Presented TSA AV Ministries, 22 December 2024 Based on the Swift Current Corps, 21 Dec. 2014, which in turn was based on the 20 Dec. 2009 sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay.
21 Dec. 2014 homily available here: https://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2014/12/luke-146-56-christmas-is-coming-2014.html
20 Dec. 2009 homily available here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2009/12/luke-146-56-christmas-is-coming.html
Josie
Osbourne, our MLA has just been appointed Minister of Heath. She helped out on
the food truck and rang the kettle bells this week. She is a big supporter of the
vulnerable through us here.
Wayne
Cormier, a friend of mine, told me a story a few years ago about when he used
to work for the Saskatchewan government. One time he found himself driving a
cabinet minister around while his assistant was sitting in the back recording
everything the minister said as per protocol back then in that situation. They
were driving around sizing up the damage from forest fires that were raging in Saskatchewan.
When, all of a sudden, their vision became impaired. It became more and more
impaired. Wayne was chauffeur and he could barely see anything in front of him–
it was smoke from the fire. The fire was so close you could almost feel it. The
cabinet minister asked Wayne, ‘what do we do now’?
Wayne
said, ‘Pray’. Wayne is a Christian and he has been for a long time. ‘Pray’, he
says, ‘we can’t see anything, but we can’t stop driving or its game over; we
can’t do anything else but drive and pray - so pray!’
The
assistant with the tape recorder in the back begins to pray quite a bit when
Wayne hears the cabinet minister start to pray. He prays, ‘God if you save us,
I will go to church on Sunday.’ They sit tensely as Wayne drives slowly through
the fire. They wait and they pray as they await their salvation from the fire.
When
they get out of the fire and they start to relax a bit and get ready for their
next tour, Wayne approaches the cabinet minister, and he asks him, ‘So you’re
going to church on Sunday?”
“Oh,
you heard that, did you?”
“Yes,
and so will everyone; your assistant has it on tape”
“Oh,
well maybe I should go to church then…”
Now
Wayne doesn’t know whether he did go to church or not but while he was waiting
for his salvation, in that moment he approached God, he encountered God, and we
can only hope that once that waiting was over, he continued to wait on God.
This
is the Advent season, and waiting is what Advent is all about. We are waiting
for Christmas to come. Advent is when we remember the first coming of Christ as
we are awaiting His second coming.
Who
here like to wait? One of the keys to waiting is faith. Faith is a key element
of Advent; so what is faith? There is the classic definition of faith, of
course, from Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and
certain of what we do not see.”
Martin
Luther says: “Faith is God's work in us, that changes us and gives new birth
from God (John 1:13) … It changes our hearts, our spirits, our thoughts and all
our powers. It brings the Holy Spirit with it. Yes, it is a living, creative,
active and powerful thing, this faith. Faith cannot help doing good works
constantly.”
The
Greek word translated as ‘faith’ or ‘believe’ is pistis (noun)
and this comes from pistevo (verb)[1] meaning
‘to have faith in, extend credit to; to commit, to adhere to, to trust in, to
rely on.’
Faith isn’t
just a vague belief in something. Faith is an action word. Faith and
faithfulness are intertwined.[2] One
cannot say they love God and not love their neighbour (Mt 25:31-46; Lk 10:27,
18:18-29). If you have faith in Christ, you will be faithful and even when we
are unfaithful, Christ’s faithfulness makes our faith(fullness) possible (Ro
3:3,4). It is the faithfulness of Christ that leads to salvation. Faith is an
action and the action of faith during Advent is waiting. Christmas is coming.
In our
story today something very interesting is happening: Mary, an unwed teenager,
finds out that she is pregnant and goes to her aunt’s or an older relations’
home; she goes to Elisabeth’s house (vv. 46-49):
And
Mary said: My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for He has been mindful of the humble state of His servant. From now on all
generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for
me— Holy is His name.
Mary
speaks about how good the Lord has been to her. She talks about how greatly she
has been blessed by the Lord. She speaks about how He has been mindful of
someone such as her. Mary here is praising God.
