December 22, 2024
Dear friends in Christ grace and peace to you. The text for this week’s message comes from Luke 1:39-55.
Our reading for this week highlights Mary’s response to Elizabeth’s proclamation of the importance of Mary’s role in bearing the child that would be the Savior of the world. “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said will be accomplished.” (Luke 1:45). In the verses prior to our reading for this week Mary was told by an angel of the Lord that she will give birth to a child and she will name him Jesus.
Think about this scene for a moment. Here is this young girl, a virgin, barely into her teenage years. Suddenly an angel of the Lord announces to her that she will bear a child even though she hasn’t been with a man. Not only will she bear a child but it will be God’s child. Here is this young girl the least of value in the culture of that day. And yet she is singled out by God to bear his Son. It’s no wonder she asked “how will this be?” (Luke 1:34). It doesn’t appear that Mary has a choice in this matter. She has been chosen by God to bear his Son.
If you or I had the power to decide who would bear a son who would eventually save the world, wouldn’t we choose a woman of notoriety? Wouldn’t we want this woman to come from a line of people who were noted for having power and influence? But God doesn’t do that in this case. God chooses a poor peasant girl, a very young girl at that. What does that tell us about the God we worship? What is even more telling is how Mary handles this very important role. Her response: “I am a servant of the Lord … May it be to me as you have said.”(Luke 1:38). And then Mary begins to sing a song of praise known as the Magnificat, which means My Soul glorifies the Lord. In her song of praise, Mary moves from the deeply personal to the clearly political. Mary says that “God my Savior, has been mindful of the humble state of His servant… the Mighty One has done great things for me." (Luke 1:48-49). This peasant girl who a few months later would bear the Son of God then praises God the Mighty One because He has "brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty" (Luke 1:51-53).
I wonder what King Herod or the Roman Emperor Tiberius thought when they heard her words. Mary understood that the birth of the Son of God, meant the undermining of the power and authority of an established system; a change in the conventional wisdom. It meant that the current political power would be challenged. It meant that the first in societal hierarchy would be last and the last would be first. It meant a redistributing of food supplies and it signaled a new age and order. Mary accepted her role in history and saw her role in this as being obedient to the God she loved and trusted with her life. She didn’t brag about her role in this miraculous birth; instead she praised God for being chosen as the means to which God would further his plan to save humanity. In short she humbled herself before the Lord and accepted her call willingly to serve the Lord with humility but yet with dignity.
May it be for each of us as well that when we are called to serve that we will be like Mary and humbly accept his call as a way to please our Lord and to be a part of his Holy plan to be the people that he created each of us to be.
May the peace of God be with all of you!
Michael Isaacson
December 15, 2024
Dear friends in Christ grace and peace to you. The text for this week’s message comes from Zephaniah 3:14-20.
A pastor once asked one of his parishioners: “Do you believe in the hereafter?” to which the parishioner responded: “I sure do. Sometimes I go into a room and say to myself, what am I here after?”
The prophet Zephaniah lived way back in ancient history. He preached a series of sermons warning the people of Judah of God’s coming Day of Judgment. He was very direct in his message and called out individuals for their sins against God. When they went into the temple they forgot what they were here after. Since they knew that they were guilty of idolatry, they thought they could enter heaven not by the main entrance but by one of the side doors. They thought that they could worship idols and still worship God and thereby still enter heaven.
This mentality reminds me of a song, part of which comes from the late Winston Churchill where the singer says in his song something like “if you’re going through hell keep on going don’t slow down cause you might get out before the devil even knows you’re there.” Perhaps the Judeans thought they could be safely settled into the comfort of heaven before God even knew they were there. Zephaniah in no uncertain words reminded the Judeans; no, that’s not how salvation works. Zephaniah reminded his people that there was only one God, one true God. All other gods must be abandoned if God’s chosen people were to survive and be blessed by the Lord. Zephaniah rails against the people of Judah telling them that unless they changed their ways they would suffer God’s wrath and God’s wrath would mean total devastation. “I will sweep away everything from the face of the earth, I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. Declares the Lord.” (Zephaniah 1:2-3.)
Then suddenly Zephaniah’s tone changes in chapter 3. Even though Judah must still suffer the consequences for their sinful actions, Zephaniah’s message now is one of joy. “Be glad and rejoice with all your heart … the Lord has taken away your punishment.” (vs.14-15.) God offers Judah his love and delivers them from their suffering. God would not be far away from his people.
There is a story about a pastor who was busy in his office preparing a sermon when his young daughter walked in and wanted to play. The pastor apologized to his little girl and said that he couldn’t play right now but in an hour he could. The little girl promised that she would give him a big hug when he was finished. The little girl left the pastor’s office but soon returned and gave her dad a great big hug. The pastor said to his daughter: “you said you were going to give me a hug when I was finished.” The little girl responded by saying: “I just wanted to give you something to look forward to!”
So too, it is for us on this third Sunday of Advent that God gives us something to look forward to as we wait with joy and hope for the coming of Emmanuel; God with us. Like the little girl, God is giving us a foretaste of the time to look ahead with joy when Jesus will come to be with us and embrace us in his all encompassing love. Rejoice always! No one, nothing can take the presence of God away from us. Christ is with us so we can live with joy, knowing and trusting that we are always in good company and that we are safe and secure in his arms no matter what troubles, sufferings, sorrows, and hardships we face.
May the hope of the coming Savior bring peace and joy to all of you!
Michael Isaacson
