December 11, 2016
Texts: Luke 1: 39-56
Matthew 10: 1, 5-20
Matthew 11: 2-11
Brothers and sisters, good morning and thank you for having me give the teaching this weekend.
This is the 3rd Sunday of Advent and this is Joy Sunday.
I have to tell you that at first, when I found out I would be doing the teaching on Joy Sunday, I thought, "I am definitely not feeling much joy right now." Like so many of you, my thoughts and feelings have been deeply impacted by recent political events, the election results last month and what has transpired as a result. I have been feeling utterly helpless and hopeless. I think we have entered a really dark time for the United States, and especially for people more vulnerable than myself. It has been hard for me not to wallow in these fears since the election.
But then I started taking a hard look at the scriptures for this week and dug in here.
Advent, this liturgical season of waiting in darkness, has a lot to offer us in challenging times.
I realized there is great richness to this Joy of Advent stuff. And I am happy to try and share some of that with you now.
The first reading we have is what is known as Mary's Magnificat. Elizabeth is pregnant for the first time, late in her life, with John the Baptist, and her young cousin Mary is pregnant with Jesus. These two women come together and rejoice in what special gifts they both carry. I grew up Catholic and in the Catholic Church we spend a lot of time thinking and talking about Mary. This is one of my favorite parts of the Christmas story, the tenderness between these two women as they rejoice in the revelation of what's about to happen. I like to imagine that this revelation is not something that they are sharing much with other people at this point, and so they share a unique understanding of what the other is going through and how the other feels.
For a long time the joy of Christmas for me has been appreciating the idea that God loved us so much that he sent Jesus to take human form, to share in our humanity. That's still true. But I am reminded that there's quite a bit more behind Mary and Elizabeth's joy here. For them, this is a prophecy fulfilled.
These women are rejoicing in the fulfillment of a promise to scatter the proud in the thoughts of their hearts, to bring down the powerful from their thrones, and to lift up the lowly; to fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty.
This isn't just about God being with us. This is about God overthrowing the dominant paradigm, shaking stuff up.
Mary and Elizabeth are looking for a revolution. They rejoice, and they are not afraid.
In the next passage, Jesus is putting together his revolution.
Jesus is commissioning the 12 apostles to really engage in their ministry. Jesus empowers them to cast out demons and to heal people, and he sends them out to find the lost sheep of the people of Israel. Go cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. And do it with no payment. Not only that, trust completely that you'll be cared for – don't pack a staff or sandals or extra tunics or money. And trust that God will give you the words to speak. These are the acts that John the Baptist hears about from prison.
As this chapter of Matthew's gospel goes on, Jesus tells the disciples that the way is going to be really hard, that they will face persecution. He says, you will be hated because of my name. Those of you who lose your lives will save them, he tells them. This is what it looks like as the promise in which Mary and Elizabeth rejoiced comes true.
Jesus is sending his apostles on the way of the cross.
This way of the cross is not some little burden or inconvenience.
Jesus is honest with his disciples that following him. This way of the cross involves shame, pain, social rejection, violence, humiliation, and marginalization of crucifixion. This is the Roman Empire we are dealing with here.
The New Interpreter's Study Bible says about this passage that:
Rome crucified those who threatened its control over society, such as traitors, violent criminals, and foreigners. The cross divided citizen from non-citizen, the accepted from the rejected. To take up the cross is to identify with those who threaten the empire. It is to refuse to be intimidated into compliance. It is to be at cross-purposes with imperial commitments. And it is to recognize the limits of Rome's power that could not keep the crucified Jesus dead!
This is the challenge of the fulfillment of the promise in which Mary and Elizabeth rejoiced.
Let's take a look at the next passage. That baby that leapt in its mother's womb – that was John, our John the Baptist, who is now in prison. John is in prison for confronting authority. He's become a public figure, he has a following, and he has criticized the ruler Herod Antipas for divorcing his first wife in order to marry his brother's widow. So John is thrown in prison, and we can assume he knows he's likely to be executed.
A few chapters ago, in Matthew chapter 4, John baptized Jesus, and the heavens opened up and the voice from heaven said, "This is my son with whom I am well pleased." Even so, fast forward, and John has grown despondent in prison. And he questions; he wonders is the revolution coming? Are you the one we've been waiting for, for real?
John knew when he was in utero. John knew when he baptized Jesus. But now he still has to be reassured. The thought of being executed for the sake of righteousness and justice is bearable. But he could not bear the thought that he might have been wrong about Jesus. His one task was to prepare the way of the Lord. If he had gotten that wrong, his ministry, his life, was in vain.
John needed to hear from Jesus again. So he sent two of his closest disciples to ask Jesus, "Are you the one who is to come, or shall we look for another?"
Jesus answers John's faithful friends, telling them,
Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offense at me."
And so John gets to experience the joy of the revelation that Jesus is the one who John was looking for. John's life preparing the way for this guy was not in vain.
Mary and Elizabeth and John the Baptist rejoice that Jesus is the fulfillment of a promise, this revolution. They rejoice in the hope that their values are coming to bear. The Psalm for this week articulates those values:
From the Psalm 146:
Happy are those … whose hope is in the LORD their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets the prisoners free; the LORD opens the eyes of the blind. The LORD lifts up those who are bowed down; the LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow, but the way of the wicked he brings to ruin.
I want to put it to you that we should rejoice in these values. We should rejoice in these values because they have changed the world.
In fact, Judeo-Christian values have helped to change the world. The Ten Commandments were revolutionary in their time. We may not be able to appreciate this perspective, but the concept that every person's life is valuable … that was not a given.
In Christian terms every single human being, whatever race or creed he or she may be, sick or well, smart or foolish, tall or short, young or old, every human being is loved by the Creator, who as the Gospels tell us, counted the hairs of his or her head.
Jesus' defense of the poor has helped to define what the world means by justice.
Some of these values were incorporated into the founding documents of the United States. Imperfectly, of course! But we see these values in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. These were among the first public documents to formally establish the very concept of human rights.
In his teaching two weeks ago, David Hilfiker reminded us that God promises us that though "the arc of the moral universe is long, [still] it bends towards justice." Well, as we look back, we can see the bend of that arc.
Jesus came to teach us, and I would argue that it worked because we care, and who we are as a human race has been shaped, to value one another. To expect respect, to expect to be equals. That wasn't necessarily where we were going as a human race.
And I think this week of Advent reminds us to rejoice in these values that we share. When we rejoice in these values, we celebrate them, and we remind ourselves that we cherish them. When we rejoice in these values, we are very unlikely to be willing to take a step backwards.
Hand in hand with rejoicing in these values is rejoicing in one another as a community. In this community we are good at enjoying one another. But we also must reach across differences. Many of us in this community have tried to reach across any of a number of divisions. We must continue to try.
And so we should continue to rejoice in one another, to rejoice in seeing that of God in one another. The joy of recognizing that of God in one another is one of the very greatest gifts God gives us.
In many of the Advent season's scripture readings, Jesus or angels tell people, "Do not be afraid." And many of the people who hear that message then rejoice. In studying this, I began to realize that joy is the opposite of fear.
My friends, I tell you, we must rejoice in our values, rejoice in seeing God in one another and in seeing God in our enemies, in strangers. When we rejoice in that, we will not be afraid.
And in this time of division like the times we live in, that is nearly a revolutionary act.