Easter 3 (2024)

Easter season can be an easy time to overlook what God is communicating to his church in the Old Testament. So it is wise to regularly and purposefully look at the Old Testament reading to see how God was pointing to the ministry of Jesus before the arrival of Jesus, and how the themes of resurrection life where there for Christ to fulfill, not coming out of nowhere but answering the prophetic utterances of old.

Hannah’s song that we looked at today was a song that she sang in celebration of God granting her a pregnancy. She is eternally grateful that God has answered her desire fore a baby. Not only does she praise God in the inspiration of the Spirit, she praises God in a way that inspires the prayer of Mary the mother of God when she is pregnant with Jesus. The Old Testament is pointing to the New Testament Christ over and over again.

We see in Hannah's song an upside-down kingdom, and that upside-down kingdom is seen in Jesus' teaching, his death, and proved in his resurrection.

Let’s consider the text before us.

[1] And Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my horn is exalted in the LORD. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.

Hannah had been been praying earlier on, but now her prayer becomes out loud praises. There is both the personal relationship with God expressed in her heart's gratitude. And there is the acknowledgment of protection. Who are her enemies? Real armies and then poverty and despair. She has salvation and in that she can face all her enemies.

[2] “There is none holy like the LORD: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God.

3 Negative comparisons:

There is none Holy - Set apart, unique, wonderful to behold

Non Beside - No other Gods that stand alongside God. Am important monotheistic claim

no Rock: Trustworthy entity. Think about how hard they envision rock.

[3] Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed.

This phrase is a little easier to evaluate backward. The God of knowledge that evaluates the actions of others. We dont take our reason and moral compass and stand on top of God to evaluate his work. God is the source of goodness. It is only good or bad bc he said so. This reality should silence those who are mentioned at the beginning of verse 3. In short, they should be quiet.

[4] The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble bind on strength.

This prayer is one of contrasts. We see that those who are often seen as fortunate and having special capabilities are on the wrong side of the equation. The mighty our broken and the feeble strong.

[5] Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry have ceased to hunger. The barren has borne seven, but she who has many children is forlorn.

Those who had the means for food are now hungry, the ones who had children forlorn. The kingdom of God is an upside-down kingdom that elevates the bottom and lowers the top.

[6] The LORD kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.

The prayer now goes on to celebrate not just the observations of what God’s kingdom is like but the capability of God to bring it about. Kills and brings to life…and everything in between. Heaven and hell and everything in between.

[7] The LORD makes poor and makes rich; he brings low and he exalts.

Poor and rich, high and low.

[8] He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the LORD’s, and on them he has set the world.

More of this, with a beautiful poetic structure.

6 couplets. Paired into 3 sections, death/life, Salvation sdamnation. Rich poor, low high, rich poor and low high again. (its poetry to be memorized.

[9] “He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail.

Now we have the sovereign prevailing work of God. Guarding, and cutting off. Deciding who prevails.

[10] The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.” (ESV)

God will have victory, victory in the coming king David and a final victory in Jesus the son of David.

We see in Hannah's song an upside-down kingdom, and that upside-down kingdom is seen in Jesus' teaching, his death, and proved in his resurrection.

So if Hannah is going to rejoice in God in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit so that it would be recorded in Holy Scripture we should reflect on its themes and its influence on our own lives.

Yes, Hannah has a bad situation turn around on her. She went from barren, and the shame that it brought in her community at that time to having a child. But do not get her praises backward. She does not say, “I was barren so without blessing,” she is not saying the poor are ignored by God or that the powerless are forgotten by God. She is saying the opposite. Those who are in less-than-ideal situations the powerless, the ones on the margins will be remembered by God and elevated.

And those who start in places of elevation are brought low.

So if you are in a place where you are feeling forgotten by God you are the very people for whom Hannah is celebrating you are the person that Hannah says God will come to help.

The resurrection is the ultimate flipping of expectation. Those who are dead will live again. And so as you go down the ladder from there the flipped expectations touch the rest of Christian life.

If you are walking through hardship, financial, familial, relational, health-wise, or legal, the resurrection is for you. Hannah celebrates God’s care of those folks.

If you are quite the opposite and sit in privilege, beware that Hannah reminds us of God bringing the button high but also bringing the top low. All of this sits under God’s sovereign rule.

We see in Hannah's song an upside-down kingdom, and that upside-down kingdom is seen in Jesus' teaching, his death, and proved in his resurrection.

Some claim we do not need Christian religion, as everything the church teaches us is self-evident. That without the bible we would arrive at a good moral sense or even a better moral sense that what Christian society gives us.

Yet Hannah reminds us that in God’s the poor will be elevated and the rich humiliated. And yet we celebrate the having of wealth as a celebrity. We know the names of millionaires and billionaires for no other reason than they are rich.

Hannah says those on the political bottom are the important ones, and yet our state and national capitals are choked with people whose job it is to curry favor with our politicians.

The Christian life guided by the resurrection is an upside-down way to live. Eternal life supplied by Christ is different than the counterfeit of a world that is disinterested Christ.

We see in Hannah's song an upside-down kingdom, and that upside-down kingdom is seen in Jesus' teaching, his death, and proved in his resurrection.

Finally, let us remember how the cross fulfills what Hannah proclaims.

We deserve to be apart from God bc of our sin, and yet Hannah rejoices in God’s salvation. We also rejoice knowing that it comes from the work of Christ on the cross. Hannah talks about the powerful oppressors being humiliated and the humble poor elevated. And you might look at the world and wonder if it will ever come. Well, remember that the mighty oppressors killed Jesus on the cross and in it, he claims victory for all time. Remember that because fo the cross we get the Holy Spirit and are made children of God, inheritors of his kingdom. Our earthly poverty is replaced with spiritual riches beyond imagination. And in this easter season, we especially focus on the riches of eternal life, that is life without death. And today we are going to remember that through the having of one of our greatest earthly treasures, we are going to be invited to God’s banquet to eat a meal that is priceless. We eat the food of God’s table that is the very God himself. Jesus uniting himself to the bread and wine in the power of the Holy Spirit makes what we have at this table priceless and fulfills the words of Hannah in making us humble sinners wealthy beyond measure.