4th Sunday of Advent
December 20, 2015
Micah 5:2-5a; Luke 1:47-55
(Or watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkAdmc7x5WA&feature=em-upload_owner )
(Or watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkAdmc7x5WA&feature=em-upload_owner )
In 1843, Charles Dickens published a book you may have
heard of, called “A Christmas Carol.”
Before the mid-1800’s, Christmas was only a very minor holiday, and
certainly nothing like what it is today.
John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, for example, never
mentioned Christmas in any of his journal entries, even those dated December 25th
(and he wrote in his journal every day for years during the 1700’s). Yet the middle of the 1800’s saw not only a
book written about Christmas, it was also when Christmas cards were first
exchanged and Christmas trees were first trimmed. The singing of Christmas carols also dates to
this time period, and if you read the fine print in the hymnal below the
Christmas hymns, you can see that many of them were written then, too. So, if you ever wonder how Christmas got to
be how it is today, most historians pinpoint the middle of the nineteenth century. Since then, Christmas gradually became a much
more sentimental holiday and much more romanticized, glossing over the uglier
aspects, like the atmosphere in Bethlehem when Jesus was born.
Two
thousand years ago, the town of Bethlehem that we just sang about, was part of
the Roman Empire. However, as the Roman Empire started in Rome,
Italy, Bethlehem, which is in the Middle East and some 1,400 miles away across
the Mediterranean Sea, was on the edge of the Empire. It was not a city, it was not even a
decent-sized town. As we read in Micah,
it was one of the smallest towns in the country of Judah, which was occupied by
Roman soldiers. So we have a small town
on the edge of the Roman Empire, full of people who are angry at being occupied
and the soldiers are probably upset at being assigned to this post so far from
Rome! Among the first words Jesus heard
may well have been curse words. And did
you ever think about what a scratch-n-sniff manger scene would actually smell
like?? Jesus was out there with the
animals, which makes for a nice children’s story for me to read to my kids,
but, uh, when you get close to them, in person, inside a farm structure, they
stink. So. Got the scene in your head? Now, that’s
where God chose for his son to be
born. In that mess.[1]
That verse from Micah says, “As for you, Bethlehem,
though you are the least significant of Judah’s forces, one who is to be a
ruler in Israel on my behalf will come out from you.”[2] This small town, with a military occupation,
on the edge of the Empire, out in the barn with the animals, this is where Jesus was born. Not in a big city, or somewhere famous, but
the littlest town from the smallest tribe of Judah, whose people have returned
from exile but are not in charge of their own land. That’s
where God picked, and the smells God picked, and the sounds God picked. Tells us something about God, doesn’t
it?
As Mary says in the Magnificat, our responsive reading
this morning, God has remembered and looked with favor on his lowly servant.[3] God
looks with favor on the lowly.
Whether it’s a struggling small town or a pregnant teenager, as Mary
says, God has done great things for me.[4] God chose Bethlehem, of all places, to honor
with his son’s birth. God chose Mary, a
virtual nobody, to be Jesus’ mother. The
Bible is full of insignificant people God chose to be part of his people, part
of his work of salvation. You could take
Miriam, Moses’ sister, who advised a princess on the care of her brother. Or David, the youngest brother who became
king, and that’s not supposed to happen to younger brothers. Esther was the pretty teenager who saved her
people from a ruthless oppressor. And then
there’s the scruffy, ragtag bunch Jesus chose as his friends and disciples. God turns things upside down and thinks
highly of those the world does not think highly of. If you remember from other Scripture
readings, in the kingdom of God the first will be last and the last shall be
first.[5] Those who think they are insignificant are
actually not. Jesus wasn’t born in the
capital of Rome or even in the big city of Jerusalem. He was born in the little town of
Bethlehem. So know that no matter how
insignificant you may feel, you are not insignificant to God. This church is not insignificant to God. You are not forgotten and you are not
alone. You may feel forgotten, but you are not.
Feelings can be misleading, like feeling alone in a crowd. You may feel
alone, but you are not. You may feel overlooked, but you are
not. God notices you, and remembers you,
has done great things for you and will
do great things for you. Promise. He
doesn’t care if you were the last picked for a ball game as a kid. You are not
last in his book, and his is really the only opinion that matters.
