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Sunday, December 20, 2009

4th Sunday of Advent 12/20/09 Text Luke 1:39-45 Title Jesus comes, ready or not!

4th Sunday in Advent


12/20/09

Text: Luke 1:39-45

Title: Jesus comes, ready or not!



I love it when every third year we spend an entire year on the Gospel of Luke, which is what we are doing now. Saint Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has set forth in the Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts, not primarily a history lesson of events in the past, as so many think, but a record to show how what happened in the past is now being fulfilled among us centuries later. In other words, he is applying past events to present circumstances. The Gospel of Luke is the fulfilling of God's Word in the past and in the present among us.

In the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel we find two stories of people where God works in an extraordinary way. The first story is the account of Zechariah where he was told by an angel that his wife, who was way past child-bearing years, was going to have a baby. The second story is the visit of an angel telling Mary, a virgin, that she is going to have a baby. The two stories are side-by-side because together, they set the stage for the rest of Luke’s Gospel, the story of Christ. Unfortunately, we don’t get to read the readings together.

In these two stories we see a contrast in faith between Zechariah and Mary. Zechariah, a priest, heard the word of the angel and did not believe in it. He wants to know how it will take place. He wants proof. Weak faith always wants to know, wants proof. But the angel’s message to Zechariah calls for strong faith and because of his weak faith, God causes Zechariah to become mute until his son John is born. Thus, Zechariah stands before us as a model of a person of weak faith.

Mary, on the other hand, stands before us as the model of strong faith because she believes. The contrast between Zechariah and Mary is stark and Luke wants us to notice it. Zechariah is a priest of the highest order in Israel. Yet, he does not believe. Mary is an uneducated, common peasant woman, but she believes. She is all that Zechariah is not.

Gabriel scolded Zechariah because he did not believe the words of promise. Mary, on the other hand, believed the words of promise and was blessed. She replied to the angel, "Here am I the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Faith has everything to do with hearing the promised word of God and trusting that word. That's a simple yet profound understanding of faith!

Now that we have looked at the two stories, one showing weak faith, the other showing strong faith, we are immediately tempted to leap to judgment. "Don't be like Zechariah!" we would like to shout out. "Be like Mary." But that is law and, thus, not the focus of the stories.

In saying, “Don’t be like Zechariah” we condemn ourselves, for we are all quite obviously more like Zechariah than we are like Mary. In the second place, by saying “Don’t be like Zechariah” we show that we don’t understand the whole story of Zechariah. Yes, he became mute because of his unbelief, but his being mute had an end. Once the baby John was born, Zechariah got it! He believed. His tongue was set loose and he blessed God. Old weak faith Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and his tongue was loosed as he praised the Lord. Zechariah like Mary came to have a strong faith in God's promise! His growing in faith is just a little slower than Mary's!

We who are so much more like Zechariah than Mary concerning the strength of our faith need to imagine God speaking to us today. Listen to him as he speaks, "I am a God who makes promises. I am a God who keeps promises. I made a promise to Zechariah. Zechariah, like many of you, was slow to believe. But I kept my promise! I made a promise to Mary. She got it immediately and trusted the word of promise. I kept my promise to Mary, as well. In Jesus Christ, my Son, I make a promise to you. Some of you will get it right away. Some of you might ponder the matter for some time. But never fear. I am a God who makes promises. I am a God who keeps promises. I will keep my promises to you." God cannot lie. We need to remember that.

But, let’s move on to our Gospel reading for today where we find Mary visiting Elizabeth. Luke records that Mary left on the day she was told that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah. Saint Luke does not tell us the reason behind Mary’s trip to Elizabeth, but Mary probably went to confirm the angel's word about Elizabeth's pregnancy; perhaps to share in her joy. Maybe she went to see what Elizabeth had to say about the angel’s visit. Since Elizabeth was fairly far along in her pregnancy, at least 6 months, it was probably obvious to Mary when she saw Elizabeth that what the angel had said was true.



