Mary’s Vision: A Life of Joy—Micah 5: 2-5; Luke 1: 39-56
The third Sunday of Advent is often considered the Sunday of “joy.” In the middle of a reflective season, there’s a bit of light-hearted reprieve. The candle is pink, and some churches change the decorations from blue to pink to reflect the less serious focus of the Sunday. Sometimes though, it seems we’re not all singing, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year” with the giddy happiness bursting forth from our lives. Many churches have adopted holding a “Blue Christmas” service for the many who struggle with grief and sadness at the holidays.
Writer and blogger Joe Chambers says, “We are told that Christmas, for Christians, should be the happiest time of the year. Yet according to the National Institute of Health, Christmas is the time of year when people experience a high incidence of depression.” He goes on to note that hospitals, police, and mental health professionals notice a significant uptick in patients around this time of year. And 45% of people say they dread, dread the festive season. What do we do in a season of hope and joy when we don’t feel all that merry and bright?
Let’s look at the story of Mary, the mother of Jesus. To me, one of the strongest and toughest folks in the Bible is Mary. She was young, inexperienced, not yet married, and called to a truly great task. She had to contend with the doubt, the concern, the fear that her husband might also doubt God, and the inherent difficulties of ancient society. And yet, despite the best recipe for suffering and struggle, her life and her gift was one of joy.
When Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, the proof of her calling was made known. Elizabeth and her own developing child recognized the holiness and Spirit of God that was with Mary. The Gospel tells us that when Mary entered both Elizabeth and Elizabeth’s own child were filled with joy. Christmas comes in the darkest, coldest part of the year. Christmas, the commercialized and humanized, can be very hard. But let’s back up a minute and consider Advent.
Maybe the joy isn’t found in the Santa-presents-insanity producing extravaganza every year. Maybe joy is found in the waiting for something holy. The actual birth of Jesus was difficult and tumultuous (to say the least) for Mary. But in this waiting and expectation, she found joy. As Elizabeth says to Mary, “You are blessed because you believed that the Lord would do what [the Lord] said.” Mary’s blessing and joy wasn’t in seeing the result, it was in the believing and the waiting for God’s good news to happen.
We hear this joy echoed in Mary’s song: “Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!” In her potentially difficult situation, appearing as an unwed mother in ancient days, Mary’s spirit rejoices in God. The whole of Advent is a time where we reflect and wait. We talked some about the struggle of waiting two weeks ago. But waiting is still about so much more than just feeling stuck. For Mary and Elizabeth, waiting was about promise and good news.
Elizabeth’s prophetic words to Mary say this: “You are blessed because you believed the Lord would do what [the Lord] said.” Mary trusted in the promise. She could have shaken off the vision of the angel as a dream or mere foolishness on her own part. But she didn’t. She heard, she received, and she believed. Advent is about promise. Several years ago, my cousin asked me to perform her wedding. It was a about 3 hours away on the coast of South Carolina. I did the research and discovered it would be no problem at all to get there after church.
What I didn’t expect was spring break traffic on I-95 adding a whole extra hour to the trip. I kept calling to check in saying, “I promise I’ll be there. I promise.” As the time wore on, I began to worry I’d let her down. But suddenly the traffic broke and I could exit and get to the location. It was down a long dirt road. My uncle, many years later, talks about the giant dust cloud created by a Subaru doing 60 miles per hour down a dirt road. I was late, but I made it. I had promised.
God has promised us a way to find grace in a troubled world. For us, that comes in believing in Jesus, then following in the way in which he lived and taught. The tradeoff is living in this close relationship to the One who created us, loves us, and sustains us throughout this life and promises us joy and hope in the hereafter. When God promises, you can take it to the bank.
But that’s also good news for us. Mary’s song lists all the great works of God then and to come. God has done great things for her. God shows mercy. God scattered the proud and haughty ones. God brought down princes from the thrones to exalt the humble and lowly. God has filled the hungry with good things and sent away the rich. God has been merciful. Mary’s song is filled with joy at the good things God has done. It’s good news to a hurting world then and now.
The Micah lesson also talks about a return from exile and suffering and finding joy again in life from living in peace. Maybe that’s one of the best pieces of good news is finding a sense of peace again. The people of Israel found joy in looking forward to this time of redemption and hope—to this time when there would be grace for them instead of continued patterns of connection, disobedience, and struggle. Joy and good news are always forward looking.
I could probably give you a whole laundry list of things in my life recently that are joy-stealing from life: I hit a deer going to the conference and totaled the state car while feeling like the villain from Bambi; I had to spend almost $600 at the vet for gastro issues on the cat; Exhaustion from work; Feeling like I’m not festive enough; Anxiety, oh the anxiety; and so on… I think we could all compile our own list of troubles. It’s like the teens in the 1980s said, “It’s life, man.”
But in the midst of our misery lists, there’s still good news awaiting us. There are folks all around who love us. There is the promise that faith will continue to work through the struggles of life. God never leaves us. And Advent reminds us that in waiting, we will see the glory of God making all things new and fulfilling every promised we have believed in here on earth.
Some days that feels a bit theoretical and hard to grab ahold of. But I turn back to the words of “Once in Royal David’s City,” “And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love; for that child so dear and gentle is our Lord in heaven above, and he leads his children on to the place where he is gone.” Those words were written 176 years ago. These same promises and this same good news have sustained humankind for centuries upon centuries. In times of trial and distress, people have clung to the hope that God’s promise to be with us until the end is, in fact, true.
This year, it may be true that our “bah humbug” outweighs our “holly jolly.” And it’s understandable. Almost half of the folks in a poll said they dreaded Christmas. But if you and I find ourselves in that category, let’s back up a bit and spend some time with Advent. God has promised us a Savior who would bring love, relationship, and joy into our lives. We can continue, as many have done for centuries, to look forward to that promise of Christ and the good news of God’s presence and love with us. And then like Mary, perhaps we too can say, “How my soul praises the Lord[, and how] my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!”
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