Favor (4th Sunday in Advent)

Scripture:       Micah 5:2-5a,  Psalm 80:1-7

Hebrews 10:5-10,  Luke 1:39-55

Today is the fourth Sunday in Advent, and after two weeks of reading about that nudge John the Baptist, we get some more pleasant company for a change.   Our readings lead us into the company of two women, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, and Mary, the mother of Jesus.   Two pregnant women, neither of which are expected to be pregnant, or even supposed to be capable of being pregnant.  Mary has just been visited by an angel who told her that she would be a mother, and that her child would be called Son of the Most High – though she had not to that point been with a man.  The angel also told Mary that her relative Elizabeth in her old age had conceived a son – Elizabeth and her husband John had been unable to conceive and had almost given up on children – and Elizabeth’s baby was to be named John.

Mary arrives on Elizabeth’s doorstep, and Elizabeth felt the child leap in her womb.  And even though Elizabeth herself has experienced divine intervention, her focus is on Mary as she says, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.  And why has this happened, that the mother of my Lord visited me. For as soon as I heard your greeting, my child jumped within my womb.  And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken by the Lord.” 

And Mary replies.  I should mention that each of the four Gospels has its own distinctiveness.  Matthew’s gospel, written for a predominantly Jewish audience, gives us lots of references to Old Testament prophecies; Mary and Joseph can hardly blink without Matthew adding “And this blink was to fulfill the words of the prophet.”  In the case of Luke’s gospel, we get canticles - songs – really, at times it’s as if the gospel had been written as a musical, show tunes and all.  Mary’s reply to Elizabeth is the first of four canticles or songs in the opening chapters of Luke’s gospel.  It’s called the Magnificat, from the Latin for the opening words, “My soul magnifies” – and our 2^nd hymn today was a modern setting of the Magnificat.  The second song, from Zechariah after his son is born and his speech is restored, is called the Benedictus, again from the Latin for the opening words “Blessed be….” – and we sang a modern setting of that song a few weeks ago.   The third song is a brief song of the angels, called the “Gloria” – glory to God in the highest – and our first hymn this morning is based on that song.  The fourth is the song of the aged Simeon as he sees the baby Jesus being taken to the Temple – It’s called the “Nunc Dimittis”, from the Latin for the opening words “Now let thy servant depart in peace…” 

So Mary’s reply to Elizabeth a song, and what a song.  She begins by expressing her own incredible joy and gratitude: “My soul magnifies the Lord, and 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.” 

She starts out in personal terms, praising God for what God has done for her, but expands to sing of God’s blessings in cosmic terms – “His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.  He has shown strength with his arm. He has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts…..”  And as she goes on, we might be tempted to tell Mary, “hold on there, Mary, you’re getting all carried away now” as she sings, “He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.  He has helped his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendents forever.”  As Mary tells it, because of the baby she’s carrying, the world will be turned upside down, with the poor at long last being lifted up and getting all the good things they’d lacked for so long, and the formerly rich and powerful being taken down a notch – or many notches – and being sent away destitute.  More than that, Mary speaks about these things in the past tense – “he has brought down the powerful and lifted up the lowly” – as if they’d already happened, even though as she’s singing all this, Caesar and Herod and Pilate and all the other movers and shakers are still in power.  Mary looks ahead to the changes Jesus will bring, and sings about them as if God has already brought them about, as if they’re already a done deal.  And how we respond to Mary’s song depends on our situation.  If we’re among the powerful, among society’s movers and shakers, we’d probably want to tell Mary to zip her lip.  If we’re among the powerless, among society’s moved and shaken, we’ll want to sing along.  I believe our congregation can look on Mary’s words as good news.

How did Mary end up here, singing about God’s favor and the toppling of society’s powerful?  Basically, by saying yes to God.  An angel had come to Mary with the words, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.  Do not be afraid.”  The angel then told Mary that she would conceive  a son, and though Mary asks the obvious question – “how can this be, since I’m a virgin” - at the end of it she said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord, let it be done with me according to your word.” 

In his greeting, the angel called Mary “favored one”.  Mary sang, “God has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.”  What does it mean to be favored by God?  Our culture, and many of the prosperity preachers on TV, tell us that wealth is a sign that we’re favored by God, and poverty is a sign that we’ve been disobedient or that God has for some other reason passed us over or abandoned us.  But that surely would have been news to Mary – as it would have been news to the prophets, to John the Baptist, and to Jesus himself.  A little later in Luke’s gospel, at Jesus’ baptism,  the aged Simeon warns Mary that her son is “destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, a sign that would be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many would be revealed…and a sword would pierce Mary’s own soul too.”  And indeed, for Mary, God’s favor brought disruption and hardship into what otherwise could have been a quiet life – a 90-some mile journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, on foot or donkey, childbirth in a cold, filthy stable, a hurried journey into Egypt chased by Herod’s men.  And then when Mary’s son turned 30, he went out to get dunked in the Jordan River by his weirdo cousin, Elizabeth and Zechariah’s son John the Baptist, spent 40 days in the wilderness, and then he abandoned the family carpentry business to run all over the place talking about God.   At least once when Mary and the family tried to visit Jesus where he was staying, he didn’t even stick his head outside the door and say “Hi Mom”, but left Mary and the family standing outside the door.  As Simeon had warned, Mary’s son got into trouble with the authorities, and in her old age, when her children should have been providing for her – and we surely hope Mary’s other children did provide for her - Mary watched her son as he was tried, tortured, and nailed to a cross on a rocky hill outside the city of Jerusalem.   All this was what being “favored by God” brought into Mary’s life.

What does it mean to be favored by God?  It means to have the privilege of being part of God’s work in the world, of being available to God for God’s purposes.  I remember when I was a little kid, and my dad was making something out in his shop, I’d watch him and say, “I want to help”.  And, often, there really wasn’t much of anything I could do to help; at age 6 or 7, I wasn’t strong enough to lift much and my aim with a hammer was pretty scary.  But sometimes he’d find something small that I could do, and it just felt good that I could do something to help my dad – even though in reality he probably could have gotten it done faster without me.   But it was important for him that I try to learn, and it was important to me that I try to help.  And for me, that’s sort of like what it feels like to be of service to God – that God loves us enough to allow us to be a part of his work in the world. 

And so our struggles are not a sign that God has abandoned us.  Indeed, our struggles may mean that we are in exactly the place where we can be of use to God.  We may be exactly in the place where God can use us to help others.  The question is, are we willing?  Are we willing to listen to the still small voice of God in our lives?  Are we willing to follow where God leads – even if it means inconvenience, losing sleep, losing friends, living with insecurity, living with danger?  Are we willing to say yes to God? 

To say yes to God almost certainly won’t make us wealthy or popular.  To say yes to God likely won’t make us powerful in a worldly sense, and in fact may surround us with powerful opposition.  Indeed, saying yes to God can get us into trouble.  But it will put us in a place where our lives have meaning, where our lives matter, where the action is, where others will be better off for our having passed their way.

“Greetings, favored one.  The Lord is with you.  Do not be afraid.”  May all our lives be a “yes” to God, that we may enjoy the cost and joy of God’s favor, and may God use our lives to bring God’s favor to the lives of others.