Mary,
the mother-to-be of Jesus, is a teenager in the occupied territory in
Palestine. Mary isn’t married when she finds out she is going to be with child.
Mary’s partner, her husband-to-be, had never been with her in that way.[3] Can
you imagine? If you were her or her husband-to-be or if you were her parents,
what would you think? … your teenage daughter comes home and tells you she is
about to have a baby? In those days she could’ve received the death penalty for
that.[5] Mary
is vulnerable.
Mary, a
few months from now in the timeline, right when she is ready to have this baby,
Mary and Joseph load up a pack animal and walk all the way from Nazareth in
Galilee to Bethlehem in Judea to enrol in a census so they can pay their taxes.
They walk or ride on the back of this animal for that whole distance while Mary
is very, very pregnant (Lk 2:1-7). I don’t know how many women here when they were
nine months pregnant would like to go from here to Victoria or Cobble Hill
(about the same distance) - either by foot or on the back of a donkey.
Mary
is a humble girl and Mary, Luke 1:46-49,
says, ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in
God my Saviour, for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done
great things for me— Holy is His name.’” Mary - in this state - finds
herself blessed.
I know
that there are people who are going through some really difficult times. There
are so many struggles and tragedies, but Christmas is still coming. I think of those
close to my own heart and family in very difficult circumstances. Mary is in
her circumstance with all that is involved, and Mary is praising God.
Today
is the fourth Sunday of Advent and Advent is a time of waiting for Christmas.
As the metaphorical smoke from fires of troubles, depression, oppression, adversity,
sin, circumstance, and more surround us so much so that we cannot see anything
through the life around us, Christmas is still coming. The lead up to Christmas
is often a very stressful time. Do we, when our life seems challenging, almost
overwhelming, do we –like Mary – praise the Lord, considering ourselves
blessed?
Mary
continues her greeting to Elisabeth praising God. She says of God, Luke 1:
50-55:
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in
their inmost thoughts.
He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
even as he said to our fathers."
Mary,
in the midst of all that she is in the midst of, Mary speaks about God’s mercy
to all who fear Him (Luke 1:50); she remembers that He performs mighty deeds (Luke
1:51). She praises God for His covenant to bless all the nations (Lk 1:55, Gen
12:3). Mary praises God, who faithfully fulfils His covenant with Abraham and
his descendants even though they – even though we – were faithless over and
over again (Ro 3:3,4). Mary’s life is not easy. And Christmas is coming. Her
son will be born a long way from home and placed in a feeding trough. Her son
will grow up and eventually suffer a state execution at the hands of her
country’s occupiers at the urging or her own religious leaders – Christmas is
coming.
Mary
is singing her song of praise to God in this circumstance. There is another
interesting part of Mary’s song of praise here that refers to the time when
Jesus will return. We have spoken about Christmas and waiting for the birth of Jesus;
we are also waiting for Jesus to come back. Mary says that at that time – when
he returns - the rulers of this age will be brought down (Luke 1:52). There
will be no more corrupt politicians. There will be no more scandals; there will
be no more wars – and accompanying hypocrisy, like leaders saying we will abide
by the International Criminal Court ruling against genocide all the while, allegedly,
clandestinely, providing those accused of genocide with the weapons to commit genocide.
There will be no more handing people over to be tortured - like we did for the
Americans at Guantanamo and elsewhere. There will no longer be leaders who hate
the poor or Presidents who bomb foreign countries, killing children and others at
will. The rulers of our age – it says in verse 52 – the rulers of our age will
be brought down from their thrones. Wicked Presidents, Prime Ministers,
Chancellors, leaders will be replaced by the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, and
the Prince of Peace whose government will never stop ruling and being peaceful
(Is 9:6-7).
We
will no longer be subservient to brutal economic systems in which one man get
rich as over 25 000 children die every day even though the Lord has provided
more than enough resources for the whole world to be fed and clothed and
otherwise taken care of many, many, many times over.[6] These
systems of oppression will end.
