What Are You Looking For?

Something that gets lost, at least something I think often gets lost, in all our Christmas narratives is the story of Mary. Don’t get me wrong, I think we always remember her riding on a donkey. We all picture her having to find rest and comfort in a manger. And I think we all even have a pretty clear picture of her and baby Jesus relaxing with the animals and the wise men.

We got that, right?

All those pictures we have, they carry with them this joy. Sometimes it is hidden or projected into the story by us - especially given that we all know the end of the story. But generally, we picture this birth narrative as a positive experience for Mary.

It wasn’t.

I hate to break that news to you, but it’s true. Well - to be honest, I can’t know that, but I will tell you, it is a sight closer to the truth than the things we traditionally think about this narrative.

[pic of pregnant teen]

How can I say that? Well, I can say it because I am a human, and an adult, and a dad. Listen, this isn’t our modern social norms talking here, but I think every adult - and for sure every parent - can understand that a 13 or 14-year-old girl turning up pregnant isn’t ideal.

Don’t hear me wrong, I am not talking about their worth as a human, nor am I drawing any other parallels, what I mean is this: if someone that age in our lives turned up pregnant, and then claimed that God did it, there would be a lot of emotions flying around, but joy likely isn’t one of them!

I mean, where is the joy in her betrothed looking to put her away quietly, as we read in Matthew. In other words, leave her in a private and immediate way. Just walk away.

Where is the joy in a family that was likely just devastated that the joy or her pending marriage has been marred by this unplanned pregnancy? Where is the joy in knowing that her community would be lining up to stone her? That their family’s reputation was ruined?

We miss that picture sometimes. And I think we miss it, because we have been convinced that joy only looks like good stuff, like happiness or success. But that isn’t at what joy is!

[mary and elizabeth]

You see, joy isn’t found in the perfect situation! Sure you can have joy in that moment, but we all know that you can be in the middle of a great situation and be in a bad mood! And in that bad mood, we can miss out on countless joyful moments!

It isn’t found in money. It isn’t found in the ideal situation. No, the lesson of Advent, and in the text, is that joy is to be found in all things. The bad, the good, the difficult, the easy. Joy is there in all of it! Sure there are some moments in which finding joy seems impossible, but even then, it must there.

After all, even the worst moments we could face in life are prefaced by joy. Otherwise, they would never seem like bad moments.

But even bigger than that truth, which I think we all understand even if we can’t put it into practice; bigger than that is this other truth that I think of when I read this text.

Joy is most apparent when it is found in others.

Church, Mary was likely not feeling particularly joyful before Elizabeth’s words. She was carrying her reality just as we would! She knew she would be stoned. She knew that she was alone! She knew that this wasn’t at all what she thought her life would look like!

But that isn’t what Elizabeth saw! She didn’t look for the problems in Mary’s life! She didn’t look for the difference! She didn’t look to find fault, to nitpick, to criticize, to cast aspersions - none of that!

No Elizabeth modeled instead for every person who ever exists the attitude we are to take with all people! One that is as obvious as anything ever written in scripture, but we miss it every year!

That truth is this: Elizabeth was looking for Christ in Mary.

[repeat it]

Don’t’ we say that all the time? I mean we don’t always do it, but we think it! Here, though, we see it! Elizabeth is looking for a reason for hope, and for joy! She is so filled with her own personal joy, in fact, that she can’t help but find joy in Mary!

Think about it for a second. This is an older woman who was miraculously made pregnant. A woman who had waited for years to conceive, only to fail time after time. She understood pain! She understood being ostracized in the community, albeit in a peaceful way. She understood all those emotions, so WHO BETTER TO REACH INTO A LIFE IN TURMOIL AND FIND JOY!

Luke 1:42–45 ESV

and she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

There is no exciting announcement by Elizabeth that she was pregnant! And further, there is no disappointment that Mary didn’t ask! She sees her underage niece, a woman with no husband, with no family support, with seemingly no hope or future, and she reaches into her heart to bring out the joy that God has placed in all of us!

Why am I blessed? How am I so fortunate to see you? Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

What a stark contrast this must have been for Mary! I mean everyone around her would be telling her how messed up life was! I can hear them in us, church!

I mean, can you even believe they let her do that? If that were my kid, I would lock her up and not let her out. And did you hear what she says happened? I can’t even believe that she thinks that! Let’s be real, God wouldn’t do that, she is just lying.

