jesus creates the space for questions: christmas 1

The holy gospel according to Luke (2:41-52)

⁴¹Now every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover.

       ⁴²And when he was twelve years old,

              they went up as usual for the festival.

       ⁴³When the festival was ended and they started to return,

              the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem,

                     but his parents did not know it.

              ⁴⁴Assuming that he was in the group of travelers,

                     they went a day’s journey.

                            Then they started to look for him among their relatives and friends.

                                   ⁴⁵When they did not find him,

                                          they returned to Jerusalem to search for him.

       ⁴⁶After three days they found him in the temple,

              sitting among the teachers,

                     listening to them and asking them questions.

                            ⁴⁷And all who heard him were amazed

                                   at his understanding and his answers.

              ⁴⁸When his parents saw him they were astonished;

                     and his mother said to him,

                            “Child, why have you treated us like this?

                                   Look, your father and I have been searching for you

                                          in great anxiety.”

                     ⁴⁹He said to them,

                            “Why were you searching for me?

                                   Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

                                          ⁵⁰But they did not understand what he said to them.

              ⁵¹Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth,

                     and was obedient to them.

                            His mother treasured all these things in her heart.

                            ⁵²And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years,

                                   and in divine and human favor.

The gospel of the lord.

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I can just imagine Mary in today’s gospel.  Though it was just this last week for us, it started so long ago for her.  Over 12 years, in fact.  A visit from an angel, which changed her life forever.  A baby?  Her?  A young teenager herself—not too much older than Jesus in today’s gospel, and she encounters an angel who calls her “favored” and begins to stir up deep feelings of unsettlement within her.  Things begin to change and as she ponders the angel’s greeting and promise, she takes a leap of faith, trusting the angel and trusting God.  And a fluttering begins deep inside.

As the baby grows, she travels to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who confirms the Holy Spirit’s work in and through Mary.  It is then that Mary finds herself situated among her foremothers—the women who have come before her, bearing gifts from God in their wombs.  She echoes Hannah’s song in her own magnificat—praising God for the work already done and still in progress, her soul magnifies, her spirit rejoices in God her savior.

Mary remains with her older cousin through Elizabeth’s third trimester, finding companionship with another one chosen by God, another one bearing a gift of the Holy Spirit.  And when she returns, the narrative we are so familiar with begins:  the decree from Emperor Augustus: a registration—a journey to Bethlehem—the city of Joseph’s ancestor David.  Bethlehem is filled to the brim—no room for anyone.  So they join the animals, finding hospitality in the warm, if dirty, stable.

Waiting in Bethlehem through the registration, Mary’s time eventually comes.  Surrounded by straw and animals, Mary gives birth to a child.  As she and the baby Jesus fade in and out of sleeping, eating, and watching, the night sky lights up.  Angels appear far off in the fields—bright as the star shining above and before too long these young shepherd boys show up, still glowing in the light of the angels—radiant with hope for Mary’s star-child, her peace child, the one who is the Messiah, the Lord.

Through the exhaustion of having given birth, Mary absorbs the visit from these strange boys and stores it away with the bright light of the star above her, pondering what it all means.

Then as Jesus grows a bit and begins trying to toddle around, more strangers appear—this time from the East bringing gifts!  

But what could Mary have thought when these gifts came?  She knows that Jesus is special—and not just because he’s her precious child, but now these strangers from so far away are bringing gold and frankincense—so fragrant!  They may not be great for a toddler, but truly these are gifts for a king!  The third gift, though…it’s different.  Myrrh is used to anoint people for burial.  Why are they bringing him myrrh?

And then the memory comes back of an old man—Simeon was his name—blessing Jesus when they brought him to the Temple to be circumcised.  Simeon had blessed them all and then turned to Mary and said, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” 

Twice now Mary has received hints at terrible pain to come—but what and when can it be?  Surely Jesus won’t die anytime soon!  But these strangers say that Herod knows of him and means to do him harm.  His life is in danger!

And so the holy family flees, heading to Egypt as refugees where Jesus begins to walk and talk, until it is safe to return.  And they decide to settle back in Nazareth, where Jesus grows into his own and Mary, watching him, sees the deep wisdom, compassion, and wonder in eyes too old for his young body.

Then when Jesus is 12, as they’ve done every year, they go to the Temple for Passover.  All seems normal—until they head home.  When Mary and Joseph realize Jesus is not with them, they race back to Jerusalem and the image of myrrh floats behind Mary’s eyes as Simeon’s words echo in her ears, “a sword will pierce your own soul too.”  Is this the time?  Will he be lost forever?  Will she finally have a use for the myrrh she has held onto all these years?

As they search frantically throughout the city, Mary’s anxiety builds.  After three days, a period of time that will come back to haunt Mary when she ponders Jesus’ life, three days, and he’s in the Temple.  In her exasperation and relief, Mary scolds Jesus, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”

Confused, Jesus asks, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?”—but what does he mean?  He’s always asking these questions, …but Joseph is his father…until the angel pops into Mary’s memory, proclaiming God’s favor, bringing her the choice of a baby.

And all of this, Mary continues to store away.  She holds all of these pieces; mixing the memories around, pondering deeply what meaning they hold.  Sitting with the memories, she puts them side by side, rearranges, and meditates on them, trying to make sense of a jumble of feelings and thoughts and memories all vying for attention, all trying to be the most important. 

As she looks at her child, so close to the age she was when she gave birth to him, she wonders, How do all of these things connect?  What sort of future is in store for her precious child?  All these people and things are so different; what do they mean?

As we come down off of our own sugar and food-induced comas of Christmas, we are left with this strange reality.  God comes to us—this boy king, star-child.  We know what is to come and yet we now have space, this first Sunday of Christmas and this week between holidays, to sit with Mary and ponder. 

The memories can get jumbled.  The phrases and theology we have come to know so well we no longer question it, collide, so we look at them one by one, deeply pondering the questions that come when we experience God with us. 

What does it mean?  How do we live now, with Jesus in the world?  Who is Jesus in this world?  Will our souls be pierced as well?  Have they been already?  From the start, Jesus is headed to the cross.  Where are we?  How do we fit in with it all?  This community of faith is the space—the space to sit with deep questions—knowing we don’t have all the answers.  What are your questions?  How do you ponder these mysteries of faith?  To whom do you ask your questions?

god moves with you: advent 4

i also reference the first reading and the psalm:

the first reading is 2 samuel 7:1-11, 16

the psalm is mary's magnificat in luke 1:46b-55

the holy gospel according to luke (1:26-38)

²⁶In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God

       to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,

              ²⁷to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph,

                     of the house of David.

                            The virgin’s name was Mary.

²⁸And he came to her and said,

       “Greetings, favored one!

              The Lord is with you.”

²⁹But she was much perplexed by his words

       and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

³⁰The angel said to her,

       “Do not be afraid, Mary,

              for you have found favor with God.

              ³¹And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son,

                     and you will name him Jesus.

                            ³²He will be great,

                                   and will be called the Son of the Most High,

                                   and the Lord God will give to him 

                                          the throne of his ancestor David.

                            ³³He will reign over the house of Jacob forever,

                                   and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

³⁴Mary said to the angel,

       “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”

³⁵The angel said to her,

       “The Holy Spirit will come upon you,

              and the power of the Most High will overshadow you;

                     therefore the child to be born will be holy;

                            he will be called Son of God.

       ³⁶And now,

              your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son;

                     and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.

                            ³⁷For nothing will be impossible with God.”

³⁸Then Mary said,

       “Here am I,

              the servant of the Lord;

                     let it be with me according to your word.”

Then the angel departed from her.

The gospel of the lord.

