"Receiving God’s Advent Into Our Lives" Advent 4 December 21, 2008

(First, read the text for this sermon: Luke 1:26-38)

We’re not even half-way through chapter one of the gospel of Luke. And, already, God has done two impossible things!

The first impossible thing will lead to the birth of John the baptizer. In an earlier verse of the gospel, the writer has told us that we are in the days of King Herod (who happens to be as brutal and as ruthless as any ruler in history.) By mentioning Herod’s name, the gospel writer signals that God is going to do something subversive to this ruler, who thinks he’s the one with power!

The first impossible thing begins with the angel Gabriel visiting a priest named Zechariah, who is married to Elizabeth, who is somehow related to Mary, the mother of our Lord. (The gospel writer is not specific about how the two are related, and it really doesn’t matter.)

Do some of you know the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth? An important thing to know about them is that they are old. Just as important, you have to know that they have no children, and, in their culture, that is cause for shame. (The shame is especially intense for the woman, Elizabeth, in that time and place.) Also, you need to know, Zechariah is a priest.

In the story the gospel writer tells, Zechariah is on duty in the sanctuary of the Lord. He is offering the incense, during one of the two daily temple services – and the angel Gabriel appears, right in the midst of the incense. It’s a terrifying experience! We read, When Zechariah saw [the angel], he was terrified; and fear overwhelmed him. But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.”

(Have you ever noticed that the first thing angels say, when they appear to characters in the Bible, is “Do not be afraid?” Why do you think that is? It’s because they’re so frightening!) So, after Zechariah’s pulse rate and blood pressure drops closer to the normal range, according to Eugene Peterson in The Message, Zechariah responds to the angel using these sacred words: “Do you expect me to believe this? I’m an old man and my wife is an old woman.”

Zechariah, of course, is limiting himself to what he thinks is possible. A woman, years past the hot flashes of menopause, is going to become pregnant? That’s impossible. Right? Zechariah is not open to receiving God’s advent into his life.

Six months later, God is ready to do another impossible thing, and now we’ve gotten to this morning’s reading from the gospel of Luke. God sends the same messenger to deliver the startling news. (I guess that was Gabriel’s specialty, huh?)

In the sixth month (that is, of Elizabeth’s pregnancy) the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

You, know, I’ve always thought that is one of the great comic lines in the Bible. I wonder how “favored” Mary feels when the angel tells her that she will conceive in her womb and bear a son, and will name him Jesus? Mary, you may remember, is a young girl who is engaged, but not yet married to a man named Joseph. Here’s what that means. Joseph and Mary’s father have reached formal agreement of the marriage, in the presence of witnesses, including the paying of the bride price. Sometime in the next year, Joseph will take Mary from her father’s house into his own, to consummate the marriage.

But that hasn’t happened yet. And the angel tells Mary that she will become pregnant. And here are the relevant verses from the Hebrew law that cover this situation, from Deuteronomy 22: If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the town and lies with her, you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbor's wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.

That’s the punishment in store for this Mary. You and I know that this pregnancy will result because the Holy Spirit will come upon [Mary], and the power of the Most High will overshadow [her]; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. But who, in this little backwater town of Nazareth, would ever believe Mary in a million years, if she tried to claim that that is why she’s pregnant? I mean, come on!

How easy do you think it is, for Mary, to receive God’s advent into her life? What the angel Gabriel is telling her is, simply, impossible, right?

The angel tells Mary, “For nothing will be impossible with God.” But some of you have heard me say before: I wonder how long the pause is – after those words from the angel Gabriel, and Mary’s response? When you study the text later, I wonder how long the pause is between verse 37 and verse 38? How much time did it take for this impoverished young girl – entirely without power; entirely vulnerable (“perplexed” nothing; terrified!) – to process all that is going on, and to finally speak these words: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word."

Mary receives God’s advent into her life.

Do you watch for God’s advent into your life? Admittedly, this will not be as dramatic (probably!) as what Zechariah and Mary experienced. But God’s advent into your life happens with some frequency, when you’re watching for it; when you’re open to receiving that advent.

It could be that you and I are most open during those experiences of wilderness; those times when we’re out of control; when we’re lost, and the old map doesn’t work.

Have you had the experience of being opened to God’s advent through an event especially traumatic? Or, have you perceived God’s entering into an unusually joyous occasion? Have other people acted as spiritual guides, helping you gain clarity about what the Spirit is doing?

One of the things we hear at this time of the year is that “it is better to give than it is to receive” – but, in the context of what we’re into here, that cliché carries a great deal of irony. It is certainly easier to give than to receive – because then we’re in control, right?

But perhaps we are only open to God’s advent into our lives during those times when we let go of control. (This is a hard thing to do. You know that from your daily experience. You remember that Zechariah was not able to do that!) But, letting go, we turn our attention to this: what is God doing, intimately present as God is during the events of our lives?

In that way, in that openness, you and I cooperate with the Spirit as it is moving. Mary says to the angel Gabriel, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." She’s letting go of her resistance. She’s willing to play her role in what God is doing.

Here’s a topic for your Advent prayer, during these last days of preparation for the Christmas feast: Where is God entering in?

Your prayer would be to ask that question. And then: to listen.

What is the work God is calling you to do, in God’s continuing effort to bring the kingdom on earth, as it is in heaven? How are you receiving God’s advent into your life?

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia