Advent IV - 12.20.24 - Year C
The Episcopal Church of St. John the Baptist
Milton, DE
Well, that went fast, didn’t it? Here we are, the the fourth Sunday in Advent and three days from Christmas. I believe this is my third time to be with you, but who’s counting, right? If I’m lucky, it won’t be the last.
If
you’ve learned anything about me, it’s that I’m a storyteller. I love the
Gospel stories and I love the stories of our lives that reflect the ancient
stories of Good News – and the way the people of today reflect the ancient
characters in the Gospel stories.
The Nativity stories in this cycle are just chock-full of stories inside of
stories that simply tell themselves and, in so doing, strengthen our faith.
I especially love Luke’s story of The Visitation which gives us the beautiful
song of Mary we know as “The Magnificat”. Scholars tell us that this song
affords Mary the most words said by any woman in any piece of scripture
anywhere. It’s also easily recognizable and cherished by many Christians as
part of the Christmas story.
There’s a children’s Christian education program called “Godly Play,” which is
based on the Montessori approach to teaching children. As the scriptural story is
introduced, the teacher often says, “You may have heard this story before, but
you have changed since the last time you heard this story. I wonder if the way
you’ve changed, changes the way you will hear this story.”
What
I hear this year in the story of the Visitation and the
Magnificat is
that there are so many stories within that story. The story looks to me like the
word equivalent of one of those Russian Nesting Dolls where one doll fits into
another and then another fits into yet another until you get to the baby.
Now, I'm really excited to get to all the stories in the stories, but before I begin, let me address something that always dances in the mind of at least one or two people in a congregation like this. Someone always wants to dismiss this story because of The Virgin Birth – which they consider so much hocus-pocus or poppycock.
I love what author and Presbyterian minister, Frederick Buechner says about that:
“ . . . .many Christians have made it an article of faith that it was the Holy Spirit rather than Joseph who got Mary pregnant. If you believe God was somehow in Christ, it shouldn't make much difference to you how he got there. If you don't believe, it should make less difference still. In either case, life is complicated enough without confusing theology and gynecology.
In one sense anyway, the doctrine of the virgin birth is demonstrably true. Whereas the villains of history can always be seen as the products of heredity and environment, the saints always seem to arrive under their own steam. Evil evolves. Holiness happens.”
Evil
evolves. Holiness happens. With all of the changes this past year has brought,
that phrase strikes me in a deep place of understanding. Evil evolves. Holiness
happens.
The story of the Visitation of Mary and Elizabeth and the Magnificat that Mary
sings is one of those moments when “holiness happens”.
It has a great deal to do with the word “blessed” – which is the word Elizabeth
uses to greet Mary: “Blessed are you among
women.”
Hold that thought because I’m going to come back to it in just a minute. Or, two.
I say that this is one of those moments when ‘holiness happens’ because on the
surface of the story it may look like only Mary and only Elizabeth are present
in this story.
But, if you open the Nesting Doll of this story, you’ll find other women
present, as well, all having to do with Mary having been greeted by Elizabeth
as “Blessed”.
The first is the Song of Miriam - the sister of Moses - a biblical song of praise that celebrates the
Israelites' deliverance from the Egyptians as the Red Sea parted for their
escape. Miriam song begins, "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed
gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea"
The next is the story of Hannah. I’m sure Mary knew both songs of Miriam and Hannah. Indeed, she may
have even learned it from her mother Anne, who learned it from her mother, who may have sung the song around the
house as she went about her work, as ancient mothers often did.
Found in the second book of Samuel (2:1-10), Hannah gives thanks to
God for the birth of her son Samuel. It is very similar to Psalm 113. In Judaism, the song of
Hannah is regarded as the prime role model for how to pray and is read on the
first day of Rosh Hashanah. It begins:
“My heart rejoices in the Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord. I smile at my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.”
But,
there is yet another story in this story – the song of Deborah which we find in
the fourth book of Judges (4:4-5) – her song is in Judges 5. Deborah is
described as a prophet, a judge and a warrior – a mother of Israel. Her story
comes at a turning point in the history of Israel as the people cross over to
reclaim Canaan. It is a time of violence and war when men and women are called
to battle to save the nation of Israel.
Deborah’s song recalls the heroine Yael who kills Sisera, a general hellbent on
destroying Israel. Yael offered him milk and kindness and hospitality and then,
when he becomes drowsy with satisfaction, drives a peg through his skull and
kills him. For this, Deborah sings the praises of Yael and says she is “blessed
among women.”
I
know, right? Who knew such violence was in scripture? But wait! There’s more.
There’s another nesting doll to be uncovered. Yael is not the only woman thus
invited into this holy moment.
