ADVENT 4

May my words and my thoughts be acceptable to you, O Lord, my refuge and my redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)

SEASON: ADVENT 4
PROPER: B
PLACE: St. John’s Episcopal Church, Kingsville
DATE: December 2, 2002


TEXT: 2 Samuel 7:4, 8-16– “I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be a father to him, and he shall be a son to me.”
Luke 1:26-38 – “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

ISSUE: These stories tell of the fulfillment of God’s promises to his people for a new world at peace under the justice of God in Jesus Christ. The Christian Scripture, and beginning of Luke’s Christmas story, tells of the coming of God to the least of folk, and the story of their being raised up with him begins. The fulfillment of human hopes is realized in the coming of Jesus Christ to the world.
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The story of Christmas begins in the passages from the Hebrew Scriptures and the appointed Christian Scripture for this day. The passage from the Book of 2 Samuel tells of God’s promise to King David. The reading from the artistry of Luke’s Gospel tells of the imminent fulfillment of the promise.
In the little town of Bethlehem, long, long ago, there was a man by the name of Jesse and he had several sons. His last and youngest son’s name was David, and David was a shepherd boy. David became the chosen to be come the leader and ruler of all the tribes of Israel, uniting the countries Judah and Israel into one nation. Out of David’s rule came a time of prosperity and peace. While David was hardly perfect, he did sustain the approval of God. Through the court’s prophet, Nathan, God gave to David a promise. That at the end of reign, when he would like down with his ancestors, God would provide an outstanding successor from his lineage. God, himself, would be his father, and the new King would be his Son. The new king would build a lasting temple, and the promise concludes: “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; you throne shall be established forever.” David’s immediate successor, and son, Solomon did build the temple, but after Solomon Israel and Judah divided once again, and the nations declined for an extended period of time where there were wars, often-poor leadership, and the nations were conquered by their enemies. The Temple was destroyed on several occasions after rebuilding attempts. However the promise of God was still in the background.
Out of that ancient background, came the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. St. Luke’s Gospel beautiful and artfully crafts the birth story of Jesus to convey the hope and the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy and the promise. The angel Gabriel, a messenger from God, appears to a young woman who is betrothed to a man named Joseph, who is an ancestor of the ancient King David. Mary is very perplexed and apprehensive about this the mystical visitation, and this strange greeting. This period was a time when men never spoke to women, especially if they were alone. Gabriel assures her that there is nothing to fear, and he gives to Mary the news that she shall conceive and bear a son. God’s spirit overshadows her. Mary receives the new that she shall bear a son, and that “he will be great, and called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will rule over the house of Jacob (the Hebrews, and his Kingdom will have no end.” The ancient promise is fulfilled.
Hopefully we’ll avoid being side tracked into concerns over the problems of virginity. Some people become stumped in their belief about the Virgin Birth. Others have somehow felt that virginity is better than sexuality. These issues are not what this artistic story is about. It is about God fulfilling his promise, and God’s spirit overshadowing a very young woman who will bear the Son of God, and the new hope for the world. Her motherhood, like the motherhood of every caring woman is immaculate, as Scholar William Loader says.
Just as David the shepherd boy had been the youngest and last of his brothers in Bethlehem, Mary too is from Nazareth, and nothing good comes from Nazareth. She is barely a girl out of childhood, with no claim to anything. From her and through her comes the Son of God. To the least and the last God comes. God comes to the bottom in Jesus Christ into the process of raising-up all that is fallen, and raising-up those oppressed by the injustices of the world. Notice how in Luke’s birth story of Jesus, the great powers of the world are listed: In the time of Emperor Augustus, a census is ordered throughout the Roman Empire, and Quirinius is governor of Syria. It was a time of great oppression and injustice for the expendable poor. Christ the King comes simply through a virgin woman and to an oppressed people. Few know much about Caesar Augustus, the Roman Empire, or Quirinius. But the name of Jesus lives on to this very day, as the new king of peace, forgiveness, hope, and justice for all the people of God. What seemed to be so impossible becomes possible through God’s intense love for his creation and the way to reuniting the people of the world into The Kingdom of God under the leadership of the ways and the teachings of Jesus Christ. In the words of Mary, “He has come to fill the hungry with good things, and to send the oppressive and the greedy away.” (Paraphrased quote)
Christ comes through the expendable Mary, who declares herself “the servant of the Lord, let it be according to your word.” May we each allow ourselves to be the servants of the Lord, and the channels through which the Christ’s love may flow, like streams of living water through a conduit. God’s spirit needs desperately to touch many of the injustices of the world. William Loader, an Australian Biblical Scholar, points out how young women and children in some eastern countries are often abused today by unscrupulous gangsters, selling young girls into prostitution and forcing them into labor in sweat shops. They are the expendable people, children, of our time.
We all especially as Americans, must be so careful about our approach to Christmas. It is a season where so many of us are incline to over indulge our children and ourselves in our wealth. It becomes a happy time in the darkness of winter, and we try to enlighten things with decorative lights. We can become so sentimental over the baby Jesus, and giving a few scraps to the poor. We might remind ourselves of the story of the rich man who dresses in fine purple robes and feasts sumptuously, and then throws breadcrumbs to the poor.
We are living in a time, when some factions in our country seem intent on going to war. The result could well mean the destruction of many innocent lives, especially children, many of whom have already been traumatized. No guarantee for peace is really evident through such action.
All of us as individuals and as a nation stand in need of the savior. We stand in need of the coming Christ to teach and lead the way. To be the ruler of our lives, and to bring the changes, which have to come to bring justice to the world. Christmas is about the human need, the world need for a savior. The world needs a new understanding of what is power, and what is just. It needs a new understanding of being servants with Christ, with God in the world, who join with Christ in a sacrificial life. It needs a renewed understanding of love as care and devotion for one another, for other people, nations, and races different from our own.
The coming of Jesus Christ again gives us another opportunity to step into his Kingdom, into the Kingdom that is God’s, where we become channels of his grace, and those who serve and honor him as the peacemakers, and those who seek what is right, and Jesus Christ is acknowledged as King of Love and Prince of Peace.