January 12, 2025 The Ministry of John the Baptist Luke 3:1-20

             Have you ever met one of your childhood heroes?  They’re usually a lot less impressive in person than you’d expect.  Somehow I always imagine them being taller than they really are; except, of course, basketball players who turn out to be even taller than you thought because they’re always surrounded by other tall people!

            I’m usually disappointed when I see a politician or a local news anchor out in public.  They too end up being shorter than I expect.  Sometimes their private persona is very different from what they’re like in public.  And since you’re used to seeing them on TV in news rooms or press conferences they’re usually surrounded by a studio or props that give them a certain look.

            There have been a few times in my life where I’ve had a chance to be behind the scenes when someone famous or charismatic goes out to do something in public.  Every time I’ve been pleased to see just how much behind the scenes work they do.  They make it look spontaneous and effortless when they’re in front of people but they’ve done a lot of preparation work beforehand in order to make that happen.

            I’ve often wondered what it will be like to meet Jesus.  We will all, at some point, get to meet him.  That’s part of the power of the Incarnation – of God coming to actually be a human being for a lifetime.  So how would a true God come across as looking?  In the Greek myths the gods often come to be in human form.  They’re usually specimens of masculine muscle or perfect female beauty.  But those are myths.  What about the real God in human form?

            Artists almost always depict Jesus as being tall, good looking, and having an amazing physique.  European artists make him look European.  African artists make him look African.  Asian artists make him look Asian.  Just about every culture makes him look like them.  There’s certainly nothing wrong with that.  However, he does have an actual look.  And if the Bible tells us anything about how God works, I suspect he wasn’t all that impressive looking.

            He almost certainly has an Arab/Middle Eastern appearance.   If the Shroud of Turin is any indication, he was average height and not particularly handsome.  19^th and early 20^th Century American artist Thomas Eakins did a piece that I believe is in charcoal called “The Crucifixion”.  He depicts Jesus on the cross as almost boy-like.  He’s small.  You can see that he is somewhat dirty and unkept.  His face is not visible.  And Eakins has done something very powerful in that piece.  He has not depicted Jesus as being raised above the viewer and looking down.  That’s the way almost all crucifixion art is done.  No, you see him at eye level.  I can imagine the scene where Pilate is questioning Jesus as this insignificant ordinary Jewish man and asks sarcastically, “You are the king of the Jews?”

            And also, what did John the Baptist look like?  It is easy to imagine John as wild looking as he lives in the wilderness eating locusts and wild honey.  The Bible describes him as wearing camel’s hair with a leather belt.

            But I want to point out something very interesting about the passage from Luke’s gospel that we read today.  Does Luke describe John’s look at all?  No.  Luke tells us about John’s parents and about John’s birth.  Luke tells us about John’s relationship to Jesus.  But Luke, who tells us these thing about John the other gospels do not, does not tell us anything about how he looked the way the other gospels do.

            I’m not sure, but I suspect that is intentional on Luke’s part.  Luke is pretty deliberate about the way he handles information.  So, with no details about John himself at all, notice what Luke does.  Our passage started off with a time frame: the 15^th year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius.  So we’re given a date and an emperor.  He goes on, “…when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas…”

            Luke does not need to go to this extreme to locate the ministry of John the Baptist in history.  He could have just said the 15^th year of the Emperor Tiberius.  But he is emphatic listing Roman government leaders, Jewish government leaders, and Jewish religious leaders.  He lists who they are, what they do, and where they do it.  They’re all the important people in all the important places.  And then, after all those details we get this: “…the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”  We’ve met his father before in the gospel, so we’re given his name, and that’s it.  No description of John.  No description of where John is doing it.  It’s just John in the wilderness.

            There wasn’t a place in Judea called, “The Wilderness.”  You wouldn’t be driving down the highway and see a sign saying, “Wilderness – 35 miles”.  It was nowhere and everywhere.  Luke never even locates John’s baptismal ministry along the Jordan River.  He’s just baptizing in the wilderness – presumably someplace where there’s water!

            Earlier I said that I suspect the physical presence of Jesus was unremarkable.  He didn’t stand out in a crowd.  And I also suspect the physical presence of John the Baptist wasn’t all that remarkable either.

            Never underestimate how much God does through the unremarkable and in places that don’t seem important.  The Buffalo Bills will be playing this afternoon.  Many people will be watching with rapt attention.  Highmark Stadium in Orchard Park is where the famous and skilled players of two celebrated football teams will be gathered in an epic athletic contest.  Tickets are expensive.  Concessions are expensive.  Advertisers have spent a fortune to get an ad in the game broadcast.  You can bet sports betting companies have millions upon millions in bets on who knows what all in the game.

