Christ Episcopal Church
December 21, 2014
4 Advent B
Our two sons were backseat theologians at a young age. One Sunday morning twenty-plus years ago as we were driving to church, a voice from the back seat offered this bit of information about God. "God has large hands." "Really," I responded. "Why does God have large hands?" The answer: "To give the children lots of candy." The truth of the matter was that our priest at the time, Bob Partlow, was six foot five, did have large hands, and enjoyed giving candy to the children when they visited the office. So, God must do the same thing. Another Sunday morning, one of the kids wondered what kind of pajamas God wears. "What makes you think God wears pajamas?" came the reply from the front seat. And from the back seat "I wear pajamas. I am made in the image of God. So, God must wear pajamas, too. I wonder what color they are." The good news is that apparently our kids understood that they were made in the image of God. The less good news is that somehow that understanding made God like them rather than vice versa.
But our budding 2 and 5 years old theologians are in good company this morning because King David is doing exactly the same thing. David is now the King of Israel. He is settled in a lovely house of cedar, which he is no doubt enjoying, when he realizes that while he, a human even if a king, lives in a house, the ark of God stays in a tent. David certainly prefers his house to a tent, so wouldn't God also prefer a more permanent dwelling? Surely what David likes, God would like, too. And a permanent home sure beats wandering.
And while David will eventually build God a very fine house, for now, God tells David that God's very identity is in being with the people. God says "I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent and a tabernacle." God is the God of outrageous promises for God's people. God promised to create a great nation from the then- childless Abraham and Sarah. God promised to free those very people from slavery in Egypt. And God promised to establish the people in the Promised Land. Through out the Israelite's long sojourn out of Egypt, through the wilderness and to the Promised Land, God has always been one step ahead, leading them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night, to make good on God's promises. God has always been willing to go first into those outrageous promises. How can God possibly go first if God is contained in a house?
This story was not written while the Israelites were enjoying peace and prosperity under David's rule. 2 Samuel was written while the Israelites were in exile in Babylon several centuries later and God seemed profoundly absent. The people needed to be reminded that God was not contained in the Temple, which had been destroyed, but by God's very nature, God was out among the people, dreaming grand dreams, one step ahead of them bringing them closer and closer to the time when they could return home. In 2 Samuel, David is not prevented from building God a temple because David has committed murder as is the case when the story is told in 1 Kings. David is prevented from building a temple for God because God will build David a house-a house not of cedar but a house and a kingdom that will last forever. When the life the Israelite people know in the Promised Land has come to an end, their temple has been destroyed and they have been deported from the land God gave them, they are reminded both of God's presence with them and God's promise that, despite the current circumstances, God will establish a house of David that will last forever. God has made good on outrageous promises before. God can be trusted to make good on equally outrageous promises now.
This morning, we hear that God's outrageous promise to David will come to pass through Mary. If we hear this story with new ears, as if we have never heard the words of the angel before, we will hear a bold and absurd plan being presented to Mary. She will conceive and bear a son who will be the Son of God. Mary's first and logical response to this radical change in the direction of her life is a quite understandable "How can this be?" But once the angel explains what God has in mind, Mary says "Here I am, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word."
In her response to the angel, and thus to God, Mary is held up for us as the model of faithfulness. Luke's gospel describes Mary as favored and yet perplexed, thoughtful, and afraid. So, we, too, can be perplexed, thoughtful, and afraid in the midst of God's outrageous promises. The words Luke uses to describe Mary remind me of the prayer we will pray for little Reese (later this morning/in a few minutes) after she is baptized. We will pray that she has an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and love God, and the gift of joy and wonder in all God's works. Those words also describe Mary in our story this morning as she is told that she will bear the Son of God. In baptism we, like Mary, are harnessed to the God of outrageous promises who always has a new plan, a new idea, who is always on the move ahead of us. In baptism we are joined with the God who always goes first into God's outrageous promise. And in baptism and in Advent, we are reminded that God did not become human in the person of Jesus so that God could be more like us. God became human in the person of Jesus so we could be more like God.
Amen.
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