This
\nAdvent we are Waiting in Hope, and our guides for that waiting are
\ngoing to be Isaiah and Luke. All too often we jump into Luke chapter
\n2 on Christmas, without examining Luke chapter 1 to prepare the way.
\nThis means we are going to spend Advent with Mary, with Elizabeth,
\nand with Zechariah. \u00a0Which means that we need a content warning
\nfor Advent.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Luke
\n1, not unlike Genesis, spends a lot of time dealing with issues of
\nfertility and infertility. \u00a0These are tender topics for many people,
\nand I will be seeking to deal with them tenderly. \u00a0However, you are
\nnot obligated to stay present if these topics are simply too much for
\nyou right now, and I am available to talk if you want to. \u00a0(Or, I’m
\nwilling to find you someone else to talk to if you’d prefer.)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Luke
\nstarts by telling the story of Zechariah, an old priest, and his wife
\nElizabeth. \u00a0They had no children. \u00a0This is a VERY common story in the
\nBible, in fact it feels like a throw-back to the matriarchs and
\npatriarchs who all had trouble conceiving until God intervened. \u00a0(And
\nthis is part of why these stories are so hard. \u00a0If infertility could
\nbe solved with prayer alone, there would be much less of it.) \u00a0This
\nstory rings of Abraham and Sarah, of Issac and Rebecca, of Jacob’s
\nwife Rachel, of Hannah and Elkanah.
\n This is a familiar story. \u00a0An angel tells Zechariah, while he is
\nserving in the temple, that his prayers have been heard and Elizabeth
\nwill become pregnant. \u00a0Zechariah expresses some disbelief because of
\ntheir age, which is punished with being unable to speak until the
\nbaby is born. \u00a0The baby to be born will be, according to Luke, John
\nthe Baptist.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\nA few
\nmonths later, with Elizabeth pregnant, the story is interrupted with
\nour reading today. \u00a0This story is NOT familiar. \u00a0It doesn’t sound
\nlike the Hebrew Bible at all \u2013 although it does sounds like its
\ncontemporary Greek stories. \u00a0As far as the Bible goes, though, this
\nis a brand new account. \u00a0And it is breaking into an old, old story.
\nIn this new account a young woman, who has been legally married to
\nher husband but is still in the one year waiting period in her
\nfather’s house before she joins her husband in his house, is greeted
\nby that same angel. \u00a0The angel says \u201c\u2018Greetings, favored one! The
\nLord is with you,\u201d and the story says that Mary is perplexed. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
This \n<\/p>\n She \n<\/p>\n \nAt this \n<\/p>\n \nIn this \n<\/p>\n We \n<\/p>\n \nMany of us \n\u201cthey \nbut it \n<\/p>\n \nThe only Now \n<\/p>\n \nIn Isaiah’s \n<\/p>\n \nIn this \n<\/p>\n \nAnd this \n<\/p>\n I \n<\/p>\n \nWhat if we \n<\/p>\n \nFriends, 1<\/a>Alan <\/p>\n Rev. Sara E. Baron <\/p>\n December 1, 2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nmake sense, I think. \u00a0By the standards of the world, Mary wasn’t
\nfavored. \u00a0She was poor, she was young, she was female, she had very
\nlittle power, and she lived in an unimportant little village that was
\noutside of a city that had recently been ransacked by the Roman
\nEmpire. \u00a0She was, by no means, favored by anyone nor anything. \u00a0Nor
\nwas their any previous evidence that she was favored by God. \u00a0R. Alan
\nCulpepper writes in the New Interpreter’s Bible, \u201c’Yet, Mary, God’s
\nfavored one, was blessed with having a child out of wedlock who would
\nlater be executed as a criminal. \u00a0Acceptability, prosperity, and
\ncomfort have never been the essence of God’s blessing.\u201d1<\/sup><\/a>
\n Mary seems to still be processing this.<\/p>\n
\nis, however, wise enough to keep her objections to herself \u2013 unlike
\nZechariah. \u00a0So the angel continues to tell her about her upcoming
\npregnancy with the child who would be named Jesus, \u201cthe rescuer\u201d,
\nand would claim a unique connection to the Divine. \u00a0This time Mary
\nexpresses her confusion, indicating that she understands how
\nconception works and thus that it shouldn’t be happening to her.