All too often, that is what we find in situations. We don’t find joy, we look for drama and difference and trouble.

But not Elizabeth. She shows us our path, just as her son does later. Chruch she finds a reason to bless! She finds hope! She finds a reason to be joyful! And this wasn’t a manufactured and fake joy! She tells us in her words. “As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears the baby in my womb jumped for joy!”

No explanation needed! No qualifiers for grace. No need to change who you are or what has happened to you! AS SOON AS I HEARD YOUR VOICE I WAS FILLED WITH JOY! AND I WAS SO FILLED WITH THAT JOY THAT I WANTED NOTHING MORE THAN TO BRING THAT JOY INTO YOUR LIFE!

[PRESENTS]

Church, if you want to give a gift to this world, be like Elizabeth! Find joy in other people! Find joy in all people! LOOK INTO THE SOUL OF EVERY PERSON WITH WHOM YOU CROSS PATHS AND FIND THE TRUTH IN THEIR LIVES! DON’T LOOK FOR DRAMA OR PROBLEMS! LOOK FOR REASON TO FIND JOY! REJOICE WITH THOSE WHO ARE REJOICING! FIND IN ALL PEOPLE THE BLESSING THAT THEY ARE, AND IN THAT JOY AND BLESSING, CHURCH, YOU WILL FIND THAT YOU WILL NOT ONLY FIND LIFE - BUT LIFE ABUNDANT! YOU WILL SEE THAT YOU WILL THRIVE AND GROW BEYOND YOUR PROBLEMS! BEYOND YOUR WANTS! BEYOND ALL THOSE THINGS THAT HONESTLY, EVEN IF YOU GOT THEM, WOULD NEVER BE ENOUGH!

They will never give you the joy you are looking for. You might think you are popular. You might think you are making a better life for your kids. You might think that getting your way is the only way to be happy or content - but the truth is it won’t. More importantly - Christ is bigger than that and bigger than you.

And Christ lives within all people, but it isn’t until we reach into their lives that they can ever really know it. And church, it isn’t until we find Christ in others that we can ever see Him in ourselves. And finding Him there, we will find joy. Real, unspeakable and eternal joy.

Matthew 11:7 ESV

As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

The Lectionary text for today that was omitted was the story of the messengers of John the Baptist asking if Jesus was the Messiah. I omitted it not because I wanted us to not hear it, but because I wanted to focus more on the infancy narratives this year.

But there is a truth in the text that the universal church is studying today that we need to understand - one that dovetails nicely with our text. And that point is this:

What do you expect to see? When you look at another person, what do you expect to see? Are you looking for stereotypes, social norms, something that reinforces your assumptions of that person? Are you looking for a reason to hate or a reason to stir up drama or be angry?

Because let me be real with you church, no matter what you are looking for, you will find it!

Luke reminds us that, just like Elizabeth, we must look for Christ in all people! We must look for joy in all situations!

[Mary birth]

And finding that joy, church, we can bring it into all our moments.

One of the most difficult things for me to remember is that joy can really only be found in the moments we are in. You can’t bank joy for tomorrow, and you can’t relive it from yesterday. It is only a present feeling.

So we can’t wait for joy to come, we must find it right where and when we are. And church, Joy is here - in this moment - even if you can’t see it!

Find that joy. Find it, and curch, you will find that like Mary you will magnify it! You will magnify this Christ child who lives in us all! You will magnify God in all that you are and with all that you have! After all, that is how we find joy! That is how we feel His presence in all we do! We can’t wait for the joy He has offered! We can’t look for it to come when things clear up or when this or that happens. Church if we keep waiting for joy to come tomorrow we will waste our chance to magnify Him right here right now!

And on top of that, if “You pile up enough tomorrows and you’ll find that you are left with nothing but a lot of empty yesterdays.”

Church, we can’t be that way. We can’t, if only because we have life! We have Christ! We have good times, bad times, sure, but as long as we have breath we have time to find Him in all things! So rejoice! Magnify God in your soul, and in your life! Magnify Him in others, and He will bring you the same unspeakable joy that filled Mary in spite of what had happened and what she was facing. Magnify the very essence of God in all people and He will magnify His joy in your heart.

[communion]