December 12, 2010
When Heaven Came Back
- Luke 1:26-38
- Dr. Teri Thomas
It has been said that, "Hope is the ability to hear the melody of the future and faith is the courage to dance to its tune today." Mary was able to hear the melody of the future and she willingly danced into it when God gave her the opening.
As Christians, we believe in a divine incarnation—that God took human form in the person of Jesus. What's more, we believe that a young woman in a Podunk town in Israel gave birth to this Son of God.
This morning, this baby King's mother tells us what the incarnation means: things are going to change. Oppression will give way to justice. Tears will flow into rivers of laughter. The high and mighty will be humbled, and a poor, lowly servant will give birth to a Savior.
At the time that Mary sings her revolutionary anthem, nothing has yet changed. The Roman Empire continues to dominate the Israelites in their own land. Famine still plagues the peoples of the earth. Justice is still illusive and the rich are far from empty. How can Mary's very soul be bursting with glimmering joy when there is so much reason to tremble with fear and quake with sorrow?
Things are not right—but Mary still sings of a world that sounds like heaven.
She sings because God is moving, and a pregnant young girl bears witness to the glory at hand. A beautiful change is in gestation, and the final triumph of life over death is inevitable.
God is going to be born in human form.
Heaven is coming back to earth.
And even now we rejoice.
For through the lens of the Magnificat, everything looks very different.
Let us join our souls with Mary's to magnify the Lord.
Fear not.
Nothing will be impossible with God.
The mighty one has done great things for us.
The Son of God is on the way!
Amen.