Ready - Set…

According to the church calendar, today is the last Sunday of Advent, the season in which we're supposed to prepare for Christmas and the birth of Jesus. Does this sound a bit ominous to you today? Have you prepared enough? Is there time left? You may be thinking, "Have I really been preparing for Jesus' birth? I know that there are booklets of Advent devotions and Advent calendars that are supposed to help people get ready spiritually, but all I've done is buy presents, put decorations on the tree and bake cookies. I've still got to wrap a few presents and finish writing cards. How can I prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth in the right way in just a few days? Am I ready?”

If that is where you sit this day, today I have some good news for you. Here's something that should be obvious but that you may never have thought of: No one prepared to celebrate at the first Christmas but Jesus came anyway. Jesus came anyway and in Mary’s song- we get a sneak peek into what is truly to be expected… and what is to be expected is the unexpected!

What WE expect is the birth of Jesus- the same old story every year- to Mary and Joseph- no room for them at the inn and so Jesus is born in a stable and placed in a manger for a bed- a very sweet story that we are comfortable with. But listen up, my friends, today’s words from Mary should wake us up and put us on high alert. Mary has seen the BIG picture- beyond the birth and the manger- beyond the angels’ songs and the shepherds’ leading…

Are you ready… are you set… for the unexpected?

For many years the people had been waiting in expectation for the promised deliverer. When would he come? How would he come? Their thoughts- surely with power and might for it was a time of oppression and sin. Even the Holy City and the sacred temple were corrupt. The darkness and the weariness and the sorrow of the world were long awaiting the sound of the Messiah’s footsteps- people were fearful- would he ever come?

Today’s gospel from Luke is really a song, Mary’s praise-filled response that this thing that is happening to her, growing in her, will turn the world upside down! Are you ready for that?

Let’s take a look at what Mary is saying about what is happening to her- and to us- as we await the Savior’s birth.

Mary begins with words of praise and gratitude, then goes on to note that God has brought down rulers from their thrones. Sounds pretty general and non-descript to me, but not to those of Mary’s time and place- this was an outrageous claim- and from Mary, a young peasant girl? Who was she to challenge the authorities?

Let’s begin with a little history lesson. Everyone knew who the ruler was: Herod- Herod the Great, that is, the one who had been given the title “The King of the Jews” by the Roman senate decades earlier and he took the title KING seriously and demanded, no commanded that everyone else did too.

Herod knew how power worked- and he loved power. Herod had a very limited view of the world- kind of like the first 6 mice in our kidtalk today. It was truly all about him- his power, his kingdom, his fame and fortune. First he hitched his wagon to Julius Caesar… until Caesar was assassinated. He then convinced Mark Anthony, the new ruler, that he really had been on Anthony’s side all along. When Caesar Augustus overthrew Mark Anthony, Herod changed his tune once more and said he’d really been a Caesar Augustus guy all along. (Does politics and power ever really change?)

Herod built huge buildings in his time. One reason the temple became so controversial in Jesus’ day was that it was built from the taxes paid by the poor as they lost their land- all so that Herod could be seen as Herod the Great.

Many of the stories in Jesus’ day were about people just like Mary and her family, people who were peasants and serfs. Herod grew wealthy off their poverty. It is told that he knew that people would party when he died, so he supposedly had 70 elite Jewish citizens imprisoned with orders that they be executed on the day of his death so that there would be tears and mourning in Israel- now that seems a bit extreme to me. Herod watched leaders come and go; he outlasted, outsmarted, outmaneuvered and outfoxed them all- well, most of them…

One day magi came to Jerusalem- I’m jumping ahead in the story a bit- we know them as the wisemen from the East- they asked Herod: Where is the one who has been BORN the King of the Jews?

King Herod heard this, and was- shall we say- disturbed- born king of the Jews- but he was king of the Jews. Meanwhile, Mary, meek and mild goes on singing:

He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts, He has brought down rulers from their thrones… He has sent the rich away empty… She, more like the last mouse in our story- has stepped back and looked at the BIG picture: The world is about to turn! Turn? The world?

Nobody paid much attention to her song- (it never got written on a Hallmark card nor made the Top 40 Christmas songs)- but she must have sang it often enough that it got remembered, got known, got written down, even got put in a book.

It appears from the gospel texts that only two people really understood exactly how subversive this new life would be: the most powerful man in the country- Herod the Great… and a powerless, penniless, illiterate Jewish peasant girl named Mary.

To one of them, the coming of Jesus was the foundation of desperate hope- hope for a world in need- to a world in darkness; to the other it was a catastrophe, a catastrophe to be prevented at all costs up to and including genocide- the killing of innocents. I guess it depends upon if you are looking at the BIG picture of God’s reign or your own reign.

My friends, ready or not… God is coming… and according to Mary this God is reversing everything: who is in, who’s out; who’s up, who’s down, who the winners are, who the losers are.

Our world, our culture says: blessed are the beautiful, blessed are the rich, blessed are the successful, blessed are the secure… blessed is Herod. Mary sings that God has something BIGGER in store. God is going to turn everything upside down; right the wrong, fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. Are you in- or are you out? Are you ready for that?

But then, why worry… why would anyone listen to an unimportant peasant girl and remember and write down her words, her song? But then a strange thing happened… a rabbi came along, his name was Jesus, he was a teacher, and he too sang the strangest song: Blessed are the poor, blessed are the hungry, blessed are the meek- and those in charge, those with a limited view on the world again did not want to listen… in fact, they began plotting against this teacher.

Where did he get his material? Could it have been from his mother? Did he remember her song? Did he learn from her that God has no intention of tolerating the injustice and greed of this world on a permanent basis? Did she teach him that it angers God when people are selfish or violent, when rich people watch poor people go hungry and do nothing, when the powerful push around the weak because they can get away with it?

Strange thing- the rabbi would not overthrow Herod by using Herod’s methods. No, he would not even attempt to out-Herod Herod. Rather, he had another tactic, a tactic sent by his Father… he would out-love Herod and defeat Herod’s capacity to hate by his greater capacity to suffer. He would humble himself- he would be born in a stable, grow up in poverty and work with his hands. As an adult he went on the road as a traveling teacher. He would teach wherever people would listen. He would be accused unfairly, tried corruptly, mocked and scourged- a crown of thorns would be placed upon his head. He would be executed on a cross next to common thieves.

He would overcome the dominion of sin through his suffering- and here God would turn everything upside down and defeat death… and it would all start with Mary… and her baby- but it would not stop there… it continues with us today- are you ready to turn the world around- to lend a hand where it is needed- to out-Herod the world by out-loving the world?

Yes, the Christmas story is a nice one if we leave it at that- but step back this day as you ready yourself for all the festivities ahead and look at the big picture- where does your world need to turn? Remember the moral from our 7 blind mice story: it’s only when the 7^th mouse goes out and explores the complete Something- that the mice see the whole truth. The mouse moral: knowing in part may make a fine tale, but wisdom (and truth) comes from seeing the whole.

Jesus is coming… ready or not! Amen.