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4 Advent
December 18, 2005
Sermon by Rev. Peggy Tuttle, Interim Rector
Readings
There were two men shipwrecked on an island. The minute they got on to the island one of them started screaming and yelling, "We're going to die! We're going to die! There's no food! No water! We're going to Die!"
The second man was propped up against a palm tree and acting so calmly it drove the first man crazy. "Don't you understand?!? We're going to die!!"
The second man replied, "You don't understand, I make $100,000 a week."
The first man looked at him quite dumbfounded and asked, "What difference does that make?!? We're on an island with no food and no water! We're going to DIE!!!"
The second man answered, "You just don't get it. I make $100,000 a week and I tithe ten percent on that $100,000 a week. My pastor will find me!"
That was a paid advertisement from your Stewardship Committee.
Christ Jesus, the Messiah, God Incarnate, came into the world as a newborn baby, born to a woman housed in a stable in Jerusalem. We are in awe of the possibility of God coming in the flesh. It baffles the mind to think of a simple young girl like Mary being singled out for the task of being mother to a child whose being was from the beginning.
It is a story we have heard many times. We know how it ends and yet we come again and again to hear it one more time. We come year after year and thirst for more. We don’t expect a different outcome, yet we listen as if it is the first hearing.
For the past several weeks we’ve heard from the forerunner, John the Baptist, announcing the coming of “the one whose shoes he’s not worthy to untie.” John both proclaims the greatness of the one to come and catches us up short with warnings about unquenchable fires.
Today we hear from another messenger, a gentler voice, the voice of Mary the Prophet who turns out to be Mary the mother of Jesus.
Mary is a young woman visited by the angel Gabriel who tells her that she has found favor with God. Oh, that I could find favor with God. How does one do that? What must one do to attract the attention of God?
How can I possibly find favor with God? But wait! What other women in the Bible have found favor with God? How about Sarah?
In Genesis chapter 17, a miracle happens! God declares to Abram, “No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. As for Sari your wife, you shall not call her Sari, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover, I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her.”
Abraham hears for the first time that Sarah will have a son. Her barrenness will soon be over, and, instead, she will have – indeed already has – the status of a princess. Moreover, the child to be born to her will be the son that she and Abraham have been waiting for since the beginning of their life together.
As the story goes, messengers from God visit Abraham and Sarah to reveal to Abraham that Sarah is going to have this child. Sarah, being a woman who is eager to know what’s going on, eavesdrops.
“And Sarah was listening at the tent entrance ... Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘Worn out as I am, shall I have pleasure? And my husband is old!’
Of course Sarah laughs. And the Lord says to Abraham, “What’s this? Sarah laughed and said, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too wonderful for the Lord? The son born to Sarah and Abraham was named Isaac, which means “laughter.”
Today we hear about Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin. Before going to Mary, the angel Gabriel has come to tell Zechariah of his wife’s baby-to-be. Unfortunately, Zechariah’s annunciation does not go as well as Abraham’s did. When the angel tells Zechariah that Elizabeth will bear a son whose name would be John, Zechariah says, “How will I know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.” For this apparent impertinence, the angel zips Zechariah’s lips making him mute until the day he hears his son cry out for the first time.
And when Gabriel tells Mary that she will bear a son, she says more or less the same thing. “How can this be?” she asks. But for some reason the angel goes easier on her. He tells her that the Holy Spirit will come upon her, that the power of the Most High will overshadow her, and, instead of asking any more questions, she says, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Three different stories announcing the pending birth of babies. Three different stories about a messenger from God announcing the power of God at work in the world, bringing about the unbelievable.
All three of these women become mothers of remarkable children: Isaac, John the Baptist and Jesus. All three men historical markers in our Judao-Christian story. All three mothers visited by messengers from God.
A mother never knows about the child she carries. Will the child be healthy, happy, and full of life? Will I be a good parent? How will life turn out for this child? We seem to have more questions than answers. Mary, on the other hand has but one question, “How can this be?” And the answer is simple, “God is how it can be!”
In old age, God gave to Sarah and Elizabeth. In her youth, God gave to Mary and to all of us. It is a time of year when we look into the barn and see there in the hay box a baby whose life gives us life, whose being gives us being, whose love envelopes us in a way no other can. In that hay box is a baby who gives us hope and courage. In that hay box is life everlasting and all we have to do is come stand at the hay box and open our hearts to love and be loved in ways we’ve never known before.
Today we will gather around the baptismal font to welcome Elizabeth Hartlieb into the household of God. She has been loved since before her birth. She is loved so much that her parents are bringing her here to this place to be given over to the one whose coming we await – the Lord Jesus.
Mary’s words to the angel are our words, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
Children can be a challenge.
That’s the risk parents’ take. That’s the risk your parents took. And those of us who have been blessed with children have certainly been surprised about how our children have developed. Things are no different today than in biblical times. God challenged Abraham to sacrifice his beloved Isaac. John the Baptist certainly challenged his parents when he decided to leave society and find his way through the desert. And Mary had no idea what the future held when she answered, “let it be with me according to your will.”
What if Mary had declined? But she didn’t. She gave herself over to God and became the Mother of Jesus. If she could have seen the future, would she have been so brave? She delivered her first child in a barn. She had to flee to Egypt to keep him safe from Herod. At the age of 12 she lost him in the Temple. She was a mother always protecting her child. If she had known that he would be rejected and crucified, would she have said yes to the angel Gabriel?
I believe she would have. I believe that because she came to know who he really was. And she came to understand, just as we do this day, that the baby who lies in the manger, who becomes the man on the cross, who leaves the tomb empty, who appears to the disciples in the upper room, is the Christ we know as the Son of God.
This afternoon as we go about our day, celebrating, congratulating, preparing, shopping, wrapping, whatever it is we do on the Fourth Sunday of Advent, consider what your answer would be if Gabriel appeared to you and asked that you trust God with your heart. I pray we will all be ready to answer, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; led it be with me according to your word.”
Amen.