Christmas:  God Remembers to be Merciful
December 16      A revolution begins – Luke 1:46-80
Dennis Mullen

                        My message is called A Revolution Begins.  The picture on the front of your bulletin – I chose it not because it shows anything revolutionary about the birth of Christ but because it shows the opposite.  It’s a lighted nativity scene, plastic, full of warm glow, sitting in someone’s front yard.  It’s the safe Christmas Jesus, along with Christmas Mary and Christmas Joseph.  No one in this picture is going to start a revolution.

            Now let me say that I always prefer to see a nativity scene in someone’s front yard rather than one of those big inflatable Santas.  (BTW, is it me, or is there an oddly high number of those things deflating this year?  Maybe it’s because many folks bought them when they really got popular several years ago and now they’re like those inflatable mattresses I’ve tried to camp on that eventually end up “letting me down”)  Inflatable Frosty is pretty silly, so a plastic nativity scene is encouraging by comparison (somebody loves Jesus here) but this one especially doesn’t look revolutionary.

            And yet, Jesus came to start a revolution, to turn the world upside down, to flip power structures over and turn our ideas about success and authority on their ears.

            You can’t see that in the plastic nativity scene, but you can see it in the Scriptures, especially in the songs of two people, Mary and Zechariah (father of John the Baptist), songs they sang in response to the thing God was doing in these two babies.

            Before we get to those songs, I want to look at another scene from The Nativity Story.  This scene is earlier than the clip from last week. This is before Mary and Joseph are betrothed, before the angel visits either of them to tell them about Jesus.  This is a scene that shows what it meant to be under the oppression of the Roman Empire; it shows the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer; it shows why these folks would have been very glad to hear that a Savior was coming… 

Scene begins at 7:07, just AFTER Joseph checks Mary out, and his buddy pushes his hood over his head.  First picture on screen is someone milking a goat. 

Scene ends at 12:29.  The captain tells the soldier to “kill it.  We have enough.”  Then he turns to Joseph and says:  “You.  One half shekel for the temple.”   

            If you lived then, you would hate Herod.  And that scene doesn’t show the half of it.  Herod used that money that he collected by taking people’s land and their daughters and their livestock and he built for himself magnificent palaces, and an enormous sports stadium and a huge temple in Jerusalem which was designed primarily to put him in good favor with those among the Jews who were rich and powerful.  Herod was a puppet king, chosen by Rome and determined to make the best possible impression on Caesar by draining the resources of the people and enriching the coffers of the Romans – and his own too.  Some historians say that Herod may have been the richest person EVER – not just in his time, but EVER.  Rob Bell:  Next to Herod, Bill Gates has a paper route.  Herod was the King of the Jews, and he meant to stay that way.  Herod killed his wife because he suspected her disloyalty.  He killed two of his sons for the same reason.  Herod ordered that when he died, scores of leading Jewish citizen should also be put to death – why? – to guarantee that there would be weeping at the time of his death.  THIS was what it was like to live in Israel in the time of Herod the Great, King of the Jews.

            Now you know that Matthew 2 begins like this: 

            MT 2:1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

            Sounds like a revolution. 

            The Magi step into it innocently.  “The sky has revealed that a new king has been born.  Where is he?”  No one told Herod.  But he has never hesitated to kill other contenders.  He’ll try to kill this one too.

            The next line in Matthew is very important:  MT 2:3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  Why?  The people we have seen in the film wouldn’t be disturbed about a new king.  They would be elated.  But they aren’t in Jerusalem.  They’re up north in Galilee, Nazareth. 

            The people in Jerusalem – at least the ones who really count – are all heavily invested in the reign of King Herod and through him, Caesar Augustus.  The priests, the temple leaders, the ruling council, the merchants in Jerusalem, the tax collectors…they would not have survived if they hadn’t bought in to Herod, at least to a great extent.  When you are invested in the current administration, the last thing you want is a revolution.

            But if you’re beaten down like the people in Galilee, and everywhere outside of Jerusalem, a new King is good news.

            With that in mind, hear Mary’s song, the Magnificat, her expression of joy and praise to God for the Savior he is sending through her:

    LK 1:46 And Mary said: 

  "My soul glorifies the Lord
    LK 1:47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

  LK 1:48 for he has been mindful
    of the humble state of his servant.
  From now on all generations will call me blessed,

    LK 1:49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me--
    holy is his name.

            If that first part of her song seems a little self-centered, keep in mind that Mary could have easily been one of the daughters of Nazareth stolen into slavery to pay her father’s debts.  A woman had few rights in that society and in the eyes of Herod she certainly was nothing.  Mary certainly had no stake in Herod’s Kingdom, and then the God of the universe called her by name and gave her the most important task in history.

            The rest of her song is about the revolution where God overturns the worldly ways: 

  LK 1:50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
    from generation to generation.

  LK 1:51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

   LK 1:52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
    but has lifted up the humble.

  LK 1:53 He has filled the hungry with good things
    but has sent the rich away empty.

   LK 1:54 He has helped his servant Israel,
    remembering to be merciful

  LK 1:55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
    even as he said to our fathers." (NIV)

            Talk about kings getting thrown down and rich people being sent away empty is revolutionary talk.  This new king was coming to overthrow the values of the world.  Many in that day misunderstood the time and method of this overthrow, but they understood the radical nature of following this new king.  I wonder if we do.

            Now in spite of what I said about the priests and others in Jerusalem, at least one was not totally invested in the present Kingdom, and that was Zechariah. We saw his encounter with the angel two weeks ago.  Zechariah also sang a song.  It isn’t as famous as Mary’s.  But when John the Baptist was born and named, and Zechariah got his voice back (remember, he lost it for challenging God’s promise to him), he used his voice to sing a song: 

    LK 1:67 His father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied:

   LK 1:68 "Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel,
    because he has come and has redeemed his people.

  LK 1:69 He has raised up a horn of salvation for us
    in the house of his servant David

  LK 1:70 (as he said through his holy prophets of long ago),

            Now by salvation he means forgiveness from sin, heaven when he dies, the chance to go to church every Sunday, right?  Well, no (though he DOES get to that).  He was thinking more practically (and remember it says that he was speaking by the Holy Spirit…

  LK 1:71 salvation from our enemies
    and from the hand of all who hate us-- 

  LK 1:72 to show mercy to our fathers
    and to remember his holy covenant,
 

    LK 1:73 the oath he swore to our father Abraham: 

  LK 1:74 to rescue us from the hand of our enemies,
    and to enable us to serve him without fear 

    LK 1:75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

            And then he turns to his little baby John and says:

   LK 1:76 And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High;
    for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,
 

  LK 1:77 to give his people the knowledge of salvation
    through the forgiveness of their sins,
  LK 1:78 because of the tender mercy of our God,
    by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven

  LK 1:79 to shine on those living in darkness
    and in the shadow of death,
  to guide our feet into the path of peace." (NIV) 

            The birth of Jesus was the beginning of a revolution.  Mary and Zechariah got it, and that’s why they sang these songs about enemies being put down and kings being toppled and humble people finally getting SOMETHING.  They understand that this new King of the Jews was bringing in a different set of values.  I wonder if we understand that.

            Thirty years later, that king stood among a crowd of his disciples and laid out some of his more radical values, and listen to how contrary they are to the world even as we know it…

    LK 6:20 Looking at his disciples, he said:

   "Blessed are you who are poor,
    for yours is the kingdom of God.

  LK 6:21 Blessed are you who hunger now,
    for you will be satisfied.

  Blessed are you who weep now,
    for you will laugh.

  LK 6:22 Blessed are you when men hate you,
    when they exclude you and insult you
    and reject your name as evil,
      because of the Son of Man.

    LK 6:23 "Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

   LK 6:24 "But woe to you who are rich,
    for you have already received your comfort.

  LK 6:25 Woe to you who are well fed now,
    for you will go hungry.
  Woe to you who laugh now,
    for you will mourn and weep.

  LK 6:26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

    LK 6:27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. (NIV)

            Those are some revolutionary values too, and if you put them together with the prophecies about this new king, you have to see that to LIVE like Jesus says here is to live in faith that Herod and people like him don’t get the final word; that power and money can force things to happen but they cannot achieve nor stand in the way of what God is doing; that evil and pride and selfishness can help you gain the whole world but lose your soul.  The revolution that began that first Christmas turned worldly values upside down.

            Now I wonder how we could express that in the way we celebrate Christmas.  If Jesus’ birth was the start of a revolution where power structures would be reversed and worldly ways set right, what would be the best way for us to take part in that?  Or to put it another way, where are we most likely to be under the power and influence of this present world rather than the Kingdom of God?

            For most of us, it isn’t Caesar or Herod who has our heart – by that I mean the government – though I think we need to keep our eye on the government.  Nor is the threat from the latest cultural trend or movie or social practice that goes against the Bible, though we need to be discerning about these too.  No, I think for most of us, the place where our captivity begins, the place where we need a little revolution…is in one of two areas, and it may depend somewhat on your age which hits you:  The first is money.

            MT 6:24 "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.  Most of us adults, when we feel that urge to buy something because we’re down or because we think it will really fill up a tiny little spot in our hearts, we need to picture Herod’s horsemen riding in to our front yard to collect their tribute money from us, except it isn’t Herod’s horseman but representatives from Nike and Coke and Wal-Mart and Sony and Dell because that’s who is working us over and that’s who we’re in danger of selling out to.  And the best revolution we can practice to honor this newborn revolutionary is to give up those delusions and give things away and break those chains.

            The other captor (and maybe this applies more strongly to younger people) is the opinions of other people.  Peer pressure.  Popularity.  That almost overwhelming desire to be accepted by some group of people, a desire which causes you to become someone other than who you are or to pretend to like things you don’t like or to dress some way you don’t want to dress.  Jesus warned us not to be like the people who fasted or prayed or gave gifts to the poor just to be seen by others, and he told his disciples to beware when their popularity increased because that was how the world treated false prophets.  When you feel that urge to please other people so they will give you the “gift” of their attention or popularity, you ought to picture Herod’s horseman riding down the hallway of your school ready to exact tribute and yank you into slavery, only it isn’t Herod’s horseman up on the horses but Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan because it’s their lies you’re believing and their slavery that you’re buying into.  We need a little revolution here, and the best revolution we can practice is to be authentically ourselves as God made us, with OUR gifts and talents and interests submitted to Him, not dictated by someone else.

            Jesus didn’t come here to bless us in our slavery but to set us free.

            Are you ready to be set free?

 Morrison Hill Christian Church
P.O. Box 59 - 1008 E. Race St.
Kingston, TN  37763   (865) 376-5205