Sunday, December 19, 2021

Fourth Sunday of Advent
Micah 5:2-5a
Psalm 80:1-7
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45 (46-56)

Behold, I have come to do your will.

It is the season of parties and you have probably received at least one invitation to some holiday gathering. Invitations use an abbreviated form of communication, giving only the most important information, answering only the necessary questions. Who? What? Where? When? Why? We try to make our invitations as attractive as possible, so that our guests will want to come. We promise fun, good food and fellowship, adding a bit of glitz and glamour to the invitation to guarantee that we’ll have at least a few people come to be with us.

Our scriptures for this week are like an invitation. In Micah we learn where the party will take place – in Bethlehem. Bethlehem seems like an odd choice for the party, after all it was a nowhere town. Jerusalem was not so far away, wouldn’t that have been the better choice? Though Bethlehem was a humble place, it was the City of David, the city of bread. It was in Bethlehem that God’s promises would be fulfilled; the Bread of Life, the Son of David, would be born there. Micah also tells us the party will begin when the woman in labor gives birth.

The scriptures give us several answers to the question, “Who?” Mary cordially invites us to the birth of her son, whom Elizabeth tells us is Lord. God, Savior, the Mighty One is the Host, according to Mary. The psalmist recognizes the Shepherd of Israel and the Lord God of hosts. Notice how the characters, even God, are described in lowly terms. Mary is humble; Elizabeth feels unworthy to be in the presence of the mother of her Lord. God is described as the Good Shepherd, a rather unusual identity considering the shepherds were the lowest of the low in the culture of the day.

With this invitation we learn that God does not do things the way we might do them. We add glitz and glitter to everything; we think bigger must be better. We get caught up in the hustle and bustle, rich food and expensive presents. God turns everything upside down, choosing the lowly and humble above the grand and privileged.

We hang up decorations, we bake, we buy presents. We do so many things to make our world a little nicer, even if it is for just a short period of time. There is always talk about how busy we are and how far behind we are with the work of Christmas. We prioritize and sometimes ignore some of our tasks because it just isn’t worth it late in the season. “Why bother now, we won’t even have time to enjoy it.” Others skip some of the preparations because they are going out of town. “Why bother, we won’t be here to enjoy it.”

A friend of mine has decided not to decorate at all. She isn’t having any company for Christmas, so she’s decided not to bother. “No one is coming to visit, so there will be no one to enjoy it.” I know the feeling; I had the same thoughts last year. We decided put out our decorations anyway because they gave us joy; we were there to enjoy it. It was a lot of work and seemed worthless, but in the end it made the season more pleasurable. We even had a few guests, so I was glad to have everything prepared to share with them.

The past few years have made us look at the season with new eyes, and my friend is not the only one who has decided not to add the glitz and glitter. Yet there are others who have decided to do more than usual because we need a little Christmas these days. I think there can be a good balance between the two extremes. We can have the decorations while we keep the reason for the season in the forefront.

I can understand the need for a simpler, less hectic, more focused holiday. For some the old way was void of meaning, void of truth, void of heart. It had become a very shallow way of celebrating something wonderful filled with materialism, greed, exhaustion and overindulgence. That’s what Charlie Brown sees in “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Instead of living and celebrating in the joy of the season and in the glow of God’s grace, Charlie Brown sees the materialism all around him and he is depressed by it all. So, he tries to direct the Christmas pageant but seems to fail at every turn. His friends didn’t help matters by acting greedy, demanding and rude. The television show was created in 1965; not much has changed over the past forty years.

Today’s psalm is a cry for God’s help. The psalmist recognized that the circumstances of God’s people in his day was brought on by their disobedience to God’s word and will, but the psalmist had confidence that God would fulfill His promises to His people. He would answer them and turn His face back to them. He would raise them up and shine His face upon them. In their darkest hour, He would come to save them.

We are invited to that moment. It is not a moment of glory as we might expect, but instead is a moment of pain in a stable in Bethlehem as a child is born. The invitation is not for the rich and the powerful, but for the poor and lowly. The invitation is to come to the birth of a lowly baby born in a stable, but ultimately it is an invitation to come kneel at the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ. When we cry out for salvation, it won’t be found in a palace, but in the manger. It won’t be in the glow of candlelight or Christmas lights, but in the shadow of the cross.

When we realize that the way we are celebrating Christmas has nothing to do with what the season is all about, we turn around and try something new. We set aside the old ways because they no longer work. In today’s epistle lesson, the writer of Hebrews shows us that Jesus came because the old way no longer worked. It was impossible for us to become righteous by obeying the Law, so Jesus did what was necessary to make all things new. The old offerings did nothing to bring forgiveness, but Christ was born and willingly faced the cross, doing God’s will for our sake. The Christmas story is sweet and wonderful and the celebrations bright and sparkly until we realize that Jesus was born to die. It is easier to keep the manger and the cross separate. Yet, it was for the cross that Jesus was born and for our sake He came to die. In His act of obedience, Jesus abolished that which came before and made everything better. We might wonder why anyone would bother to do such a gracious thing, but for Jesus it was a total submission to God’s will and purpose for His life.

Then Jesus calls His people to lives of total submission to God’s will and purpose for our lives.

Mary’s cousin Elizabeth was heavy with child, in her sixth month, by the time Mary met with the angel Gabriel. It must have been particularly difficult for her, as she was an elderly woman. When Mary heard the words of the angel, she went immediately to see Elizabeth. Mary, who was betrothed to Joseph, had no reason to believe that she might be pregnant, except for the words of the angel. She doesn’t seem to doubt the words, she simply asks “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” The angel answers that it would happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.

I wonder if this was something Mary could feel the conception as it happened. Was there some physical or visual sign that the Holy Spirit had come? Did she experience a tingling or have a sense of the presence? We don’t really know. We only know that Mary did not question the words of the angel, but accepted what had been told to her with a willing obedience to the call of God.

Yet, there must have been some sense of uncertainty in Mary because she quickly departed her home and traveled to see her cousin Elizabeth. We don’t know her motives. She was probably scared and needed time to digest the experience and build the strength she would need to face the persecution that would come when her family and friends discovered her supposed indiscretion. I think she also went because the Elizabeth’s pregnancy was the sign that the angel gave her to confirm everything. Mary needed to know that Elizabeth was pregnant. It was too ridiculous to believe without seeing. If Elizabeth was indeed having a baby, then everything the angel said was true. It was real. Then Mary could deal with it all knowing that God is indeed with her. It was then that she could sing her song and praise God for this gift. Without this encounter, Mary may not have ever had the certainty or the strength to stand up against the struggles she would face with her family and friends.

When Mary greeted Elizabeth, the child in her whom leapt for joy and Elizabeth wondered at how she could be so blessed to have a visit from the mother of her Lord. Mary saw that the words of the angel were true and she burst out in praise to God. Her song is called the Magnificat. Mary sang, “For behold, from now on, all generations will call me blessed. For he who is mighty has done great things for me. Holy is his name.” Mary knew her blessedness was not found in the great things she had done, but in the things that had been done for her by God. She’s not great because she was the mother of Jesus Christ, Son of God, she is remembered because God chose her to be the God-bearer. She is glorified not in her own works or accomplishments, but because God’s hand had touched her life. Though she is remembered for her humble faith, it is because at the moment of upheaval in her life she sang the words of praise about God’s goodness. She glorified God, and in her song we see God’s glory shining right back on her.

During Advent we take a moment to remember the woman who was chosen to carry the baby Jesus in her womb and then in her arms. She is an incredible example of faith, but we should be careful to not raise Mary to too high a pedestal. There are those who make Mary almost god-like and perfect. She is equated, in some circles, with the goddess of pagan faith.