            And the word of God…  Well, don’t expect there to be any splashy displays of divine revelation during the halftime show!

            God can do anything.  But big splashy things are not generally God’s style.  The word of God will be active in untold places among untold people throughout the world.  But, despite the fact that there is sure to be a lot of prayers raising to heaven over the outcome of the game (especially by those who have bet a lot of money) I doubt Highmark Stadium will be at the center of God’s activity.

            John the Baptist says some pretty offensive things in our gospel reading.  He’d certainly never make it as a presidential candidate in America with some of his words.  Luke tells us that crowds are coming out to meet him.  How does he greet them?  Does he say, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father”?  Nope.  Does he say, “Welcome all and receive a word of hope from God”?  Nope.  Does he say, “Come to me and be baptized to receive a new life”?  Nope.  He says, “You brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?”

            Here’s a hint.  If you want people to like you, don’t greet them like that!  John’s initial message to the crowds is full of challenges and threats.  He tells them to bear fruits worthy of repentance.  He tells them not to point to their ancestry as descendants of Abraham as significant.  He tells them that every tree that does not bear good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire. 

Then notice something about his actual message.  The crowds ask him, “What then should we do?”  How are they to escape this fiery punishment from God?  John’s words are mundane.  If you have two coats share with someone who has none.  And share your food.  Tax collectors, often despised for their role as collecting money for the Romans who occupy the territory and who were often opportunists get similarly mundane instructions: “Collect no more that the amount prescribed for you.”  Soldiers also ask for advice.  If there’s any group we’d expect John to lay into it would be soldiers.  Shouldn’t they quit and become peaceful laborers?  Is that what prophets like Isaiah often talk about when they say about turning swords into plowshares?  But what does John actually tell them?  “Do not extort money form anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.”

This is all ordinary advice.  As Luke depicts it John is an ordinary guy in no place special giving basic advice about decency to the crowds.  It’s almost as if the whole ministry of John the Baptist is a letdown!

Let’s learn something very important from all of this unremarkable-ness.  Don’t expect a life of faithfully following Christ to somehow be special, or charismatic, or attention getting.  Ordinariness may well be what it is.

So don’t expect God to ask you to do extraordinary things.  And don’t demand that God meet you in extraordinary events or people.  Expect to see God in the ordinary.  And be ready to do ordinary things in the name of God. 

Perhaps the ordinariness of faith is one of its challenges.  But just because it appears ordinary does not mean we approach it with a spirit of dullness or apathy.  No, we approach the works of faith with energy and enthusiasm because these are God’s work.  They are worthwhile.  They are important.  And despite the fact that they may appear routine, their effects are everlasting.

January 5, 2025 Christmas 2 Luke 2:41-52

             If you’re a parent I’m pretty sure there have been times when you wished you could see inside your children’s heads and known all their thoughts.  When they’re crying as infants it would be great to know why.  Do they have a messy diaper, are they hungry, do they have to burp, are they sleepy, are they sick?  It may take several tries before you figure it out.

As they get older knowing what’s going on inside their heads could help to keep them safe.  You might be able to step in before they try something that looks cool but is dangerous.  It would also help to know when they’re being manipulative, for kids also learn how to be strategic and cunning.  When they’re little it is often possible to know what’s going on inside their heads.  Smart parents use that time to create the illusion that they are all-knowing.  It impresses the kids and helps to keep them in line.

A parent will try to keep that myth going for as long as possible.  When children reach their teenage years they’ve discovered just how little their parents do, in fact, know.  Teenagers begin to realize how much they can get away with.  And at that time a parent may not actually want to know what is going on inside their child’s mind!  Although a clever parent will create a network of spies and informants among neighbors,  teachers, and the parents of their kids friends.  It is always impressive when you can catch your teenager at something they thought they got away with.  Sometimes you can actually re-instill the myth that you are all-knowing.

But ultimately a good parent just wants to know what is going on in their children’s heads to simply be a better parent.  No two children are entirely alike, although I guess identical twins are close.  Still though, for the most part, what works for one child may not work for another.  You want to give the right amount of freedom and the right amount of limits so that your children can grow up to be strong and solid people.

I wonder what it was like for Joseph and Mary as they raised Jesus.  How much did they actually know about him?  And along with that, we should probably ask how much did Jesus know about himself?

