SUN 7 Dec 2014CORONATION 8.00 & 9.30am
READING : Luke 1:5-25
THEME : The Wise Women of ChristmasPart 1: Elizabeth - Daring to Hope
INTRODUCTION
No matter how many times we celebrate the Advent season, somehow the story of Christ’s birth never ceases to fill my heart with amazement and wonder. While additional traditions and stories have arisen around the sparse details given in only two of the gospels, I am constantly awed at the miracle of God entering into the ordinary everyday lives of people in order to present His gift of love of our world. I am always struck by God’s planning.The fact that centuries before this event, God had given insight to His prophets about the One who would be Saviour of the world. Every part of the nativity story isn’t simply a random act, but part of God’s plan for the lives of individuals and the world itself.
No doubt each of us have our favourite part the Christmas story. The rebels might be drawn to the story of the shepherds, who were considered the outcasts of the day and unlikely guests at any king’s birth, who were the first visitors of the Christ child. The compassionate amongst us may be drawn with tender hearts to the story of Mary’s long journey to Bethlehem and giving birth to her first child on her own in an unhygienic stable. The adventurous amongst us might be drawn to the story of the wise men who undertook at least a 2-year trek to pay homage to the newborn king of the Jews. Tradition has it that there were 3 wise men. The names that were even assigned to them are Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar. On an amusing note, one person said: “If the wise men had been women, they would have stopped long before to ask for directions, been on time to clean up the stable with brooms and Doom, and helped to deliver the baby. They also would have chosen useful gifts like nappies, a receiving blanket and a good hot stew on the cold winter’s night”.
However amusing that may be, truthfully, we seldom focus on the number of women who feature in God’s Christmas story. On the second Sunday of Advent, we traditionally focus on John the Baptist as the forerunner to the Messiah, but never look at the story of his promised birth, and what this meant to Elizabeth, his mother. So, for the next 3 weeks of advent, I want to focus on what I call the wise women of Christmas – women who played vital roles in the Messiah’s birth. These women -. Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna teach us by example to wait upon the Lord, to trust him with everything that matters to us, to pray until our prayers are answered. Their lives were markedly different.Elizabeth was married, settled and mature. Her kinswoman Mary was young, still living at home, and engaged to a carpenter. Anna was an elderly widow who’s every waking hour was wholly dedicated to God. (Note that I have borrowed some ideas from a book by Liz Curtis Higgs called The Women of Christmas: Experience the Season Afresh with Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna).
THE STORY OF ELIZABETH
Her story is only recounted in Luke, who tells us that Elizabeth was married to Zechariah. . It seems they were well matched, with the overarching characteristic being that of serving God faithfully. In vs 6 we read : “Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly.” But then this is followed by a sentence that changes the whole picture, when we are told that they had no children. Now we will all recognize the sadness that this brings to any couple who desires to have children, yet cannot have any of their own. But Elizabeth’s was more than sadness. In that patriarchal culture, the woman always bore the blame for childlessness, thus forced to carry the stigma of shame.
We can imagine what went through their minds as each year went by without a child in their arms. Are we not faithful enough, Lord? How often had Elizabeth heard whispering as she passed by the women of her community? Some women surely had pity in their eyes, others a certain disdain, wondering what Elizabeth had done to displease God. Whenever she joined them at the well early in the evening, the women’s lively chatter about sons and grandsons must have faded into an awkward silence. In the eyes of her neighbors, Elizabeth “had failed at the most basic level” as a wife was expected to give her husband sons and so maintain the honor of his name. The consequences for not doing so could be grave: disfavor, humiliation, divorce. My heart goes out to Elizabeth, just as I ache for every couple who has longed for children only to have their hopes dashed. In desperation Elizabeth would have cried out to God, daring to hope that maybe one day He would hear her prayer, and bless them with the gift they really wanted.
But then the age of childbearing passed. Despite her sadness and shame, she still remained faithful. Never in her wildest imagination could she think that God would not only give her a child, but one that would be destined for great things. Even her husband, when given the news by the angel, couple, he could not believe it and so he could only blunder, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well on in years.”(vs 18) While we are not told how old they were, they certainly understood that it was past childbearing age. Yet, who God specializes in the impossible, enabled her to conceive. Some time after Zechariah’s return from the temple, unable to speak or hear it appears, the miracle of her pregnancy happens, changing her life forever.