You know why you’re important to God? It’s because God actually seeks out the least, the last, and the lost. God goes looking for places and people who
are lowly, by the world’s standards. The
rest of the Gospel of Luke is full of examples of God seeking out the least,
the last, and the lost, and actually preferring them! There’s the parable Jesus tells about the
lost sheep, where the shepherd leaves the other 99 sheep to go find the one
missing. And the woman who thoroughly
searches her entire house in order to find one lost coin. The parable of the prodigal son, with the
runaway son, who doesn’t think he’s worth much, before he comes to his senses
and comes home. Or the parable about the
wedding banquet, where Jesus actually advises guests to take a low seat, rather
than a seat of honor. In Luke is where
we meet Zaccheus, the cheating tax collector.
Talked about being picked last for a team, I’m sure “wee little”
Zaccheus could identify with that, and that’s whose house Jesus wanted to go
to! The end of that story ends with
Jesus saying, “The Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”[6] God comes looking for those who are
overlooked, for those who are ignored, for those whose voices aren’t heard, for
those who are hurting and suffering, those who are small, those who don’t feel
noticed or cared for by others. God
comes looking for you. He’s not waiting
for us to find him, he’s out there looking
for us and waiting for us, right
where he always said he would be. God
seeks us out. I’ve been asked twice recently about how I
became a pastor, and the short answer I gave both times is “God.” This wasn’t my idea. God sought me out, planted me on my butt, and
called me to leave an old calling and enter a new calling. It wasn’t my idea; I was happy where I was. I’m sure Mary would never have chosen to
become pregnant before marriage in that day and age. When Joseph found out, he planned to divorce
her quietly, because her condition was so socially unacceptable. Mary wouldn’t have chosen it, but God sought
her out.
And the important thing here, for us, is her
response. We read it responsively this
morning instead of a psalm. And what I
want you to notice is that Mary’s response wasn’t all about her. She was not focused on herself. Instead, her response praises God. Mary says, “the Mighty One has done great
things for me, and holy is his name.”
She doesn’t say, “God has done great things for me, I’m awesome!” Or, “God has looked with favor on me because
I deserve it.” No, the focus stays on
God. God did this for me; God is
holy. God shows mercy. God has a strong arm. God lifts up the lowly. God fills the hungry with good things. God remembers his promise. God comes to help. Not because we deserve it. Not because of anything we’ve done or who
we’ve made ourselves. That’s why the
response stays about God. It’s not about
us. The
faithful response is about God. That’s
why we come to church. Not for ourselves
or to feel good about ourselves or to get something out of it. Worship isn’t for you or about you. It’s for God.
We sing about God. We pray to
God. What we do here is for and about
God, because it is our faithful response to what God has done, is doing, and
will do in our lives. He has looked with
favor on us. He has heard our prayers.
We
may be in a small (but growing!) town on the edge of the Chesapeake, but God
has not overlooked us. We may be small,
but we are not insignificant. Because
the thing is, God’s goal for us is not to be the biggest, the best, or the
most. His goal for us is to be
faithful. Our opening hymn this morning
was “O Come, All Ye Faithful.” The goal
for our church is to be faithful, and our church is big enough to do that. If God blesses us by sending more people to
us, great. If he blesses us in other
ways, great. Either way, we can be
faithful to what he has called us to do and who he has called us to be. I read a Christianity Today article last
month called “Your Church Is Big Enough;” as you may have guessed, it was the
title that caught my eye. And the author
wrote that “Every church is called to worship, disciple, fellowship, minister
and evangelize with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. And leave the
results in Jesus’ hands. No matter what
size your church is, you can do those things. All of them. And you can do them
well… It’s time to stop worrying about getting bigger, and start doing what we
can do now. At your current size. In your current location. With your current
budget. Your church is big enough.
Because our God is big enough.”[7] Our God, who came in the form of a tiny
baby. Our God, who turns things upside
down by seeking out seemingly insignificant people in unimportant places. Our God does not overlook or ignore us. He simply calls us to be faithful with what
he has given us.