The Bible tells us almost nothing about Jesus’ childhood.  The only story is the one from Luke’s gospel that we read today.  That does give us some clues as to what it was like to raise Jesus.  It also gives us a subtle lesson about God and our faith.  In order to understand that, let’s remember that while the Bible tells us almost no stories about Jesus’ childhood that does not mean that there aren’t any.  There are, in fact, quite a number of stories about him that did not make it in the Bible.  One such collection of stories is called the Infancy Gospel of Thomas.  Scholars believe it was written around the year 150.  While almost all of it is certainly untrue I want to read some excerpts for you.  It’s entertaining to read them and it also helps us to understand the subtle things we learn from our gospel today.

Imagine what it would be like to rear a child who is like this:

“When this child Jesus was five years old, he was playing at the ford of a stream.  He made pools of the rushing water and made it immediately pure; he ordered this by word alone.  He made soft clay and modeled twelve sparrows from it.  It was the Sabbath when he did this.  There were many other children playing with him.  A certain Jews saw what Jesus did while playing on the Sabbath; he immediately went and announced to his father Joseph, ‘See, your child is at the stream, and has taken clay and modeled twelve birds; he has profaned the Sabbath.’  Joseph came to the place, and seeing what Jesus did he cried out, ‘Why do you do on the Sabbath what it is not lawful to do?’  Jesus clapped his hands and cried to the sparrows, ‘Be gone.’  And the sparrows flew off chirping.  The Jews saw this and were amazed.  They went away and described to their leaders what they had seen Jesus do.  The son of Annas the scribe was standing there with Joseph.  He took a branch of a willow and scattered the water which Jesus had arranged.  Jesus saw what he did and became angry and said to him, (Keep in mind Jesus is supposed to be five years old) ‘You unrighteous, impious ignoramus, what did the pools and the water do to harm you?  Behold, you shall also wither as a tree, and you shall not bear leaves nor roots nor fruit.’  And immediately the child was all withered….

“Once again he was going through the village, and a child who was running banged into his shoulder.  Jesus was angered and said to him, ‘You shall go no further on your way.’  And immediately the child fell down dead.  Some people saw this happen and said, ‘From whence was this child begotten, for his every word is an act accomplished?’  The parents of the dead boy went to Joseph and blamed him: ‘Because you have such a boy you cannot live with us in the village; your alternative is to teach him to bless and not to curse, for he is killing our children.’  Joseph took the child aside and warned him saying, ‘Why do you do such things?  These people are suffering and they hate us and are persecuting us!’  Jesus said, ‘I know that these are not your words, but on account of you I will be silent.  However, they will bear their punishment.’  Immediately, those who accused him were blinded.  Those who saw were very frightened and puzzled about him…

“After some days Jesus was playing upstairs in a certain house, and one of the children playing with him fell from the house and died.  And when the other children saw this they ran away, and Jesus remained alone.  The parents of the dead child came and accused Jesus of throwing him down.  Jesus replied, ‘I did not throw him down.’  But still they accused him.  Then Jesus leaped down from the roof and stood by the body of the child and cried out in a great voice, saying ‘Zenon!’ -that was his name – ‘rise up and tell me, did I throw you down?’  He immediately rose up and said: ‘No, Lord, you did not throw me down, but you raised me.’  Those who saw this were astonished.  The parents of the child glorified God because of this sign that happened, and they worshiped Jesus.

“After a few days a young man was splitting wood in the vicinity; the axe fell and split the bottom of his foot, and he was bleeding to death.  There was an outcry and people gathered.  The child Jesus ran there.  He pushed through the crowd, and seized the injured foot of the youth; immediately he was healed.  He said to the youth, ‘Now get up, split your wood, and remember me.’  The crowd, seeing what had happened, worshipped the child, saying, ‘Truly, the Spirit of God lives in this child!’…

“His father was a carpenter and at the time made plows and yokes.  He received an order from a certain rich man to make a bed for him.  One beam came out shorter than the other, and he did not know what to do.  The child Jesus said to his father, ‘Lay the two pieces of wood alongside each other, and make them even at one end.’  Joseph did as the child told him.  Jesus stood at the other end and grasped the shorter beam; he stretched it and made is equal with the other.  His father Joseph saw this and was astonished, and embracing the child he kissed him and said, ‘I am blessed because God has given this child to me.’…

“Joseph sent his son James to gather wood and bring it into the house.  The child Jesus followed him.  While James was gathering the sticks, a snake bit Jame’s hand.  As he lay dying, Jesus came near and breathed on the bite.  Immediately James ceased suffering, the snake burst, and James was healed.”