However, Mary did not need to be perfect to be blessed of God. As a matter of fact, all those chosen by God were imperfect. And the blessing of God does not mean that her life would then be perfect. Her life certainly was not pain free. She was just a child when she became pregnant and she was mistreated as a whore. She gave birth in a cold stable, and then went on the run with her husband and young child to save his life. She deeply loved her son, but at times he seemed to disregard and disrespect her. Think about the stories: He went to the temple and they could not find him, He told her that it wasn’t time at the wedding in Cana, she went with Jesus’ brothers to talk to Him because they thought He might be crazy. He told her that those listening were His mother and brothers. And then, after all this, Mary watched her son die a horrible death, executed on the cross.

Mary’s story is not one of a goddess or a woman of sinless perfection. She was a woman, chosen by God to bring the Good News of salvation into the world in the most unique way. She had the rare, single honor of being the one to bear His physical body, but this is not why she is called blessed. She is called blessed because through all these trials, Mary remained humble and faithful to the God she loved.

Mary has been raised to a pedestal that is not hers. She has been made by some to be equal to Jesus in virtue claiming it is necessary for Jesus to be perfect. But this rejects the reality that Jesus is also fully human. Mary gives Him that part of His character. She gave Him the flesh and blood, the will that can be tempted and the heart that can cry out in agony on the cross. God, the divine aspect of His character, gave Him the ability to stay perfect and sinless. In this passage, Mary herself tells of her failings, crying out in thanksgiving to her Savior. If she were perfect, why would she need to be saved?

Mary deserves our respect, not because she is greater than you and me, but because she is just like us. She was specially chosen to bring the Gospel to the world as no one else could, but she is a sinner just like us. There were times her actions as the mother of Jesus made her as an obstacle to His ministry. She was a sinner in need of a Savior.

When you read the scriptures, it is obvious that her son came for the poor, the sick and the humble, those who need a Savior to change their lives. He did not reject the rich and healthy, but it was those who had a real need that found refuge in the words and actions of Jesus. There are people in this world who call themselves Christian because they find something in the life of Jesus that they want to emulate. They often see Jesus as a friend, as a role model. Yet, when asked about sin and their need for a Savior, they will deny they have any such need. They do not truly understand the reason Jesus came into the world.

Mary knew. Mary knew that Jesus offered a life-changing gift, the gift of forgiveness and eternal life. If a person sees themselves as good, they have no need for forgiveness and salvation. This is why true faith comes to those with a humble heart. It comes to those who recognize their true need, the need for mercy and grace which is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The Gospel is not an example of how we are to live in this world; it is the gift of life for those who are dying from their sin. He gives us everything we truly need.

Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months, probably to help her elderly cousin in those final months of her pregnancy. Mary could do so much for Elizabeth, to allow Elizabeth to stay off her feet and yet still provide for the care of Zechariah. It gave Mary time to pray and to grow accustomed to her situation. It also gave the baby time to grow in her womb until her pregnancy was just becoming visible to the world. It was then that she went back to face her family, her friends and her betrothed. It wouldn’t be easy, but God gave her the strength and courage to walk in faith.

Mary was just one of many we see in the Christmas story who willingly submitted to God’s will and purpose for her life. They were all faithless and faithful at the same time, sinners and saints. Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, the wise men and shepherds. Like them we are called to willingly obey the will and purpose that God has ordained for our lives. We aren’t meant to suffer the pain of the cross in the way that Christ suffered, but we are meant to follow in His footsteps, living in the shadow of the cross and in the light of His glory. Though they may seem very different, they are the same thing, for it is in the cross that Christ is glorified and it is there we find our peace. And as Linus said, “That’s what it is all about, Charlie Brown.”

The psalmist asked God to save Israel from her enemies and from His wrath for their sin. “Turn us again, God. Cause your face to shine, and we will be saved.” There is no salvation apart from God’s presence. God’s people do well when God’s face is shining on them. Though God is never far from us, we have a tendency to turn from Him, to walk away. We turn to others for our help; we sin against God’s Word. The wrath we suffer is deserved.

Try as we might, we can’t restore ourselves to God. We can’t make ourselves righteous enough. We can’t redeem our lives. We can’t do anything to make ourselves worthy of God’s grace, to gain His forgiveness, despite the ways we try. We can’t make God come any closer, even through prayer, because our God is never far. Our petition is not for God to change anything about Himself, but for God to turn us back to Him. “Turn us again, O God.” Mary knew this; she was a humble handmaid of the Lord singing praise to God her Savior.

