|
I
walked into a bank just after Thanksgiving and heard Christmas music.
I asked one of the employees how long it would take her to grow weary
from the music. She said, “I hardly ever notice it, unless I hear a
song that I really like and then I catch myself singing along.” This
is the season of music. We hear it in malls, on television shows,
even in the parsonage at advent time. Already we have heard the
sounds of Advent here through a presentation of Handel’s “Messiah”,
and last week’s “Family Christmas Concert”. This week I invite
you to pay attention to the music that is all around you.
The closing scene of William Shakespeare’s, Merchant of Venice,
has Lorenzo and his beloved Jessica listening to music in the
stillness of the night. Lorenzo speaks to her and says, “Here
will we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears.”
I invite you to do that very thing this morning. We begin with a song
that was sung over 2,000 years ago, the song of Mary, the
Magnificat. It is found in Luke 1:46-55. Hear now the Word of
the Lord:
46And Mary said, “My soul
magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my
Savior, 48for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of
his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy
is his name. 50His mercy is for those who fear him from
generation to generation. 51He has shown strength with his
arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and
lifted up the lowly; 53he has filled the hungry with good
things, and sent the rich away empty. 54He has helped his
servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55according to
the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his
descendants forever.”
The Word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to
God. In this passage Mary sang a song of a revolution that began
with a nobody living in the middle of nowhere. We are in the midst of
an Advent series of sermons entitled Christmas Presents. We
have already seen the first present, Tranquility for the Troubled:
Peace that God offers to those who are concerned, conflicted, and
confused. Last week we looked at the second Christmas present,
Hope for the Hopeless, a gift with some assembly required of three
main components: Compassion, Capability, and Clarity. Today’s present
is a bit unusual. It all depends on how you look at it. From one
side it looks like Joy to the World. From another side it
looks to be nothing but switches and a lump of coal. The nature of
this gift is conveyed through music. Here will we sit and let
the sounds of music creep in our ears.
Mary’s song is a beautiful song. It is personal and public, promising
and perplexing. I wonder how much of the story Mary really knew. I
encourage you to keep your Bibles opened to Luke 1 as Sterling Allen
sings that song, “Mary Did You Know?” Here will we sit
and let the sounds of music creep in our ears.
The Song of Christmas is a Personal Song
Mary realized that what had been promised was quite personal. This
lowly servant would be seen as blessed by every generation that would
follow her. E. Earl Ellis wrote in his commentary on Luke, “God
chose Mary, a peasant maid, to fulfill the hope of every Jewish
woman. For in Judaism that which gave the deepest meaning to
motherhood was the possibility that her son might be the Deliverer.”
Mary, did you know? She knew that this song was a personal song. The
first four verses inform us of that. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote in
The Mystery of the Holy Night, “Mary, grasped and seized by the
Spirit, speaks of God’s coming into the world, of the advent of Jesus
Christ. For she knows better than anyone what it means to wait for
Christ.” She too waits for her deliverer.
Years ago, when Zac was still in elementary
school he had a friend spending the night and they decided to sleep in
nylon sleeping bags on his queen sized bed. I guess that is like
camping out at the Hilton. To make room for such a big bed in his
little room, he had his bed pushed up against the wall. He and his
friend started bumping and rolling into each other in their sleeping
bags, as if they were bumper cars. We heard laughter and bumping and
moving around and then we heard a loud thud. All was quiet for a
while and then more laughter. It was getting late, so I hollered out,
“It’s time for bed. Go to sleep.”
Then I heard Zac’s little voice say, “Dad,
I’m stuck.” I told him that I would come and get him in a little bit,
knowing that whatever he was stuck in, he would free himself soon.
Tammy grew a little concerned and went into the room. She found Zac
encased in his sleeping bag, stuck between the bed and the wall. His
friend could not free him, nor could his mother.
I went in there and looked at my son wedged
into the wall and wondered, “How does he get himself in these
situations?” I pulled the bed away from the wall and he plopped onto
the ground.
As I wandered back into my room, my heavenly
father seemed to speak to me, “I know what you mean. My kids do this
all the time. They get themselves into a bind from which they cannot
free themselves. I had to come too and set my people free.”
“Mary, did you know that your baby boy has
come to make you new? This child that you delivered will soon deliver
you.” The song of Christmas is a personal song.
