Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Emmanuel (Luke 1: 28-38)

It was a tall order.

She was to carry the Son of God in her womb.  She was favored in God’s sight – a status that belonged to the Israelites, but now God’s favor was here; it was real.

Yesterday, she had been engaged. Her life was following the path of all good women in her day: engagement, a happy and fulfilling life with a good man, her future spreading before her. The promise of children she and Joseph would raise to love this God of the Old Testament.

A God who, yesterday, had not seemed so close.

The angel had said, “The Lord is with you!” when he greeted her. She hadn’t realized he would mean it so literally.

She wasn’t just going to do important Kingdom work, but be part of the most important kingdom work: being the mother of Jesus – ransom and savior of the world.

A scene from the Garden of Eden came to mind. God told the Serpent that a descendent of Eve would crush Him. Later, there was the first Passover. It was by the blood of a spotless lamb that God’s people were spared. It was grace.

Isaiah’s words, so lovingly studied night after night came flooding back. His words spoke of a new lamb, one who would bear all the world’s griefs and sorrows. Thousands of years of broken, wandering hearts would be laid on this servant.

She felt the weight of her own sin, her heart a Gomorrah that was no place for a Holy God.

Her son would be an offering for her guilt – the better, perfect sacrifice that was promised at the beginning. Her baby boy would be the atonement the weary world sought. A reconciliation, at last. A thrill of hope.


What is there to say but, “I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” This a shallow echo of what her son would say thirty-three years from now: “Not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42).