By the time Jesus was born, it had been four hundred years since God had last spoken to His people. They forgot the prayer of the psalmist and tried to turn to God on their own. They tried to make themselves righteous through obedience to a bunch of rules, to cleanse themselves with the sacrifice of animals. The temple priests were busy day and night slaughtering birds, sheep, goats and bulls, begging for God’s mercy. The people gave generously to the temple (oil, incense, grain and coin) hoping that God would be pleased with their offerings and shine His face on them once again. God was not happy with those sacrifices. Instead, Jesus Christ offered Himself to do the will of His Father. Born of flesh and blood, Jesus would never rule from a throne made of gold and fine wood. Jesus was born to die. Through Him we are all made holy, not by our good works or our righteousness, but by His sacrifice.

During Advent and Christmas we are very aware of the presence of God. Many of the signs are secular, but even those signs point to the baby in the manger, for those of us who wait for the Savior. Twinkling lights remind us of the Light, the gifts under our trees remind us of the best gift, and our parties are experiences in hospitality. We are generous not only with those we love, but with strangers as we give to charities serving those in need during this season. Santa Claus might not seem very religious, but his story has a foundation in faith. We can see our God everywhere if we pay attention. God is with us in the most human ways.

The writer of Hebrews shows us that Jesus came because the ways of the world do not work. We think bigger is better, but it isn’t always. We think we can earn our way to heaven, but we can’t. We think that if we are good enough, if we do everything right, if we obey the Law, then we’ll experience the blessings of the righteous. But it is impossible for us to become righteous by obeying the Law. Jesus came to do what we cannot.

This fourth Sunday of Advent we remember the life and faith of Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. As we look at the stories of Mary and Elizabeth, we see how God is able to use even the perishable flesh of man to bring forth great things. Yet, even greater than the miracle of the birth of Christ is the reason for His coming. With the birth of Jesus Christ, God brought forth the Savior whose blood would restore us to our God. "By which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." He fulfilled the hope found in the psalm, "Turn us again, O God; And cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved."

Christ died once for the sake of those He loves. As Christmas day approaches quickly, with the birth of Christ only moments away, we are excited and anxious for the coming of our King. We look forward to the day when He will come in glory to take us forever into His presence. Yet, in a few days or weeks, as Christmas fades and the glitz and glitter disappear, we will forget the hope we have known throughout this Advent season. We may even go back to living our daily lives with little notice of God’s presence.

Mary’s song reveals that Mary was a humble recipient of God’s grace. She sang, “...for he has looked at the humble state of his servant.” God does not choose the rich and the mighty, but the poor and the lowly. He chooses the humble, the unimportant and even the unworthy. For it is the unworthy who look to one who is greater, they are the ones who humble themselves before God. It is the humble who listen to God’s word, believe, and respond willingly to His will and purpose for their lives.

Jesus didn’t come to be a king, but to be a humble servant. He came to be a shepherd, to take care of God’s people in their deepest needs. He came to save us, not as a conquering hero, but as a son sent to do His Father’s work. That work is the most shocking part of the story. The Son did not come to rule on an earthly throne or lead an army into war. Jesus came to die. We have made the Christmas story to be one of sweetness and light: a mother and a baby, the farm animals close by keeping the happy family warm on the cold night. The pictures have beautiful angels singing praises to God and kings dressed in robes of spun gold fabric. We are excited that we have been invited to this beautiful moment. Then we realize that Jesus came to die. God turned the world upside down, using the wrong people in the wrong places to do what He knows to be right.

When we think that the world is upside down, we can look to God’s promises and know that if it is, He will turn it right in His time and in His way. This is the promise of Christmas: that despite our insistence of making God fit into our expectations, He does the most incredible things to bring us back to Him. Jesus came to do God will and He calls us to do the same, sharing His Good News according to His will and purpose for our lives.