Micah 5: 2 – 5a / For the Psalm: Luke 1: 46b – 55 / Hebrews 10:5 – 10 / Luke 1: 39 - 45
This is the written version of the homily given at Flohr’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), McKnightstown, Pennsylvania on Sunday, December 22, 2024 by Fr. Gene Tucker.
“GOD SETS IN MOTION A PLAN TO FIX THINGS”
(Homily text: Luke 1: 39 – 45)
A family member comes into the house and says,
“The car won’t start. I think it needs to go to the shop. It needs to be
fixed”. Your spouse says, “The dishwasher is on the fritz, can we call the
repairman and see if he can fix it?” You start up the computer, in hopes of
getting something done, but it has chosen to act up, and so you decide it’d
better go to the computer shop so it can be fixed.
We live in a world where the machines, the
vehicles, the tools, and the electronic gadgets we make use of, all will need
fixing at some point or another. As good as many of those things are (I think,
in this regard, of the old car I used to drive when I first went into the Army
many years ago, and how much more tender loving car (and fixing) it needed in
order to keep running than modern ones do), the perfect vehicle, the flawless
machine, the perfectly-behaving computer, none of these has come along yet.
What we’ve just said about these things can
also be said about human beings, about the ways in which human beings relate to
one another, and about how human beings relate to God.
Down through time, God has had to remind us
humans about His perfect design and His perfect will for the world and for the
human beings who inhabit that world.
In a very real sense, we could say that Holy
Scripture is a record of God’s work to fix things that human beings have
managed to damage or break, things like relationships, things like our love of
idols[1],
things like our abilities to destroy our relationship with God. In the pages of
Holy Scripture, we read of God’s design and intent for the world. We also read
of God’s calling to prophets in ancient times and in our own day, prophetic
voices to remind us of God’s will and God’s design, voices which call us to
return to God’s desire for the world and for us.
God acts, over and over again, to initiate a
plan to fix things, and to bring them into conformity with His designs for the
world.
This observation brings us to the visit[2] of
the Blessed Virgin Mary to her cousin, Elizabeth, which is our appointed Gospel
reading for this morning.
In order to set the stage for this visit, we
might do well to back up into the early parts of the first chapter of Luke’s
Gospel account, to remind us of how we got to the point of this meeting between
Mary and Elizabeth, both of whom are soon to be mothers.
Early on in chapter one[3],
Luke tells us that John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah, is visited by the
angel Gabriel while he is serving in the Temple in Jerusalem. Gabriel tells him
that he is to become the father of a son, who will be named John. Zechariah
says, in response, that he is now an old man, and his wife (Elizabeth) is also
old. We know from Luke’s telling us elsewhere[4] in
chapter one that they have been unable to have children.
Luke then turns his attention to Gabriel’s
visitation to Mary. He tells her that she, too, will bear a son, who will be
named Jesus.
Two things are worthy of our notice at this
point: One is that, in each case, the conception of these two sons is a
miracle, brought about by God…in Zechariah and Elizabeth’s case, they’d never
been able to have children. In Mary’s case, she wonders how it is that she will
be the mother of Jesus, since she is unmarried. The other thing that’s worthy
of notice is that, in each case, following the doubting, the wondering and the
questioning, each person involved is faithful in bringing about the birth of
these two sons: Zechariah and Elizabeth, despite their lack of success in
having children, nonetheless engage each other to bring about the conception
and birth of John. Mary assents to Gabriel’s announcement, saying that she is
willing to be the Lord’s servant, becoming pregnant through the power of the
Holy Spirit.
Now, with the visit of Mary to Elizabeth,
God’s plan begins to take shape. Each mother-to-be knows (quite likely) of the
other’s engagement with God’s agent, Gabriel. Each one (most likely) shared
with each other what Gabriel predicted about these sons and their impact on the
world’s future.
In time, John the Baptist will be the
culmination of the long line of Old Testament prophets, who called God’s people
to return to God’s intent for His people. These ancient voices functioned to do
two things: To remind God’s people of God’s perfect will and intent, and to
also remind them that their behavior and attitudes didn’t reflect that perfect
will.
When we become aware of the need to fix
things, we are aware that the current state of whatever it is that needs to be
fixed isn’t working or functioning like the design and intent with which it was
created.
The same is true for our relationship with
God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ came (and comes) among
us, to show us God’s perfect nature, God’s perfect will, and God’s perfect
love. But that isn’t all that our Lord came to do. He also came to remind us
that we (all humans in all times and places) often fall short of God’s
perfection.
But our Lord does one more thing: He makes it
possible for the gap between God and us to be bridged, for the Lord offers
perfect forgiveness, the chance for amendment of life and a new and resurrected
life, and an ongoing, intense and personal relationship with God through His
redemptive work. Our Lord Jesus Christ comes as the perfect agent, given by the
Father, to fix that relationship.
Thanks be to God!
AMEN.
[1] I use the word “idol” not so much as an
object of human design and making that is worshipped, but in the sense of
anything (no matter how valuable or good it might be in and of itself) that
takes God’s rightful place in our lives.
[2] This event is commemorated each year on May
31st in many church calendars.
[3] This isn’t a complete account of all that
took place during Gabriel’s visitation. I encourage you to read the entire
first chapter.
[4] Luke 1:5 - 7
