Hearing and believing?

     Our gospel text for Sunday will sound very familiar to our brothers and sisters familiar with the Roman Catholic tradition - for Luke 1 is the scriptural basis for the Hail Mary prayer.

The Visitation by Qi He

Hail Mary, full of grace.
Our Lord is with you.
Blessed are you among women,
and blessed is the fruit of your womb,
Jesus.  

This oft said prayer is the blessing Mary receives from her cousin Elizabeth upon greeting her in her home.  Mary has just found out that both she and her cousin are miraculously pregnant and she runs to greet her beloved cousin.  But one thing the Hail Mary leaves out is the second part of Elizabeth's blessing, found in verse 45,

Blessed is she 

who believed that there 

would be a fulfillment of what was 

spoken to her by the Lord.

     Mary has received praise and accolades over the years, worshiped in the Roman Catholic church, and as a result of the Reformation, almost shunned in Protestant churches.  And both of these approaches to Mary are unfounded in scripture.  What is founded, however, is the respect and honor Mary receives - not because she is the mother of Jesus - but because she was a faithful disciple.

     The gospel of Luke reiterates this blessing in chapters 8 and 11, and Mary becomes for us an example to be emulated.  While we will not have the opportunity to give birth to God's son as Mary did, each of us has the opportunity to hear God's word and believe it will be fulfilled.

     We each hear the Word of the Lord, "One who is more powerful is coming!"  

     We each hear the Word of the Lord, "I have called you by name; you are mine."

     We each hear the Word of the Lord, "I have remembered your sins no more."

     We each hear the Word of the Lord, "Stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is        drawing near."

And we each have in us the faith it takes to believe these things.  And not only to believe, but to live them out.  To live as though there really is a powerful savior coming - not with fear, worry, and dread, but with hope that there will be a better future.  To live as though our sins are forgiven - not weighed down by the guilt of past wrongs, but liberated to live anew each day.  To live as though God's naming and claiming us as sons and daughters is the foundation of everything else - not aspiring to be identified by jobs, possessions, family, appearances, and status, but living from the fact that we are God's and nothing else matters.  To live as though our salvation really is drawing near - not sweating the small stuff but confidently living in each moment knowing that in Christ all will be well.

     As we come ever closer to Christmas, I am left pondering Mary and Mary's faithfulness.  How can I imitate Mary, the ideal disciple?  Do I hear and believe?

What happened to grace?

     Okay, okay.  No, it is not a mystery whether we are saved by faith, not works.  We are saved by faith, bathed in the death and resurrection of Christ, and it is his perfection that is given to us, his faith that is given to us, his life and forgiveness freely granted, all because he came down.  That said, the text for Sunday from Luke 3 could make one question that.  We have a continuation of last week's text, going on right after John's proclamation, and it sounds an awful lot like he is saying that our salvation is based on merit.  And he doesn't just say it once. He does go on at length about this.

• Bear fruits worthy of repentance.
• Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
• Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.
• Collect no more than the amount [of money] prescribed to you.
• Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages.
• His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.

Flower of Fire on display at Kazuya Akimoto Art Museum

     To me, this seems like a long list of moral laws to which John the Baptist is wanting us to adhere, to show that we have truly repented.  And herein lies the great theological question: What role do works play in the life of a disciple?
     If we take John at his word, it seems that works are necessary for repentance.  That is, that a truly repentant person shows by their life that they have repented.  The proof is in the pudding, as they say.  But if that's the case, that works are necessary for repentance, where does grace fit?  And this isn't even the biggest question I have with this text.  The second comes at the very end.
     After John has just warned them that the ax wielder is ready to cut down any tree that doesn't bear fruit, after John has told them that there is one coming who will burn the chaff, after John has told them that we must share our possessions, "with many other exhortations he proclaimed the good news to the people."
   
  GOOD NEWS?!?  Unless I read the wrong lines, that doesn't seem very much like good news.  Going to be burned unless I do these things?  Great.  So much for God's forgiveness...