Okay, enough of those stories.  There are many more.  You get the idea.  In these stories Jesus shows supernatural powers from an early age.  He is both amazing and threatening to people.  How would you go about parenting such a child?  Forget trying to get inside his mind.  You’d know he fully knows your mind!  Do you teach him or does he teach you?  Do you ever discipline such a child or does he discipline you?

Now let’s look at the only thing the Bible actually tells us about Jesus’s childhood.  He’s 12 years old when he stays behind in the temple.  According to Jewish custom a male child became a man at age 13.  So Jesus is still considered a child.  His parents are understandably worried about him.  All parents know the fear and anxiety of a lost child, and the relief of finding him or her again.  Jesus’s response is a bit critical of them but still respectful.  It is as if he expected his parents to know where he is and why he was there.  Luke tells us that they did not understand, though.  Then Jesus returned with them and was obedient to them.

What does this brief scene tell us?  (Keep in mind the other fantastic stories about Jesus’ childhood.)  Here we see that Jesus has knowledge of who he is; or perhaps who he is becoming.  Yet his parents do not know; or do not understand.  Jesus has obviously not revealed himself in any way that is too far out of the ordinary.  And, we can’t say for sure what Jesus knew about himself and when.  The Bible isn’t prepared to answer that.  But again, he appears to be growing up like a pretty typical boy.

Then the key part for us to take away from this text-  Jesus returned with them and was obedient to them.  God may be his father.  He may be about his Father’s interests, yet he is still technically a child.  He respects his parents’ authority and is obedient to them.  His parents weren’t perfect, but Jesus respected them and worked with them.

It all adds up to this:  God can accept, and will work with our flaws, bungles, and imperfections.  God is not like those other childhood stories of Jesus where he is fixing everything, correcting everyone, and severely punishing everything.  With the biblical Jesus there is grace at every turn.

I believe God is far less interested in us doing everything perfect, and instead doing things in whatever imperfect loving way we can.

No parent is perfect.  Good parents do their best with their limited knowledge.  Sometimes the children turn out great.  Sometimes they are endlessly problematic. 

The same goes for all of life.  Do the very best you can.  Always learn from mistakes.  Apologize when things go wrong.  Be forgiving as God is forgiving with you.  And know that God truly values you and your ways as you do all of that.

December 29, 2024 Christmas 1 Luke 2:21-40

 One of my favorite lessons in confirmation class is to give the kids Sour Patch Kids candy.  After we’ve all had some I ask, “Are they sweet or are they sour?”  The kids usually pause with a puzzled look.  Then they start sputtering out something about how they’re sour at first but then become sweet.  So, I ask again, “Are they sweet or are they sour?”  Eventually we get around to the answer that they’re both.  Sour Patch Kids are a candy that is both sweet and sour.

            Then I ask another question.  “Are you basically good or basically bad?”  With the prompting of the Sour Patch Kids candy they’re ready with the answer: they’re both.  That then opens the door for a discussion about a fundamental thing about our nature.  Human beings are simultaneously saints and sinners.  We all have good motives and bad motives at work within us.  We may try to always do what is right.  But try as we might, we end up doing things that are bad.  Perhaps it is because we are lazy.  Or perhaps it is out of ignorance.  Or perhaps it is because we just don’t care and willfully do something that is bad.  Regardless, both good and bad exist within all of us at all times.

            I leave the discussion there with the confirmation class.  That’s an appropriate level of understanding for a teenager’s mind.  However, in worship today we want to take it one step further.  That step is small but its consequences are big.  It chooses a path that will lead to very different places.  That next step is the question, “Which is stronger within us:  the good or the bad?”  Or another way of saying it is, “Are humans basically good or are they basically bad?”

            You may find yourself pondering that for a while.  There are many things to consider.  You may change your mind many times over.  Philosophers have spun that question round and round for centuries.  There may seem to be no clear answer. 

However, traditional Christian theology has always had a clear and consistent answer.  Humans are basically bad.  Period.  That’s hard news, but it is the truth.  In Romans 7:21-25 St. Paul writes, “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand.  For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.  Wretched man that I am!  Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

While we are indeed a mix of good and bad, the bad is the stronger side of us.  If people could be counted on to be basically good, then our whole history and our whole religion would be different.  God would not have had to come in the form of Jesus to save us.  God could have just given us rules and laws to live by.  God could then count on the good within us to be drawn to those laws and follow them.

But we are fundamentally bad.  Thus, Jesus needed to come to save us.  We cannot save ourselves.  Jesus taught many things that could be called good morality.  But Jesus’ purpose was not to teach morality.  Jesus came to die for us in order to rescue us from the inescapable power of evil.

