Sermons for the Month
A World of Reversals
DATE: December 12, 2004
SERVICE: Third Sunday In Advent
TEXT: Luke 1:47-55 and Isaiah 35:1-10“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
It's the strangest thing. The daffodils are coming up in my yard. I tell them, "It's December. It's not your time yet." But, there they are, three inches of green defying the calendar. These spears of new life remind me of the dry-as-death desert that blossoms abundantly in today's first lesson.
My way-ward flowers bring to mind the Prophet's vision of streams turning burning sand into refreshing pools and of long captive people returning home on the Holy Way. They are filled with joy as sorrow and sighing flee. It's all about reversals. Suddenly what was is no more; there is new found joy.
As we heard in this morning's Advent monologue, Elizabeth and Zechariah embarked on a joyful reversal when the Angel Gabriel announced that they would be the parents of John, who we know as John the Baptist. Even before his birth John announced the arrival of Jesus as he leaped in his mother's womb upon hearing the greeting of Mary. He became the proclaimer of reversals.
And what about the reversal Mary's life took! She went from being an ordinary, poor young woman waiting to marry the man to whom she was promised to being the mother of God's Son.
I've often wondered if her humble and accepting response that is detailed in scripture tells the whole story. Evidently I'm not the only one who has done so. In the contemporary song, "Breath of Heaven", written by Amy Grant and Chris Eaton, Mary prays for strength as the time of her baby's birth draws near. "I wonder what I've done," she says, "Holy Father, You have come and chosen me to carry Your Son." Does God think, now that the time is near, that a wiser woman should have this responsibility? It's easy to imagine this young woman, who is about to deliver a most unexpected baby, wondering this about herself. Yet, in both the song and in scripture Mary puts her life in God's hands proclaiming, "I offer all I am." She could have said, "Reverse my life."
Indeed, the very fact that Mary is the one is a sign that the reversals have begun.
In Luke 1 another song is attributed to her; this one is free of questions and proclaims the reversals that God has brought. Called the "Magnificat", Mary celebrates the blessings she has received from God. She, a lowly woman, will now join others from across the centuries - Sarah, Rebekah, Deborah - as one whose story is known by every child. God reached down to a simple girl, called her name, and suddenly she is among those called blessed!
Then, Mary celebrates the reversals that God has - and will - bring about. Her song is in the past tense because she's looking back on the centuries of God's relationship with her people, remembering how often God showed strength, brought down the powerful and helped the people of Israel. This history helps her believe the promise of continued reversals. She, no doubt, is remembering the Exodus, the fall of the walls of Jericho, how David killed Goliath with a slingshot and the return of the captives from Babylon to Jerusalem. Not only has God scattered the proud and sent the rich away empty, not only has God lifted up the lowly and filled the hungry with good things in the past, but through this child she carries God will continue to do so!
It's all about reversals. Now … this is the point at which those of us who are paying attention might be getting uncomfortable. If the content of Mary's song is a present reality, then how does it speak to us?
Oh, I know, we do not consider ourselves to be wealthy or powerful when compared to other people with whom we come in contact, or those who we hear about on the news. But, it's relative. By the standards of much of the world - and compared to many people who live not that far from us - we are more than comfortable and have more power and possessions than most people in the world.
Let's be honest about it. We live in homes that many would consider exclusive, or at least large. I remember that when I was in Bolivia I stayed with a family who would have been considered middle class, or even upper middle class. Their home was not large, and numerous people lived there. They could not imagine that I lived alone in a three bedroom home. This not only seemed very odd to them, but it also caused them to consider me to be a wealthy woman. Most of us own a car, which is a luxury elsewhere, and many families have more than one vehicle. Not only that, we drive vehicles that are bigger and more powerful than our situations warrant. We seldom miss a meal, and if we do it's not because the refrigerator is bare or we are unable to go out to eat. It's because we are too busy, or are dieting. In contrast, many people in the world must be content with one meal a day.
So we face the difficult challenge of balancing being thankful that our needs are more than met, enjoying the blessings we have, but at the same time bearing the responsibility of addressing the inequities of life. And if there is one thing that this Jesus, whose birth we will soon celebrate, focuses on, that's it. Mary got it right in her song.
There has been a lot of talk about morality recently, and I've been giving that some consideration. It's one thing to talk about morality if it does not challenge us directly and is simply a matter of how "those other" people should live. It's an entirely different matter when the question of morality hits close to home. That's what this theme of reversals does, it hits close to home. The witness of scripture is that Jesus consistently stands with the poor, the marginalized and the oppressed. I have a feeling that these are the issues he would address if asked to define moral behavior.
Because of that, as children of the light, we are called to look the problems of hunger, homelessness, the need for health care and the care of the disenfranchised, full in the face. We live in a time of great reversals, that began with Elizabeth and Zechariah, continued in Mary, was lived out by Jesus, has occurred in our lives and, then, in others' lives through us.
Addressing the inequities of the world is not easy for two reasons. First, it requires us to let go of some of what we have. Second, it's complicated, there are no easy answers; this is not a black and white issue. So, putting our minds, our hearts and our resources to work for the sake of others stretches us. That's why it's so easy to become sidetracked. Yet, those who serve people in need say there is always more that could be done.
Did you see the article in the newspaper recently about the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank? They provide food to more than 300 agencies that directly meet needs. This year they will distribute 9.5 million pounds of food, but the director says they could easily distribute 20 million pounds if the warehouse could hold that much. In the eight counties served by the food bank nearly 150,000 people live at or below the poverty level. And the numbers never decrease. Now that's a moral issue. As the director said, "In eight years of working for food banks, I have never once heard someone say that business is dropping off."
As followers of Jesus we ask, "Is it ever possible, we wonder, that "business" will drop off? Will the words of Mary's song about the lowly being lifted up and the hungry being filled become a reality?"
Last week we asked a similar question, "Will there ever be peace on earth?", and the answer was "yes", when Jesus returns, and God's perfect and peaceable kingdom is established. In the meantime, though, peace begins with Jesus Christ at work in us.
That's the answer to today's question too. When Jesus returns, human needs will be more than met. But, in the meantime, Jesus is at work through us to reverse suffering in the world. It's a big task, so I'm thankful we are not on our own as we face it.
We can be the bearers of water in the deserts of people's lives. Like my daffodils, we can be signs of spring in the winter. If a young woman named Mary can offer herself for God's purposes, we can too. But it will require us to do what Mary did, and that is to open our hearts to a world of reversals. AMEN