FROM LUTHER’S PRAYERS:

Lord Jesus Christ, hurry. Do not delay in bringing the

blessed day when the hope of happy redemption will be fulfilled.
For this reason you have asked us to pray: Thy kingdom come.
Since you have so commanded us to pray, give us grace and help to
FOURTH
pray diligently, firmly believing that we shall finally come to such
glory. Continually mortify this old body that we may finally
receive a new body not so full of sin nor so inclined to all manner of
SUNDAY of
evil as the life we now live. Give us bodies that will not become
sick, nor suffer persecutions, nor die. Give us bodies redeemed
from all temporal and spiritual misery, like your own glorified
body, dear Lord Jesus Christ. Grant that the glad and blessed day of
our redemption and glorification may come soon, and that we may
realize it as we now hear and believe your word. Amen,

Hymn:
Oh, come, oh come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.
Rejoice ! Rejoice ! Emmanuel Shall come to you O Israel.
Oh, come, oh come, great Lord of might,
Who to your tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law
In cloud, and majesty, and awe. Refrain
Oh come, strong Branch of Jesse, free
Your own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell your people save
And give them vict’ry o’er the grave. Refrain
Oh come, blest Dayspring come and cheer
Our spirits by your advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight. Refrain
Oh, come, O Key of David come, Stir up your power, O Lord and come. Take away the
And open wide our heav’nly home; hindrance of our sins and make us ready for the celebration
Make safe the way that leads on high, of your birth, that we may receive you in joy and serve you
And close the path to misery. Refrain
 always; for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy
Spirit, now and forever.
GOSPEL: Luke 1: 39-45 (46-55)
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean
town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of
Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard
Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth
was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud
cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit
of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the
mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the
sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.
45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a
fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.
[ 46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness
of his servant.
Surely from now on all generations will call me
blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts
of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”]
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?
He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted
them of low degree.
Luke i.52.
How could God have revealed His loving-kindness
more divinely than by sinking Himself so deeply into our flesh
and blood, by not despising natural secrecy and by honoring
nature most where Adam and Eve had most disgraced it?
All evil and all evil thoughts fall away, however strong
they are, if we but turn our eyes to the nativity, beholding how
the most high Majesty is creatively at work in the flesh and
blood of such a lowly Virgin. As deeply as she is despised on
earth, so highly, yea, a thousand times higher, is she glorified
in heaven.
Behold, how very greatly God glorifies those who are
despised by men and who rejoice therein. Open thine eyes
and see what the Lord beholds! Only downward doth He gaze
into the deepest lowliness, as it is written: ‘He is throned
above the Cherubim and gazeth into the deepest depth, even
into the abyss.’
Neither did the angels find princes or the mighty, but
the untaught by-people and the lowliest on earth. Might they
not have brought their message to the high priest, the scholars
at Jerusalem who have so much to tell about God and the
angels? No, not they, but the poor shepherds were found
worthy of such great grace and honor from heaven, they, who
on earth have no honor. Yea, truly, God casteth out all that is
lofty.
Sermon for Christmas, 1522. W.A.10 I (i). 68 ff.
Taken from the book:
Day by Day We Magnify Thee by Martin Luther
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