Even our very best attempts at goodness end up causing bad effects.  Consider Nobel Peace Prize winner Albert Schweitzer.  Schweitzer was a medical doctor, professional musician, and missionary.  He won the Nobel Prize for his “sanctity of all life” ideas.  Schweitzer considered all of life to be valuable – from complex humans to simple single-celled organisms.  He said it should all be respected.

Albert Schweitzer worked many years in Africa to build hospitals and improve medicine.  He is perhaps the most important person in vaccinating African children.  He is probably the single most responsible person for child mortality rates falling in the world.

Schweitzer was undeniably a good person.  He worked very hard.  He was selfless.  He sought what was good for all living things.  And yet, what are the long term results of his good efforts?

Do you remember third law of motion in physics?  “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.”  That goes for more than just objects.  It goes for human motives as well.  There is no good thing that we do that does not also lead to terrible consequences.  Because of Schweitzer’s good work human populations began to soar; overcrowding the planet.  It has been noted in Africa that instead of children as infants they now grow up to kill each other in wars over food.

No matter how good we try to be, an equal and opposite will come to be.  There’s just no way of ever escaping it.

Should we give up trying to be good?  Should we do things that are bad so that good things result as their opposite?  Certainly not!  But it all does remind us of how trapped our lives are in sin.

This does not play well in our society today.  Our society today is based on the idea that people are basically good.  We tell ourselves that with enough education people can be expected to know what is right and to do it.  We tell ourselves that there’s no problem technology can’t solve.  We tell ourselves that with things like recycling and “clean” energy that we actually save the planet from environmental destruction.

In our society Christianity’s traditional claims that we are basically bad are actually seen as part of the problem.  We’re told that Christianity’s focus on the bad is one of the things that is holding back human progress.  One of the major reasons churches are declining is because of this.

This shouldn’t surprise us.  People want to hear good things.  They want to feel good about themselves.  They want to be told they are good.  They want to believe that by their own goodness they can save themselves.

This has implications for our faith as well.  I believe one of the reasons people have such a hard time hearing God’s voice is because we live in a society that is constantly telling us we are good.  Our society tells us to look within ourselves for self-fulfillment.  How is God supposed to speak to us when we always look inside?

In the gospel reading we met two elderly people who seem to be able to hear God well.  They are Simeon and Anna.

Simeon is called righteous and devout.  We might be tempted to think this is because Simeon has somehow discovered the right way to live.  Perhaps he has, but it is not because he is looking within himself for goodness.  He knows that salvation must come from outside himself.  While holding the baby Jesus he says, “My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”  Notice that all of this is about what God is doing.  There is nothing about what Simeon is doing.  Simeon does not look to himself.  He is always looking to God.  Simeon knew he needed God’s grace.  That is a big part of why he was able to recognize it.

We aren’t told as much about Anna.  We’re just told that she is 84 years old and that she worships in the temple with fasting and prayer night and day.  Luke doesn’t record many of her words.  From what she does say we realize that she is like Simeon.  She is looking to God, and not to humanity, for salvation.

Are we basically good or are we basically bad?  Society wants to tell us that we are good.  Society will tell us that we humans can save everything and do everything right.  But that puts us in an inescapable downward spiral.  Our Christian faith wants to tell us that we are basically bad.  That is not meant to depress us.  And it is not meant to say that we are always driven by selfish and evil intentions.  It is meant to remind us that even at our best we can’t help making a mess.  We just can’t escape it.  So, like St. Paul we cry, “Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

It is by acknowledging our fundamental inability to make things right in the world that we turn to God.  When we turn to God in this way we then have our ears open to hear God’s words to us.  That does not mean that evil will also not be close at hand.  But it does mean that God’s voice will at least be heard.

Ultimately we rejoice that saving ourselves is not in our hands.  It is a task that is too big for us.  It is in God’s hands.

We always strive to do what is right, even as we know evil will be warping everything we do.  Even so, God does good things through our work.  God alone can bring about the good.  We rejoice in that and rejoice in God’s saving love.

December 15, 2024 Advent 3 Luke 1:39-56

            The gospel writer Luke introduced us to Mary the mother of Jesus in what we read last week.  You may recall that I made a big deal about how unremarkable she was.  In what we read the week before we met Zechariah and Elizabeth.  Luke told us they had perfect pedigrees and that they were upright and holy in all respects.  They would go on to become the parents of John the Baptist.  By contrast Luke tells us nothing, absolutely nothing, about why God chose Mary.  We are left to conclude that what made Mary special was simply that God chose Mary.  God’s choice was God’s choice because that’s what God chose.  It’s a perfectly circular bit of logic!  But Luke does not let Mary’s character go completely undeveloped.  In what we read today her personality explodes into the storyline.  Quite likely, however, we missed it.  And I am saddened to say that many western biblical interpreters miss it too.

