Advent- December 18

Read:

“Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth,  to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

But when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what manner of greeting this was. Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

Then Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God. Now indeed, Elizabeth your relative has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is now the sixth month for her who was called barren. For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Then Mary said, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.” Luke 1:26-38

Take some time talking about how Mary responded when she heard the news the Angel brought to her.

Listen: Silent Night (English here), *(German here)

Adults:

A Closer Look at Mary

The prophecy in Isaiah 11:1 said that the Messiah would come from the blood lineage of David. We know that Joseph was in the lineage because he was mentioned in Luke 1:27 as “a descendant of David”. Mary was a virgin when she conceived, so what about her? Many scholars agree that the genealogy found in Luke is actually the genealogy of Mary because it mentions Heli as his father. Matthew 1:16 said Jacob was Joshep’s father. The word “son” is not in the original manuscript; son-in-law would have been the correct translation. Thus, Mary was in the lineage of the royal family of David.

When the Angel delivered the message to Mary, her response was one of absolute surrender. She asked a question that was not based on unbelief, “How can this be, for I am a virgin?” It was a legitimate question that the Angel answered. In response, Mary receives this news with awe and joy. Later, at her cousin's home, Elizabeth sings a song (Mary’s Magnificat), which echoes the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2. In the Jewish culture of that day, girls were not educated like boys. The fact that Mary sang a song that mirrored Hannah’s spoke a different story; it told a story of a girl schooled in scripture and politics.

German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer recognized the nature of Mary’s Song. In a sermon during Advent in 1933, he spoke these words: “The song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is at once the most passionate and the wildest; one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings. . . . This song has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols.”

Mary was a young woman whose response revealed a heart that had turned toward God years before. She had spent time learning scripture, thinking about God, and surrendering her life so much that she was ready when the Angel came to deliver a message.

Mary’s Magnificat

“My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the lowly state of His maidservant;
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me,
And holy is His name.
And His mercy is on those who fear Him
From generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm;
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
And exalted the lowly.
He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.”

*My husband’s grandmother, Angels Vela, is from Austria. Every year, as she gathers her family around on Christmas Eve, we sing this song in German to remember her roots as it was written by a humble pastor of an Austrian village. You can read about it here.