It also became obvious to Elizabeth that there was something special about Mary and the baby she was carrying. Her knowledge didn't come from an angel, or from Mary, but from a kick in her womb! Now we who know about the development of children, especially mothers who have felt the kick in the womb, probably would discount this part of the story as Elizabeth reading something into the kick that did not mean anything but a kick from a healthy baby.



But, if we go back to the story of Zechariah, we find that the angel had told him that his son, even before his birth, would be filled with the Holy Spirit. That bit of information puts a whole new light on the kick that Elizabeth felt, doesn’t it? The unborn John recognized something about the unborn Jesus. He knew him. Martin Luther uses this event to talk about "infant faith" in an argument for infant baptism.



Elizabeth's joy at her own pregnancy after so many years of barrenness is overshadowed by the joy at Mary's visit, or rather, that the unborn Lord would honor her with his presence. She asks, “Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” How wonderful it would be if we had that same attitude concerning God coming to us in our gathering together, and in the Word, and Supper. I think that too often we think of worship as our good work toward God. We believe that we are bringing ourselves to God, when, in fact, worship is a time and place where God comes to us. We then respond to his words and sacraments with praise and humility, recognizing the kingship over our lives.



The next verses are not part of our reading for today, but they should be, for after Elizabeth’s greeting, Mary breaks out in the most joyful of songs. For those who faithfully attended the Wednesday Advent services you will remember her words because we sang them each week. "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 And 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 mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his offspring forever."



In contrast to Zechariah who became mute because of his weak faith, Mary sings this wonderful song from her strong faith. While Elizabeth praised Mary, Mary praises God. I think God got it right again. He gave us a good model to use when we are praised by others. Thank them for their praise and then give glory to God.



You will notice in her song which we call the “Magnificat” that what she had heard and believed about herself, she believes about the whole world. The verbs she uses designate action that happened in the past. It is powerful, for the social reverses that she talks about have not happened yet. Yet she talks as if they are a done deal. Her words remind me of the prophet Isaiah’s words that we looked at each Wednesday during Advent. All of his prophecies were of the same nature. He spoke of future events as if they had already taken place. You see, when God speaks through his prophets or Mary, it is according to God’s time, where all time happens at once. So, the prophecy has already taken place, even if it has not yet taken place according our time.



This way of thinking applies to us today, for if we truly believe that God has done what he said he will do and that he will do what he promises us to do, we have strong faith. We live as if it were already so. That is why we break away from the world’s way of thinking at Christmas time, for we, when we know of God’s promises to come back, will live our lives as if his promises were already so, for are to live lives of faith.



Our faith, like Zechariah’s faith, can get pushed off to the side in our efforts to have a perfect Christmas during this commercialized Christmas season. We try so hard to be merry even as we fail. Our faith needs to be fed by the Word of God and the Sacraments because as faithful people we can still be distracted by the things of the world.

Do you feel like you’re really not living your life of faith, at least the way God wants you to? Do you feel like with the buying of presents, the sending out of Christmas cards, the decorating of the tree, plus all the other Christmas stuff you are expected to do that you just have not had time to prepare yourself spiritually for Christmas, much less the Lord’s Second Coming? If you feel that way, remember one thing. No one was prepared to celebrate Jesus’ birth on that first Christmas either, but Jesus came anyway.



Saint Paul writes in Galatians 4:4 that “When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman.” It was the fullness of time; in other words, it was the right time for God, not because people had gotten everything ready.

Whichever Christmas service you attend, whether it is Christmas Eve or Christmas morning, I urge you, even though you probably have it memorized by now, to listen to the Christmas story in a different way. Let go of the “I heard this all before” way of thinking and try to hear the story as if you are hearing it for the first time.

Maybe it will be the words of the sermon, or Jesus’ offer to you of himself in the Lord’s Supper. Maybe it will be words that you yourself sing, words of a hymn that are familiar, but that this time will make you think, “So that’s what it means.” and your faith will grow.

Faith comes from what is heard, and the only preparation that is really necessary is for you to listen. Amen.