It starts with the very first line of what we read, “In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country…”  (Luke 1:39)  Okay, so what’s so remarkable about that?  Here’s where our lack of geography and social customs fails us.

That journey, which it appears Mary takes all by herself, is a journey of at least 70 miles.  70 miles!  When was the last time you set out on a 70 mile walk?  And, remember, Mary is probably 13 years of age!  Forget 1^st century Palestine.  Think about today.  How would you feel about a 13-year-old girl just up and walking 70 miles to visit a relative!?!  It’s not safe!  In fact it’s downright nuts!  And 21^st century America is far safer than 1^st century Palestine.

            So, it turns out 13-year-old Mary has got some guts!  She’s either very brave or she’s crazy, or probably some mix of the two.

            There’s a second issue.  Consider these thoughts from commentator Joel Green, “As a young girl, Mary would not normally have left her home without accompaniment – either to browse her hometown or (especially!) to travel some seventy miles to the hill country around Jerusalem.  Until she entered the bridal chamber, a girl lived in seclusion in her home.”  (New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary, Luke, Pg. 94-5)

            Said differently, Mary is thumbing her nose at societal expectations of a girl.  And, according to Luke, she goes of her own accord.  The angel doesn’t tell her to go see Elizabeth.  The angel tells her about Elizabeth’s pregnancy but nothing more.

            Mary, all on her own, in complete disregard of all social propriety, and with disregard for the physical dangers, goes on a 70 mile journey.

            When I think of Mary the mother of Jesus the first image that pops into my mind is someone along the lines of the way the Christmas carols speak of her.  Mary… sweet, tender, meek, mild.  Mary… obedient, accepting, vulnerable.

            That is NOT the way Luke describes her.  Who knows what her attitude really was, but based on this trip she’s a strong woman and she’s got guts!

            I often envision Mary telling Joseph of her pregnancy with fear and trembling in her voice.  I imagine her scared out of her wits that Joseph will reject her and that she will have to live a life of shame and humiliation.  But based on this text I imagine her striding up to Joseph, poking him hard in the chest with her finger and proclaiming, “So Joseph, this is how it is.  I’m going to give birth to the Son of God.  You’re going to marry me anyway.  That’s just the way it is because God said so.  If you’ve got a problem with that then take them up with God!”  And then Joseph, shrinking from this little firebrand of a woman, nods his head in visible agreement.

            Pants hadn’t been invented yet so this image doesn’t work, but it’s quite possible that Mary was the one who wore the pants in the family!

            Going a bit further into the text we find Mary’s bold actions are echoed in the attitude behind her words.  Mary’s song, often called The Magnificat, may sound sweet in our ears.  But we read it with the ignorance of 21^st century white American  church culture.  Read The Magnificat from the point of view of a black person, or a third world person, and you get a completely different feel.

            We interpret her words as sweet.  But I invite you to sit down and read it carefully sometime.  Realize that what Mary says could quite possibly be a religious terrorist manifesto.  Consider:

            “[God] has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.  He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.”

            So, the powerful will be brought down.  The lowly will be raised.  And notice how boldly Mary speaks.  Notice the tense of her verbs.  She does not use a future tense.  She does not say, “God will show strength with his arm… he will bring down the powerful...  he will send the rich away empty.”  No, she uses the past tense.  She is so certain of God’s promised future actions that she speaks of them as if they’ve already happened!

            This girl’s got faith!  And bold confident faith at that!  As Luke portrays Mary there is nothing meek, mild, or tentative about her. 

            The content of what Mary says in the Magnificat will come up over and over again and be developed further as we go further into Luke’s gospel.  We’ll be revisiting those themes many times.  For this week again though, we keep our focus on this character Mary.

            Mary is a superb model of feminism.  She seems to know who she is.  She is strong.  She thinks and act on her own.

            However, she is not an aggressive fire breathing man hater either.  She is not disobeying social customs because she wants to be a rebel.  She is not doing dangerous things because she is a daredevil.

