The powerless who changed the world through God

O Wisdom,

Lord and Ruler,

Root of Jesse,

Key of David,

Rising Sun,

King of the Nations,

Emmanuel.

Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

The prophet Isaiah wrote,

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Paul of Tarsus wrote: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

And in some churches this Sunday, they will be saying the Magnificat or the Song of Mary found in the gospel of Luke where Mary proclaims,

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,

my spirit rejoices in God my Savior;

for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.

From this day all generations will call me blessed:

the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name.

Rejoice!

Rejoice!

And again, I say rejoice!

These are rather rich readings this morning as we celebrate this 3rd Sunday in Advent, this Gaudete Sunday.

And the readings are a celebration, they are words from those who dreamed when the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion.

They speak of God’s will for us, for us to sing and dance and praise without end and for all time.

Isaiah urges us to exult in our God.

Paul says rejoice always.

Mary has been blessed by God with the near arrival of her infant son.

These are days of preparation and anticipation.

He is coming, he is coming, let us rejoice!

And yet, these words, these urgings to rejoice and celebrate and realize in real time that we are all blessed and we are all called to celebrate God, are coming from those who perhaps have at least somewhat of a reason to be skeptical of God’s blessing upon all of us.

Isaiah says his whole being shall exult in the lord, and yet he is exiled to Babylon away from his people’s land of Israel.

Indeed, much of the discourse of Isaiah’s time had to do with God’s people not only being separated from their land, but from God.

Some thought that God existed as the God of Israel only within the boundaries of that country.

If they were outside that country, how could the Israelites worship their God, celebrate their God, find protection in their God, if they were separated from that God.

And Isaiah, the exile, the one who is in the same situation as everyone else is saying, “Rejoice!”

There then is Mary.

A woman in the ancient world who would be treated as property when it comes to marriage laws and even in some scripture, a woman who holds no power is speaking of how blessed she is.

Mary!

Mary, who when visited by the angel Gabriel is told to not be afraid, has overcome her doubtful first reply to proclaim the greatness of God who has given her the gift of raising and nourishing humanity’s salvation.

Mary, a woman in an occupied land is able to proclaim the freedom found in God.

And Paul.

Paul, who was persecuted and ultimately martyred by the same empire that tormented Mary’s kinfolk is telling people to rejoice.

Rejoice and pray without ceasing for his whole letter to the Thessalonians is all about the anticipation of Jesus’ return.

Jesus is coming to save us from all of this, says Paul.

And by all of this, he means all.

No more second-class citizenship for Israelites under the Roman thumb.

No more pogroms.

And next time, the temple shall rise again permanently for that temple is Jesus.

Paul too speaks from a curious position for he was once an oppressor just as he is now the oppressed.

Paul was the harasser just as he is now harassed.

Paul was once one of the pursuers, he held the coats of those who stoned Stephen to death.

He roamed the streets of Jerusalem rounding up members of the nascent Christian community to bring them to trial before the authorities.

Paul was on the road to Damascus pursuing even more Christians when he saw that vision of Christ.

Paul knew of which he spoke for he was once one of those he was now fleeing from and still he said, rejoice.

Rejoice.

Friends, I assure you, these people, Isaiah, Paul, Mary: they were not great pillars of strength and power in their day.

Well, not so powerful on paper, but incredibly strong in contrast to what should be fact.

They are telling us to rejoice, they are telling us that we are blessed because of the faith they, and we, have in God.

At this point in the story, the story of Isaiah prophesying or the story of Mary’s testi or the when Paul was exorting his people to rejoice, we know this is not yet a tale of empire and great cathedrals.

This is a time of great longing, the desperate want is for Christ to return, to save God’s people from the heavy yoke of oppression and transition to the lightest yoke of faith in Jesus.

From these smallest voices, these voices without majesty or royalty attached to their names in the time and place in which they lived, people without authority, comes the cry for us to rejoice.

Cry out for better days and pray without ceasing until they arrive.

They point us to God’s love for each and everyone of us and tell us to rejoice.

Friends, it is important that we are discerning in who we listen to for it is the message and not the stature of the messenger that matters most.

When we are told to love, listen to the one telling us to love.

When we are told to hate, move on.

When we are told to come together to worship this God who has gifted us with everything, listen to that gathering voice.

When we are told to divide, that our neighbor is the enemy, move on.

When the smallest voice speaks up and tells us to rejoice then let us rejoice together for it is in joy that we witness God.

If we are told that we deserve our burdens, that our heartaches and traumas are ours to own because we have sinned or worn the wrong clothing or are not of the right stature, move on.

The ones crying out from the wilderness are the ones in the wilderness and those voices are the voices of God’s intent.

Those are the voices of Isaiah and Paul and Mary.

Those are the voices telling us to prepare and, in that preparation, let us rejoice.

You know, I used to think it was nothing more than a neat lyric in a song I love when the modern day seer, to me at least, Paul Simon wrote, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls and whispered in the sounds of silence."

Now, I’m not going to claim I understand every word of every bit of the song (And do we ever truly understand every word the prophets have written, even the secular ones from Queens?) but to me I understand this:

Kings do not scribble on subway walls and emperors do not spray graffiti in tenement halls.

No.

Prophets do that.

The voices without amplification of their own do that.

The voices whose messages are instead amplified by God do that.

Mary did that.

Paul did that.

Isaiah did that.

They were the powerless, they were the downtrodden, they were the exiled and the conquered.

They changed the world and they did so all through God.

The message matters.

So too the messenger.

For in them and through those saints and prophets, God restored the fortunes of Zion and they were like the ones who dreamed.

So too shall we dream when we rejoice at even the prospect of Christ’s return.

Have faith friends, your voice is powerful.

Let it proclaim the new day coming, let it rejoice in Christ’s return.

Amen.