Good morning Christians, seekers, and friends!
One of the things I most appreciate about our God is that God, my creator, really loves the real “me.” God is a down-to-earth, lover of all humanity and creation kind of God, who, even though I have spent years trying to live up to my idea of what I believed he wanted me to do and be, doesn’t really work the way we do. In today’s reading from the second book of the prophet Samuel, we get a glimpse of that. We read that when King David was finally all comfortably settled into his house and God has given him some rest from his enemies, he notices that while he has all the bling and his house made of cedar, the ark of the Lord was still ‘living’ out back in a tent. So, he tells Nathan that he’s feeling a little uncomfortable with the ark of the Most High God living in the tent… cuz glamping or not—it is still in a TENT, and this seems so wrong. Nathan, a wise man – a PROPHET no less —replies to the King, “Go, do all that you have in mind; for the Lord is with you.” But in this case the Prophet Nathan’s prophecy about God’s response is wrong – for that very night God tells Nathan:
Go and tell my servant David: Thus, says the Lord: Are you the one to build me a house to live in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt… but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle. Wherever I have moved about among all the people of Israel, did I ever speak a word with any of the tribal leaders of Israel,…saying, “Why have you not built me a house of cedar?”…. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me; your throne shall be established forever.
God didn’t ask for a house – and God didn’t really want a Temple—in fact, God didn’t even really want Israel to be ruled by a King—and although God acquiesced to our human desire to have both – and, as God does, made the way for this new political and architectural “institutions” to come to pass this wasn’t God’s original idea…. God liked hanging and walking and talking with Adam and Eve before the Fall….God liked leading and moving in and amongst the Israelites as they made their way through the wilderness….God liked the tent AND loved God’s people. God didn’t want a crown or a bejeweled temple—yet God understands, too, what we want….and so God partners with us, if we’ll let God, and blesses the work of our hands…
As we have been walking through this Advent together, I have been thinking about how God’s blessings differ from our view that blessings are some kind of reward. This time of year, with folks talking about Santa Claus—it is hard not to see how similar this is to how we sometimes think of God. In fact, for some Christian folks who believe in the ‘prosperity gospel,’ financial blessing and physical beauty and well-being are always what God wants for them if they are doing what is right—it isn’t hard to make a comparison between their view of God and a great big celestial Santa who gives us ‘gifts’ and ‘riches’ and ‘fame and fortune’ if we have been good – if and only if we have been very, very good. And while I do think God wants what is best for us and that God delights in giving us abundance in life, God’s recognition of us – God’s blessings don’t necessarily take the form of material and physical comfort or fame or fortune.
So, when we hear words like those spoken by the angel Gabriel to Mary, “Greetings favored one……you have found favor with God,” we might not conceive of her situation as anything we would consider a reward. We all know NOW that this was a super good thing – but for a young unmarried woman in her time? It was not only a difficult position to be in – her situation could have been a disastrous one. And this hasn’t changed all that much in the world we live in either. While our society has lightened up a little about the unmarried part, if we didn’t know about the Jesus Son of God part, just exactly how is Mary being favored here? And maybe even though we did know about the Jesus, Son of God part in our cultural context we might still ask how is Mary being favored? When we think of favoritism now – it doesn’t look like this right? Putting someone in an awkward and potentially dangerous social situation doesn’t smack of favoritism. Favoritism, as we understand it, is about giving special privileges to or preferential treatment to someone’s opinion, worth, or ideas in a way that gives them an ADVANTAGE over others. But what advantage was Mary given over us? In fact, look at the way that Gabriel explains how she is to become the mother of Jesus… “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” Mary is blessed by being overshadowed by Holy Spirit? And overshadowed by her son?
Reading over this passage this time, that word really stuck in my mind, “overshadowed.” I don’t know if I ever really noticed it before…so I looked it up in several translations of the Bible… thinking to myself is this the best word choice or translation? And apparently it is… coming from the Greek episkazs which means to oversee— to exceed in importance, tower above, or cast a shadow over…. But in our time, overshadow isn’t usually a good thing— we define it as: to appear much more prominent or important than someone or something, or to be a negative feature or influence that spoils something… or even to make someone or something less happy or enjoyable. So, this doesn’t really make it seem this experience is going to be a pleasant experience or “blessing” to Mary as an individual.
Now. I know that our modern definitions and understandings are different than those of Jesus’ time and it’s not my intention to be anachronistic. Yet, the only other place where we find this word overshadow/ episkazs in the gospel of Luke is in Chapter 9 used to describe a cloud that comes over the disciples at Jesus’ transfiguration and says, “This is my Son, the Chosen One; listen to him!” And the disciples reaction to this experience was FEAR. God’s blessings don’t always come in the ways we expect them to — with everything all tied up in a bow.
Which means that Mary was favored by God who entrusted her to give birth to the Son of God with all of the difficulties, misunderstandings, pain, and the worries that being the mother of God’s son entailed. And with that responsibility, there didn’t come great personal gain for her. That isn’t how our down-to-earth, lover-of-all-humanity-and-creation-kind-of-God works. Our God doesn’t mind a tent….and when the disciples wanted to make a shelter for Jesus dazzling way up there on the mountain with Moses and Elijah, God didn’t want that either….you see Jesus in all his glory-filled transfiguration was nothing next to the Jesus who would willingly giving up his life on the cross to save sinners – to save us. Mary at the Annunciation was blessed because she understood that her glory came from carrying the hope of the world and giving it birth. She was favored because she understood this and responds, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.”
“Let it be with me according to your word. “I often think about how courageous it is to so completely trust like that. It is frightening no matter how wonderful it later seems. The disciples knew that fear when they experienced the glory of God and when they were overshadowed. But at least they had one another. Mary was on her own. Yet she accepts God’s word… “Let it be,” she says even as she knows it will not be easy.
This Advent, we are on a somewhat similar path. As Kelli Martin reminded us a couple of weeks ago, this winter will be one of the darkest in modern history…and yet as Christians we are asked to carry hope, peace, love, and joy into this Covid world—in to this world in sin and error pining –and to announce—to give it voice…that Emmanuel is coming—that God is surely with us— leading and moving in and amongst us as we make our way through the wilderness and he has made his home with us. As I was reflecting on Mary’s words of acceptance, I could not help but think about the Beatles’ song “Let it Be.” While Paul McCartney says that he wrote this song from a dream he had about his mother Mary Mobin McCartney who died when Paul was only 14 years old, this hopeful song was a thorn in the side of John Lennon who is heard recorded on their final album entitled Let it Be, “And now, we’d like to do ‘Hark the Angels Come’” at the end of “Dig It,” which is the song which precedes “Let It Be.” But during a dark and tumultuous time when the Beatles were battling substance abuse and each other and which ended in the dissolution of the band, Mother Mary brought her words to Paul in his dream….
When I find myself in times of trouble, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And in my hour of darkness she is standing right in front of me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
And when the broken-hearted people living in the world agree
There will be an answer, let it be
For though they may be parted, there is still a chance that they will see
There will be an answer, let it be
And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
Speaking words of wisdom, let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer
Let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
There will be an answer
Let it be
Let it be, let it be
Let it be, yeah, let it be
Whisper words of wisdom
Let it be