Carrying the Hope of the World

Lauren got me so good when she found out she was pregnant. There was this crawfish boil coming up for her work and we were planning to attend. She insisted on ordering some silly “cute” crawfish shirt to the party. She ordered it online and made jokes about us both wearing one. All week I told her there was no way. never going to happen. Well the day of the party I got home from a work event and she told me to go check out what came in the mail…and I immediately went to the shirt thing. Lauren, I am not wearing a crawfish shirt and we are not going to match at your work party. Finally she ushered me into the room and there on the bed was a shirt that says “Baby daddy.” Oh man that was awesome and marked the beginning of months of expectations and fears and all the above.

As I reflect back on that time I began to realize as much as I experienced in the expectation for Luke to arrive it could not have compared to what Lauren might have felt as he was growing inside of her.

Facebook this weekend:

two questions: biggest fear and biggest expectation:

Biggest fear:

Not being good enough

failure

not being able to provide

fear of not having control

fear of losing the baby, miscarriage

fear of not being able to keep them safe

One mom shared that she felt he was safer inside rather than all the dangers of this world

Not knowing what to do

Fear that I would be my mother

Biggest exciting expectation:

Teaching them about God (great answer....parents you want to talk about discipleship)

Just seeing her/him for the first time

discovering their personalities....so getting to know them

snuggles

who they would look like

so many of you talked about the expectation of boy or girl…yeah there was a day when you couldnt find out in like the 3rd hours after conception

to hold my little one for the first time

Man one story of adoption came forward....talk about a whole different experience. They got a call at 10:30am saying they had been selected and then they met their son at 4pm. Not 9 months....6 hours.

Another fun one, the expectation (and prayer) that dad would make it home from deployment in time.

To see them grow and learn

Incredible answers and probably still only a small insight into the journey. Mom’s yall are amazing. Now take all of that and now consider what Mary might have felt like....Instead of a pregnancy test—Gabriel one of Yahwehs great angel messengers. Instead of a gender reveal— the reality that God’s son, the messiah of the world was in her stomach. Wow, talk about pressure.

Unfortunately, we do not know a lot about what this time was like with Mary. We do not get her prayer journal…we cant go back and check her twitter account during that time period. In fact, most of what we know about Mary are from these birth narratives. We get an interesting look into the gospel’s perspective of her in the narrative of Luke here. I want us to consider what it might have been like for the mother of Jesus…to consider the responsibility of literally bearing the hope of the world might be like. Do you think she had some similar fears and hopes....do you think she wondered what he might look like.... yeah figure that one out haha.

Background and context for this story

Tell the story:

The birth narrative for Luke begins, not with Mary and Joseph, but with Zechariah and Elizabeth. I love telling different parts of the Christmas story every year. Elizabeth is a relative of Mary, believed to be a distant relative, not because of anything stated but some practical inferences. Elizabeth is married to Zechariah and both were in the line of Aaron. The priestly line established in Exodus. So an angel appears to Zechariah while he is serving in the temple and tells of his wife’s baby. John the Baptist. Interestingly there are some historical markers here that Luke drops in. Zechariah serving in the division of Abijah. Abijah as we know from Levitical divisions served in the 8th week of the year. That is the time of year that Elizabeth conceives.

Then 6 months later, the angel of the Lord appears to Mary and reveals to her the coming responsibility. Mary goes to see Elizabeth in the scene that we read about today.

The women take a prominent role in this text. This is part of the great reversal in the gospel of Luke.

The Lukan birth stories focus on the perspective of the women, Elizabeth and Mary, not their men Zechariah and Joseph. In fact, Zechariah is not seen to be a model of faith for Luke’s audience in the same way that Elizabeth and Mary are. Here we see the first of many examples in Luke’s Gospels of a reversal of ordinary expectations—the women, not Zechariah, properly respond to the initiatives of God in (cf. ). Elizabeth and Mary, not Zechariah and Joseph, first receive the message of the coming Christ, first respond in full faith to that news, first are praised and blessed by God’s angels, and first sing and prophesy about the Christ child.

Witherington, B., III. (1992). Elizabeth (Person). In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 2, p. 474). New York: Doubleday.

This hymn is a typical hebrew hymn with parallelism. It is poetry or a canticle with intentional parallels and repetition in from line to line

There is scripture mirrored all through out. 4-5 Psalms drawn out of this.

