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Servant Promises Luke 1:46 – 55; II Samuel 7:1 – 11, 16 “Tom Long (a teacher of preachers), tells a story about rabbi Hugo Grynn who was sent to Auschwitz as a little boy. In the midst of the concentration camp, in the midst of death and horror many Jews held onto whatever shreds of religious observance they could without drawing the ire of the guards. Ramsey Clark was in the United States this week — home from the trial of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. He was interviewed on the Today show. The interview — and frankly what I have been hearing about Mr. Clark — has left me ‘standing with my mouth open.’ No matter what folks believe about U.S. involvement in Iraq, no matter how our politics line up related to Congress and the President, no matter which country from which people might be I confess naiveté in believing that there is unanimity in the knowledge that Saddam Hussein is guilty of ordering the deaths of many of his own people in Iraq. Having a statesman (albeit not always a popular one) from the United States serving on Mr. Hussein’s defense team was startling enough. Having Mr. Clark become so outspoken for the rights of his client that he is taking on both the U.S. government and the Iraqi judicial system was flabbergasting. Knowing the truth about a situation (i.e., that Saddam Hussein is guilty), we (or at least, I) most often are unable to allow any new information into our psyches to help us shift or temper that already known truth. That total amazement — flabbergasting discovery — sheer shock, stupefaction, wonders, astonishment is the theme of today’s sermon. Listen carefully, because I am drawing no parallels of Saddam Hussein and Ramsey Clark to the scriptures, but it is the amazement factor that their situation has created in me — and I am sure in others around this world — that our scriptures should elicit. God doesn’t, hasn’t and won’t act in the ways we expect. God — the most powerful, the most forceful, the greatest being ever — cannot be packaged in the ways we have planned, or will arrive at the time we have appointed. Our two scriptures this morning – one about David and one about Mary are both really about God. David, beloved by God, chosen by God, forgiven and tolerated and adored by God, was a man who was pretty full of himself. We knew this from the beginning when he had the audacity to believe he could take on a giant without a decent weapon. God used that big ego and audacious courage to the advantage of God’s people. Today’s passage has David making plans to build a great house — a temple — for God. It’s not enough, claims the King, for me to live in a wonderful house. I need to build a great house for God. At first the King’s prophet gave David permission to pursue his architectural plans, but then the prophet had another word from God. God would build David a different kind of house — a lineage, heritage, family line — and, no, David was not going to be in charge of building some glorious edifice for God that would also reflect David’s great ego. Why not?! God would have the very best, if David was in charge of the building. God’s temple would be the most magnificent if built by the man who had no bounds in what he thought he could achieve. God’s glory would shine with David’s imagination, passion, and ‘skies the limit’ ideas. No, said, God. I will stay in charge. I will decide when and how and by whom my temple will be built. And I, says, God, will decide your future as well. Interesting to have heard from the servant King David on the same day we also hear about a conversation between Mary and God. Mary, another servant of God, is almost the opposite of David: not powerful, not rich, not triumphant, not egotistical, but, rather, humble, surprised, and open to whatever God has asked of her. The Magnificat, this song of Mary (which, by the way is not original to Mary but parallels another young mother’s song of previous centuries – Hannah, the mother of Samuel), only briefly mentions what God has done in favoring Mary. The major part of the song is what God has done for the poor, the powerless, the oppressed. The song gets at the crux of what Jesus’ ministry is going to be about in toppling and turning upside-down the social convention of the rich and famous being in control and the poor and unknown always receiving the least of what is available. God’s favor, God’s love, God’s protection is no longer going to be with the strong, the ones who are already satiated, but, rather, with the hurting, those who are in sorrow, and those who have nothing. We have heard these words preached our entire lives so, perhaps, the impact no longer has the WHAM they should. The shock, the amazement, the surprise should be no less than what I experienced in listening to Ramsey Clark the other day. For to hear this message clearly, it would mean that those of us in any kind of power — be that religious leaders, business owners, government officials, landlords, and house owners, teachers, doctors and engineers — all of us who are filled with the impressive knowledge and worldly goods that we have been able to accumulate will have it count for naught. To hear this message clearly, is to hear that those who have nothing now — those who have not been caught in the traps of thinking their honor and power, prestige and money has positioned them into comfortable lives, those who are struggling to eke out an existence — will be lifted up and will be filled. It is not the disdain of things, or prestige, or legitimate power and leadership that this song addresses. It is when we get caught in connecting all of that to how God loves and cares and is faithful to us that this song illuminates. King David had it all, and when he had it all he knew (or thought he knew) that he could make God happy. He thought he could honor God in such a way as to make God love him even more. He thought he could connect all that had come his way to the assurance of his special relationship with God. And God said no! Yes, I do love you, and, yes, I will favor you, and, yes, I will give you a long family line and blessing, but, no, there is no correlation between how much you are loved by me and how rich and powerful a showing you will make for me. And to Mary, God said yes, yes, I will use you — humble as you are — yes, you understand thoroughly that power and prestige have nothing to do with the possibilities and work that is to be done in this world, and, yes, your mission will be to bring hope to those who have no hope at this time. Mary and David — both servants of God, both beloved and cherished by God, both given amazing tasks and ministries — are both as surprising and unexpected as we could ever know. In charting the ‘most likely to succeed or achieve,’ David would certainly have been given this award early in his life. He kept showing up at the right place in the right time. He maneuvered his way through stations in life and became a great king, seemingly protected, certainly forgiven, and always touched by God. And then suddenly to have this great possibility closed to him, what a major disappointment, and startling revelation about God’s ways. And Mary — not one to be selected as the ‘most likely to succeed or achieve,’ pregnant before she married, with some amazing story about that pregnancy — selected by God for an incredible task. A task not all that different from this song she was singing, a task that would set the world upside-down in their understanding of power, of God’s love, of God’s work. As it was in the beginning, is now...and will ever be so, God’s love and protection, God’s honor and care have nothing to do with the power and prestige that we accumulate in this world. God’s justice and redemption have little to do with the systems we have created. God’s promises to God’s servants break all the rules and concepts and expectations that we have held. May we be prepared for the unexpected way God comes to us and calls us into service this day. SW |
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