More “Rejoice” than “Hello”

During these weeks of the Advent season, we have been looking at one or more of the imperative words, the get-at-and-do-it words that are in the lessons.

In the First week we are urged to “watch”, for we do not know the day or the hour of the Lord's coming.

We discover that the kind of “watching” here is not a passive thumb-twiddling, but instead an active searching for the signs of God's continuing action with his people, a searching which takes place as we are busy with the things that are commanded of us: prayer, praise, and acts of mercy.

In the Second week, we explore the word “prepare” in Prepare the way of the Lord, and discover that this does not in the first instance point us to a “Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” effort at the faith.

It is first of all God who prepares the way, not us.

A point of connection for us is to compare ourselves with the rough, misshapen stones which in many and various ways God is now shaping into his paving blocks of his great wide way on which all the people will at length be drawn to him.

“Prepare ye” is not the call to superhuman efforts, but to wide-open eyes, to discernment of how God is chipping away at our roughness and shaping us so that we fit together with his great hopes.

On the Third week we hear of John, how he came for testimony, to bear witness to the Light.

We think about signs and people, and how the best of them point beyond themselves to what is ultimately true, beautiful, and important.

To “bear witness” is to point to Jesus by what we say and do rather than pointing to ourselves.

This is what John the baptizer does.

All of this is based on the example of Jesus who is the faithful witness to the love of the Father.

The questions that we considered last week revolve around what kind of signposts we are.

What direction do we point?

What sort of witness do we give?

Today's imperative word takes us in a somewhat different direction.

It is the angel's greeting to Mary.

Hail, favored one, the Lord ____with you.

Let's look briefly at each element of this sentence.

1. The Lord --- with you.

There is no verb in the Greek text.

We could make it into a blessing which we ask upon each other: The Lord be with you.

Perhaps the sense of this passage is better served if we read it not as a wish, but as a positive statement: The Lord is with you.

The angel's announcement is not speech like the prophet's words about hanging on for the indefinite future of God's actions, but rather points to the action that is beginning to break in even as the angel speaks.

When God speaks, his word and will and action are all the same thing; they simply happen, they are.

2.Favored one of God.

Why is Mary favored?

Because she is the one who is ready to listen.

Through the centuries of the church, we have pointed to Mary as the example of discipleship.

She is the one who is ready to follow.

She is ready to move in a new direction.

She is patiently listening and pondering.

Paul Gerhardt's hymn from the 1600s says it well:

Oh Lord, how shall I greet you,

How welcome you aright?

Your people long to greet you,

My hope, my heart's delight.

Oh, kindle, Lord most holy,

Your lamp within my breast

To do in spirit lowly

All that may please you best. [LBW#23.1]

Mary's trust and acceptance are in strong contrast with others throughout the Gospels who react with suspicion, fear, and rejection.

Mary was enabled to see the greatness of the gift of God and to receive it.

3.This brings us to the first part of the angel's greeting: Hail!

The Greek word used here often has the meaning simply “Hello,” or “Hey you.”

There is another possible translation of the word that is an imperative as we have been finding them during this season....the word Rejoice.

In the light of the favor shown to Mary and the promised presence of God with her, this translation does seem to be appropriate.

It is not just “Hello” that the angel says; it is also Rejoice that he urges.

And the word fits us as well.

Here it is at the darkest days of the calendar year, gloomy days

--when the sun seems far away,

--when night seems to rule over the day

--when sin seems so strong

--when war, poverty, injustice, and all the rest seem to be winning,

--when death is all around;...

Now, yes now we are promised the One who will save us, the One who will turn the whole mess upside down.

In spite of the appearances, it is a sure thing now...so Rejoice, even now, in the dark.

Another stanza from Gerhardt's hymn expresses it:

Rejoice then, you sad-hearted

Who sit in deepest gloom,

Who mourn your joys departed

And tremble at your doom.

Despair not: he is near you,

There, standing at the door,

Who best can help and cheer you

And bids you weep no more. [LBW #23.5]

In a powerful way, the angel's message was meant for only Mary

In the Orthodox tradition, she is named Theotokos, the God-bearer, a special job to which no one else is called.

In that, she is unique.

But in another sense, she is but the model for our living.

Philips Brooks' hymn catches this emphasis:

O holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us we pray;

Cast out our sin and enter in,

Be born in us today.

Be born in us today.

Remember the legend of St. Christopher, whose name, Christophoros, means Christ- bearer.

The medieval story goes that a child asked Christopher to carry him across a stream.

Christopher agreed the request, but was bowed under tremendous weight and could hardly complete the work.

Then the child told Christopher that he was Christ Jesus, and that he was thus carrying the weight of the whole world upon himself.

Christopher was honored for his agreeing to take on the task, and his perseverance when it became so difficult.

And we are bid to carry Christ in what we say and do, in the times when it is easy, and the times when it becomes difficult.

I'm thinking of those brave persons who dare to carry Christ to North Korea or Iran or Burma, or a host of other places where being discovered and denounced will almost certainly lead to execution.

I'm thinking of those who pray for and gently reach out to family members sometimes for decades in hopes that there may be a positive response someday.

I'm thinking of those who are alert for when one of the really big life questions comes up in the lunchroom or over coffee, so that they can carry Christ to that conversation.

And many more times, great and small....

As we are now nearing the end of Advent, we understand it as a very serious time, not as carefree and light-hearted as the TV ads pretend that it is.

We need to take seriously the imperatives we have heard during the season, the admonitions to Watch, to Prepare, to Bear Witness, and to Rejoice.

But through this season we have discovered that these words are not meant to be a burden, but a gift.

Before they are our words, they are first of all God's word.

God is the one who gives us the reason to Watch,

who shapes and prepares us,

who will is to point us in the right way and to Bear a good and faithful Witness,

who will do with us, and through us, more than we could ever dream ... so that we will indeed Rejoice.

So now, with God's imperatives firmly in our minds, we look ahead with joyful anticipation to the festive 12 days of Christmas.

Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come. 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.