Mary
and the Bible say the rulers of this world will be brought low. We will no
longer see a situation where people become millionaires for appearing on a
screen or playing sports while others cannot afford to clothe themselves. In
our world today rich people fly to space for recreation while poor people die from
wars, homelessness and poverty. In the United States, pornography revenue is
more than all money made from professional football, baseball and basketball
combined. Child pornography alone generates billions of dollars annually:[7] all
this while people cannot access clean and healthy drinking water (even here!) and
thousands upon thousands of people are dying daily of malnutrition – or from us
bombing them. The systems and rulers who oversee all of this will be brought
down. This will come to an end.
The
greatest in this world shall become the least and the least shall become the
greatest. Jesus is the great equalizer. When he comes back those in power and
luxury (which may be many of us here) will experience His justice and those who
are hungry and humbled now will be lifted up and be fed.
Advent
is about waiting, and this is what we are waiting for, and this is what we are
praying for as we drive through the metaphorical smoke from the fires of our earthly
leaders and their world and all of the trials and tribulations that accompany
it. And as we are waiting, as we act in faith, doing our part like the sheep in
Matthew’s parable of the sheep and the goats by giving the hungry something to
eat, giving the thirsty something to drink, inviting in the stranger, clothing
the naked, looking after the sick and visiting those in prison (Mt 25:31-40); we look
forward to the day when Christ returns and all of the injustice is finally set
right. Jesus’ Advent 2000 years ago was a foretaste of the justice and mercy
that lies ahead when he returns. And as we show mercy to our neighbours, we
show that we belong to His world that is to come rather than to this present
evil age – and this is important because as sure as Christmas is coming, Christ
is coming back – so as bad as things may seem as we are driving through the
smoke of the fires of our troubles that make it so dark that maybe we cannot
even see, we must remember that just as Jesus was dwelling in Mary’s womb and
they were eagerly waiting for him to come; so too now the Holy Spirit is dwelling
in us as we are eagerly waiting for Jesus to come again; the world is in its
ninth month, the smoke is clearing, Jesus is coming and Jesus is coming soon
and when He does, everything will be alright. I promise. Christmas is coming.
Let us
pray.
---
[1] Cf.
Strong's Greek Dictionary
[2] Cf.
NT Wright and James Dunn. An Evening Conversation on Paul with James D.G. Dunn
and N.T. Wright Available online at:
http://www.thepaulpage.com/an-evening-conversation-on-paul-with-james-d-g-dunn-and-n-t-wright/
[3] Cf.
Culpepper, 51. Lenski, 69, Ellis, 75.
[4] Now
betrothal is not quite like engagements of today. In those days a man and his
wife were committed to each other at the engagement ceremony. They did have a
public ceremony with witnesses and the more. They did each gain a marital
status, complete with rights and responsibilities and if Joseph had died after
their engagement ceremony but prior to their marriage ceremony, Mary would
still be considered a widow with all the responsibilities and rights (or lack
thereof) of a widow. The betrothal was very different then anything we have
today and even though Mary would be Joseph’s legal wife, after this engagement
ceremony rather than going off to live with one’s husband, the wife usually
returned to her father’s household for a period of up to a year. Cf. E. Earle
Ellis, 71 and R. Alan Culpepper, 51. See also Captain Michael Ramsay, Luke
1:26-37: Do You Believe? Presented to the Nipawin Corps 14 December 2008.
Available on-line at
http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/luke-126-37-do-you-believe.html
[5] Cf.
Captain Michael Ramsay, Matthew 1:18-25: Do you believe? Presented to each
Nipawin and Tisdale Corps, 24 December 2007 and CFOT chapel in Winnipeg,
December 2006. Available on-line at
http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2008/12/matthew-118-25-do-you-believe.html
[6] Global
Issues: Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us
All. Cited December 15, 2009. Available on-line:
http://www.globalissues.org/article/26/poverty-facts-and-stats
[7] Christian
Technology Solutions, Pornography Industry Statistics. Cited 21 November, 2009.
Available on line: http://christiantechnologysolutions.com/content/view/18/24/
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