A Boundless Hope Series

No. Much more. Unto us. Unto you and you and you a child is given. Unto the wounded and broken and despairing who walk in the valley of the shadow of death a Son is given.

THE FULFILMENT: Proclamation III - Luke 1:26-37Luke 1: 26 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." 29 Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. 31You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. 32He 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, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end." 34"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?" 5The angel answered, "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 3] the Son of God. 36Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. 37For nothing is impossible with God." 8"I am the

Lord’s servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Nothing is impossible with God. The problem was very real. The despair was everywhere. Into this situation of hopelessness a promise was spoken. A most unusual promise that seemed to be all wrapped up in one person - a child given as a personal solution to the problem.

And now, the promise is fulfilled...in a most unusual way. A virgin, untouched by a man. A young girl who somehow found favour with God. A young woman never given to another was told the answer to your deepest needs would be given through her body.

There is a Greek word that carries with its meaning a sense of profound respect and reverence. It is Theotokos. This young maiden was to be the mother of God.

The mother of God. One w ho was created by God, knit together in her mother’s womb by God’s mighty creative power and love. This one who the angel pronounced was to be most blessed among women would give human flesh to...God. God’s remedy to the despair in the world, to the poison that seemed to fill the very air we breath, was to become the incarnated solution.

He was to enter your world. He was to enter your pain. He was to live a humiliated life. A subject

of a cruel and repressive government. A victim of injustice. A true friend to false friends. A true

lover of the human soul yet despised by the very ones he came to save. A humiliated life.

There is a word for all of this, you know. The whole story of the Bible can be summed up in one word. And the solution to every despair can also be described with a one-syllable word that we use often and understand rarely.