Holy Covenant United Methodist Church - Luke 1:39-45 "When the Child Within Leaps for Joy"

Luke 1:39-45 "When the Child Within Leaps for Joy"

Written by Rev. Don Lee
Saturday, 23 December 2006
In case I don’t see you tomorrow….Merry Christmas! We actually know quite a bit about 1st century Palestine. We know that it was under Roman control; and that a puppet king had been put in place by Rome to pacify the masses and to enforce peace. We know that this king, “Herod” often used intimidation and violence to maintain order and that the Jews viewed him with disdain and fear. Israel and Judah existed in an uneasy tension between obedience to their Roman overlords and the growing desire to seek independence. Uprisings were quickly quelled and the zealots imprisoned, and often brutally crucified, as a warning to others. According to Mark 15:7, it was a zealot named Barrabas whose life is spared so Jesus can die. We know that the fears of the religious elite were valid; fears that Jesus and his followers could jeopardize this fragile arrangement with Rome, allowing Israel a limited amount of autonomy and freedom of worship. If Jesus incites the people to rebel against Rome, the response would be quick and deadly. Rome would send their legions to destroy Jerusalem. “It is better... that one man die for the people than to have the whole nation destroyed,” Caiaphas, the High Priest is quoted to say in John 11:50. Despite Caiaphas’ prediction, history details the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 A.D. and the destruction of the temple. Most of the inhabitants of Jerusalem were killed. It’s in this violent and fearful time that our story takes place. God has heard the cry of God’s people and comes to save them. Historians cite the expansion of the Roman empire and its systems of roads as contributing to the ideal environment for the spread of Christianity. It’s my belief that in fact the brutal enforcement of Pax Romana had more to do with the spread of Christianity. Christ arrives at this important juncture in history, to a world reeling in the aftermath of conquest, genocide, and military and political oppression. Peace that is guaranteed by fear, intimidation, and violence is no peace at all. According to the gospel Narrative, Mary receives an angelic visitor who proclaims Mary is pregnant by divine action. The child within her womb is God’s answer to the suffering of God’s people. What this means to her is unclear, but we know that at some level she realizes the baby within her is destined for greatness. Our scripture reading comes form the Gospel of Luke 1:39-45. As you are able, I invite you stand for the reading of the Gospel. (read from Bible) 39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’ Prayer: O come to us, abide with us our Lord, Emmanuel. Amen. Does God talk to you? For me, sometimes, honestly, I don’t know. Then there are those times when God’s voice is clear as crystal and those are the times it usually gets me in trouble! The gospel narrative suggests that despite Mary’s angelic vision, she seeks out her relative, Elizabeth to confirm what God has spoken to her. As the angel told her: v. 36“And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.” The pregnant Mary travels by donkey, not to Bethlehem but to the Hill Country, to the Judean town of her relative, Elizabeth. When she arrives at her cousin’s home, Elizabeth hears Mary’s voice and the child within Elizabeth’s own womb (John the Baptizer), leaps for joy! I remember those days, when my wife Susan and I were pregnant. I remember putting my hand on her stomach and feeling our child kick. For me it was truly a holy moment. Mary receives the confirmation she seeks with Elizabeth’s spoken blessing, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” V. 42 What does the gospel narrative mean when it says, “The child within leapt for joy?” I’m going to suggest that it means that until we learn to recognize the presence of Jesus (the Christ) with us, we will not experience true joy. One of our departed saints, Alta Morgan, had this kind of discernment. She recognized in the people in her life the presence of Christ. She was truly one of the most joyful people I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. Alta was a great storyteller. Our church Advent booklet related a particularly hard Christmas when Alta was just 8 years old, and living on the family farm back in 1913. I’d like to read to you from it: (excerpt from devotional) She writes, “It had been raining a whole week. I began to imagine how Noah’s family felt. We were stuck in the house and they were stuck on an ark. Into the second week of non-stop rain, we began to run out of some of our food supplies. There were two other families living on our farm; they worked for my father. Well, father called us all together and figured out who needed what and we shared our food with each other. Sugar, flour, salt. Things like that. We had our own cows and chickens, so there was plenty of milk and eggs. Then, we went into the third week of non-stop rain. The ground just wasn’t able to soak up any more water. It was standing in puddles everywhere. Finally, the day came when the rain stopped and the sun was shining. It was Christmas Eve day. Everyone was excited! Father called everyone together again and made plans to go to town and get so much needed supplies. Two people from each family could go. As the six of us loaded into the wagon, the sun was breaking through the sky to light the day. Father hitched six mules to the wago to pull us over the muddy, muddy, seven miles of road. Twice we had to stop to knock the mud off the wheels. By the time we reached Lake Ritter (where the fish hatchery on 121 is located now), the mud was wagon wheel