Advent 3: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11; Luke 1:26-38
December 11, 2011
What a week that was. One man got 14 years and his pension was taken away. The other man got 10 years, $254 million and new home. Both got what they deserved – one a disgraced governor who deceived and conspired to enrich himself out of sight of the public, while the other in full view to everyone watching displayed both his tremendous talent as an athlete and his decency as a human being.
Professional athletes make more than they're worth. But if any of us could swing a bat like Albert Pujols would we do anything different than he did this week? He was born in poverty, now he is rich. Pujols has used his fortune in many good ways over the years to help others, especially through the foundation he and wife Deidre created to help children with Down Syndrome.
"The Pujols' have a daughter, Isabella, 13, with Down syndrome. The Pujols Family Foundation they started has a mission to serve two groups. In 2009 the foundation raised $1.3 million in contributions and grants. About $90,000 of this money paid for dental, medical and eye care, bedding, mentoring and baseball programs for children in the Dominican Republic. An additional $527,000 went to more than 60 events in the St. Louis area for children with Down syndrome." (St. Louis newspaper article)
Once in a while it is nice to see someone who is truly a role model get the best deal possible. So often we can't say that about others who take their millions and leave the poor of the world like Lazarus begging at the front door.
The scripture tells that in the end everyone receives what they deserve. For some this is bad news. For others it is good news. 'The mercy of the Lord is for that fear him. He brings down the powerful from their thrones and lifts up the lowly. He feeds the poor with good things and sends the rich empty away.'
The prophet tells us that God loves justice and 'hates robbery and wrongdoing.' More than anything else God is willing to forgive past sins if there's a chance that 'righteousness and praise' can be planted and raised up for all people to see. Moreover this is precisely what God intends to do through his servant.
"The spirit of the Lord is upon me because the Lord has anointed me…to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to claim liberty to the captives and release to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance of our God and to comfort all who mourn."(Is 61:1f)
This text from the Hebrew scripture is especially important because this is the passage Jesus reads in his home town synagogue in Nazareth at the beginning of his public ministry. It is a summary of his calling and what he was sent to do. "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing" he tells his friends and neighbors after the reading. (Lk 4)
At first everyone is pleased and excited about Jesus. "All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth."(Lk 4:22) But then Jesus goes on to connect this scripture with two other stories in the Hebrew bible that revealed God's care for those who were Gentiles.
In the days of Elijah there were many widows in Israel, but Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon who fed Elijah and gave him shelter during a drought. Elijah returned her favor by reviving her son from death. And there were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha and none of them was cleansed except Naaman, the Syrian.
On the surface there wouldn't seem to be anything here to make people angry. But that's what happened. The hometown crowd not only got angry, but so angry that they were ready to throw Jesus off the cliff. What this shows is that Jesus did not read and study the stories of the bible in isolation from one another as is so often done today. Instead he looked for connections that led him to see THE BIG PICTURE of God's ways.
The hometown folks were angry because Jesus was pointing out that the boundaries of God's love included people other than their own kind even their enemies. Naaman was a Syrian military commander who had conducted raids on Israel in the past. In fact it was a captured girl from Israel that led him to seek a cure for his leprosy from the prophet Elisha.
Jesus connects these two stories about God's care for Gentiles to Isaiah's call and also to his own calling. Good news to the oppressed, binding up the brokenhearted, captives and prisoners set free, declaring the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance and comforting those who mourn all of this is not just for the benefit of insiders like Israel. These blessings are intended for people beyond Israel too. God's love cannot be limited by anyone other than God himself.
The 'way, the truth and the life' of Jesus, therefore, is one where neighbors are accepted as Jesus accepts them. It's not what we think about them or judge them that are decisive. It is God's perspective that matters. To be a genuine follower of Jesus means to get onboard with God's way and not remain stuck in our own. We have to give up trying to control everything ourselves and surrender our will so that God's will may work through us.
Mary and Joseph, the chosen earthly parents of Jesus are a perfect example of this. They may have both been teenagers at the time. Imagine the angel Gabriel speaking to you as he does to Mary about being a parent. Just having a baby would be and is enough stress. But consider the stature of the son Mary and Joseph will raise. "He will be great. He will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of David forever. Of his kingdom there will be no end!" In other words, they will raise the one on whom the future of the entire world and all generations to come will depend!
What a tremendous responsibility for such young parents. Would any of us accept this role? Would we refuse and beg off that we are not qualified? But Mary and Joseph readily accept the roles God bestows upon them. Mary says: "Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." And Joseph goes along too despite the gossip that surely would have been around in those days about a child conceived out of wedlock. At the time only Mary, Joseph and Gabriel knew the details.
Mary and Joseph are model servants who yield to God. They don't refuse or turn away from God's calling, but embrace it fully. Whatever their personal limitations were didn't matter. God would be in charge. "For nothing will be impossible with God."
And so the story begins about a Savior who not only comes from heaven but also brings the life of heaven down to earth with him. The angels say: "He will reign over the house of David forever. Of his kingdom there will be no end." The prophet declares: "As the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, so the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all nations."
Servants like Isaiah, Mary, Joseph and many others are the ones who hear God's calling and accept it. They devote themselves to the faith which God plants in their heart, mind and soul and they live it. When he grows up Jesus will say: "Those who want to save their life, will lose it. And those who lose their life for my sake (who give up control over themselves and give it to God) will save it." (Lk 9:24)
This week in the news there was a glimpse of this BIGGER STORY about 'the mercy of the Lord for those fear him who brings down the powerful from their thrones and lifts up the lowly, who feeds the poor with good things and sends the rich empty away.'
In the end everyone gets what they deserve. Some will get 14 years with even their pension taken away. Others will get 10 years and a whole lot more. No, God doesn't promise millions. But God does promise "a garland instead of ashes, gladness instead of mourning, praise instead of a faint spirit" to those who fear him and are called oaks of righteousness.
As the Spirit of the Lord anointed Jesus, so also the Spirit anoints us to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty and release to captives and prisoners of darkness, to declare the year of the Lord's favor and the day of vengeance, and to comfort all who mourn. We are called to be oaks of righteousness too, the planting of the Lord to display his glory. Like Mary and Joseph may we renew or accept the role God gives to us.
And if we do not feel worthy only remember that 'nothing is impossible with God.'