“This Is Not What God Has in Mind”

Luke 1:46-55

Walter Brueggemann says this about Advent: “[Advent] concerns the termination of the known world, the world of abandonment, grief, alienation and injustice.” [and] “What we ready ourselves for in Advent is the sneaking suspicion, the growing awareness, the building restlessness that this weary world is not the one God has in mind.”

In a sermon dealing with Jesus’ visit to his home synagogue in Nazareth as reported in Luke 4 – the occasion when Jesus declared that the words of Isaiah that he read that day were now fulfilled in him – Church of Scotland minister John Bell had this to say: “Jesus does not come as some opportunistic guru peddling saccharin spirituality. Jesus does not come as a paragon of piety whose primary concern is church polity and conventional respectability. [and] “Jesus seems to be claiming that God and God’s kingdom can’t be limited to the safe and often introverted concerns of the local church... obsessed with its own decency and self-preservation.”

And these words, “Why upset people…? Why not just say the usual profundities which will keep people happy and provide solace in times of change? Why? Because God loves the world, and the deliverances, the liberations, which God desires for the world and its people are from obsessions and compulsions, yes. From bogus theologies – absolutely! From guilt and anxiety, of course, and from spiritual wickedness in high places – without a doubt!” [but] “[God also desires] deliverances from physical thirst and hunger, from systemic injustice, and from socially acceptable [prejudice and self-righteousness]. This is the will, the passion of God. This is the work of Christ. But don’t say it too loudly in churches, or people will accuse you of being subversive. And in a day of seductive spirituality which has no existential cost you may become unpopular.”

As I read those words I couldn’t help but remember all those times someone or another has said to me, “Preacher, you’re not living in the real world.” In other words, all this Biblical and theological stuff doesn’t work in the realm of daily commerce.

I also couldn’t help but remember the wise counsel I received from another pastor. His response to being accused of not living in the real world is to tell the accuser that this is not the real world, it’s a fallen world. It is what it is, but whatever it is it isn’t what God created it to be. This is definitely not what God has in mind. Nor is it what he had in mind when he created it.

In the real world as it’s defined by God, the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes will be lived out, and not just be seen as unattainable ideals. In such a world people will turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, and forgive one another seventy times seven. In such a world children won’t starve to death, religious fanatics won’t fly airplanes into skyscrapers, and there will truly be liberty and justice for all. Those who govern in such a world will do so with honesty, integrity, justice, and righteousness, creating societies in which the vulnerable are not used, abused, or neglected. In such a world the Golden Rule will not be twisted around to imply that those who have the gold rule. Such a world will be the inheritance of those who faithfully follow Jesus in the ways of servanthood, humility, kindness, and compassion.

Today’s Gospel text is widely known as the Magnificat, or Mary’s Song of Praise. This is Mary’s response to being chosen to bear the Christ child. Its form is that of an Old Testament song of praise, a prophetic utterance. It describes reality in God’s terms. And it does so in the past tense, as if it were already a done deal.

In terms of eternity, it is a done deal. God’s fallen creation will be renewed and redeemed. The applied ethics and morals of God will be the applied ethics and morals of the universe. Mary is so sure of this that she can proclaim the Messiah’s reign in terms of accomplishment rather than anticipation. From her perspective of absolute faith Mary understands what Scripture means when it proclaims, “Thus says the Lord.” She understands God’s Word as spoken by Isaiah: “So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”

William Barclay sees Mary’s song as a revolutionary document, maybe a subversive document. It is morally revolutionary in terms of people letting go of their sinful pride as a result of an encounter with Jesus. It is socially revolutionary in terms of all social distinctions disappearing in Christ. It is economically revolutionary in terms of a real Christian society being a society that will not rest as long as some have too much while others have too little.

From a Biblical and historical perspective Mary’s song really isn’t revolutionary or subversive. It captures the essence of covenant life as established by God with Israel at the foot of Mt. Sinai. In the nation of Israel justice and righteousness were the twin pillars upon which rested the nation’s economy, judicial system, and government. It was a society designed by God to protect the weak and helpless, a society in which leadership was to be exerted out of a strong sense of fairness, honesty, and compassion. The children of Israel were not to use, abuse, misuse, or enslave one another. Political, economic, judicial, and even military authority were not to be wielded arrogantly or recklessly.

Israel failed miserably to maintain such a society. Sin, especially the sin of pride, led people to disobey God. Some people came to view other people, especially those who were in any way vulnerable, as a commodity to be bought and sold, to be used and abused politically, economically, and even sexually. There was a whole lot of immorality going on in some very high places! And Israel paid the price of national humiliation, foreign occupation, and exile. Instead of the blessings of a covenant kept, there came the curses of a covenant broken.

Mary’s song was about a continuation of that covenant, initiated as always by God. But this was to be a universal covenant between God and all humanity, not limited to one nation or race. He was sending his Messiah, his Anointed One. His name was Jesus, a man like all men, but God’s Son in a way that no other man could ever be. He was the very incarnation of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary. He was coming to usher in the Kingdom of God, to make the world real in accordance with God’s definition of reality. That’s what his mama was singing about, that real world, a redeemed world, that the coming of Jesus would make possible.

What’s so revolutionary or subversive about that? Well, any serious proposal, even one coming straight from God, that includes the strong possibility of radical change is not going to be well-accepted. We may not be happy about this nasty world of grief, alienation, and injustice in which we daily live, but it’s the only pool we know. The possibility of losing it scares us.

A world in which the powerful are thrown down and the lowly raised up looks pretty good on paper, but in such a world we might lose, at least in earthly terms, more than we gain. Our lives might be turned upside down and inside out. Our whole system of politics and economics might have to undergo radical changes.

These changes will begin in and be supported by the church. Christians are going to have to be God’s instruments of change. If we are to faithfully follow Jesus in living our lives as they should be lived in the real world as defined by God, we can no longer allow our churches to be comfortable, cozy chapels that protect the ecclesiastical status quo and promote the agenda of the surrounding culture. Our agenda must be Christ’s agenda: spiritually, morally, theologically, economically, politically, and socially. Such an agenda will make us unpopular in some circles. We may be considered subversives and revolutionaries in the eyes of those who are content with or profit from business as usual.

Advent isn’t about business as usual. Advent is about announcing the coming of Jesus. Advent is about anticipating and working for a world that is deemed real in the eyes of God, always remembering that this so called real world in which we live is not what God has in mind. Amen.