friendly. As we reached the town of Lewisville, father told everyone to get all they needed in the way of supplies and, since it was Christmas Eve, to do any Christmas shopping that was needed. There was plenty of time, but he wanted to leave for home so we would arrive before dark. That when I saw this beautiful doll! She had hair that was lovely. She was 24” talls and was wearing a darling dress. “Is she what you want for Christmas?” Father asked. “Oh yes!” I replied. So I got my beautiful doll for Christmas right then. I proudly carried her on the wagon all the way home. We pulled in the drive just as the sun was setting. It looked like a large orange and red ball, just on the western horizon. When I showed my mother my beautiful doll, she took it into the sewing room where she had just finished making me a new crème colored dress with green satin piping. Well, she made my beautiful doll a dress just like the one she had made for me. The trip we made to Lewisville by wagon took all day. The trip Mary and Joseph made to Bethlehem by mule took many days. We shopped for food supplies and a few Christmas gifts. The family of Mary and Joseph stopped to pay taxes and have a baby. And start Christmas. –Alta Morgan This is what I think; as these 3 families prepared to celebrate Christmas, it was in their recognition that Jesus was there for them, that they could be there for one another. Alta’s story is a powerful witness to the providence of God and the grace that God gives each of us to find beauty even in the rainy, overcast, and dark times in our lives. Some of you are there, right now, aren’t you? When we learn to recognize the presence of Jesus (the Christ) with us “for others” we experience true joy. Here’s a great definition of joy: Joy is the Christ child dancing within…us! One of my heroes, Jerri Savuto is a registered nurse who, along with her husband serve as UM missionaries at the Maua Methodist Hospital, a 250 bed hospital in central Kenya serving 600,000 people. It was their desire to share hope, faith, food, education and the love of God with the orphaned children of AIDS victims, that birthed the AIDS Orphan program, which currently feeds and educates 430 children. Jerri shares the following about the incredible spirit of the poorest of the poor in Central Kenya. She writes: We had been operating for over a year when we were notified that the MMH AIDS Orphan Program would receive food donated by USAID. The amount of food would be based on the grant request submitted previously which listed the names of children in the area that needed help and it was stipulated that the aid had to be given to those specific families. We were delighted even though by this time the assistance would not be enough for all the program’s beneficiaries. When the USAID food arrived, the word went out to the grandmothers that they should come to the hospital compound for collection and hundreds came. We carefully explained that only those women whose grandchildren were on the donor’s list could receive the food. They all sat quietly and listened. They did not question or complain even though they knew that many would not receive anything. As the names were called out, groups joyfully came forward to receive supplies. The process took many hours. Each named child received 2.2 liters of oil and 40 pounds of a high protein grain mix. None of the official beneficiaries left after receiving their food but returned to their small waiting groups. Only grandmothers and orphans whose names were on the donor’s list received food from the hospital personnel. However when everyone began to leave, we noticed that every family had food. The grandmothers had shared with other grandmothers. No one left that day without carrying oil and grain. They left singing, shouting praises to God, laughing, and with great joy. The poorest of the poor in our community had just shared what they had received so that all might have something. As we watched in wonder we remembered Jesus talking about the widow's offering at the temple. "For the others offered their gifts from what they had to spare of their riches; but she, poor as she is, gave all she had to live on." (Luke 21: 4) When we learn to recognize the presence of Jesus “there” for us, we can learn to be “there” for others. And when we are “there” for others, we experience true joy: the Christ child dances within us! It is our generosity that allows others to see Christ in us. Generosity refuses to allow the suffering of other human beings to be dismissed by politically correct labels like “food insecure.” Hunger is hunger. And if we cannot recognize human suffering for what it is, then we are truly lost. These grandmothers display the kind of generosity that acknowledges all they had comes from God. This is the kind of generosity that comes with the awareness that we are eating from trees we did not plant, and planting seeds others will harvest. This is the kind of generosity that comes with joyful expectation that we love a God who loves us back (immensely more then we could possibly imagine) and who is working all things together for our good; the kind of generosity that acknowledges our intimate connection to one another, even those with whom we may drastically differ. Tonight, the child will be born and Christmas starts, all over again. Are you ready? Commit to living a generous life; recognize the presence of Christ there for you so you can be there for others. Let the Christ child will dance within you! (Sung) It came upon a midnight clear, The glorious song of old. From angels bending near the earth, To touch their hearts of gold. “Peace on the earth, goodwill to men, From heaven’s all gracious King!” The world in solemn stillness lay, To hear the angels sing.