4th Sunday of Advent
December 24, 2017
Luke 1:26-55
James Whitcomb Riley was a poet from Indiana around the
turn of the 20th century. Two of his better known poems are “Little
Orphant Annie” and “The Raggedy Man”, which are the inspirations behind Little
Orphan Annie and the Raggedy Ann doll, respectively. Much of his work was for
children and when he died, one of the memorials dedicated to him was Riley’s
Children Hospital in Indianapolis. He’s also thought to have been the first one
to write the duck test, when he penned, “When I see a bird that walks like a
duck and swims like a duck and quacks like a duck, I call that bird a duck.”[1]
It’s abductive reasoning, which starts with an observation and then seeks the
most likely explanation. When something looks like a duck and quacks like a
duck and waddles like a duck, most likely, it’s a duck. But sometimes it’s hard
to tell that it’s a duck. The mandarin duck – which waddles and swims and
quacks, and is, in fact, a duck – has a patchwork quilt of feathers brighter
and more colorful than your Christmas tree, has sails on its back, pronounced
crests and a differently shaped beak. Doesn’t look at all like what we think a
duck should look like, but it’s a duck.
Similarly, there are times when God’s blessings don’t
always look like what we think a blessing should look like. Or maybe not what
we expect a blessing to look like. Our Gospel this morning was the annunciation
to Mary, when God sends an angel to Mary to tell her she’s favored by God and
going to bear God’s son. Before we get into Mary’s response, I want to consider
her family’s response to this news. Mary is usually thought to have been around
12, 13, 14 years old. She was engaged to Joseph but they weren’t married yet,
so she would have still been living at home with her family. Can you imagine
her parents’ reaction? Or, more for that culture, her father’s reaction? His daughter’s engaged, everything’s set for her
to marry Joseph and she somehow gets pregnant. Is he going to believe it was God?? Not likely. And when Joseph denies
it was him, because Joseph was going to end the engagement Mary quietly, what
then must her parents have thought?! Anger, shame, embarrassment, fear for
Mary’s future, who would want to marry her now? We’re not told anything about
how Mary’s family reacted. This is speculation. Yet it’s speculation based on
human nature and based on the historically negative reactions to out of wedlock
pregnancies. I mean, Hester Prynne has to wear a scarlet letter A on her
clothing in Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel from 1850! I imagine some of Mary’s
family still responded with love and compassion. I expect others were ready to
stone her, which the punishment for women caught in adultery according to the
law of Moses. Jesus saves such a woman in John 8 by telling the would-be stone
throwers to let whoever is without sin to be the first to cast a stone.[2]
And… they all leave. Either way, we’re not told much about Mary’s family, but
they don’t stone her, they don’t disown her. Yet they couldn’t have been too
pleased, either. They would have seen this as an unwanted pregnancy and
definitely not as a blessing.
Now, Mary’s response. Mary is a thoughtful, reflective
person. When the angel greeted her, Mary “was much perplexed
by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.”[3] And we’ll read tonight how after the shepherds come to visit baby
Jesus, Mary “treasures all these words [the shepherds told them] and pondered
them in her heart.”[4] Mary is someone who thinks about things. She doesn’t just say,
“Okay,” to the angel. The angel says, “You’re going to have a son,” and Mary’s
response is to ask, “How? I’m a virgin.” She’s pragmatic and she doesn’t assume
anything. Now, I realize that the statistics say that only 85% of American Christians
believe Mary was actually virgin, which means that if there are about 70 of us here this morning, then 10 people don’t
believe.[5] My point, though, is that Mary doesn’t assume she’s about to sleep
with Joseph, or be raped, or break her promise of faithfulness to Joseph and
sleep with someone else. She doesn’t say, oh cool beans, I get to have a romp
in the hay before I’m married. Mary says, in effect, “I’m not sleeping with
anyone. So, HOW am I going to get pregnant?” The angel tells her the Holy
Spirit is how she’s going to get pregnant. It’s going to be like a
mini-Pentecost, Pentecost being when we celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit
and the birth of the Church. And so,
being told, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God…
For nothing will be impossible with God,” is enough for Mary. She probably
still has her doubts. She knows the neighbors will talk. But Mary knows God has
clearly called and chosen her to do this. And so she says, along with Samuel,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, and so many others, “Here I am, Lord.”