            Let’s make sure we understand her actions fully in context of Luke’s gospel.  What we see here is a person who is confidently and boldly inspired by God’s promises of action that that is what is going to lead and shape her life.  Nothing is going to get in the way of that.  What remains key is that it is God’s prompting.  It is God’s action.  It is the coming of God’s kingdom that is driving Mary.  Indeed she is being bold, and probably careless, but she is doing it in faith.  Anything done in faith is going to be done with integrity, authenticity, and humility.

            I came across this quote from Mark Twain last week, “Each man is afraid of his neighbor’s disapproval – a thing which, to the general run of the human race, is more dreaded than wolves and death.”

            I suspect there is far more truth to that than we want to admit.  I suspect that in our subconscious we fear disapproval from others far more than anything else.  I suspect getting approval from others is the number one motivator in our lives.  We will say what we have to say, we will do what we have to do, we will shape our lives the way we have to shape our lives in order to get approval.

            Sure, we know we can’t please everyone all the time.  We know there are people who are going to like us and there are people who are going to dislike us, maybe even hate us.  We know we are individuals and there is lots of room for personal expression.  But for the most part we conform to societal norms.  Assuming those norms are basically honest and decent and life-affirming there’s nothing fundamentally wrong with that.  But that is still missing something.  We see that something in Mary.

            Just like we saw last week, God is shaping Mary.  God’s actions and God’s promises drive her life.  God defines her, not other people.  That is the way to true confidence.  That is the way to true authenticity.  That is the way to fullness of life.

            Perhaps you think that is all fine and good for Mary.  But what about us?  And that is a good question.  It is not a question I’m going to answer; at least not today.  I’ll let the gospel writer Luke bear that task.  For now, that is exactly where he wants us to be as his readers.  The answer is going to come in the remaining 23 chapters.  And he will pick it up again in the 28 chapters in Acts.

            Mary’s life was an adventure.  So is what Luke wrote in the Bible.  And we are a part of that adventure too.

December 8, 2024 Advent 2 Luke 1:26-38

             Last week I described Luke as an historian.  He indeed did work the way we would think of an historian today.  He studied multiple sources and weighed the merits of competing claims to truth.  That being said, Luke was not perfect.  We know from what he writes in the Acts of the Apostles that he gets some things wrong about Paul’s missionary journeys.  And we always have to remember that he wrote in his context using the images and ideas of the time.  Those things change over time.

I say that because when Luke talks about things like angels coming to deliver messages to humans it can easily sound like a fairy tale.  I believe many Christians inadvertently suspend reality when they read the Bible and enter into a sort of fairy tale understanding of God.  Or they wish that God would act today the way God acted in olden days.  That is a mistake. 

Central to Christianity is the idea of the Incarnation.  That is, that God was born into human form and lived a lifetime like one of us.  God knows human fears, doubts, frailties, successes, and pains.  What you feel in your life God has felt too.  We make a profound mistake when we think that old saints were somehow holier or more enlightened or privileged by God over us.  Not true.

Our gospel reading today may sound fantastic.  We have an angel named Gabriel visiting a woman for whom it is impossible for her to be pregnant.  It’s like a fairy tale.  But don’t read it as such.  In fact, it is intended to be as ordinary as something can be.  To understand that let’s look at what is not there.

            Luke crafted this scene with many parallels to what we read last week.  That was the announcement of the conception of John the Baptist to Zechariah, the man who would be his father.  Consider:

 

Luke 1:11-20                                      Luke 1:28-38

“he was troubled” (12)                       “she was much troubled” (28)

“the angel said to him” (13)               “the angel said to her” (30)

“Do not be afraid” (13)                      “Do not be afraid” (30)

“will bear you a son” (13)                  “you will… bear a son” (31)

“and you will name him” (13)            “and you will name him” (31)

“he will be great” (15)                                    “he will be great” (32)

“said to the angel” (18)                      “said to the angel” (34)

“and replying the angel said” (19)     “and replying, the angel said” (35)

“Gabriel… God… sent” (19)             “Gabriel… sent… God” (26)

“and now” (20)                                   “and now” (36)

 

Commentators note that each story interprets the other.  So, what is missing in the second that is so important?

You’ll remember the story about John’s conception starts this way, “…there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah.  His wife was a descendant of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.  Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord.”  (Luke 1:5b-6)

Turning to the story of Jesus’ conception, what does Luke tell us about Mary’s background?

Does Luke tell us about her ancestors or family line?

Does Luke tell us anything about her faith?

Does Luke tell us anything about her righteousness according to the religious law?

The answer to all of those is, “No.”

John the Baptist will be born to very deserving parents.  What has Mary done to deserve the honor she will have?  What made her special?  The only thing we get from Luke is when the angel Gabriel says, “…you have found favor with God.” 

