Text: Luke 1:46-55
Theme: “Christmas Where You Least Expect It”
4th Sunday of
Advent
December 20, 2015
FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
Denton, Texas
Rev. Paul R. Dunklau
+In the Name of Jesus+
39 At
that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah’s home and
greeted Elizabeth. 41 When
Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was
filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 In
a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
child you will bear! 43 But
why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting
reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that the
Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
46 And
Mary said:
“My soul glorifies the Lord
47
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48
for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me
blessed,
49
for the Mighty One has done great things
for me—
holy is his name.
50
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51
He has performed mighty deeds with his
arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in
their inmost thoughts.
52
He has brought down rulers from their
thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53
He has filled the hungry with good
things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55
to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.”
She did not get up early to try and beat the crowds on Black
Friday. There were no trees to trim,
decorations to arrange, Advent candles to light, cookies to bake, menus to
prepare, or gifts to wrap. She did not sing along with Bing Crosby and dream of
a white Christmas or attend lavish holiday parties replete with estate-bottled
Merlot, finger foods, and sugar cookie Santas. There was nothing particularly
special about her hometown. In a world
of Hilton Hotels and reward points, Nazareth was the kind of town that wouldn’t
have a Motel 6. Nothing about her gives us pause; absent from
her life are any lucky breaks or perks that foreshadow success. She was not part of what future generations
would call the aristocracy or, more recently, the “1%”. The news of her
pregnancy and the special circumstances around it (as announced by the angel)
were, it seems, kept rather quiet.
It was all so unexpected, eerily unexpected, so unexpected
that it might capture our attention for longer than a moment in the
razzle-dazzle season we’re experiencing now.
Positively, she had her life; she had the new life that was
growing within her. Oh, and she had her
energy, her enthusiasm, and a “go-to” person, a relative named Elizabeth. She, Mary, “hurried” to the hill country of
Judea. Did she have time off? We are not told. In any event, sometimes you just have to get
away from it all and spend quality time with your relative/best friend.
Relative/Best Friend Elizabeth is in full-on party mode! She is ecstatic when Mary greets her.
When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed
are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother
of my Lord should come to me? As
soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped
for joy. Blessed
is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
To our modern ears, Elizabeth sounds like she just won the
PowerBall.
Mary does not have a freshly baked pie, a small gift from La
Ti Da, or something appropriate like that to give to Elizabeth. She can,
however, give of herself. And she does
so with her words. They are poetic,
lyrical, psalm-like.
Into that lowly little world of Elizabeth and Zechariah’s
home, somewhere out there in the hill country, comes the text that has come to
be known, in subsequent centuries, as The Magnificat!
“My soul magnifies the Lord,” says Mary, “and my spirit
rejoices in God, my Savior.”
For you number crunchers out there, here are the
results. In the nine Scriptural verses
that contain The Magnificat of Mary in Luke’s rendering, Mary refers to herself
six times. She refers to God twice as
many times plus one! Yet, even when she
is the referent, she is not marveling at how absolutely wonderful she is. She doesn’t even try to score points by using
that very adult tactic of trying to sound humble. The humility of which she
speaks is her lowly estate, her surroundings.
She is as shocked and surprised as anyone that it would be her that
generations would call blessed.
Just in time for your Christmas stockings, there is a new
device you can attach to your cell phone that is called a selfie stick. It won’t break the bank either; I’ve seen
them go for $14.95. You attach phone to
stick, hold it out, and snap the shot.
You don’t have to stick your arm out there.
In the Magnificat, Mary takes 6 lyrical selfies, but the pictures
in her heart of the Lord are twice as many plus one.
At the end of the Christmas story that we, Lord willing, will
hear again Thursday evening and on Friday, we are told that Mary “kept all
these things and pondered them in heart.”
That’s Christmas where one least expects it. We expect it in sights and sounds and
services and singing and feasting and trees and tradition and lights and
stimulation and sensory overload. But
Mary pondered it in her heart. Her heart
was the iCloud that kept the data.
Christmas can be – and is! -- where you least expect it, in
the heart, in the caring words and deeds of stranger, on a hillside outside an
inconsequential town:
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are the least among the
clans[a] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
“Oh little town of Bethlehem – now still we see thee lie.”
That’s Christmas where you least expect it.
Then, far more recently, there was the nurse, short of
stature, who came into my dad’s darkened hospital room last Wednesday night
with her rolling cart of nurse stuff.
She looked at me and said: “I
understand you’re his son; I’ll be taking care of your dad tonight.” That, too, is Christmas where you least
expect it.
Oddly and wonderfully, Christmas where you least expect it is
there in literature too. The Whos down
in Whoville surely were shocked to wake up Christmas morning and note that
Christmas was stolen from them. Our
culture is angry, distrustful, and afraid.
Christmas feels less real and more surreal; it’s like fast-paced
dream. And even if it was real back in
what we have called the “good old days”, it has been taken away by what we
might as well call a Grinch or the Grinch.
We feel that evil laughs at our expense.
Oh, why not! Let’s
look into the heart of Dr. Seuss via the lense of his words:
"They're
just waking up! I know just what they'll do!"
"Their
mouths will hang open a minute or two,
Then
the Whos down in Whoville will all cry BooHoo!"
"That's
a noise," grinned the Grinch, "That I simply MUST hear!"
So
he paused. And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.
And
he did hear a sound rising over the snow.
It
started in low. Then it started to grow.
But
the sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded merry!
It
couldn't be so! But it WAS merry! VERY!
He
stared down at Whoville! The Grinch popped his eyes!
Then
he shook! What he saw was a shocking surprise!
Every
Who down in Whoville, the tall and the small,
Was
singing! Without any presents at all!
He
HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!
Somehow
or other, it came just the same!
And
the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood
puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?"
"It
came with out ribbons! It came without tags!"
"It
came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And
he puzzled three hours, till his puzzler was sore.
Then
the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe
Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store."
"Maybe
Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"
And
what happened then? Well...in Whoville they say,
That
the Grinch's small heart Grew three sizes that day!
And
the minute his heart didn't feel quite so tight,
He
whizzed with his load through the bright morning light,
And
he brought back the toys! And the food for the feast!
And
he, HE HIMSELF! The Grinch carved the roast beast!
God, to us grant the grace to find Christmas where we least expect it.
Amen.
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