Reflections...

Meditations, Reflections, Bible Studies, and Sermons from Kowloon Union Church  

“My spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.” (Lk 1:39-55)

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on 24th December 2006, Fourth Sunday of Advent, by Rev. Dr. Jochen Teuffel. The scripture readings that day were Micah 5:2-5a, Hebrews 10:5-10 and Luke 1:39-55.


39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country,
40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.
41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit
42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, «Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.
43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?
44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy.
45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.»
46 And Mary said,
«My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.»

“Let’s be realistic.” We know such exhortation. Yes, there can be illusions in life, expressed by visions or dreams referring to things which will never come to pass. Be realistic, such call comes up whenever fervent expectations go beyond the limit of our daily experiences. We may call people with those illusionary expectations enthusiasts. Enthusiasm is stirred up by great visions, which are all about power, mightiness, and changes beyond the normal moves in daily life. Such vivid visions may have an impact on daily life, they can move people, channel their expectations, however most of the time they don’t come to pass at least not in permanent way. So often great dreams are gone with their dreamers past away.

Be realistic, one may say, be modest in your expectations. Let the things beyond the horizon of your daily life not blur your duties. The voice of realism call for to come to terms with things as they are and to limit expectations to the very little steps. Improvements are called for instead of dramatic changes. However the voice of realism advocates resignation to some extend. Realism simply means: That is it, life confined to its current reality, nothing beyond.

«My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name.

We have heard the Magnificat, Mary’s Song, after she was blessed by her cousin Elizabeth. Strong words which sound quite enthusiastic.

50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.

How about Mary? Can we call her a realistic person, or is she rather enthusiastic? Certainly she is not very life-experienced, probably 14 years old, the common age when Jewish daughters became engaged. What she recalls as mighty deeds of the Lord cannot be the experiences of her own life. The very strange thing is that she praises God although his deeds do not match the expectations of a teenager. She is even facing her own premarital pregnancy, the Son conceived appears to be an illegitimate pregnancy, something which can hardly be explained to others. How dare she praise God for her pregnancy saying that for the Mighty One has done great things for me. Her situation is totally different to her cousin Elizabeth and also to Hannah (the mother of the prophet Samuel), women fairly advanced in years, who were barren. When they got pregnant unexpectedly after all these years of hardship they certainly expressed their joy in praising God. Hannah and Elizabeth both could whole-heartedly confess: the Mighty One has done great things for me. But in terms of a premarital pregnancy, how can Maria praise it as a great thing for her, even if the conception was by the Holy Spirit?

A fourteen years old teenager named Mary sings the praise of God for someone whose birth to come must be an embarrassment in the eyes of her environment. She praises God for a son whom she is going to loose on the cross, a son who will even reject her publicly (as it happened in Mk 3:33) She sings the praise of God for his mighty and yet invisible deeds which are not really related to her own life experience.

When God acts on earth it all starts in the lowliness of life, in the womb of a teenager, invisible, inconspicuous, unexpectedly certainly not the great things people are dreaming of or longing for. God acts against our own expectations and our own experience. His deeds are strange to us. The Son of the Most High was born not in palace but in a barn in Bethlehem, and his final destination on earth was not a throne but the cross on Calvary. God’s greatness and mightiness does not realize itself in human visions and dreams but in the birth of his Son, Jesus the Christ on earth. And it was a teenager who could praise God for his deeds already when she conceived his Son in the lowliness of her life. And her praise goes beyond the horizon of her own life in Nazareth.

«My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

Her Spirit rejoices in God’s deeds unseen yet promised to come. Mary was blessed by her cousin because of her faith: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” God’s great deeds are not designated by our own experiences or our own expectations but by his word. Not what we want to see not what we want to come to pass matters, but what God has promised. It all depends on his promise. If you believe in God’s promise then you are neither a realist nor an enthusiast.
A realist thinks things can only be changed according to our capabilities whereas an enthusiast believes that things are to be changed according to our own visions. However, our life in faith lies beyond realism and enthusiasm. Realism as well as enthusiasm refer to external things, but crucial are not things or circumstances but our life itself, whether it is connected with God or not. If our life is not connected with God then we are lost no matter how we perceive our circumstances. Even the most blessed person on earth is lost unless his or her life is connected with God. And the connection does not depend on our circumstances of life but whether we are recognized by God’s Word.

