Preached at Christ Church, Billericay at 10am on 24 Dec 2023
Reading 2 Samuel 7:1-11,16; Luke 1:26-38
What the boss wants
Have you ever tried to second guess what the boss wants? When someone asks you to do something, or if they can change something, and you say “Yes, of course, no problem” – thinking you know what’s happening. I’ve done things like that often, and it rarely works out.
That’s where Nathan the prophet is in our Old Testament passage today. His job is to be a prophet – to pass on messages from God. It is not to just assume that someone else, even the king, knows God better than he does.
So, I suppose you could say he’s having a bad day, that he should be paying more attention and looking at the big picture. God is not happy with his casual assumption and has different ideas.
Good from it – Davidic covenant
This is one of those occasions where God can bring something good from our failure, or more specifically, Nathan’s failure.
In Acts 13 we are reminded what God thinks of David:
‘I
have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do
everything I want him to do.’
And he has. He has fought the surrounding tribes and won the battles, with God’s help. Now, though, it is time to run the kingdom, to settle down a bit, to do what kings do – to build palaces.
To Davids credit
It is to David’s credit that he has not only thought about himself here; he has also thought about the God that has been protecting him and his people. He has thought a bit about how the kingdom should work now that they have occupied the land that was promised to them. (Well, most of it, anyway.)
God has seen that, because he knows our deepest desires, and in David’s case approves of his intent. But the practice will have to be different, the temple must be built by someone whose hands are not covered in blood. So, that will be David’s successor.
Davidic covenant
That leads to the covenant with David, the promise to establish his throne forever.
2Sa 7:16 Your house and your
kingdom will endure forever before me your throne will be established
forever.
2nd King & before (and what a king means)
David is only the second king of the Israelites. Before him was Saul, who failed in God’s eyes and was replaced. Before Saul the kingdom was ruled, if you can call it that, by the judges. In that time it required every man among the Israelites to maintain loyalty to God in order to merit his protection. Now with a king, the king can stand as a proxy between God and the people. God sees and judges the king. There were some good kings, and quite a few bad kings.
A. G. Herbert
A.G. Herbert wrote a book that he subtitled “A Study of the Fulfilment of the Old Testament in Jesus Christ and His Church”, he gave it the title “The Throne of David”. He says: “The failure of the kings generally leads not to disillusion with kingship but to the hope of a future king who will fulfil the kingship ideal—a hope which provides the most familiar way to understanding the significance of Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ coming in his kingdom”
History of Kings
Before the coming of Jesus, the land had many kings, after it was conquered the king may no longer have been in charge, but the line of succession still exists. Just as it does for the countries in Europe that are now republics – the line of succession is still there.
So it is always possible to restore the king. That is one of the promises to Mary in the surprising reading from the New Testament.
Luke Reading
So let’s take a look at how God restored Israel's king and what it means for us. Some of that is in the New Testament reading we had this morning, but we should start with Zechariah and Elizabeth in the verses immediately before that reading.
Zechariah and Elizabeth
Zechariah received a visit from an angel, later identified as Gabriel, while he was the priest at the temple. The angel told him that his prayers had been answered; that his wife was expecting a baby, and they should call him John. This is the person we know as John the Baptist.
Betrothal
When Elizabeth is in her sixth month, the angel visits a girl named Mary. She is betrothed to Joseph. Betrothal was part of the marriage contract, once agreed – probably not by the couple, but by their families – any separation is the same as a divorce. In those days, it was normal for a girl to be married in her teens – possibly as young as twelve.
Angel’s message
This young girl handles the appearance of an angel far better than the priest Zechariah, and easily, it seems to us, accepts what the angel says.
“I am the Lord’s
servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”
Mary’s question
Her only question had been how?
This is after being told about the baby’s destiny:
31You will be
with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name
Jesus.
32 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,
33 and he will
reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Not only has she been given a name to call him – Jesus – which is normally the father’s choice. Well, it was the father’s choice – but somehow she would have to convince Joseph. Then she will somehow have to deal with her baby becoming king. That was an unlikely prospect for her, as there is no evidence she had any connection to royalty.
Tell Joseph
She will also have to tell Joseph about the pregnancy. That would be an ‘interesting’ conversation. One of the reasons given for marrying off girls so young, is that it protects them from illicit liaisons that might result in pregnancy. Even in a culture so steeped in religion, the story that ‘an angel told me that God would make me pregnant’ is still an impossibly hard sell. Fortunately, God provides an answer to Joseph separately.
The how?
The angel’s answer to the ‘how’ question gives us, and Mary, some additional information:
“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.”
So, not just king now but son of God too. I would have thought that that might be even more frightening, but it doesn’t seem to disturb Mary at all.
The when?
So, when did the overshadowing occur, some say that it happened immediately, but that doesn’t really fit the text. Mary may have, quite reasonably, kept that process to her self when she was telling the story years later. What we know is that when Mary went to stay with Elizabeth, the baby was already growing. She has moved to be with family so that the locals don’t get the gossip – and to avoid all the problems that would probably cause. Unmarried mothers could end up being stoned, although that was rare by this time.
Elizabeth’s response is only positive:
“Blessed are you among
women, and blessed is the child you will bear!”
That visit had to happen before John the Baptist was born -because he too reacted to Mary’s presence, or was it Jesus’s presence he responded to?
Either way, Mary is in a safe place while the baby grows.
Genealogies
We should mention the genealogies for a minute, as they are what really established Jesus as king. It is important to note that it is not Mary’s family that we are tracking, as some will say, but Joseph’s. If Jesus is to be recognisable as king, it is his earthly parentage that is important.
The fact that He is adopted by Joseph is not an issue for anyone – least of all the genealogies. And especially not God, it is part of His plan.
The basic gospel
So, what have we learned, and how does it all apply to us?
The good news – the gospel, is that God sent His son to earth to experience what it is to live in a sinful world and show us that living a sinless life is possible. He also came to die for our sins. He was then resurrected to prove to us that our relationship with God can be re-established, and we can inherit eternal life.
Now we know a little more about how that works. We are often told that when God looks on our sins, he sees Jesus. This is because Jesus is the king, and God is looking at the king and not at the individual people’s sins. Jesus has already died for our sins, and has taken the punishment that was our due. As king, that is a part of His role.
Birthday of the King
So, as we come to celebrate the official birthday of our heavenly king, let us remember not just the things that happened at his birth, but also His crowning achievement, which is vital to us, our spiritual well-being and our chance of eternal life.
Amen.
Recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvpOzrCh7x4 from 22:20
References
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kings_of_Israel_and_Judah
https://sermonwriter.com/sermons/new-testament-luke-126-38-when-the-angel-leaves-the-room-hyde/
https://sermonwriter.com/sermons/luke-126-38-a-faithful-response-mclarty/
https://revcollins.com/2017/12/19/sermon-on-luke-126-38/
https://sermonwriter.com/biblical-commentary/new-testament-luke-126-38/
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