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today in 2 samuel we hear of a god who will not be boxed in.  david is king, with a palace of his own and he’s ready to build god a house—a temple—a sturdy and permanent place to stay always.

but god does not work that way.  our god is a god who moves with us.  a week and a half ago during our soup supper we learned about a faith journey of finding christians and places of worship in all of the many places that the sharer lived.  we at christ the king have traveled quite a bit in our own short time as a congregation from a movie theater, to the old place down the road, to here, in this place.  and who knows where we might end up next, but what we do know is that we’ve got a god that’ll keep going with us. 

god’s message for david is “⁶i have not lived in a house since the day i brought up the people of israel from egypt to this day, but i have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. ⁹and i have been with you wherever you went.”  god has been with the israelites since long before they had a king.  as we heard in mary’s magnificat, god was with sarah and abraham.  god was with the israelites in the wilderness and will be with them when they are forcibly removed from their land into exile.  god will not be put in a box, in a building, in a temple.

instead god chooses to make god’s home among us and in us.  god chooses to come to us in a young, teenage girl named mary.  the angel gabriel comes to mary with the proposal and mary, caught up in understandable fear and confusion asks the angel, “how can this be?”

how can this be?  how can god be doing this new thing?  i am hardly more than a child, weak and lowly, yet you look with love on me.  the angel comes to mary and names mary.  the angel comes and calls her favored.  the angel proclaims the good news and mary rejoices at the god who lifts up the lowly, who fills the hungry, and who overturns the mighty with justice and love that are strong.  the angel comes to mary where she’s at, to call her by name.

the angel comes to mary, claims her as favored and mary responds to the angel.  mary chooses to join god in this new thing.  mary says yes to god and then begins the adventure to come, with hallelujahs and heartbreak as only a mother could know.

and yet god doesn’t just come to this young, unwed teenager.  in her old age, elizabeth, whose name means “promise of god” is also invited to participate in this new and longed-for thing god is doing.  for her whole life, elizabeth has lived in a culture where, as a woman, her worth was defined by her ability to give birth, to be a mother, and so she had been considered a failure—barren. 

fertility issues are not uncommon nowadays and they certainly happened back then with the added hardship that if a woman could not have children, it was attributed to her being sinful and could lead to economic hardship later in life.

yet god’s promise, god’s blessing is with elizabeth.  she is no failure, but not for the reason you might expect.  yes she becomes pregnant, but more importantly, both she and her soon-to-be-born child point to and encourage the coming savior.  as we’ve been hearing the last few weeks, john will prepare the way for jesus and will baptize him, kicking off jesus’ ministry with a bang, a tearing open of the heavens.

elizabeth, too, provides encouragement and pronounces the coming of christ.  upon hearing elizabeth’s news from the angel gabriel, mary goes to visit her.  elizabeth hears her greeting, is filled with the holy spirit, and proclaims blessings on mary, the mother of her lord, who is then moved to her own proclamation: the magnificat, which we heard as our psalm today.

together these two women who have no business bearing the good news—proclaiming god’s favor—take up the challenge, saying yes to god’s invitation to participate in this new thing.  pregnant with children, they are also pregnant with hope and with passion for the new thing that god is bringing forth in and through them. 

mary herself may have been visited by an angel, but the angel is long gone and in the months to come, she’ll be needing support as people find out that she is pregnant and not yet married.  elizabeth becomes that support for mary and in turn mary encourages and supports elizabeth.  they become each other’s angels.  they come to be together, to call each other by name, to call each other favored; to tell each other god is with them.

god comes to mary and elizabeth, and then in the resulting confusion, excitement, and anxiety, god remains with them in each other.  today is the day in our church year that our god who will not be boxed in, who will not remain inside one building, so permanent and at times so far away.  today is the day that god comes to mary, to elizabeth, and to us. 

the angel of god calls you favored.  the angel announces god’s presence with you and invites you into this new thing.  in a few short days, we will find jesus with us in a barn and in our lives, and today god leaves the boxes and buildings to be with us, to remain with us.  in the ups and downs and struggles, god sends angels—maybe named gabriel, or taylor, or barbara, mat or stuart.  god sends angels to be with us and to help us know that not only are they with us, but god is with us as well.  moving with us as we move, sitting together with us in the sorrow and in the quiet, claiming us always for god’s own.

thanks be to god.