Annunciation: God's Invasion Begins

 

This time last year I did an impassioned Annunciation Day sermon that received a lot of views on Facebook.  So, one year later, little having changed it seems worth repeating.  I threw my toy soldiers at the camera. I have bags of them. As a kid I would spend hours laying them out in pretend battles on my bedroom floor. These became stories that I penned down or wrote as little graphic novels. (The 70s was a great time to be a kid!)   

St Luke is often presented by scholars as the nicey nicey Gospel when in fact militant in his worldview. We view the Nativity mostly through his text and in modern speak translate it into a gooey baby story where shepherds wear tea towels and an in keeper is slightly mean. 

The Gospel truth is that this is an invasion.  Starting on the edge of Empire and working its way in.  The Enemy didn’t stand a chance.  The kingdom being brought down was not only Rome but also any system that would oppose God, even the little kingdoms that reign in ourselves. They were/are all being dislodged. 

In English we lose the bit of the word ‘host.’ When text says the whole heavenly host appeared before the shepherds a First Century reader would have known how seditious this was. A host is an army. Here we have on the fields of Nazareth not just any old army but the forces of God, all of them. 

This invasion begins with our cooperation. Mary says ‘yes’ to Gabriel on behalf of humanity.  A nobody on the edge of the world says ‘yes’ and everything is now in danger of toppling. Luke uses specific words to allude that she is like the Ark of Covenant. In the old days the Hebrews took the Ark on battle and wherever it the other side experienced carnage.  You can win wars with this.

The System wants to reduce you to a number but God knows you as a person. He has made this way, made you in his image. You are not a number. So many remain trapped in the System, never living just existing. Like men who are colourblind they know little else and are ignorant of their predicament. They succumb to untruths that dehumanise them. It is easier not to resist, to live by lies, to go with the madness of crowds. 

The System itself is limited and is not all powerful. Indeed, the System buckles, cracks and recoils at the very name that Mary contained within her. With this name we can become indestructible to the core. Even if everything that can be is thrown at us, this one living word is as metal armour...Jesus.