josephholubsermons
December 20, 2009 Advent 3
Luke 1:39-55
Prelude
"And
Mary said, 'My soul magnifies the Lord... ' "
Today our worship is oriented around a special song,
“Mary's Song” or the
“Magnificat”, which is the
first word of the Latin translation.
Our opening hymn is based on
“Mary’s Song.”
The
Holden Evening Prayer service
we use on Saturday evening
contains a beautiful rendition of
“Mary’s Song” by Marty
Haugen. We have Luke to
thank for “Mary’s Song.”
Luke's version of the Christmas story is unique.
Mark and John say nothing about the birth of Jesus and
Matthew’s story differs greatly from Luke.
In fact, if it were
not for Luke, we would not celebrate Christmas the way we
do. Without Luke there
would be no Zechariah and Elizabeth or birth of John the Baptist; no
parallel pregnancies of Mary and Elizabeth; no visit by Mary to her
relative Elizabeth; no angel Gabriel making the announcement to Mary; no
difficult journey to Bethlehem only to find the inns all filled to
capacity; no stable; no baby in a manger; no swaddling clothes;
no choir of angels serenading
the shepherds; a lack of good hymn material for there would be no
“Away in the Manger”, or
“First Noel”, or
“Angels We Have Heard on High”,
and a host of other carols, and no
“Mary’s Song” - without
Luke, none of it.
The question we need to ask is
"Why did Luke compose and tell
the story in the rather elaborate way he did?"
By the way he crafts his story, what does Luke
reveal about the
meaning his community attributed to Jesus in the 9th decade
of the first century, when most scholars think Luke wrote his gospel.
Luke put together traditions that he had received about Jesus and
weaved them into his unique story.
The point is not,
“Is this exactly the way things happened?”
The point is, “What
was the meaning
of Luke’s story for his community, and what are the
implications for us?”
In Luke, the Christmas story begins with a middle aged childless couple
named Elizabeth and Zechariah.
Being without children, especially a male child, was a
disgrace in that culture.
An angel appeared to Zechariah (Luke really likes angels) and announced
that his prayers were answered. His wife Elizabeth was to have a baby
who would be very special and be filled with the spirit
and the power of Elijah.
That is significant because the Jews expected the
prophet Elijah to return at the time of the messiah.
Any of you who have participated in a Jewish Seder Meal know that
an empty chair is always kept at the table for Elijah just in
case he shows up. Two
chapters later, when Elizabeth's special baby is all grown up, Luke
casts John the Baptist in the mold of Elijah.
Next the angel appeared to Mary, a relative of Elizabeth, and similar to
Zechariah's experience, made the announcement to Mary of her special
child. Luke
links the lives of
these two women, their two children and the men they grew to be; one the
forerunner and announcer of the of the other.
Like any good writer, just by the way Luke tells the story, Luke
is declaring that his community of faith experienced Jesus
as the long-awaited
messiah.
Mary travels to visit her relative Elizabeth, and it was there, in
response to Elizabeth’s affirmation, that Luke’s Mary bursts into
song, and what a glorious song it is.
For it is in this song that Luke gives us a
first glimpse at who
this Jesus is to be, the
nature of his message, and the
purpose Luke's
community of faith has experienced in Jesus.
As I’ve already stated, it is
only in Luke that the announcement of Jesus came through the
lowliest people of the
culture. It is
only in Luke that
two women play a key role in the
presentation of Jesus
and his mission - not the religious hierarchy of the high priest and
temple authorities. That
fact alone is totally
scandalous as women were near the bottom of their culture’s
hierarchical pyramid and were often crushed under its weight.
It is only in Luke that
Jesus’ birth announcement
was first issued to shepherds, who were considered loathsome and
ritually unclean by many of the religious and so-called righteous.
The announcement did not come to the politically powerful; the
likes of Herod, Quirinius and Caesar.
Luke could have easily been accused of political sedition for
including “Mary’s Song” in
his story because the primary theme of Mary’s song is the
elevation of the lowly and the lowering of the arrogant; the
liberation of the oppressed poor and hungry and the humbling
of the powerful wealthy elites who were a part of an economic system
rigged for their advantage that exploited the poor.
