It has been announced...

 

The Lectionary text for next Sunday, December 19, Advent IV is Luke 1:39-55.

   Mary had been given the announcement.  She was being lifted up by God to do this wondrous thing.  Her life was not her own before this event, and now it would certainly not be her own but for very different reasons.  And she went to see her cousin who was also with child.  Elizabeth’s son leapt within her when he heard Mary’s voice.  John’s destiny lay before him, and he was a “go, getter.”

   John’s whole life was in preparation of Jesus.  The annunciation for his birth came first to Zechariah, revealing that the spirit of Elijah would be in him.  He was born first, served in his ministry first, was arrested first and died first.  His whole life was in preparation for Jesus, and his purpose to be Elijah in ushering in the Messiah.

   Mary magnified the Lord with wonderful images of how God would bring down the proud and powerful, lift up the lowly, feed those who were hungry and send the rich away empty.  This God would do in order to help God’s people, Israel, according to God’s promise of old.  She was one of the people who suffered under empire.  She knew first-hand the emotional strife, lack of well-being, fear and struggle to survive under a people who took everything for themselves and left God’s people with little on which to live.   Mary’s hope was the hope of the people, and she was filled with hope.

   The people who walked in darkness are about to have a spotlight put on their situation.  On those who have been sitting in deep darkness, the glorious light of justice and liberation was about to shine.

   God was using the lowly to do incredible things in the world.  Those young women who had very little means and no power in their society were being lifted up to birth liberation, the salvation of their people.  God did not send Messiah from the clouds, or place him in the palace.  God sends Messiah, the Son of God, to a lowly, poor couple who are among the many lowly and poor people of God, downtrodden and abused by empire.  God sent the Son in scandal to an engaged couple, to restore justice and bring Shalom to God’s people.

   There are millions of young maidens who are powerless and penniless in the world.  Their plight is the plight of women for centuries, being held down, back and out by patriarchal society and by the forces of empire that devalue them.  But God sees their value.  God reaches into their lives to help them see their value in the Kingdom and among God’s people.  Wise people see it too.  Their considerable worth needs to be celebrated by the world again.  Under empire, that will not happen.  In the living of the Good News, it must.

   The Kingdom does not measure strength as does empire.  Strength in the Kingdom is the power within a person to bring about change for good in the world around them by remaining hopeful and vigilant in the living of agaph in the world.  The Kingdom does not measure purity in the same way that empire does.  It is not about pure bloodlines, lineages of power and wealth, life without scandal or other outward considerations.  Kingdom purity is about one’s heart, intentions and motives regarding the lives of those around them.  The Kingdom does not mark righteousness in the same way that empire does.  It is not about appearances of being upright, having status above others in the religious community or ostentatious shows of ritual purity.  Kingdom righteousness is about faithfulness to what God in Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us on how to live His agaph and caris in the world around us, with God’s children.

   In the Kingdom, young, powerless and penniless maidens have strength, purity and faithfulness to God.  They are not ruled by the norms of greed, lust for power over others and desire for status above others.  They can live with joy instead of fear, love instead of apathy or hatred and hope instead of despair because they know that the Kingdom of God values them, though empire does not.  In the Kingdom, the young black and brown women of the world who have been held down, back and out all of their lives have value.  In the Kingdom, they are recognized and valued for their strength and purity and faithfulness.

   Thy Kingdom come, O Lord, Thy Will be done on earth as in heaven.  We have sat in the darkness of empire long enough.  Come, long expected Jesus.  Set your people free.  Empire has had its reign in many iterations for many generations.  Let your reign begin on earth.  Now.  Please.

   Live the agaph and caris of Jesus in the world.  Do that in the face of empire’s values, resist empire’s ways and live faithful to what Jesus taught, commanded and modeled for us, as we have that in the Gospels.  The world around you will be transformed – the world in which YOU must live.  The is the Advent of Jesus’ coming to us.  As John’s whole life was preparation for His ushering in Jesus’ coming and salvation, so has your whole life been preparation for Jesus’ coming to you and us now, for the liberation of God’s children from the destruction and despair of empire and the hopeful expectation of lives in Shalom, which is the Kingdom of God.

Prepare His way in the world in which you live.

Pastor Jamie