Pastor Tyce's Message for December

In 1534, on March 25, the day the Church has celebrated as the Annunciation—when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce that she would be the mother of the Savior (Get it? Nine months before December 25!)—Martin Luther was preaching to his family and closest friends on Luke 1:26–38, the annunciation story. In that house sermon, he said that both the devil and God come close to us. The difference is that the devil comes closer to harm us, and God, to save us. Listen to Luther’s words: “We sustained a hurt through Adam’s fall. Through it all of us are tainted with sins and subject to death. But greater than this hurt is the blessing we receive through Christ. He became man himself in order to redeem us from sin and death. The devil came close to us; but he did not come so close as to assume our nature. For although he fell through pride and thereupon persuaded man also to fall away from God, he nevertheless did not become man and did not come so close to us as did God’s Son, who became our flesh and blood” (Ewald M. Plass, What Luther Says [St. Louis: CPH, 1959], § 153).

The devil hates us, disdains us, would never stoop to be one of us. God loves us so much that he takes our humanity.