Emotions of Advent: Graced Wonder

Before contact with Jesus, one may be able to hide out and pretend...at least for a while...that we don't have to be concerned about anyone or anything else.

But once he has caught up with us, well then, everything is different.

There is no place to hide, not in a little village in the back country of Judea, or in the side streets of Newberry.

“Am I my brother's keeper?” Well, yes, even to one of uncertain background lying in the ditch on the road to Jericho, or folks we haven't met yet in Family Promise.

We use some of God's gift of time each week in a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving instead of on shopping, or sleeping, or a dozen other things that we could be doing.

We're supposed to be immersing ourselves in the study of the Word. And we have at least a twinge of guilt because we know we should be doing much better at it than we are.

And it all boils down to “I am the Lord your God: you shall have no other” with no room for “...but what about... anything else.”

Today on the 4^th Sunday in Advent we encounter Mary, and we can give her the title of First Disciple, first follower of Jesus, in a way.

But then we need to ask what sort of follower is she?

Are things all sweetness and light for her?

No, certainly not!

She is as puzzled and hesitant and of several different minds, as we are!

In the lesson that we read and sang this morning we hear her at her positive best.

At the angel's announcement to her, she acquiesced quietly and said “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; may it be with me according to your word.”

Oh, if we would have the presence of mind to say that at the right times:

“I'm listening.”

“Got it. Will do.”

“Thanks for the opportunity to serve.”

More often than not, we fumble the chance.

The only good thing is that we trust that God will keep placing those chances in our path.

Think how confusing it must have been for Mary.

She is one of the ordinary poor people of the land, who could never expect to achieve much of anything.

Yet, she had a message from the angel about an impending birth.

She met with her kinswoman Elizabeth and sang the song we sang a few minutes ago, a song which has been feared and suppressed by the powerful in many centuries and in many lands.

She bore the baby and welcomed the visitors; the stories we will tell again tomorrow evening and in days following.

The child grew up, and Mary must have been expecting great things.

Then instead of gathering an army and making allies out of all of the powerful figures in the land, Jesus keeps pointing out sin and brokenness, wherever it is.... whether that is in the poor or the rich, the young or the old, or any other way of dividing up people.

He keeps talking about repentance, about being remade for the kingdom of God,

and his family, presumably including Mary, decides he is mentally ill, and they try to silence him and take him home.

Had Mary forgotten so soon all that the angel had told her prior to Jesus' birth?

Jesus has to answer the question “Who are my brothers?” with “Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother!”

It does seem that relationships in the Holy Family were more than a little strained.

From a few hints here and there, it seems that the various relatives only came to faith after the resurrection.

Before that they had mostly rejected Jesus. His own family!

So we can think of all of this messiness when we are struggling with our own discipleship.

Mary's call to faith began quite dramatically, with an angel visitor.

Mary was mystified and overwhelmed, but was enabled to say “Here I am, ready to do your will.”

That was a good start.

We might agree that it would be conveniently easy to say Yes if we were to get our own angel-type dramatic visitor.

The trouble is, those days are so rare, so few, and there are so many other days when it is swaddling clothes to be washed, grain to grind into flour and bread to bake, water to carry from the well, and so many more mundane tasks.

Then also there are the times of danger, such as when she is forced to flee with Joseph and the baby to Egypt when Herod's goons were searching for Jesus to destroy him.

The ordinary days and the danger days are far more numerous for us also.

The phone call comes “Pastor, pray with me; we're on the way to the hospital with a relative.”

“Pastor, I'm so tired of feeling this way.”

“Pastor, I've been meaning to ask you for a long time about....”

“Pastor, I don't know why I'm still here.”

Those are the ones that I hear.

Then there are the ones that I don't hear, the ones who continue in utter silence.

Where are they in this mixed up thing we call discipleship?

Faith won out in Mary, despite all of those twists and turns in her life.

We hear of her one more time, after the resurrection, in Acts 1, where she is mentioned as one of the leaders of the beginning church.

The one who had been so confused and disappointed...there Mary is, a disciple, one of the founders of the church.

Discipleship is not a one-time decision, but a life-long journey.

It is Jesus who takes us places!

There will be ups and downs, difficult times and lonely times, just as Mary had.

There will be times when our faith may be vivid and wonder-filled, perhaps at the Easter Vigil or on Christmas Eve.

But then there are those other times when we are puzzled, not knowing what to say or which way to turn because of the pain.

In those times, we are bid to remember Mary, and perhaps come and sing her song again.

The Magnificat breathes a quiet and exultant confidence, despite whatever mess we are facing.

It does so because in it, she is not bragging about her own strength, but of the wonderful intentions of the Lord God.

He has brought down the powerful...

He has filled the hungry...

Even if it has not yet happened, it is as good as done, because it is the Lord who is doing it....in remembrance of his mercy.

He has done it before, and will continue to do good things for this, his people.

And so discipleship begins not when we grasp Jesus, but when he grasps us in Holy Baptism,

and stands us up, dripping, on a new path.

No, we don't always understand, and no, we're not always faithful, but he keeps calling us and beckoning us to walk his way.

Today, we're giving thanks for Mary, the first disciple.

In the wonder of grace in her life, there is a lesson for us all.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.