Advent IV, December 23, 2018

Luke 1:39-56

“Blessed are we who Believe”

In the New Testament, there are these two equally obscure women, Elizabeth and Mary—one quite old and barren, the other little more than a child around thirteen—who are both nobodies and both chosen by God to bear great children. “He has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”

And Mary is “betrothed” to this other little kid named Joseph, who is just as unknown and obscure as she is. And when he finds out that she’s pregnant, he plans to cut and run, but an angel comes to him and says, “whoa, stop, the baby in Mary is not yours,” and he says, well, um, I kind-a knew that part,” and the angel says, “no, no, what I mean is that the baby came from the Holy Spirit (a.k.a., “God”). The little guy in Mary’s womb is the son of God, so go on back to her now and play like you’re the daddy because that’s what God wants you to do,” and to give Joseph credit, the story says he does that.

When Mary hears from an angel that she is to give birth to a child, what she does is run away. Quite possibly she ran for her life, because there is some historical evidence that when unmarried women were found to be pregnant; they were stoned to death. She runs to Judah to another obscure town to talk to her cousin, Elizabeth, about the whole mysterious and strange occurrence. Elizabeth is evidently pretty-old and had been barren for good many years and thought she’d never have a baby of her own. But as it happens now, she’s gotten pregnant herself with a little baby she’ll name John who, as it turns out, will later baptize a gaggle of people (including Jesus), threaten the state, and get himself killed for it, but that’s getting ahead of the story.

When Mary gets there and the two of them greet each other, John jumps up and down in Elizabeth’s belly and Mary breaks into song (don’t we mothers always jump up and down and break into song), with this incredible magnificent; a song both and political and radical, about what her coming son is going to be doing in this messed up world.

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.

This is an ancient love story that warms our hearts again this Advent Sunday of love. Blessed are

we who believe…in love.

Remember the story of Susan Boyle who looked and dressed plain and dumpy and was way passed her prime; a nobody some thought, but she had a voice that angels would be jealous of. Simon Cowl, the host of the show who introduced her sneered at her in the beginning, but then later publicly apologized for his behavior.  Susan became Canada’s singing sensation.  Canadians love her music; our Love story; blessed are we who believe…in love.

We often overlook the most important things in life. And the Christmas Season encourages us to do that. The season encourages us to put everything we’ve got into busy preparation so that the true meaning of Christmas gets lost. If we don’t keep our eyes open during the hustle and bustle of Advent, then we might miss a true love story such as Shane and Dave found. However, my Christmas love story.  My love story was the reunion of Dave and Shane and it was magic.  Blessed are we who believe…in love.

This busyness forces us to look the other way. It does that in two ways:

First, the commercialization of the Christmas season works very hard to keep us from realizing that there really is supposed to be something important going on inside this season. We get a lot from the media about how this is a season of caring or giving, but very little about what that is… the rebirth of a gentle babe in Bethlehem.

Second, the Hustle and bustle of Christmas. We get so tied up in the many tasks of Christmas, that we might forget to experience Christmas.

Did you hear about the woman a couple of years ago –true story—who forgot to do her cards until the last minute and rushed out to buy three boxes of cards and brought them home and filled them all out and addressed them and sent them off and when she got home she was exhausted and she relaxed in her chair with a glass of wine and listened to music, and she picked up one of her cards and said, that’s nice, I’ll actually get a chance to read what I sent to people, so she picked up the first one and it said: “Just a little card to say…a special gift is on its way.”  I laughed as you might be that she made a horrible mistake.  She might have thought oh no, but if you think about it…a special gift is on its way in the name of Emmanuel.  God with us.

I once got so stressed out in shopping at the last minute that when I had finished the day (rushing from store to store, beating back other purchasers, and fighting for elevators and escalators in Ontario malls), and had gone out to my car, I put my presents on top of the car and drove away and left them behind…(Perhaps it’s because “God looks out after preachers and fools” but someone I knew saw what happened and called me later to tell me he had my gifts.)  Ever done that or almost done that?  That was when I made a conscious decision to put Christ back into Christmas and divorce myself from the hustle and bustle of Christmas.  I have stream-lined and simplified my gift giving with special gifts not abundant gifts.  My love story for Jesus…

Sometimes a little child will lead us to “know” the important parts of the season. There is a story of the parents who were in a big rush to get Christmas all done up, and they told the kids that under no uncertain terms were they to get out of bed until daybreak on Christmas morning. Then they snuck around and placed baseball bats, and bicycles, etc. under the tree, and went to bed. About four in the morning their little, seven-year old rushed into their room saying “Mommie, I saw it. Quick come quick.” The parents grumbled but got up, deciding that the surprise was ruined, so they might as well get all the kids up so that some could see their toys since one had already done so. So, they hustled all the others up and brought them down stairs. But the little boy ran right passed the tree and went over to a window and said, “see, see, there it is in the east. It’s the star. I saw it.”  Blessed are we who believe.  Amen.

Luke 1:39-45, the gospel reading for the 4th Sunday in Advent in the Year of Luke, continues the extended story of John the Baptist which we have in this gospel, albeit now with another character added – Mary.  It is striking that the long opening chapter of Luke’s gospel (80 verses) is almost entirely devoted to the pre-birth, birth, and introduction of John the Baptist.  It is easy to overlook the fact that of these 80 verses, nearly 60 of them have to do with John, and most of the rest of them have to do with Mary, and only a few have to do with Jesus.  This year of Luke, then, gives us a rare chance to explore this story in depth, and ponder why John’s story was deemed so important by this gospel writer.