Psalm 107:9 NIV

for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

1 Samuel 2:1–10 NIV

Then Hannah prayed and said: “My heart rejoices in the Lord; in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. “There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. “Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by him deeds are weighed. “The bows of the warriors are broken, but those who stumbled are armed with strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for food, but those who were hungry are hungry no more. She who was barren has borne seven children, but she who has had many sons pines away. “The Lord brings death and makes alive; he brings down to the grave and raises up. The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the needy from the ash heap; he seats them with princes and has them inherit a throne of honor. “For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s; on them he has set the world. He will guard the feet of his faithful servants, but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness. “It is not by strength that one prevails; those who oppose the Lord will be broken. The Most High will thunder from heaven; the Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”

1 Samuel 2:

Mary did not just go full shakesperian here…this is a text that probably predates her and Luke attributes this hymn to her response. So if you are reading this historically as we are prone to do and think wow that is really an odd or rough thing to happen in all of this…yes. it is not meant to be a historical minute by minute account. The Magnificat is attributed to Mary as the response of Israel to the coming of Jesus and we can learn from this hymn.

We can see ourselves in it. As we consider our own response to the truth that the light of the world has come.

As we consider our own response to the truth that the light of the world has come.

Worship and gratitude:

Luke 1:46–47 NIV

And Mary said: “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

Luke 1:

Elizabeth in our text praises Mary and Mary transfers the praise to God in this canticle.

How often to we begin our conversations with God in worship and gratitude? How often do we stop and bask in who God is?

How often do we give thanks to what God has done in our lives…or do we take the credit.

When we understand the hope of God in Jesus Christ has come into the world…it should wreck our sensibilities and it should do it repeatedly. For me, there was no one single point in my life that I can point to....like a Salvation birth date as some point to…but there are moments in time where the assurance that Jesus Christ, the messiah has come, not only did he die for the world but me included and I am invited into that redemption story.

Friends, it is not wonder that many of us do not carry this message of hope very far or with any force, because we have not reached an encounter with the holy God. The opening of this hymn is the passionate worship of a person that has found themselves utterly empty apart from the God who has created them.

Humility:

Secondly, we can learn from the humility in this hymn and it builds on the worship and gratitude.

Through the hymn Mary asks, Who am i, that God should invite me into this story.

St. Augustine, speaking on humility says “If you plan to build a tall house of virtues, you must first lay deep foundations of humility.”

Friends, it is in humility that God can deliver hope to the world, because in hope your attention has shifted off of yourselves and onto God. Off of own needs and wants and to the work of God in Jesus Christ.

Perspective:

Next thing the hymn does is bring perspective, for all that God has done.

To be a part of the hope of the world is to stand in the strength of the God of hope.

The hymn looks to the work of his “arm, and the way he has scattered the proud, bringing down rulers and lifting up the humble.”

Carrying the hope of the world means we have perspective. We know our insecurities and inabilities fall to the wayside.

Some of us only trust in God has far has our own abilities will take us. We do church this way. We make decisions this way.

Responsibility:

The wight of the closing of this hymn can be lost....the hymn says in the last verse, that the promise to Abraham and the descendents is now here. Attributed to Mary in this closing line is the truth that in her stomach and in her care is the one who is the very redemption of the world.

Can you believe the weight of this responsibility?

Friends, for those in Christ we have the same humbling responsibility to carry the hope of the world to the world.

John 17:18 NIV

As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.

John 17:

Acts 1:8 NIV

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

Conclusion

We have the same responsibility to carry the hope of the world into the world.

A couple months ago I had the opportunity to hear an incredible sermon by a women named Christine Cain. She shared this illustration that has struck me and I want to close with it here.

She talked about her love for Wal-mart. From Australia they really do not have anything like that or definitely not in every town like we do. and her daughter has this fascination with lights, and flashlights. So she picked one out and asked mom if she could have one. Mom said yes. And then in the checkout line something incredible happened. In the ultra labratory like lighting of the store. You know what I am talking about....you forget what time of day it is in there. Her daughter turned on her flashlight and tried to shine it around the store and the light would not travel very far.

Then the daughter looks at her mom and says “can we go to where it is dark so this light will work.” And it became very clear to Christine at that moment God was speaking to her.

Friends, we in the church love to hang out in the light and forget the incredible responsibility and opportunity we have

The church is so good about just trying to be a spotlight that attracts people. you ever seen that spotlight in the sky, opening of something. we pretend like we have a bat call symbol and that people will come to us. This isnt the case anymore.

There is an incredible darkness in the world…and the truth is…we have the light of the world.

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