizabeth, and her husband Zechariah, were old, and childless, and well past the age of having children (like Abraham and Sarah once had been). But God had intervened in their lives, too. Elizabeth was six months pregnant with a boy who’d be named John, and who’d be called John the Baptist when he was grown. All part of God’s plan to save us, and to deliver us from evil. “Nothing is impossible with God.” And that’s a good thing, especially when life confronts us with impossible things. I don’t always know what’s going on, but God does. I don’t understand sometimes what’s happening, but God does. There are times when I can’t see how things are ever going to turn out – but God has got this, and He’s holding me in the palm of His hand.

    Mary’s answer to Gabriel, and to God, is the same as ours should be, when God wants to intervene in our lives and bring us changes that we’re not ready for, or that we don’t understand. "I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Literally, Mary says, “I am the Lord’s handmaid.” I am His servant girl, His slave girl; my life is His to use as He sees fit. Lord, I don’t understand how this is going to work, or what You have in mind for me, but it’s all in Your hands, and I trust You for good and to know what You’re doing. So let’s go!

    God has sent us a Deliverer. We will be delivered from sin and death and hell and every evil. Jesus has come, and is coming again. May this Christmas find us all with the faith of Mary, and trusting our God for all things. In Jesus’ name; Amen.