(The following questions are designed to unearth some of the key issues for Law/Gospel preachers.  For a further look at this type of preaching you are invited to purchase my guide to Law/Gospel preaching by clicking the image of the book on this page.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Word here functions as pure gospel.  It is a scene of great joy.  This visitation, and the announcement that God’s divine favor has been visited upon God’s people is a scene of hilarious joy.  The people of God are no longer forgotten, no longer in exile (as it were), no longer sitting in anticipation of the Lord’s coming, but the Word of the Lord has been fulfilled.

2. How is the the indications of joy in the text hint at the oppression under which these women have been living, but nothing in the text points directly at their own need of a saving Christ.  Mary’s song of praise in the verses that follow this text (46-55) point out the context of these women and their fellow citizens – “lowly”, “hungry”, living under “the powerful” and “the proud.”

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  Elizabeth, the one who says, “And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” is the one to whom the Word comes.  She is the one with whom we can most easily identify, not Mary.  We too stand agape as the Christ is sent to us to proclaim freedom, to forgive, and to bless.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to light of the announcement that Christ has come for us, will have to come from different texts.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by the text?  We need to take our cue from Mary’s song to answer this:  lowly/raised up, hungry/filled with good things, oppressed/delivered, forgotten/remembered.

6.  Exegetical work:  It is especially important in this text to read the verses that precede this account.  In earlier verses we see that John was said to be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth.   when Mary calls out her greeting to Elizabeth, the unborn John gives witness to the Christ’s presence even before his mother does. And then, as if John had passed on the Spirit to his mother, Elizabeth cries out in a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women!”  It is telling to note that the redundancy present in the Greek text gives voice to the excitement of Elizabeth, when it says, literally, “She cried out loudly with a great shout.”  The joy present was deafening!  It is also worth noting that Gabriel’s appearance to Mary was only days before this visitation.  Luther surmises that the Christ was only 4 days in the womb when Mary reached Elizabeth’s home!  Clearly it was not Mary’s outward appearance that signaled the presence of the Christ, and even less her identity as “the mother of my Lord.”  The presence of the Christ could only be signaled by the Holy Spirit.  It is perhaps worth pondering the question, “What signals for us the presence of the Christ amongst us?”

Blessings on your proclamation!Luke 1:39-45, the gospel reading for the 4th Sunday in Advent in the Year of Luke, continues the extended story of John the Baptist which we have in this gospel, albeit now with another character added – Mary.  It is striking that the long opening chapter of Luke’s gospel (80 verses) is almost entirely devoted to the pre-birth, birth, and introduction of John the Baptist.  It is easy to overlook the fact that of these 80 verses, nearly 60 of them have to do with John, and most of the rest of them have to do with Mary, and only a few have to do with Jesus.  This year of Luke, then, gives us a rare chance to explore this story in depth, and ponder why John’s story was deemed so important by this gospel writer.

(The following questions are designed to unearth some of the key issues for Law/Gospel preachers.  For a further look at this type of preaching you are invited to purchase my guide to Law/Gospel preaching by clicking the image of the book on this page.)

1.  How does the Word function in the text?  The Word here functions as pure gospel.  It is a scene of great joy.  This visitation, and the announcement that God’s divine favor has been visited upon God’s people is a scene of hilarious joy.  The people of God are no longer forgotten, no longer in exile (as it were), no longer sitting in anticipation of the Lord’s coming, but the Word of the Lord has been fulfilled.

2. How is the Word not functioning in the text?  There is no word of Law here at all.  There is no word that lifts up the need of humanity for the saving action of God.  All of the indications of joy in the text hint at the oppression under which these women have been living, but nothing in the text points directly at their own need of a saving Christ.  Mary’s song of praise in the verses that follow this text (46-55) point out the context of these women and their fellow citizens – “lowly”, “hungry”, living under “the powerful” and “the proud.”

3.  With whom are you identifying in the text?  Elizabeth, the one who says, “And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” is the one to whom the Word comes.  She is the one with whom we can most easily identify, not Mary.  We too stand agape as the Christ is sent to us to proclaim freedom, to forgive, and to bless.

4.  What, if any, call to obedience is there in this text?  The call to obedience, the Word that says, “Follow Jesus” is not present here.  That word, which gives us guidance on how to live in light of the announcement that Christ has come for us, will have to come from different texts.

5.  What Law/Gospel couplet is suggested by the text?  We need to take our cue from Mary’s song to answer this:  lowly/raised up, hungry/filled with good things, oppressed/delivered, forgotten/remembered.

6.  Exegetical work:  It is especially important in this text to read the verses that precede this account.  In earlier verses we see that John was said to be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth.  And so when Mary calls out her greeting to Elizabeth, the unborn John gives witness to the Christ’s presence even before his mother does. And then, as if John had passed on the Spirit to his mother, Elizabeth cries out in a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women!”  It is telling to note that the redundancy present in the Greek text gives voice to the excitement of Elizabeth, when it says, literally, “She cried out loudly with a great shout.”  The joy present was deafening!  It is also worth noting that Gabriel’s appearance to Mary was only days before this visitation.  Luther surmises that the Christ was only 4 days in the womb when Mary reached Elizabeth’s home!  Clearly it was not Mary’s outward appearance that signaled the presence of the Christ, and even less her identity as “the mother of my Lord.”  The presence of the Christ could only be signaled by the Holy Spirit.  It is perhaps worth pondering the question, “What signals for us the presence of the Christ amongst us?”

Blessings on your proclamation!