SERMON, ADVENT 4C, LUKE 1:39-56

Earlier this season, I had said that Advent is really the only season in which we intentionally look both forwards and backwards. We look forward to the second coming of Christ at some unknown future date, and we look forward back to his first coming in a lowly stable in a tiny town.

We begin Advent with some seriously apocalyptic readings about the end of time; signs in the heavens, distress among the nations and the shaking of the world. And we were told that when all this happens to not be afraid, but to stand up and raise our heads.

From looking forward to the end times, we step back to John the Baptist and we look forward to the arrival of the Messiah. John prepares Christ's way by crying out in the wilderness and making his pathway straight. And he prepares us for Christ's arrival by calling us into repentance; by calling us to examine our lives and see where wants outweigh needs, and asknig us to change our behavior.

And in today's gospel, we look forward to the birth of the Messiah. We look forward back to the day when Jesus will be born. The end times are upon us, Jesus is with us, but now we look forward back to the beginning.

In short, the season of Advent moves us from looking forward to the second Advent of Christ, his second coming in glory, to looking forward to the first Advent of Christ, his first coming in humility, born of a virgin, away in a manger. Advent moves us from the end times to the current times; and what is more current than the anticipated arrival of a baby?

Let's look at this Messianic arrival for a bit. Micah prophesies that a great ruler of Israel will come out of Bethlehem, the City of David, and that his origin will be from ancient days. Christians have interpreted Jesus to be the fulfillment of this prophecy -- from the House of David, born in Bethlehem, and ancient in origin.

Jesus and David have more in common than just their genetic makeup though. David is the ideal ruler of Israel. Whereas it seems that Saul had the qualities people wanted in a king (tall, dark and handsome), it was David who had the qualities that God wanted in a king (a good heart). David was a shepherd. That background served him well as king in that he led his people, protected them and fought for them, just as he did for his flock. He led by example.

Those same qualities can be found in Jesus. He has a good heart, always striving to keep God foremost in his life and to translate that vision of the kingdom to his relationship with others. And, of course, Jesus is the good shepherd, watching over his flock by day and night. Just as David was the ideal ruler of the past, Jesus is the ideal ruler of the future.

This relationship between the old and the new, between the past and the future is very evident in today's gospel. We miss out on the Annunciation story this year, but we get the Visitation. Here we have young Mary visiting old Elizabeth. This visit is more than a young girl looking to an older relative for advice.

In our understanding, John was the last prophet of God. He represents the old covenant and the old ways of how God tried to work in the world. His mother, Elizabeth, represents the old way of relating to God.

With Jesus, God does something new. He abolishes the old covenant and establishes a new relational system. In Jesus we are given a new way to understand how God works in our lives; not through rules, regulations and interpretations of Law, but through relationship and contact. The young mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, represents this totally new way of doing things.

The old and new meet in Elizabeth and Mary. In John, the old makes preparations for the new. And in Jesus, the new way increases beyond the old.

With this new way, everything is different. The rules have been changed, a reversal and upheaval is underway. God is not coming in power and might and great glory, but in the birth to an otherwise powerless family and in the humility of a manger. Lowly shepherds are the first to hear of this and worship him, and the kings will follow. This is a "trickle-up" effect -- a reversal of how we think it should be.

Everything is different, and Mary is our example. In her humility she said, "Yes." In her faith, she said, "Yes." And what is she saying yes to? She is saying yes to giving Jesus a home. She gives him a home in her mind, when the angel comes to visit. She gives him a home in her body when she becomes pregnant. And she gives him a home in her life as she raises him and then follows him.

Mary embodies trust in God. Just as David was the ideal ruler of the past, and Jesus is the ideal ruler of the future, Mary is the ideal person of faith. She shows us how to surrender. She shows us how to give Jesus a place to live.

As we come to the end of Advent, the end of the old and the start of the new, as we ponder the end times and how a baby born in a manger managed to change the world, let us be like Mary and ponder in our hearts how we might give the Savior of the world a place to live.