There are many traditions and stories about the background of Mary.  They mostly come from the Roman Catholic Church.  There’s no way to verify or deny any of them.  But as far as Luke is concerned, they don’t matter.  Commentator Joel Green notes this, “God has given favor to one who had no claim to worthy status, raised her up from a position of lowliness, and has chosen her to have a central role in salvation history.”  (New International Commentary on the New Testament, Luke, Pg. 87) 

This is not just about noticing what is not in Luke’s text. He reinforces it with what is there. 

Last week we read about the angel Gabriel visiting Zechariah.  The location of the event couldn’t have been more precise.  The city is Jerusalem.  The building is the temple.  The room is the sanctuary within the temple.  Then we are told that Gabriel appears while Zechariah is at the incense altar.  While few people ever set foot inside the temple proper those few who did could tell precisely – to within a square foot – of where this amazing event took place. 

How about Gabriel appearing to Mary?  We are just told it is a town in Galilee called Nazareth.  Nazareth is only significant today because of the Bible stories about Jesus.  In those days it was completely obscure.  Ask a resident of New York City where Victor is and they’ll probably give you a blank stare.  Ask a Jew of those days where Nazareth is and they’d probably never heard of it.  Nazareth was “nowhereville”.  So this time Gabriel appears in an unknown place in an unknown town to an unknown and completely unremarkable girl.

What makes Mary remarkable?  God decided to favor her.  Why?  Luke doesn’t say.  This is God’s business done in God’s own time and in God’s own way.  What made Mary remarkable was God’s work, not hers.  I believe there is something deeply significant for us in this. 

We are in the season of frantic buying for Christmas.  This buying can tell us something about ourselves.  Now I’m not talking about those who make a Christmas list of all practical things, and then they buy practical things for others as well.  I don’t mean to knock the idea, in fact I like it a lot.  However, when it comes to exchanging gifts on Christmas day all you’ve really done is have someone else buy you something you were going to buy anyway, and you’ve bought them something they would have bought anyway.  It ends up being a wash.

No, I’m talking about the stuff that we ask for because we think it’ll improve us in some way.  Or, perhaps its stuff we like or are excited to have.  Stuff like a piece of jewelry to make us look glamorous, or perhaps a tool to make us look capable.  And going beyond typical Christmas gifts, things like houses and boats and cars and all the things that people have to create an image of themselves.

Most people want to look capable, successful, and meaningful.  They try to accomplish it through the possessions they surround themselves with and the lifestyle they seek to present.

If Luke told us that God chose Mary because she lived in a prominent city, or was from a wealthy family, or was well connected, or because she had an outstanding education, or that she had nice clothes, or…  …even that she was somehow particularly holy or righteous, then we could understand that there was something she could do about herself to earn such a favorable place in God’s plans.  But again, everything about Mary herself is unremarkable.

I believe many people believe that by their own power they can give themselves an important place in the world and have a life that is meaningful.  But that is a recipe for emptiness. 

So much of what people work for, and buy, does not give lasting satisfaction.  How many Christmas gifts this year will be giving joy for a short term, but then they will break or their owners become bored with them, or they simply go out of style?  People want ever more in their search for meaning.

This story of the announcement of the conception of Jesus is more than just a story.  It carries deep meaning for us.  Its message is one that is central for living a meaningful life.

Last week I joked that when Gabriel told Zechariah that he would have a son Zechariah said something that was very reasonable but completely stupid, “How will I know that his is so?”  I said don’t ever ask an angel for proof because you just might get it!  Zechariah got his proof.  He lost the ability to speak until the birth of John. 

Contrast that with Mary’s response.  Though what Zechariah was promised was improbably what Mary was promised was impossible.  Yet she says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”

That is among the deepest and most profound statements of faith of all time.  It comes from the mouth of someone scholars believe was only 12 or 13 years old.  While that is criminally young by today’s standards it was adulthood for a woman then.  Mary basically says that she will let God define her.  She’s not looking for clothes or jewelry or a fancy car or a powerful marriage, or an amazing circle of friends.  She is not looking for a place in history or has any interest in making a name for herself.  She is a completely unremarkable person who is simply letting God define her. 

There are going to be risks!  In fact her life could be ruined.  But she accepts because ‘who she is’ will be defined by God and God alone. 

            As we light more candles of the Advent wreath and draw ever close to Christmas, may we let God define us.  May we realize that God will probably not do anything through us that people think is particularly remarkable, but it will still be fulfilling.  May we say to God, “Let it be with me according to your word.”