Seen in the Manger 2: Cousin and Context

Click HERE for MP3 of Cousin and Context sermon audio.

Luke 1:26-38

If I use an opening phrase “Once upon a time”, what kind of story am I going to tell? What if the phrase was “A Long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…”? Or how about “There once was a cowboy…”?
Luke 1:5-25 seems like an odd place to begin a story: not with the main character, but with the introduction of the sidekick, as it were…

The Manger Characters Are Busy

* Comprehending the Context ~ Luke 1:26-33

• 26/27 Nativity characters in Luke: Gabriel, Mary, Joseph
• 28/29 Gabriel contacts Mary first, and she doesn’t know what to make of this
• 30/31 favor with God REPEATED; specifics about Jesus’ birth and name
• 32/33 Son of God; throne of David promise

* Communing With Cousin ~ Luke 1:34-38

• 34 Mary wants specifics (don’t we all?)
• 35 “overshadow” to envelop in a haze of brilliancy; not a **hint** of fleshly interaction
• 36/37 Gabriel tells Mary that God is working with Elizabeth too; Mary is not alone in this miraculous birth experience
• 38 Mary agrees to serve (doulos); she agrees with God’s plan

Mary’s most important choice is right here: she had free will – she *could* have said no. But she reaffirmed her status as God’s servant – and she voluntarily submitted her will to God.

Versus: Jesus’ Nature

Jesus’ Nature

Zechariah 12:7-10; Titus 2:11-14

Kintsugi – “golden fix” – repair cracked/shattered pottery with gold and lacquer. Gold has to be destroyed itself to repair something much less valuable to work

The Ultimate Combination of Sacred and Ordinary

* God Thought Up The Plan ~ Zechariah 12:7-10

• 7 context: this prophecy is about the SECOND coming of Christ (1st was chap. 9)
• 8 God’s plan has ALWAYS been to rescue His Chosen
• 9 God Himself is invested in the protection of His people
• 10 there WILL come a time when the Chosen will respond to the Grace of God given in Jesus himself – and they’ll mourn how He was treated the first time

* God Became a Man ~ Titus 2:11-14

• 11 “grace has appeared” = NOT a person, but an idea: God keeping his promise from Zech 12.10
• 12 God’s intent to save humanity affects us in real world ways; grace prompts the giving of faith (cf Eph 2:8-9) made possible by Grace/Truth Personified in Jesus (cf John 1:14)
• 13 note: should be Reappearing; Jesus has already come once, and the Chosen rejected Him (making our grafting possible)
• 14 God the Judge becomes Man the Sacrifice so that ALL men, Chosen & Grafted, can be His own, purified and prepared for good

Phil 2:6-11 – morphe/form-all-through & homoioma/made-like