And this is it, what Mary praises «My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

God has recognized me, God has recognized us in his word, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant God’s recognition of our life in its lowliness is Jesus Christ, his Son enfleshed born from a virgin, Immanuel his cognomen, God with us. The Son of God true man, to take us in community with him, we belong to God because of his Son, he has looked with favor on us although being sinners alienated from God. He looked on us in the lowliness of our life with all its false shine yet in favor. And so we are to praise God with the words of Mary (a teenager): My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Amen.
Great things announced may elevate people above the misery of their life. If one is not complacent with things as they are, vivid visions may create something like a counter-reality imagined which pleases human longings.

The bitter truth is that the one who does have intensive or concrete expectations is the one who will get disappointed. If you don’t have any expectations you won’t become disappointed.

There is only one but decisive reference to her life: My spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. God has looked with favor on the lowliness of a 14 years old teenager. And what he has announced to her by the angel Gabriel lies beyond her imaginations:

«Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.
31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.».

However all her praise expresses an unshakeable trust in God, trust which comes out of the lowliness of her life. Her personal expectations towards a better life are not part of her praises. No enthusiasm towards a change of her life on earth. Her praise refers to things which are not related to her own life.

# posted by Kowloon Union Church : Sunday, December 24, 2006



<< Home

Archives

May 2004|July 2004|September 2004|November 2004|December 2004|April 2005|July 2005|August 2005|September 2005|October 2006|November 2006|December 2006|January 2007|February 2007|March 2007|April 2007|May 2007|July 2007|August 2007|September 2007|October 2007|November 2007|December 2007|January 2008|February 2008|March 2008|April 2008|May 2008|June 2008|July 2008|August 2008|September 2008|October 2008|November 2008|December 2008|January 2009|February 2009|March 2009|April 2009|May 2009|June 2009|July 2009|August 2009|September 2009|October 2009|November 2009|December 2009|January 2010|February 2010|March 2010|April 2010|May 2010|June 2010|July 2010|September 2010|October 2010|November 2010|December 2010|January 2011|February 2011|April 2011|May 2011|June 2011|July 2011|October 2011|November 2011|December 2011|January 2012|February 2012|March 2012|August 2012|September 2012|November 2012|December 2012|January 2013|February 2013|March 2013|April 2013|May 2013|June 2013|September 2013|October 2013|November 2013|December 2013|February 2014|March 2014|April 2014|May 2014|June 2014|July 2014|August 2014|September 2014|October 2014|November 2014|December 2014|January 2015|February 2015|March 2015|April 2015|July 2015|August 2015|October 2015|November 2015|December 2015|January 2016|February 2016|March 2016|April 2016|May 2016|June 2016|July 2016|August 2016|September 2016|October 2016|November 2016|December 2016|January 2017|February 2017|March 2017|April 2017|May 2017|June 2017|July 2017|August 2017|September 2017|October 2017|November 2017|December 2017|January 2018|February 2018|March 2018|April 2018|June 2018|July 2018|August 2018|September 2018|October 2018|November 2018|December 2018|January 2019|February 2019|March 2019|May 2019|June 2019|July 2019|August 2019|September 2019|October 2019|November 2019|December 2019|January 2020|February 2020|March 2020|April 2020|May 2020|June 2020|July 2020|August 2020|September 2020|October 2020|November 2020|December 2020|January 2021|February 2021|March 2021|April 2021|May 2021|June 2021|July 2021|August 2021|September 2021|October 2021|November 2021|December 2021|January 2022|February 2022|March 2022|April 2022|May 2022|June 2022|July 2022|August 2022|September 2022|October 2022|November 2022|December 2022|January 2023|February 2023|March 2023|April 2023|May 2023|June 2023|July 2023|August 2023|September 2023|October 2023|November 2023|December 2023|January 2024|February 2024|March 2024|
Archived sermons by the Barksdales

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?