SERM: Advent 4

[revbell]

+In Nomine Iesu+


Rorate Coeli–Advent 4
St Luke 1:39-45
20 December 2009


   Rationalism infects us all.  Always lurking, always
wanting to take its toll.  And as we get older the problem
often grows worse.  In childhood we simply believed what our
parents told us.  In Sunday School we believed our teachers.
 But when we reached adolescence, our parents knew nothing
– or so it seemed.  No one else knew anything either.
Just us.  Each generation rebels in its own way.  Each
generation is bitten by rationalism.  Some recover.  Many
don’t.
<>
   In the Church we do not suspend our reason.  Instead,
reason finds its proper resting place.  We confess; “I
believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe
in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him.”  That, you
recall, is Luther’s explanation to the Third Article of
the Creed.  Belief for a child seems quite easy.  Less so
for adults.  As adults we demand proof.  We want evidence.
We insist upon sound reasoning.  And those qualities are
praiseworthy – except in the Church.  Why?  Because the
Church deals with the things of God, and God is not bound to
human ways or human standards.
<>
   In St Luke’s gospel we are confronted by a scene both
mysterious and sublime.  Two women meet.    Two women who
are “with child.”  To human eyes a common, almost
mundane thing.  But not here.  One of the women is quite
elderly.  Beyond the normal age of childbearing.  The other,
barely in her teens.  Hardly old enough to be a mother.
Really, the scene looks almost more modern than ancient.
And just what are we to make of it?  We find ourselves
wondering.  Why would St Luke include such a common event
for the Church to ponder?  And even stranger, why after 2000
years would people still gather to listen to and talk about
this meeting.
<>
   I’m sure the voices of that time sounded quite modern.
“Did you hear about Elizabeth?  She’s with child!  Why,
her husband is so upset that he can’t even talk about it.
Whatever was she thinking?  She’s way too old to be having
children.  And then there’s Mary.  You’ve heard about
her.  So young!  She’s in no position to be a mother.
Who’ll care for her?  Oh, it’s simply tragic!  And
everyone thought she was such a nice girl.”
<>
   From a purely rational standpoint this might well be the
end of things.  People talking.  Talking without knowledge.
And then?  And then, walking away unknowing.  But things are
not as they appear to so-called human reason.  From the
beginning God has been working His way by means of husbands
and wives.  His plan of salvation has been unfolding ever so
quietly.  Unfolding in what have seemed such ordinary ways
that it has been largely unnoticed.  But God promised.  As
man fell into sin, God promised a Savior.  The Seed of the
woman would crush the head of the serpent.  Slowly the
unfolding has taken place.  Slowly.  Quietly.  But behind it
all stood God, and slow or fast the promise must be – and
would be – kept.
<>
   Eleven times in Genesis the same phrase occurs, “This
is the genealogy of . . .”  A twelfth and final time comes
in Matthew.  There we read, “The book of the genealogy of
Jesus Christ . . .”  St Matthew goes on to recount that
particular genealogy using three sets of 14 generations
each.  When broken down, those become six sets of seven.
Jesus’ birth is the culmination – the fulfillment of the
final seven.  In Jesus the genealogies are brought to
completion.  He is the end.  He is the Seed.  What every
generation – what every genealogy – kept pointing
forward to is to be found in Jesus.
<>
   Strange and unusual births are nothing new.  Abraham and
Sarah give birth to Isaac.  Sarah was 90 at the time.  So
absurd was the news that she even laughed when told she
would have a son.  Isaac fathered twins.  What was strange
was that the older would serve the younger.  Esau – the
older – would serve Jacob – the younger.
<>
   Maybe there is more going on here than we first notice.
Present – and yet unseen – are the two children in their
mother’s wombs.  John and Jesus.  Outwardly it looks like
the main characters are the women.  But the real reason for
the meeting is the two unseen sons.  This is the first time
– but not the last – that John and Jesus will meet.
<>
   Both children were conceived under miraculous
circumstances.  Elizabeth was way too old – much like
Sarah in the Old Testament.  But it makes sense.  It makes
sense because John will be the last of the Old Testament
prophets.  And Jesus’ conception goes John one better.
Mary is a young teenager.  And, a virgin.  If an elderly
woman becoming pregnant is miraculous – how much more so
that a virgin should conceive?  That simply doesn’t
happen.  It just doesn’t!  Until now!
<>
   The meeting of these two mothers is far from accidental.
It might even seem quite logical.  But very quickly logic
simply falls away.  We listen to the conversation.  We watch
and listen to Elizabeth and Mary – but the real objects of
attention are John and Jesus.  As forerunner of the Messiah
– the one who would announce His presence – John is
great.  But Jesus is the greater.  John might be the older,
but he’s not the main event.  Again, the older will serve
the younger.
<>
   The meeting might seem logical – but not the outcome.
When John heard the voice of Mary, he leaped in
Elizabeth’s womb.  Listen to the text.  “And Elizabeth
was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she intoned with a loud
cry:  ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb!  And why is this granted to me that the
mother of my Lord should come to me?’”  Elizabeth’s
Lord – her Savior – is in the womb of Mary.  By the
power of the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth confesses the unseen –
yet physical – presence of her Savior.  John, as yet
unborn, is already preparing the way for Jesus –
‘announcing’ the Christ.
<>
   John – in an instant, in a moment of time – leaps.
He leaps for joy at hearing of the Word.  He leaps in the
presence of his Lord.  And now the mysteriousness of God’s
time that we have been speaking of this Advent narrows down
to a single point.  The beam – narrowed down further, and
further, and further – that beam now comes to one single
moment.  One moment that changes every moment that will
follow.  The beam of God the Father’s time is oh so
precise.  It all comes together right here.  And very soon
it will begin to spread out again.  It will spread out to
encompass many.  Joseph, and shepherds, and wise men.  And,
eventually, all the world.  Eventually it will encompass
you.
<>
   Like Elizabeth, and Mary, and John, our coming together
Sunday after Sunday would be quite insignificant were it not
for Jesus’ physical – yet unseen – presence.  But our
coming together is not accidental, is it.  God’s plan for
your salvation began long ago.  Long before you were here.
Christ is the author and finisher of your faith.  He is the
One who has brought you here again this morning.  Brought
you again – for the um-teenth time – to hear His
promises.  His promises for you.  It is Jesus who gives you
the Holy Spirit.  Gives you the Holy Spirit that enables you
to cry out, “Abba Father.”  In an instant – a moment
– because of water and the Word you ‘leaped’ for joy
at the baptismal font.  ‘Leaped’ for joy as you were
enfolded by the arms of Jesus.  ‘Leaped’ as you became
of child of your Father in heaven.
<>
   John – though unseen – is still preparing His
Lord’s way to you.  John’s words now belong to the
Church.  “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of
the world.”  Those are the words that draw you to the Holy
Supper with Elizabeth, and Mary, and John – and all the
company of heaven.  Christ is here.  Unseen, yes – yet
physically present in the bread and wine.  And what does He
give you?  His Most Holy Body.  His Most Holy Blood.  The
Body that was nailed to the cross.  The Blood that flowed
from His side.  In a particular moment faith receives her
Lord  And in that moment – forgiveness.  Life eternal.
Salvation.  And once again we ‘leap.’
<>
   Time.  The mysterious time of God.  What’s it all
about?  You.  It’s all about you and your salvation.  As
if you were the only person on earth.  As if you were the
only person who needed to be saved.  As if you – only you
– stood weighed down by sin and death.  It’s true, my
friends.  All of God’s time and work are focused on you.
Why?  Because He loves you beyond all measure.

Amen

+Benedicamus Domine+

___________________________________________________________________________

 'CAT 41 Sermons & Devotions' consists of works that are, unless otherwise
  noted, the copyrighted property of the various authors; posting of such
   gives members of this list implied consent for redistribution _with_
    _attribution_ unless otherwise specified by the author, as well as
              for quoting or use in a congregational setting
                      _with_or_without_attribution_.

    Note: This list's default reply is to the *poster*, NOT the list.
    Do *not* reply to the list with your comments, but to the poster.

Subscribe?              Send ANY note to: sermons...@cat41.org
Unsubscribe?            Send ANY note to: sermons-...@cat41.org
Archive?                <http://www.mail-archive.com/sermons@cat41.org/>

For more information on this or other lists offered by Confess And Teach
For Unity, you can contact the CAT 41 list administrator at:

    Rev. Fr. Eric J. Stefanski <MoM [at] lists (dot) cat41 <dot> org>