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᛭ INI ᛭

Hear the Word of the LORD! The Passion of Our Lord ΙΗϹ Christ according to the Gospel of St. Mark, part Six: Burial:

Now when evening had come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, Joseph of Arimathea, a prominent council member, who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, coming and taking courage, went in to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Pilate marveled that He was already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him if He had been dead for some time. So when he found out from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. Then he bought fine linen, took Him down, and wrapped Him in the linen. And he laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock, and rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses observed where He was laid.

We’re nine months from Christmas! The Annunciation of Our Lord celebrates the conception of our Lord: that “He was conceived by the Holy Spirit,” as the Church confesses daily in the Apostles Creed or that “He was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary,” as the Church confesses each Divine Service. Christmas in March! Christmas in Lent!—in the approaching shadow of His cross.

These two events—Christ’s conception and His committal (His burial)—are not unrelated. In fact, those two miracles point us to two others. Four miracles is a great gift—a present if you will—to celebrate the Annunciation of Our Lord 2026 in what you might call the Fourth Quarter of Lent. And

THESE FOUR MIRACLES TESTIFY TO YOUR SALVATION.

(I. Christ’s conception is the first miracle.)

The first miracle is a miracle of the Holy Spirit. He worked the miracle in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. She conceived by His Work alone, along with God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. It didn’t rest with anything in her. It had nothing to do with her at all, except that the LORD chose her. She “found favor with God”—Sola Gratia. As Gabriel preached: she conceived only because “the Holy Spirit came upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her,” and “she conceived her firstborn Son,” (Lk 2) even though she “did not know a man,” and “called His name ΙΗϹ, “the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.” (Lk 2)

The miracle isn’t just that her egg started dividing. (After which point our Lord developed as another child, though without sin.) The miracle is who her Child is. He is “the Son of the Highest.” “The Holy One that was born is called the Son of God”—His enteral, only-begotten Son. He is the Eternal God who gestated for 9 months in her womb. Our Lord and Savior ΙΗϹ Christ is our God and our Lord, and because of that Blessèd Virgin Mary then is rightly fully confessed to be the Mother of God, for Christ is God. This is not to place her over God, but rightfully to confess her role and office and Whom she bored in her womb—the eternal God!

(II. Christ’s burial is the second miracle.)

And who Christ is drives us to the second miracle. As our Chief hymn on Sunday puts His: God “laid the one into the grace, Who formed the earth’s foundation.” (LSB 438) Christ, the Son of God, truly is the “Prince of Life.” (Acts 3) He brought Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter and the young man from Nain back to life. He restored the strength of life to the crippled and lamb, the sick and leprous, the blind and deaf and mute. He healed them with touch and Word. He “gave up His Spirit” (Jn 19) and died! (You can spend a lifetime pondering that miracle…)

He was buried in a tomb, and, of course, came forth. His burial anticipates His resurrection. Even as His conception, of course, causes us to anticipate His birth for us. He was raised in a miraculous way as well. He passed out of the grave, without violating the stone nor the seal. The Blessèd Virgin Mary also, as our Confessions say, “Mary, the most blessed Virgin, did not bear a mere man. But, as the angel ‹Gabriel› testifies, she bore a man who is truly the Son of the most high God [Luke 1:35]. He showed His divine majesty even in His mother’s womb, because He was born of a virgin, without violating her virginity. Therefore, she is truly the mother of God and yet has remained a virgin.” (SD-VIII, 24)

(III. Christ’s Supper is the third miracle.)

Anyway, moving on to the third miracle, we consider the Supper of our Lord ΙΗϹ Christ. We consider it because it is His body and His blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins, and today is the day we remember His conception, His becoming incarnate, His taking up a body, flesh and blood, that He might give Himself into death that you and I would not die eternally.

As we heard from Hebrews just a bit ago:

When He came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—In the volume of the book it is written of Me— To do Your will, O God.’” (Heb 10)

By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb 10)

The body of Christ was offered into death once for all, and that very same body, along with His blood, is given in the Supper, under the blessed bread and wine, for us Christians to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of all our sins. It is a great mystery, that in a supernatural way Christ’s Word is true that the bread IS His body, the wine His blood. Next to Holy Trinity, the incarnation itself, the sacramental union is the most profound mystery of the Christian faith. “Who can explain or even conceive how this occurs? We know indeed that it is so, that He is in God beyond all created things, and is one person with God. But how this happens, we do not know; it transcends nature and reason, even the comprehension of all the angels in heaven, and is known only to God.” (Sold-Declaration-VII: The Lord’s Supper, § 102)

(IV. Mary’s “agreement” is the fourth and final miracle.)

Now, we’re to the final and fourth miracle. It’s also a miracle of the Holy Spirit! Mary said to the angel, “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” Mary believed the angel’s preaching! She not only believed, but sanctified by that Word, the Word accomplished what it said. She was indeed pregnant by the Holy Spirit. But in some ways more miraculous is that she agrees to it! And…she acts accordingly! Her behavior matched her belief. Would that all of us were that way! Quick agreement with the Word peters out into inaction. The Lord has prepared a body even for you, what have you done with it? Mary, by means of the Holy Spirit, had action. Pray for such a Spirit! “The heavenly Father gives the Holy Spirit to those who ask.” (Lk 11)

(Conclusion.)

THESE FOUR MIRACLES TESTIFY TO YOUR SALVATION.

The fourth to our great need of salvation. Mary’s action reveals our half-hearted, lack-luster, often non-existent action. Lord, have mercy!

Indeed He does, for THESE FOUR MIRACLES TESTIFY TO YOUR SALVATION. He was indeed incarnate for you, conceived, born, lived, suffered, died, and rose for you. He gives His body and blood to you. Indeed, He promises His Holy Spirit, who makes you holy.

As it was for Mary so also for you. “Everything [is credited] to the Holy Spirit who, through the preaching office, brings us into the Christian Church, sanctifies us in the Church, and causes us to grow daily in faith and good works. Even in this life the regenerate advance to the point that they want to do what is good and love it, and even do good and grow in it. Still, this is not of our will and ability, but of the Holy Spirit. Paul himself speaks about this, saying that the Spirit works such willing and doing (Philippians 2:13). Also in Ephesians 2:10 he credits this work to God alone, when he says, “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Solid-Declaration-II: Free Will, § 38–39)

“Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men!” (Ps 107)

᛭ INI ᛭