      Except that's not it at all.  If you read closely you realize that forgiveness is NOT conditional of repentance, but repentance IS conditional of forgiveness.  So you can't repent unless you've first been forgiven.  Which actually makes sense, if you read verses 16-18 again.  Jesus will baptize with the Holy Spirit and fire.  Don't you see?  In baptism we are the wheat and the chaff.  Each of us.  Both.  And in our baptism the chaff part of us was burned away so that all that remains is the wheat - good fruit.  Our good fruit, our repentance, is only dependent on being chosen by Christ to begin with.  In the waters of baptism we received the resounding, 'YES!' from God and were cleansed.  We were forgiven, and renewed, and then the repentance began.
     Well, almost.  Obviously repentance is something we have to deal with each day.  Obviously all the baptized are not all good fruit - I know from my own life there is plenty of chaff still to be burned away.  Which is where our Advent comes in.
     Even though we have already been baptized, cleansed with the purifying fire of Christ's love, we are not yet there.  We wait for the day when faith shall be sight, we wait for the day when Christ's love conquers all, we wait for the day when we no longer struggle to do what is right and fair in God's eyes. 
     And so we pray.  Come, Lord Jesus, come.

Christ is coming! Good news for everyone?

     In our second week of Advent, we go back to the beginning of Luke, well, almost the beginning, when John the Baptist is out in the wilderness crying out God's message

from simonlucas.co.uk

Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.

 John is preparing us, and God is preparing the way so that everyone may see salvation.  Except in the gospel text for Sunday, the implications of John's proclamation aren't so comforting for everyone.  We start in Luke 3, and the author of Luke takes painstaking measures to make sure we know exactly when and where this is happening.  Again, theologian and scholar Mark Allen Powell writes

Luke wants to emphasize that what he reports is of global significance.  The birth of Jesus means 'peace on earth.' One implication of this emphasis is that for Luke politics and theology merge into one.  The listing of political rulers (also in [Luke] 2.1-2) suggests that what God is doing has political, not just spiritual, significance.  Or, to put it another way, what God does affects society, not just individuals.  If we were reading Luke's gospel straight through, the Magnificat (1.46-55) would still be fresh in our minds when we read these verses.  We would then realize that all the powers named in verses 1 and 2 have one thing in common.  Some of them are Romans and some of them are Jewish; some of them are secular authorities; others are religious.  But they are all going to regret the advent of Christ that John is about to announce.*

     Woah - politics and theology merging into one?  Whatever happened to separation of church and state?  Whatever happened not mixing politics and religion?  Yet there it is, in Mary's song of praise, He has shown strength with his arm;
   he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
   and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
   and sent the rich away empty.

Mary's song clearly states that the rulers will be overturned and that those in power will be cast to the bottom while the lowly are lifted up.  And yet this isn't even the most extraordinary aspect of these six, short verses in Luke.  The amazing thing is that there is nothing anyone can do about it.
     God has promised to come.  God has promised to make a way.  We often hear these words from John as an admonition to prepare better.  Rather than worrying about the food, presents, cards, decorating, we should focus more on Jesus.  Rather than spend money on gifts for our family we should spend money on those who need it.  Rather than preparing our homes, we need to prepare our hearts.
     The only thing is that with this thinking gospel turns to law.  Anytime you add a 'should' or 'need' to a statement about faith and our relationship with God you have taken grace out of the equation.  It is no longer anything that is freely given or without strings.  So if this is about mixing politics and religion, and about preparing but not preparing, what is the good news and how is this good news for everyone?
     The good news is that Christ is coming!  And the even better news is that there is nothing we can, should, or need to do about it.  God's work is to prepare our hearts.  Our work is to be open to it.  God's work is to bring about God's reign on earth.  Our work is to watch for it, and see it when it happens.  God's work is to bring Christ into the world.  Our work is to enjoy Christ's coming.
     And by this work, the work of God alone, Christ comes and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.  So what do you think?  Christ is coming!  Is this good news for everyone?

*Powell, Mark Allan.  Advent 2 - Preparing the Way, in Emphasis, November-December 1997. p 44