After Mary, her kinswoman also receives news of her miraculous pregnancy and goes to spend time with Elizabeth, Elizabeth truly understands that God is doing an amazing thing when the child in her womb leaps, and she utters a beautiful blessing on Mary: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear… Blessed is the one who has believed that what the lord has said to her will be accomplished.”(Lk 1:45) The name that God chooses to give the child encompasses this wonderful miracle viz. John which means “God is gracious.”
And I think that is the whole mystery and gift of Christmas itself – God is gracious. God continues to break into our world, bringing His love, grace and hope in our often broken lives, unrealized promises, and desperate cries to God. The miracle of Christmas is not just that God’s Son was born many, many years ago, but continues to become real in our own lives and circumstances.
APPLICATION
Elizabeth teaches us that we can dare to trust in God. Elizabeth dared to believe and to trust in the God who specializes in the impossible. She teaches us that even in the midst of our despair and hopelessness, we need not doubt God. Even as she courageously believed the promise of God, she challenges us to live courageously before God, honouring Him with our faithfulness and love.
I wonder for a moment how many of us have experienced disappointment and unrealized promises in our own lives. Thinking about that reminds me of a story of a man passed by a farm and saw a beautiful horse. Hoping to buy the animal, he said to the farmer: “I think your horse looks pretty good, so I’ll give you $500 for him.” “He doesn’t look good, and he’s not for sale,” the farmer said. The man insisted, “I think he looks good and I’ll up the price to $1000!” “He doesn’t look so good,” the farmer said, “but if you want him that much, he’s yours.” The next day the man came back with the horse in tow, raging mad. He went up to the farmer and screamed, “You sold me a blind horse! You cheated me!” The farmer calmly replied, “I told you he didn’t look so good, didn’t I?”
Like Elizabeth, our lives don’t always look so good. Maybe you have had your own share of “blind horses”- of hurt and disappointment, of unrealized hopes and broken promises. When you look at the world around you, maybe your heart cries out in fear or frustration, and you wonder how long it will take for God’s Kingdom to be fully realized here on earth. Maybe your have given up praying for a particular need and wondered at the value of intercessory prayer. A young girl in a congregation that supported a missionary from their community once wrote to the missionary to let him know that she was keeping him in her prayers. She had been told to not expect a response to her letter because the missionary was very busy, so she began with these words: “Dear Mr. Missionary, I am praying for you, but don’t worry, I’m not expecting an answer.”In what area do you need to begin interceding again? Do you need to start praying again for that person who doesn’t yet know Jesus? For a relationship that will honor Christ? For your spouse? For a prodigal child? For your parents? For that impossible financial situation?
Today we are challenged through the example of Elizabeth to dream again, to never give up and believe that the God who can bless a childless couple with a son to prepare the way for His own work of salvation, can do miracles in our lives and in our world today. This afternoon I will participate in a prayer walk through the streets of Lwandle, Nomzamo and Strand as we highlight the issues around women and child abuse, believing that maybe God can turn this tide around as we surrender our will and our world to the Saviour of the world. I’m intrigued by God’s sense of timing. After 400 years of seemingly silence, during the reign of evil king Herod who in his cruelty and insecurity had so many people killed, even resorting to killing all the baby boys under the age of 3 in Israel after he heard the news of the birth of a king – in that evil time where people had lost hope, God acted. – God acted in the lives of Elizabeth, Mary, Anna and the world, a constant reminder that when the world is at its darkest, God’s hope reigns eternal.
CONCLUSION
What dreams and hopes will you give Him in this Advent season? What personal situations will you dare to surrender to Him in this Advent season? What justice issues will you entrust into the hands of the Prince of Peace? How will you give praise to Him who has changed your life forever? As we move through this Advent season of hope, peace, joy and love, drawing closer to our Saviour Jesus, let us respond with the same trustful attitude of Elizabeth as she declares, “The Lord has done this for me” as we entrust ourselves and our lives more fully in the hands of our Saviour.
Yvette Moses