Rejoice, Rejoice Believers

This sermon was preached at the First Presbyterian Church in Berryville, Arkansas on the morning of December 24, 2006.

Micah 5:2-5a
Psalm 80:1-7
Hebrews 10:5-10
Luke 1:39-45 (46-55)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to you, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen.

People often ask why we read the passages we do in worship. I follow a scripture schedule called the “Revised Common Lectionary.” The lectionary is a discipline. When followed over the course of three years; the congregation hears passages from every book of the bible, with significant attention to the Psalms and the Gospels. The lectionary also pays attention to the church season, so appropriate passages are read during Advent, Christmas, Lent, and Easter. The special days of the church, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Epiphany, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and so on are also accounted for in the lectionary. I follow the lectionary because it is the best way for me to be disciplined in reading and preaching a wide variety of scripture. We would all regret it if I picked my favorite passages and themes to preach over and over again.

Today, the creators of the lectionary throw us a curve ball. This is the third of three Advent pieces featuring John the Baptist. But who would have thought that this reading would feature him in-utero? He doesn’t speak a word in this reading, but when he speaks, he speaks volumes. And certainly, while this reading is appropriate for the fourth Sunday of Advent, it hardly seems appropriate for Christmas Eve. But what John says, and what this passage says, speaks volumes.

Let’s begin by setting the scene of our reading.

Earlier in the first chapter of Luke, Zechariah, while serving in the temple offering sacrifices to the Lord, hears the announcement about the pending birth of his son. Shocked, Zechariah asks the angel of the Lord “how in the world this is going to happen?” After all, scripture tells us he is old and his wife is getting on in years. (Kind of generous of Zechariah isn’t it? He is old but his wife’s age is best expressed in a euphemism.) Just for that, the angel strikes him mute; for the question that is, not the euphemism. Leaving the temple he could not speak and everyone knew he had seen a vision.

Let me ask, how did everyone know? Charades? Pictionary? Did he glow? At any rate, everyone knew he had seen a vision. He finished his duties at the temple and returned home.

After Zechariah returns home, Elizabeth becomes pregnant with John. For reasons Luke does not explore, Elizabeth spends the first five month of her pregnancy in the seclusion of her home. Imagine if she had ventured out…the old mute guy and his pregnant wife who is getting on in years. We may have “The National Inquirer” and the Internet, but the grapevine worked just as well then as it does now.

Mary learns about her cousin Elizabeth’s pregnancy at the same time she learns of her own. By this time, Elizabeth is six months pregnant. While Luke doesn’t say whether or not Elizabeth left the house between the fifth and sixth month of her pregnancy; I suspect she stayed around the house. First, if Elizabeth had gone out, Mary would not have needed the Holy Spirit to give her the news about her cousin’s pregnancy; it would be the talk of the town. Second, if Elizabeth’s gradually showing pregnancy would have been a shock and source of gossip for the neighbors; imagine how after five months of house rest, the sudden appearance of a very pregnant Elizabeth would have shocked everyone. My guess is that she stayed around the house.

Let’s face it; this is a time ripe with surprises.

So as we enter today’s gospel reading Mary has gone to see her cousin Elizabeth. Mary knows Elizabeth’s secret, but nobody knows Mary’s. So Mary sets out with haste to a Judean town in the hill country where she enters the house of Zechariah.

In 1961, the Grammy for “Album of the Year” did not go to any of the usual suspects. Elvis Presley didn’t win. Perry Como didn’t win. John Coltrane didn’t win. Bill Haley and His Comets didn’t win either. All had released new albums, all were eligible, and none had won the Grammy. The “Album of the Year” was The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart. Newhart also won “Best New Artist” that year. He even won the Grammy for “Best Comedy Performance—Spoken Word” for his follow-up album, The Button-Down Mind Strikes Back.

Newhart was a simple, unassuming man from the suburbs of Chicago. In the 1950’s he was drafted into the army and spent the Korean War stateside until he was discharged in 1954. He soon went into accounting where his motto, “that's close enough” never really caught on. If you just saw Wayne shudder, you would have guessed it still hasn’t caught on yet.

He became an advertising copywriter for a major independent film and television producer in Chicago where he and a coworker would entertain each other in long telephone calls which they would record then send to radio stations as audition tapes. When his coworker dropped out of the act, Newhart continued on his own. But instead of recording both sides of the conversation, he recorded only one. [1] Newhart’s demeanor and delivery allowed the audience to imagine the other half of the conversation. Acting as the straight man, Newhart sets up the jokes and the audience creates their own punch lines.

In the late 1970’s, Newhart was one of a handful of comics who guest hosted the Tonight Show. On one of these evenings, he did one of his half-dialogue skits titled “Twins in the Womb.” It began something like this:

Hey, hey, wake up. Do you know what would be funny?

(Silence)

Yeah, fake labor pains! Okay, you ready? One, two three, PUSH!

(Silence)

Is he awake yet?

(Silence)

Okay, one more time. One, two three, PUSH!

(Silence)

Yeah! He’s up now!

I mention this because this skit seems reminiscent of the first half of verse 41, “When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.”

In a way, in a way, this conversation between Jesus and John is like the conversation between Newhart’s twins. Our gospel reading has a conversation between two womb bound boys. Yes, they are in separate wombs, but since there is conversation, this separation doesn’t matter as much as it ordinarily would. Also, we only get to hear one from one of the two of them: John leaps. How Jesus makes himself known is not known to us. Somehow, Jesus announces his arrival through his mother’s voice and John, through his mother’s ears responds. Literally these boys in the womb have a conversation and we are only privy to half.

Elizabeth then gives the world a praise that our Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters pray today: “Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” Elizabeth asks why she should be so honored as to have a visit from the mother of the Lord. Elizabeth ends her greeting by praising: “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

Elizabeth greets and praises Mary for her obedience to the Lord. Blessed is she, blessed is the young she carries, blessed is she who believes. Mary is blessed, and because of the blessings she receives from the Lord we are all blessed—blessed by the birth of our Lord and Savior.
Today we come to the end of our journey though Advent. So far this season, the scripture has called us to wait, prepare, and respond.

Advent means coming, and the Lord is coming.

Jesus calls the church to seek him and follow him and follow his lead in miraculous work. It is wonderful and glorious that such majesty comes from one as small and delicate as an unborn babe. But with all of the excitement of the season, it is tempting to behave like retailers and jump the gun—beginning Christmas long before Advent. So we are called to wait for the Lord. Then we are called to wait on the Lord. We are to wait on the leadership of the babe swaddled in an animal’s pen.

We are called to prepare like John prepared—making straight the ways of the Lord. John prepared the nation of Israel by offering a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. John called the people of Israel to turn from the world as they knew it and prepare for the world to come. John called us to wait on the one whose origin according to the prophet Micah is from of old, from ancient days. John asks us if we are willing to stand out in a crowd. John calls us to prepare for the coming of the Lord.

By the words of John again, we are called to respond to the way and the work of the Lord. John teaches us that we are to respond to the work of the Lord by giving and by treating each other fairly. In a world that takes an eye for an eye, we are to walk the extra mile. In a world that is dog-eat-dog, we are called to give a dog a bone. In a world that tells us to do unto others, we are called to do unto others as we would have others do unto us.

Finally, in today’s reading we are called again to be like John—even John in the womb. Even before we can see the Lord our God, even before we can hear his voice without our mother’s ears, we are called to hear and rejoice. We are in the presence of the Lord and in his presence we are to leap for joy. Rejoice, rejoice believers!

Friends, like Mary, and Elizabeth, and John, we are in the presence of the Lord.

As with John, we hear the voice of God all around us. Like in this passage, we may not know exactly what is said, but God’s presence is enough to rejoice about.

The blessings of Mary are available to us all through the fruit of her womb, and blessed are all who believe that there is a fulfillment of what the Lord speaks. These blessings are given to us through a maiden two thousand years ago. These blessings are for us today. These blessings will be for all of us until this earth is no more.

I thought this passage was a bit out of place for Christmas Eve. Yeah, a passage that tells us to rejoice the Lord is here is certainly appropriate on Christmas Eve.

Advent calls us to wait, prepare, respond, and now to rejoice. Rejoice, rejoice believers. The time is at hand. Rejoice the Lord is King. The birth of our Lord is near.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Newhart, accessed on December 18, 2006.