Fourth Sunday of Advent

Recently I heard an interview with a woman who has written a book called The Last Castle where she tells the story of the Biltmore House in Asheville. Answering the reporter who asked, “Outside North Carolina, do people know much about Biltmore House and its connection to the Vanderbilts?” the author expressed her surprise at how unknown it is, she said,

“When we’re very close to something, it’s easy to forget that there are people who don’t know anything about it…There are so many things that we all think we should know, or we think everybody should know, but we don’t.”

She could have been describing how many of us read these very familiar texts that we have this morning and tonight in the first two chapters of Luke. After all, who hasn’t heard the story of the angel coming to Mary and telling her that she will be the mother of Jesus? Hasn’t everyone seen a living Nativity, a Christmas play, or at least watched Linus and Charlie Brown at Christmastime?

But on this last Sunday of Advent as we move from waiting and expectation to fulfillment, we are being invited to hear these stories anew.

Speaking to Mary, the angel Gabriel calls her “favored” but Mary doesn’t immediately hear the annunciation — the news that she was unexpectedly becoming a young unmarried mother — as good news,

or evidence of God’s grace to her.

Instead, she answers incredulously, “How can this be?”

Reassuring her, Gabriel describes how “the Holy Spirit will come upon her and the power of the Most High will overshadow her.” These are not ominous storm clouds or the frightening shadows one sees in the darkness of night. Instead, they are references to the covering ascribed to God in the psalms, a shelter of safety and protection that is given to God’s people (Ps. 90 and 139) and to the cloud that covered the Israelites’ tent of meeting during the exodus. (Exodus 40) They are assurances that the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

Like the bright cloud that overshadows the disciples when they hear God speak in gospel accounts of the Transfiguration, Gabriel is promising that the glory of God is present in these events.

Hearing God speaking through the angel, Mary responds with confidence that springs from her faith, saying,

"Here am I, the servant of the Lord;

let it be with me according to your word.”

This morning’s assigned text ends there, but Luke’s account continues with Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. While both he and Matthew name Mary as the mother of Jesus, only Luke gives us the stories of the annunciation and Mary’s visit to Elizabeth. Notably, in this gospel, women are the primary witnesses to both Jesus’ birth and resurrection.

It isn’t until after Mary is greeted by her cousin and hears Elizabeth’s excitement for Mary and the child she is carrying that we hear the Magnificat,

Mary’s song of jubilation where she sings, “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

While Mary was certainly set apart, truly God favors us all because God came down to earth in the person of Jesus.

Everything Mary knew — social norms, tradition and custom — was thrown to the wind by the new activity of the Holy Spirit. In bible study this week, we wondered aloud about times when we have questioned, “How can this be?” and where God’s favor has surprised us in our own lives.

Sometimes, “How can this be?” is our response to an unexpected calling. Remember how Abram’s wife Sarai laughed when God told her to expect a child? Mary’s encounter with Elizabeth illustrates how even when we experience God’s grace firsthand, we may not believe it until we hear the affirmation of another person. Mary shows us how to respond to the unknown and unexpected with confidence, grounded in faith, even as Elizabeth models how to be an encourager and provide affirmation.

Other times, “How can this be?” is our response to a changing world that we cannot fully understand. Church historian and author Diana Butler Bass suggests Christianity may be experiencing such a time now. It is a time when “some things will cease to work, no longer make sense, and fail to give comfort or provide guidance.”[i] But she writes that is isn’t a time to despair or lament; instead she writes “that only means we have work to do here and now – to find new paths of meaning, new ways to connect with God and neighbor, and to form new communities and to organize ways of making the world a better place.”[ii]

So, as we hear these old, familiar stories this Advent and Christmas, let’s listen anew and ask, “Where is God coming to us in surprising and unexpected ways?” and “How is God asking us to give birth to the holy?”[iii]

Let us pray…

Most High God,

Thank you for your surprising and abundant grace,

for showing us your favor and coming down to earth in the person of your Son.

Open our eyes to your holy presence in your invitation to work for your glory, and

Send your Holy Spirit upon us that we would rejoice and answer You, “Here am I, Lord.”

Amen.

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[i] Diana Butler Bass Christianity after Religion, 31.

[ii] Ibid, 32.

[iii] Feasting on the Gospels--Luke, Volume 1: A Feasting on the Word Commentary (Kindle Locations 844-848). Westminster John Knox Press. Kindle Edition.