Jesu Juva
“Waiting Together (Mary and Elizabeth)”
Text: Luke 1:24-45; Isaiah 11:1-10
In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
It is not good that the man should be alone (Genesis 2:18). A woman either. What was true at creation for Adam has been true ever since. We were made to live in community. Together. Just as God is not a solitary God but a trinity of persons, so man made in His image is to be a community of persons. There are to be husbands and wives. There are to be families. There are to be churches.
In the beginning, as we heard from the prophet Isaiah tonight, all creation was in unity and community. The wolf with the lamb, the leopard with the young goat, the calf and the lion, the cow and the bear, the nursing child and the cobra. And so peaceful, so united was all this that even a little child shall lead them. Until, that is, a serpent rose up, a serpent possessed, and struck the hand - and heart - of one of God’s little children, and shattered the perfect community of God’s creation.
But God would restore it. That was Isaiah’s message. What once was will be again. When a shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse - the chopped down tree of Israel. But He will be not only a shoot from Jesse, but also, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse. Both branch and root - which isn’t the norm. To both come from a tree and be the source of that tree is quite unusual. Impossible, some might say. But not for God, of course. Such would be God’s restorer. One who is both man from Jesse’s tree, and Jesse’s source as God. And He would come as a little child to lead us back into community with God and with one another. That once again, as Isaiah said, the earth be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.
So in the fullness of time, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. For David was Jesse’s son. And so Mary’s son, conceived in her not by Joseph in the natural way, but by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, would be both God (Jesse’s source) and man (from Jesse’s family tree). And He would begin His work not just as a little child, but as the most littlest child of all - a one-celled child in the womb of His mother.
And it was when He was not much bigger than that, that Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to await this birth, along with the birth of the baby of her relative Elizabeth (Luke 1:36). To wait with Elizabeth. To wait together for God to fulfill His Word.
They could have waited alone. Apart. But the Lord brought them together in a special way - each with their own story to tell, each with a miraculous birth. The forerunner and the Messiah. And so Mary and Elizabeth waited together for about three months, until the time came for Elizabeth to be delivered. And for three months they blessed each other; were the Lord’s blessing to each other. Elizabeth blessed with the presence of her Lord. Mary blessed with the Word of God and encouragement from Elizabeth.
And so it is for us as well. We can wait alone, apart from each other, for the Lord. Every man, every woman, for himself, herself. Everyone on their own. But far better to wait together. To wait together in the community, in the church, God has miraculously brought us into. And yes, it is miraculous. It is God’s doing, not our doing, that we are all here, together, in this place. People from different places, different walks of life, different backgrounds, nationalities, and with different interests. In a little church that doesn’t look like much and is hard to find. Yet here we are. And not just for ourselves. But for one another. To bless one another. To bring the presence of Christ to one another, and to speak His Word and encouragement to one another.
For there is not one of us here who doesn’t need that. Especially during the pandemic, when people were forced apart and isolated, what a blessing it was to have this church, to wait together, not alone, and to encourage one another.
Which is exactly what satan does not want us to do. The one who possessed the serpent in the Garden to bite the hands and hearts of God’s children would bite us still today, in the places he hides today. Now, as then, he would divide us to conquer us. But the Spirit of God who miraculously created life in the womb of a virgin, miraculously creates life here as well, and brings us together in that life. To counteract the aloneness and separation that makes us vulnerable. To counteract the lies of satan with the truth of God’s Word. That we wait together for our Lord’s coming, when we will leap for joy in His presence when He comes to us - not in humility, in the womb of His mother, but in glory.
When He comes, as Isaiah said, with the fullness of the Spirit and judging in righteousness for the poor and the meek. For God has a special place in His heart for the lowly, the widow and orphan, the poor and the meek. Or as Mary would later confess, He scatters the proud in the thoughts of their hearts and brings down the mighty from their thrones, while He exalts those of humble estate, fills the hungry with good things, and send the rich away empty (Luke 1:51-53). We’ll sing those words again in just a moment, too, and make them our confession as well.
And while those words may be true physically, even more are they true for us spiritually, as our Lord exalts those who in lowliness repent with His forgiveness, and feeds those who hunger and thirst for righteousness with His Body and Blood. If you come here thinking you’re something, you leave with nothing. If you come here thinking you’re nothing, you’ll leave with everything.
So tonight, really, not only did we hear about Mary and Elizabeth waiting together, but they waited together here with us as well, as we heard their stories and words. For they are part of the church, with us. They are part of the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, waiting together with us for the great and awesome day of the Lord. And that is good. For it is not good for the man to be alone. Women either. We belong together. We are together. For we are together in Jesus. We are now. And we will be forever.
Come, Lord Jesus!
In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment