Advent 4

20 December 2015 at Soulbury

Old Testament Micah 5.2—5a

² ‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
    from ancient times.’

³ Therefore Israel will be abandoned
    until the time when she who is in labour bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
    to join the Israelites.

⁴ He will stand and shepherd his flock
    in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
    will reach to the ends of the earth.

⁵ And he will be our peace
    when the Assyrians invade our land
    and march through our fortresses.

Epistle Hebrews 10.5—10

⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

‘Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;
⁶ with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you were not pleased.
⁷ Then I said, “Here I am – it is written about me in the scroll –
    I have come to do your will, my God.”’

⁸ First he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them’– though they were offered in accordance with the law. ⁹ Then he said, ‘Here I am, I have come to do your will.’ He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Gospel Luke 1.39—55

Alleluia, alleluia. Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight, and all flesh shall see the salvation of God. Alleluia.

Mary visits Elizabeth
³⁹ At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, ⁴⁰ where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. ⁴² In a loud voice she exclaimed: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! ⁴³ But why am I so favoured, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴ As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.⁴⁵ Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her!’

⁴⁶ And Mary said:

‘My soul glorifies the Lord
⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
⁴⁸ for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
⁴⁹     for the Mighty One has done great things for me –
    holy is his name.
⁵⁰ His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.
⁵¹ He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
⁵² He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.
⁵³ He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.
⁵⁴ He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful
⁵⁵ to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    just as he promised our ancestors.’

Sermon

The prophet Micah lived through a time of turbulence. He lived in the 8^th century BC, when small countries like Judah were dominated by the power of the Assyrian empire. Micah foretold freedom from the yoke of Assyria. He prophesied a ruler would come, who would stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord.

Micah foretold a saviour, who would bring peace, nourishment and prosperity to the people who had been oppressed. But this could not happen until the moral and social decay in the land had been purged. The poor were evicted from their property. Officials took bribes. Weights and measures in the marketplaces were fixed. The rich abused the poor. Corruption was rife.

God’s wrath was directed, not only against the perpetrators of sin, but also against the prophets and religious leaders, who should have been standing up for the downtrodden and oppressed. In the end, he says, out of devastation will come a time when righteousness and peace is restored. Swords will be beaten into ploughshares, and everyone will sit in the shade of their own vines, olives and fig trees.

This tale of widespread corruption, oppression, and fear sounds like a contemporary description of so many places in the modern world, rather than what was the case almost 3,000 years ago.

We read the words of Micah’s prophesy as applying to the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas. We are right to do so – Jesus himself is steeped in Old Testament prophecy, and clearly applies many passages of Scripture to his own mission here on earth. The original prophecy was addressed to Micah’s contemporaries, but God speaks to all people at all times.

God is outside time, so his words apply to Micah’s age, as well as to Jesus and our own time too. To regard Micah’s prophecy as merely foretelling the coming of the Saviour Jesus is to miss the word of God applicable to our own situation.

In today’s gospel reading, two women fill the frame: Elizabeth and her cousin Mary. Elizabeth, like her forebears Sarah (in Genesis) and Hannah (from I Samuel) is unable to bear children. Her condition was thought to be her fault. She was looked down upon by society. She was considered unable to fulfil her role as a woman. Yet here she was, miraculously 6 months pregnant, visited by Mary the mother of Christ, and foretold by the likes of Micah and Isaiah.

Hannah, the mother of Samuel, is not just someone’s mother and someone’s wife. She is a prophet in her own right. Hannah’s song is much like Mary’s song. The first verse sounds much like the opening of the Magnificat:

"My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory.

Everything is upside down. God has brought down the mighty, and elevated the humble and meek. He has scattered the proud and fed the hungry. The rich go hungry. The poor are fed.

This idea of social justice is at the heart of the Christian gospel. Wrongs will be put right in the fullness of time, with the coming of the Kingdom of God. Whenever we talk of the Kingdom, we ask the question “Is the Kingdom a present or a future reality? Are these events just for the end times, or in some way can we enjoy them in some sense right now?

There’s no absolutely definitive answer, but if we turn to Scripture it is clear the Kingdom is not just a future reality, but is somehow already in our midst. Here’s what Luke 17 says:

²⁰ Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, ²¹ nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

It’s not easy to understand exactly what Jesus means. He goes on to talking at some length about the end of times, when the Son of Man will return, and how elusive and impossible to predict that will be. But surely we can be sure that if the Kingdom is in some sense already in our midst, we must strive to put right the wrongs sung about by Mary, Zechariah and Hannah today, and not leaving striving for justice for the vulnerable and dispossessed to a future Apocalypse. Crisis at all times, not just Crisis for Christmas. The Kingdom of God in our midst right now, not just at the end of times. Preparing for the coming of the Saviour all year round, not just in Advent. ‘Here I am, I have come to do your will.’ Amen