In this week's sermon, I focus on the audacious faith of Mary.
Kathi Johnson
C Advent 4 – 23 December 2012
Text: Luke 1:39-55
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
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Where we pick up the story of Mary
today, she has just received the incredible news from the Angel Gabriel that
she is to bear the Christ Child – and the even more the incredible news that
her Son “will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the
Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”[1]
Mary, of course, receives this news with a few questions – just for
clarification – but also with great faith. The rest is, as we say, history.
Mary then picks up and heads over
to visit her relative, Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. Upon
the women greeting each other, John the Baptist leaps for joy in the womb and
the Holy Spirit falls upon Elizabeth. She praises the faith of Mary, who
responds with a song.
Mary’s song is often called the
“Magnificat” because of the first word of this song as it is found in the Latin
translation. In her song, Mary sings, “My soul magnifies the Lord,” and like so
many people of faith before her, she both sees
the work that God is doing, and she praises
God for his work.
In spite of the fact that she has been handed a fantastical part
to play in God’s work, in her song, Mary’s focus on the nature of God: that it is in God’s nature to care about the lowly. And
her focus is on the actions of God:
that he has done great things; that he has shown strength on behalf of the
powerless and has kept his promise in sending the Messiah. Mary realizes that,
yes, she’ll be called “blessed” - but not because of her own nature or actions.
Her song – the Magnificat – it
makes God bigger. It takes the gizillions of small ways in which God cares for
his people and shows his love – it takes the love of God that sometimes appears
so small to us – and makes it huge, as if we’re peering at it through a
magnifying glass.
And there is something beautiful
about God’s choosing Mary to be the mother of his Son. Luke sets up a contrast
for us – earlier, the rich and powerful are mentioned – and here, it is Mary.
God chooses Mary – a young woman from an obscure village – to bear his Son. Not
a rich or proud woman, but someone lowly and humble.
A Folk Tale: A Treasure in Krakow
Many years ago, when a great number
of people still believed in whatever it was they dreamed while they slept, a
man named Isaac lived in the Polish city of Krakow. A poor man, Isaac worked
long hours each day to support his family. At night, exhausted from his
strenuous labor, he slept soundly.
One night, Isaac dreamed that he
was walking over a bridge in the far-off city of Prague, when a voice told him
to look in the water for a valuable treasure. The dream was so realistic that
he could see the treasure box in the crystal clear water. Night after night,
Isaac had the same dream.
After two weeks, Isaac walked the
three days’ journey to Prague to see what he could find. He easily located the
bridge from his dreams and began looking underneath it, when a policeman hauled
him away to the local jail.
In the interrogation room, the
policeman demanded to know what he had been doing, looking so closely under the
bridge? In desperation, Isaac blurted out the truth, telling the men that he
was looking for a treasure he had seen in his dreams.
“You foolish man,” shouted the
policeman, “Do you believe in dreams? I am too smart for such nonsense. Why,
for the last two weeks, I myself have dreamed that in the city of Krakow, in
the home of a poor man named Isaac, there is a treasure hidden under the stove
in the kitchen. Yet, you don’t see me looking for someone and something that
doesn’t exist!”
Roaring with laughter, the
policeman grabbed Isaac by the coat and threw him out into the street. “Go
home, you foolish dreamer!” they shouted.
Isaac dusted himself off and walked
the long journey back to his home in Krakow. Once there, he moved the stove in
the kitchen, and found the treasure buried there.[2]
==========
God calls the humble of heart to
serve him, certainly. But then there are these others who are called by God –
those who, to our viewpoint, anyway, are crazy enough to follow him. Like Isaac
in our story, or Mary and Joseph and Elizabeth and Zechariah – these are ones
who are laughed at or scorned. These are the ones who have the audacity to
believe that something miraculous is about to happen – whether it’s finding
buried treasure, or – even greater – finding themselves in the middle of God’s
work among humankind.
And so for all of us today, may we
give thanks to God for the great work he has done for us in Christ Jesus, and
give thanks to God for the gizillions of little ways that he cares for us every
day. But let us also humbly offer ourselves to God’s service, so that he can
use us – use us to show his love to others in a gazillion little ways.
It takes audacity – to believe and to
trust that God is working amidst us as a church family. It takes audacity and
faith to believe and to trust that God
will use us within our communities.
But like Elizabeth and Zechariah, like Mary and Joseph, may we be audacious.
May we take our steps of faith – trusting in the same God who led them.
Amen.
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1. Luke 1:32-33
2. Adapted from similar versions of a story found in two
places:
William R. White’s Stories for Telling: A Treasury for
Christian Storytellers published by Augsburg © 1986, and a parable found at
http://www.theparableteller.com/2010/08/buried-treasure.html
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