Through “Mary’s Song” we see that Luke’s Jesus is about transforming
life in such a way that the system
that fostered gross social and economic inequities was leveled off –
not by military might, not by violent overthrow, but by the radical
sacrificial love that Jesus embodied and his prophetic call for social
justice.
It is only in Luke's gospel
that we see the eight beatitudes of Matthew’s gospel cut in half
and boiled down to four essentials with Luke’s Jesus saying,
“Blessed are the … poor… hungry…
grieving… and the excluded.”
And it’s only in
Luke’s gospel that immediately following those blessings, Jesus
issues stern warnings to the
rich, powerful, self-indulgent
and famous.
It is only in Luke’s gospel
that the Kingdom of God is portrayed by Jesus as a man lying half dead
in a ditch on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the victim of
oppressors, and another man, a member of a despised religious minority
attending to his wounds.
It is only Luke’s Jesus
who tells the parable of the Rich
Man and Lazarus, who laid at the rich man’s gate covered with
miserable sores, whose sustenance was comprised of the crumbs that fell
from the rich man’s table; the parable concluding with a picture
of the afterlife in which their roles are reversed.
It is only in Luke’s gospel
that Jesus announced salvation had come to the house of the rich tax
collector Zacchaeus, only after Zacchaeus had restored fourfold all that
he had extorted from the poor.
It is only Luke’s Jesus
who said,
“The kingdom of God is among you”
implying that the kingdom of God is anywhere and everywhere
that God’s desire for a more just economic playing field is realized,
Where the poor are lifted, the powerless are empowered, the hungry are
fed and the oppressed are set free.
It is only in Luke's gospel
when, early in his ministry, Jesus returned home to Galilee, and read
publically from the book of Isaiah the part about bringing good news to
the poor, freeing the oppressed and cancelling all financial debts, and
declared that scripture fulfilled in him.
Luke's Jesus is radical, disturbing and calls for transformation.
For several years now I have considered trying to start a movement
that would encourage people, especially at Christmas, to take the money
they would normally spend on Christmas gifts and redirect those
resources, in some way, towards the poorest and most needy in one's
community or on the planet.
Of course, I know I would face a great deal of wrath and resistance from
powers within our economic system; a system mainly fueled by
wants rather than needs; a system that spends billions of
advertising dollars annually to confuse the consumer into thinking that
wants and needs are the same thing and to want more and more and
more and more! I suppose if
the idea really caught on, I am sure, there would be a massive counter-
movement to discredit my cause.
I suppose if millions of people subscribed to such a movement, it
could have dire economic consequences.
It was Gandhi who said many
decades ago, “There is enough in
the world to meet everyone’s
need, but not enough to meet everyone’s
greed.”
You see, Luke's Jesus is a threat to the way things are.
Luke's Jesus, if we take him seriously, is asking us, his
followers, to reconsider many of the values we live by, hold
sacred and accept as normalcy.
But there are those prophetic voices among us who are challenging
us to do exactly that. Last
Monday faith leaders from many denominations and religious expressions
met with members of the
White House National Economic
Council calling for reforms to hold financial institutions more
accountable, to keep families in their homes, to protect consumers from
predatory lending practices and to look for ways to prevent or delay
foreclosures. Rev. Jim
Wallis of the organization
Sojourners pointed out that those whose behavior contributed hugely
to the world economic crises were saved
from failure by American taxpayers, many of whom have now lost
both jobs and homes. Wallis
also says in his new book,
"Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street and Your Street"
that part of what is needed to accompany the
economic recovery is
a moral recovery that
broadens our definition of morality from merely the personal realm
to the social and economic realm.
These religious leaders delivered a letter signed by
thousands of clergy nationwide calling for reforms and calling for a
national conversation about social and economic justice and
morality.
These clergy could do no other, regardless of their religion or
Christian expression, for they are living
in the grip of the message
of Luke's Jesus, and are echoing the
song of prelude that Mary
sung:
You have cast the mighty down from their thrones, and uplifted the
humble of heart.
You have filled the hungry with wondrous things, and left the wealthy no
part.
Great and mighty are you, O Faithful One, strong is your justice, strong
your love.
As you promised to Sarah and Abraham, kindness for ever more.
My soul...
You finish the song with your life. May we bring completion to "Mary's Song" with the commitment of our very lives, as we proclaim and embody Luke's Jesus out there in the world.