\nPerhaps because she doesn’t ask for proof, she is given it, in the
\nform of Elizabeth’s pregnancy.<\/p>\n
\npoint, the story comes to one of the greatest acts of courage I know
\nabout. \u00a0This impoverished young woman, with everything to lose by
\ntaking this risk (including her own life), responds \u201cHere am I, the
\nservant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.\u201d \u00a0I
\nknow that this story is Luke’s creation, Luke’s intentional
\nforeshadowing of the Jesus story. \u00a0I know this didn’t HAPPEN. \u00a0And
\nyet I can’t help but be stuck by this line. \u00a0It feels like the sort
\nof answer that the woman who raised Jesus and taught Jesus of God
\nwould give. \u00a0It feels true in a way that is deeper than the story
\nitself. \u00a0Mary is a risk-taker for God. \u00a0She trusts in the
\nDivine even when it makes no sense and by all reasonable standards
\nshould be done.<\/p>\n
\nstory, through this brief interaction, Mary moves from confused at
\nthe idea that she could be favored by God to an unquestioning
\nwillingness to do whatever it is God needs of her. \u00a0The foreshadowing
\nof Jesus couldn’t be much better. \u00a0This unique story about Mary has
\nechoes all over it of Hannah and her faithfulness. \u00a0These are the
\nstories of the women’s faith, the women who raised men of great
\nfaith. \u00a0The men didn’t come to their faith alone.<\/p>\n
\nwill come back to Mary next week, and to her extraordinary courage
\nand unique insight. \u00a0But for now we’re going to transition to the
\nvision of Isaiah, a vision that came when everything else looked like
\nit was going downhill. \u00a0Most of the time first Isaiah (the first 40
\nchapters) has to warn the people of what will happen if they don’t
\ntrust in God, but this vision is an after vision. \u00a0Of what will come
\nSOMEDAY, one way or another. \u00a0The more I examine it, the more
\nstriking it is.<\/p>\n
\nare familiar with the closing lines,\n<\/p>\n\n
\nshall beat their swords into ploughshares,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0and
\ntheir spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword
\nagainst nation,
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0neither shall they learn war
\nany\u00a0more.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nreally struck me this week that these lines are about much more than
\npeace and a lack of a need for war. These lines are about not
\nneeding defenses anymore, about not needing borders anymore,
\nabout being unafraid for safety, and a sense of deep security. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nway that people could be so secure is if they AND EVERYONE ELSE
\nalready had enough, and resources were already fairly shared, and
\nthere was no injustice or inequality that needed to be rectified.
\nI’m told that the threat of violence is what allows for income
\ninequality. \u00a0Thus the opposite must be true, where there is equality
\nthere is no need for violence. \u00a0Furthermore, this has to be
\nwidespread equality and equity, because there is no fear that
\noutsiders will break in wanting to share in the prosperity \u2013
\nbecause they have it too.<\/p>\n
\nthis makes perfect sense as a correlation to the earlier parts of the
\npassage. \u00a0It has already said that YHWH-God has become acknowledged
\nas THE Sacred one, and EVERYONE is worshipping YHWH-God.
\nFurthermore, they’re all learning God’s ways. \u00a0Well, God’s ways is a
\nway of speaking of the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible, which
\ncontain a vision of a just and equitable society. \u00a0In that society
\nland is distributed to all so all can provide for themselves, those
\nwho struggle are helped by their family and community, anyone in need
\nis cared for by the excess of those who have enough, and justice
\nitself is blind to power and influence. \u00a0This is the society that God
\ndreams of, and this is what people would be studying as \u201cwalking in
\nGod’s ways.\u201d \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nvision, this message is shared far and wide AND God’s self is the
\njudge arbitrating between people \u2013 so justice is definitely just.
\nSo, yes, this is a reasonable set up for what otherwise feels like an
\noverly idealistic vision of peace.<\/p>\n
\ncontext, it is the reasonable extension. \u00a0If everyone buys into God’s
\nvision and enacts it, of course there would be equity, equality,
\njustice, and peace. \u00a0Of course weapons of destruction could become
\ntools of creation and means of food production. \u00a0That’s what God is
\ncapable of doing.<\/p>\n
\ngot me to thinking. \u00a0Do we dream this dream deeply enough? \u00a0Do we
\nconsider what it would be like to be fearless? \u00a0To feel safe? \u00a0To
\nlive in peace?<\/p>\n
\nhaven’t spent nearly enough time living into this dream. \u00a0What would
\nit be like to assume that all people, as they age, will have enough
\nresources to be cared for with tenderness and love in ways that
\nrespect their humanity and maintain their freedom? \u00a0What would it be
\nlike to know that all children, whether or not they have living and
\nable parents, will be nurtured, played with, fed well, have safe
\nplaces to sleep, clothing appropriate for the season, and access to
\ngreat education to help them thrive in body and spirit? \u00a0What would
\nit be like to remove locks from all doors, knowing that no one aims
\nto do us harm, and no one would have a need to take anything we have?
\n What would it be like to know that all people, regardless of their
\nemployment status, or marital status, or socio-economic status, could
\nreceive great healthcare when they need it? \u00a0What would it be like to
\nknow that people all around the world shared all these gifts, and no
\none in any other nation wished us harm because of harms we’d caused
\ntaking resources we needed? \u00a0What would it be like to know that there
\nwere no guns left in the world, and no one had motivation to make any
\nmore? \u00a0What would it be like to live without the threat of nuclear
\nwar, nor biological warfare, nor even internet viruses????<\/p>\n
\nweren’t afraid, and didn’t need to be? \u00a0What if we could all care for
\neach other, and support each other, and grow together?<\/p>\n
\nthat’s the sort of hope we’re preparing ourselves for in this season
\nof Advent. \u00a0Not because we necessarily expect to see it in our
\nlifetimes, but because that’s what we’re working for and we have to
\nkeep God’s vision in front of us so we can be a part of enacting it.
\nMay we, indeed, beat swords into plowshares, nuclear warheads into
\nflower gardens, and study war no more \u2013 because it isn’t needed!
\nAmen\n<\/p>\n
\n\tCulpepper, \u201cLuke,\u201d<\/i>
\n\tin The New Interpreter\u2019s Bible Vol. 9<\/i>
\n\t(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1994) 52-3.<\/p>\n
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