Joni
Eareckson Tada once wrote, “We never knew how hungry we were for
God until Jesus arrived. When he was delivered onto the stable straw,
we caught the fragrance of the presence of God. We inhaled the aroma
of God with us and became acutely aware of a hunger deep inside. We
hardly had words for it, but…it is a longing for the Lord.”
Do you know of your personal need for this
miracle of God with us? Do you know just how hungry you are? If you
do, then this is the gift of Joy to the World. If you are not aware
of your need, your hunger, then this may very well seem to be nothing
more than switches and a lump of coal. Here will we sit and let
the sounds of music creep in our ears. The song of Christmas
is a personal song.
The Song of Christmas is a Public Song
Mary knew that her song was not for her
alone. In verse 50 she makes it clear, “His mercy is for those who
fear him from generation to generation.” Everyone would be
affected by this obscure event promised to this unknown peasant in a
disrespected town. Fred Craddock wrote in his commentary, “The
powerful and the rich will exchange places with the powerless and
poor. And this ultimate reversal has already begun, God’s choosing
Mary is evidence of it.” The promise is to all who have nothing
good things will be given (Joy to the World), but to all who have
plenty, they might expect switches and a lump of coal.
Switches and a lump of coal are the gifts given to those who
squandered their gifts from last year, those who used their
possessions or power to harm others or refused to use them to help
others. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “Who among us will celebrate
Christmas right? Those who finally lay down all their power, honor
and prestige, all their vanity, pride and self-will at the manger,
those who stand by the lowly and let God be exalted, those who see in
the child in the manger the glory of God precisely in his lowliness.”
Anything else would simply seem to be switches and a lump of coal.
That’s what Alice Wendleken seemed to receive in Barbara Robinson’s,
The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Alice was always Mary in the
annual Christmas Pageant put on by the children, “because she was so
smart, so neat and clean, and, most of all, so holy looking.” But
that was before the Herdmans came on the scene. The Herdmans were the
most despised and feared children in the community. Once they started
a fire just to watch the firemen put it out. The local bakery brought
doughnuts on site for the firefighters and the Herdmans stole all of
them. The author tells the reader that the Herdmans learned a good
lesson that day, “Where there is a fire, sooner or later, there will
be doughnuts.”
Everyone was surprised when the Herdmans had all the lead roles in the
annual pageant. They had arrived at church, because they discovered
that there were snacks at Sunday School. Then they auditioned for the
pageant. Then they threatened anyone who would audition against
them. So they got all the lead roles. The thing was the Herdmans did
not know the Christmas story. All during rehearsal they would stop
and ask why Mary and Joseph were going to Bethlehem, what an inn was,
why frankincense and myrrh were presented, and where shepherds came
from. The pageant itself did not go any more smoothly. The angel’s
one line was altered as Gladys Herdman announced, “Hey, unto you a
child is born.” Mary burped the baby before placing him in the
manger. And to everyone’s surprise the three Herdman wise men brought
a ham, instead of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. It was the ham from
the food basket that had been given to the poor Herdman family by the
charitable works committee – without a doubt, the most valued
possession in their entire home. The wise men refused to leave the
side of the baby, and then the most unexpected event happened. During
the singing of “Silent Night”, Imogene Herdman - the meanest of all
the Herdman kids, who by sheer intimidation landed the role of Mary –
Imogene Herdman stood there with her crooked veil and swollen eye
crying, and crying, and crying. Christmas just came over her all at
once. Joy to the World.
Poor Alice Wendleken. She never really got it. All she knew was that
the role she had always played was not hers to play this year, and the
way things had always been done were not being done this year.
Switches and a lump of coal were the only things she could see. She
thought everything was ruined and failed to witness The Best
Christmas Pageant Ever.
The song of Christmas is joy to the world, but it is to all the world,
not to those who are always playing the same roles of privilege.
Here will we sit and let the sounds of music creep in our ears.
Mary’s song seems so sweet and jubilant, but really it is a protest
song that proclaims joy to all the world, especially those most
frequently left out. There are lots of songs still to be sung this
season, lots of gifts still to be given. I invite you to let the
sounds of music creep in your ears and into your souls. It is a
personal song that speaks to you and a public song that reaches out to
all. Which side of the gift can you see? Amen.
|