That’s the funny thing about
answering a call from God. You can say yes, and follow through, and still have
your doubts about it. It’s saying, “Ok, God. You called me to do this. I have
no idea how it’s going to work out, but I trust you.” It’s being faithful to
the call, even when you don’t have any idea how God is going to work it out. After
Mother Teresa’s death, it was revealed in her memoirs that she had doubts that
God even existed, but that didn’t stop her from doing God’s work.[6] I’ve shared with y’all that being a
pastor was not my idea. Well, even during seminary, when I was learning and
training to become a pastor, I still wasn’t sure about it. God had called, and
so I was on the path, I was in seminary. But I really wasn’t sure about being a
pastor. I think I spent most of seminary waiting for God to say, “Sike! Just
kidding. You can go back to Nicaragua now. Or use your seminary studies to
serve me in this other way.” I would not have been surprised if God had said
that. But God didn’t. And here I am, now in my 8th year of serving
as a pastor. And it may be too soon for y’all to have an opinion or you may
disagree, but I will tell you that my last DS, in Baltimore, affirmed me as a
pastor and told me I’m a good pastor. When I answered God’s call, I had a lot
of uncertainty and doubts. I imagine Mary did as well. She wasn’t really sure
whether this pregnancy would be a blessing or not.
Now, the next thing Mary does is go
visit her cousin, Elizabeth. We’re not told if her family sent her away to hide
the pregnancy or if Mary would have done this trip, anyway, to see her relative
who was barren for so long but now six months pregnant. And Elizabeth does for
Mary what my last DS did for me. Mary agreed to bear God’s son, but she’s a
contemplative person. She’s not sure how this is all going to work out. Then
Mary enters Zechariah’s and Elizabeth’s house and greets them and Elizabeth
calls her “blessed.” “God has blessed you above all women, and your child is
blessed. Why am I so honored, that the mother of my Lord should visit me? When
I heard your greeting, the baby in my womb jumped for joy. You are blessed
because you believed that the Lord would do what he said.”[7] Elizabeth tells Mary in no uncertain
terms, “Cousin… that’s a duck.” Now,
this conversation between Elizabeth and Mary is not usually included in the
reading for today. Usually, it’s the angel and Mary and then the Magnificat,
which was what we read responsively. The people who designed the lectionary
left out this vital conversation because, well, we KNOW it’s a duck. But it’s important to hear Elizabeth’s
affirmation of Mary. Twice Elizabeth
calls her blessed. Blessed is Mary among women because of this pregnancy and
blessed is Mary because she believed what God said. This unwanted, un-planned-for,
not socially acceptable pregnancy is a blessing. Elizabeth, who had waited her
whole life for a baby, whose barrenness was a disgrace and has made her
somewhat of an expert on this particular species of bird, is the one to call a
duck a duck and to name the blessing as a blessing.
Sometimes, we need that. Sometimes
we need others to point out our blessings. To remind us of the ways God has
blessed us. To remind us that we are blessed simply because we believe and
trust what God promises and that God will be faithful to those promises. Blessings
don’t always come how we expect. They don’t always look like what we think
blessings ought to look like. We’re not always sure they’re ducks, and not God
testing us or maybe not God at all. We have our doubts, and doubts are okay. As
long as you stay faithful. I had doubts about being pastor, I never had doubts
about God calling. This life is not one I ever dreamed of. Yet it is a
blessing. It’s a blessing to be with y’all, to walk alongside you, to be part
of this community. It’s a blessing.
Mary’s response to Elizabeth naming
the blessing as a blessing was to sing what is often called the Magnificat, the
first phrase in Latin. “My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God
my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely,
from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done
great things for me, and holy is his name.”
One last poem this morning, the one
that was inspiration for this sermon, which ultimately is from God, came through a
poem that a clergy colleague of mine in North Carolina wrote:
Naming
the Blessing as a Blessing: A Poem of Mary and Elizabeth
By Laura Johnson[8]
Was no one there to rub her
back
when she got sick by the side of the road?
Poor child, that Mary,
fleeing the angel’s earth-shattering words to Elizabeth’s tranquil countryside.
Did her traveling companions pretend not to notice
her queasiness and sleepy eyes and swelling gut,
or did they whisper too loudly in her direction
with obvious glares of disdain?
One can only imagine.
when she got sick by the side of the road?
Poor child, that Mary,
fleeing the angel’s earth-shattering words to Elizabeth’s tranquil countryside.
Did her traveling companions pretend not to notice
her queasiness and sleepy eyes and swelling gut,
or did they whisper too loudly in her direction
with obvious glares of disdain?