Perhaps you may have heard the story of Judith, another strong woman in the
stories of our faith during the time of the Assyrian attempted take over of
Israel. In the 13th chapter
of the Apocryphal Book of Judith, Judith is praised in similar language for
killing Holofernes:
"O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all other women on earth; and blessed be the Lord God, who created the heavens and the earth, who has guided you to cut off the head of the leader of our enemies."
So,
there is a multitude of women present in the Magnificat. Mary and Elizabeth are
joined by Miriam and Hannah, Deborah and Yael and Judith. All of these
women are in that sacred space with Elizabeth and Mary. All of them are “blessed
among women” because Mary carries within her womb the embodiment and the
redemption of all of their stories.
The promised redemption and salvation of God are themes in every song of each
woman which now becomes incarnate in the babe in Mary’s womb. No wonder John
the Baptist leaps in utero when Elizabeth greets Mary.
To understand this, to understand how ‘holiness happens’, you have to know
something about the word “blessed”. That story is the final nesting doll in the
nesting egg of stories about the Magnificat.
Several
years ago, I was curious about the word “blessed” so I looked it up in the Old
Oxford English Dictionary. I grew even more curious as I discovered that the
root of the word ‘bless’ is ‘blood’.
I mentioned this to my spiritual director at that time, Martin Smith, who was,
also at that time, a brother in the Anglican Order of the Society of St. John the
Evangelist in Cambridge, MA where I attended seminary. You may know them as “The
Cowley Fathers”.
Martin explained to me that most of our words in the English language came to
us from St. Gregory who founded a monastery where the monks wrote down most of
his sermons. Prior to that, not many sermons were written down. Gregory’s
favorite preaching topic was the stories of Jacob. He especially loved
preaching on the story of Jacob’s wrestling with an angel.
Gregory said that, when Jacob and the angel began to wrestle, in that moment,
time stood still. It’s a holy moment, Gregory said, when the past and the
future fold into the present and become one. In that moment, Gregory
preached that the blood of the cross splashed on Jacob and he was
“blooded”.
Jacob, Gregory said, was ‘blooded’.
When the monks wrote down the sermon, they wrote in the script of their day, of
course. To eyes that came to read that sermon later in time, their letter ‘d’
looked like an ‘s’. Thus, ‘blooded’ becomes ‘blessed’.
Jacob was
blessed.
When you open the nesting egg of the story of the Magnificat and begin to hear the echoes of all the
other women who are singing with Mary in that holy moment – all those warrior
women who fought for the freedom of their country which did not fully grant it
to them – you begin to understand the blessedness of Mary, and why Elizabeth greets
her as “Blessed among women.”
You begin to understand that in the holy moment when Mary wrestled with the
words of an angel – as Jacob before her had wrestled with an angel – and had to
suspend logic and reason, the past and the future folded into the present and
the blood that had been shed in the past and the blood that will be shed on the
cross has splattered on Mary.
St. Gregory would have said that Mary is
blooded – or blessed.
You also begin to understand why Mary spoke about the “strong arm of God” and
“casting the down the mighty” and “lifting up the lowly”. Perhaps you can
understand why she sang about “filling the hungry with good things” and sending
“the rich away empty”.
And, you begin to understand just how much of an influence Mary had upon her
son, Jesus as well as his cousin John who leapt in her womb when he heard
Elizabeth say to Mary, “Blessed are you among women!”
In
his first sermon in the Temple, Jesus says,
“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim release to the captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to deliver those who are crushed, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.”Do you hear it? Can you hear the echo’s of the songs of all the other women in the genealogy of the line of Jesus? Perhaps you can hear it more clearly in his second sermon, known as The Beatitudes. Jesus says, nine times, “Blessed are you . . . “
Blessed are the poor in spirit. Blessed are those who weep and mourn. Blessed are the merciful and pure in spirit.
In two days, we will be celebrating the Nativity of Jesus. We will be asked to participate in a story that defies logic and strains reason.
And
for one night, one Holy night, we will be asked to suspend logic and reason and
belief and participate in a story that requires an act of faith. We will be asked not just to receive Jesus, but also to conceive Jesus in our hearts
and souls and minds.
We will be asked to participate in a miracle.
Like Mary, we will be asked to say YES to God, even though people may
judge us unkindly.
Fear not! We will not be alone. We will be surrounded by Mary and
Elizabeth, Miriam and Hannah, and Deborah, Judith and Yael, as well as the four
women mentioned in Matthew’s genealogy: Tamar and Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba and
a whole host of holy women and men, the saints of old, who arrived into a holy
moment on their own steam.
At Christmas, we will enter that time and space when time stands still and
holiness happens.
And when we do, we, too, will be blessed among women and men.
Amen
Amen.
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