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This Sunday we observe the fourth Sunday in Advent with stories of grand disruption.
Our Old Testament reading today (Micah 5:2-5a) is what is often called a “Messianic prophecy” about Jesus. Unfortunately, Christians typically only read this passage from the prophet Micah as a kind of “proof-text” about Jesus. The danger of this is that we turn the Old Testament into a magical book of oracles and ignore the original context.
This passage has to do with the people of Judah, a people tied to an original forefather, a guy named Judah, a man with a complicated and scandalous history which also culminates in his redemption (read his story in Genesis 37-43).
This one who is coming is one “whose origins are from old, from ancient times (vs. 2).” He will come forth “for me (vs. 2).” He will come from one of the little clans of Judah. God was not finished with Judah, and the birth of the Messiah will signal a new day for God’s people (vs. 4) and will end the days of abandonment (vs. 3). He will be the king over his “brothers” (the rest of God’s people) as well as “the ends of the earth (vs. 3-4).
And, “he shall be the one of peace (vs. 5).” Peace is the sense of things being put right, being rightly-ordered. When the world is upended, those who are oppressing, who are dominating, who are marginalizing, will be judged. It will be uncomfortable because their actions are not in line with God’s desire for the world. In Micah’s words, we hear both judgement and healing.
Advent is a time to ask hard questions. When we hear the Christmas narratives, it is easy to place ourselves in the position of the oppressed (in Mary’s position for example), but the more challenging exercise is to ask where we are the powerful.
In our epistle reading (Hebrews 10:5-10), we have another example of a subversive disruption.
The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 40:6-8. In the this culture, the Psalmist, a devoted Israelite (perhaps David) emphasizes that God is less concerned about the appropriate animal sacrifice to be offered in the temple, and more concerned about obedience. In other words, God does not just want us to worship the right way. God wants all of our behavior to be oriented towards his will and commands. In a stunning turn of events, the writer of Hebrews puts the words in the mouth of Christ, who is speaking the words of the Psalm to the Father.
Each of us knows that, left to our devices, we are not faithful to God. We miss the mark over and over again. We fail. We sin. If God’s heart is for us to be fully oriented towards healing and wholeness—for ourselves and for the world—we will never get to that place on our own. And yet, there is one who is faithful, who is true all the way through. At the heart of the new covenant is the self-giving love of Jesus, the one true and faithful human being.
Our gospel reading (Luke 1:39-45) is yet another subversive disruption. Mary has heard the angel’s announcement to her that she would give birth to the Son of the Most High and, in this scene, she travels from her home in Galilee to Judea to visit her relative, Elizabeth (vs. 39).
Mary’s visit to Elizabeth takes place three months before the birth of John the Baptist; eight months and a couple of weeks before the birth of Jesus. One can only imagine what Mary is feeling in this season and wonder about the specific reason for her trip. Elizabeth, too, is pregnant with a child who has been promised by God.
The interaction between the two women in this story are both joyful and comical, full of laughing, crying, and shouting. Mary enters the home and greets Elizabeth (vs. 40). In that holy moment, at the very sound of her voice, John leaps in Elizabeth’s womb (vs. 41) and Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit (vs. 41).
Think about these two women. One of them, we are told, was unable to conceive because she and her husband were too old (vs. 7). This is a familiar pattern in Bible: a person who carries the promise of God is unable to conceive, and God steps in. God’s promise comes to them in their weakness, their longing.
The other was not longing for a child. Unlike Elizabeth, Mary receives something that she is not longing for, something that would potentially change her life for the worse. Both women are are disrupted, surprised by God. Both are stories of God’s grace.