Today we mark the Fourth Sunday of Advent. The Advent wreath is fully lit; the poinsettias have arrived (though they are hidden until Christmas Eve). Most of our Christmas shopping is done, and the anticipation of children, especially, for Christmas is high. I myself did my Christmas wrapping this past week (which is very early for me). Final preparations are being made, and we are almost ready!
But do we know what we are ready for? That quintessential festive holiday feeling? I indulged that desire pleasantly this morning by listening to Christmas music in front of the fire. Or perhaps that gift we want to receive or can’t wait to give? I remember the joyful anticipation I experienced years ago when we planned to “unwrap” a new puppy on Christmas. Or maybe the peace we hope to have when we finally settle down with loved ones after weeks of hurried preparations. Those are all wonderful things, but sometimes they can be disappointingly elusive or fail to satisfy our inner longing for something more.
As we figuratively draw nearer to Bethlehem in the shortened days that remain in Advent, the readings today can help illuminate our path. Turns out, we aren’t the only ones in a hurry preparing for Christmas. Mary was too. She was hastening to see Elizabeth in Judea (not far from Bethlehem), her cousin whom the angel had said was expecting a child in her old age. Mary wanted to share her own miraculous news with Elizabeth. She didn’t get the chance, however, because the Holy Spirit had something more in mind. As soon as Mary greeted Elizabeth — and before she got to share her news — Elizabeth preempted her. Filled with the Holy Spirit, she cried out to Mary and told her the very same news that Mary had planned to share with Elizabeth. Favored and blessed herself with the gift of a miraculous pregnancy, Elizabeth honored and blessed Mary, astonished that Mary should now come to her bearing the even greater gift of God’s own Son.
As I waded deeper into this passage, I realized to my amusement that John the Baptist has the distinction of being the first child to be excited for Christmas. He also was able to “guess” the first Christmas present before it was even unwrapped. So much for surprises. But so much joy! John leaped for joy. Elizabeth cried out with joy. And then Mary herself broke out in a hymn of joy. All of this joy BEFORE Jesus was born. Because their faith was the realization of all that they hoped for: hoped for as people, hoped for as a people (Jews), and hoped for themselves. The times of darkness and discouragement were finally coming to an end. Angels were afoot. Miracles were happening. And the Prince of Peace was at the threshold, poised at last to save God’s children.
Their joy can be our joy too — and we needn’t wait until Christmas for it either. Like He was in His mother’s womb in the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth, Christ is already here with us, even though He also is still coming. It didn’t matter then that no one could see Him yet, and it doesn’t need to matter that we can’t either: the reality remains, and we who see by faith can’t help but be joyful!
The prophecy of Micah reminds us that great things, joy included, often come disguised as little things. To encourage an afflicted and dispossessed people, Micah foretold the return of the Davidic Kingdom. But in doing so, he made no mention of glory or conquest, except that of God. Jerusalem was the City of the glory of the Davidic line of Kings, but it was not their home. Their ancestral home was the humble abode of a shepherd boy, David, son of Jesse of Bethlehem. There is nothing glamorous about a shepherd’s life, but as was the case with young David who stood alone and prevailed against the power of the world, clothed only with the strength of God, the same also would be true of David’s descendant, who would not only bring peace without force of arms but also who would “be” the peace that would lead all of God’s scattered children back home.
In announcing this encouraging news-yet-to-come, Micah prophesied that all of this would take place when a woman who was chosen to give birth to a son did so. In the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, that woman was Mary, and her son was Jesus, who was soon to be born in humble Bethlehem — not in a regal palace, but in a stable. The same Jesus in the last chapter of Luke gave peace, which He finally accomplished, as His parting gift to His disciples and the world.
But Micah’s promised woman to give birth corresponds not only to Mary in Luke chapter one, who was to give birth to a suffering Messiah, but also to Mary, the unnamed woman of Revelation chapter 12, who was to give birth to a conquering Messiah. Every Advent season we stand upon the threshold of both realities: the humble stable in Bethlehem where Jesus came 2,000 years ago and also the heavenly Kingdom that awaits us when Jesus comes again in glory.
The coming of the Kingdom is the “something more” that we all long for, whether we know it or not. Its ultimate arrival will be the greatest day in the history of the world, when Christ will come to make all things new. Like John and Elizabeth, we do not need to wait to see it fully born and realized to rejoice in it, because with the first Advent of Jesus, and His advent into our lives through baptism, Christ’s Kingdom, though still yet to come, is already here. By faith, let us rejoice with Elizabeth and John at the coming of Jesus right here and right now. And may the joy of God with us be our final preparation for Christmas.