One can only imagine.
How did she hold it all in –
the fear and questions and what if’s and well maybe’s
and the, how in the world will I tell Joseph,
and the, did the angel really mean The Son of God,
and the mantra of survival, on repeat, to convince herself…
I can do this.
I can do this.
I can do this.
I
can
do
this…
…right?…
the fear and questions and what if’s and well maybe’s
and the, how in the world will I tell Joseph,
and the, did the angel really mean The Son of God,
and the mantra of survival, on repeat, to convince herself…
I can do this.
I can do this.
I can do this.
I
can
do
this…
…right?…
Did she get sick with fear
when she saw the familiar home
where Elizabeth was waiting unsuspectingly?
Did she regret this unplanned journey and think of turning back?
Did she fear that this
one and only safe-haven
wouldn’t be safe
after all?
What then?
One can only imagine.
where Elizabeth was waiting unsuspectingly?
Did she regret this unplanned journey and think of turning back?
Did she fear that this
one and only safe-haven
wouldn’t be safe
after all?
What then?
One can only imagine.
But from what I know of
spiritual sisterhood, here’s what I imagine…
A courageous knock, bolder than she felt.
The waddling footsteps, heavy with child.
Mary’s wildly-beating heart and aching feet and sick stomach.
A look of surprise. Elizabeth begins,
“Mary, what are you doing—”
Then widened eyes. Her wrinkly hands cover her long-prayed-for belly and
the baby dancing with joy inside.
A courageous knock, bolder than she felt.
The waddling footsteps, heavy with child.
Mary’s wildly-beating heart and aching feet and sick stomach.
A look of surprise. Elizabeth begins,
“Mary, what are you doing—”
Then widened eyes. Her wrinkly hands cover her long-prayed-for belly and
the baby dancing with joy inside.
And then –
a kind, knowing, Holy Spirit smile –
so genuine that Mary wants to weep and sigh in relief and (finally!)
pour out her secretly burdened heart
and unravel the tangled mystery of angels and prophecies and theology
and (gulp)
babies.
a kind, knowing, Holy Spirit smile –
so genuine that Mary wants to weep and sigh in relief and (finally!)
pour out her secretly burdened heart
and unravel the tangled mystery of angels and prophecies and theology
and (gulp)
babies.
But then, before she utters a
word, the unexpected:
Mary, your blessing is greater than all.
Elizabeth names what Mary knows deep within…
knows, but won’t dare admit,
until she hears it named aloud
in this longed for, life-saving, life-giving
haven of safety.
Mary, your blessing is greater than all.
Elizabeth names what Mary knows deep within…
knows, but won’t dare admit,
until she hears it named aloud
in this longed for, life-saving, life-giving
haven of safety.
This blessing is greater
than all.
This blessing will save the world.
This blessing will come through me.
This blessing will save the world.
This blessing will come through me.
Her calling crystallizes and
there she stands,
humbled, speechless,
amazingly
joyful.
humbled, speechless,
amazingly
joyful.
Here’s what I imagine next:
Mary opens her mouth (because she has to say something),
But all she can do is sing.
Not of fears and what if’s and what next’s and how will I’s…
but of him.
Because none of that matters, not really, not now, not in light of him…
He who is but a tiny life within her,
though still – somehow – Larger than Life itself.
Mary opens her mouth (because she has to say something),
But all she can do is sing.
Not of fears and what if’s and what next’s and how will I’s…
but of him.
Because none of that matters, not really, not now, not in light of him…
He who is but a tiny life within her,
though still – somehow – Larger than Life itself.
It makes you wonder…
What would have become of that poor child, Mary,
had Elizabeth ignored
those inspired kicks within?
If she hadn’t offered the safe embrace of holy sisterhood?
If she hadn’t named the blessing as a blessing?
If she hadn’t looked deep into those searching eyes and said, you. can. do. this…?
What would have become of that poor child, Mary,
had Elizabeth ignored
those inspired kicks within?
If she hadn’t offered the safe embrace of holy sisterhood?
If she hadn’t named the blessing as a blessing?
If she hadn’t looked deep into those searching eyes and said, you. can. do. this…?
What would have happened if
Mary had no one to help
shoulder the load
of the blessing so great
that, (like many callings)
was too heavy to carry alone?
shoulder the load
of the blessing so great
that, (like many callings)
was too heavy to carry alone?
Thank goodness,
one can only imagine.
one can only imagine.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
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