The sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Advent by Rev. Graham Crawford:

“Might is right” – or so they say.

Certainly, the world, as we see it today, seems to back that up.

• We have the military superpowers battling over control of the Middle East, so that they can control the oil reserves,
• We have a government cabinet made up of multi-millionaires, who use their financial might to fund election campaigns, and
• Even the world of sport is not immune, as teams try to outspend each other in order to win the big trophies.

Every so often there is an upset. Every once in a while, a giant-killer comes along and disturbs the natural order. But we all recognize this as being the status quo. We are not surprised by any of this.

We prefer the underdog

And yet so many of us naturally cheer for the underdog. We have a strange sense of justice when the weak prevail over the strong, the poor over the rich, in spite of the natural order of things.

We were at an event on Monday night to do with Thomas’ football and the mighty Chelsea were playing the lowly Leicester and everyone around us was checking the scores and supporting Leicester.

There is something deeply satisfying when that natural order is upset.

I wonder if that is because we are drawn to a higher order, an order written about by the prophets and celebrated by Mary in her song?

Bethlehem in the land of Judah

Listen to these words of the prophet Micah (Micah 5: 2-5 New International Version (NIV)):

2 “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.”
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labour bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness
will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be our peace.

Micah’s prophecy in context

Micah was prophesying at a time of great danger for the nation.

Babylon was the superpower of that time and Babylon’s army was knocking at the gates of Jerusalem.

They had waged a path of destruction down through the land and it would appear that nothing could stop them. Not even the vast wealth, power and intellect of Jerusalem could stem this onslaught.

But Bethlehem, a wee village – a wee village with little wealth, no army and few intellectuals, according to Micah – that would be where their salvation would originate.

Now, it was, of course, also the hometown of the shepherd boy King David from centuries ago, but it was still quite a remarkable statement.

It went against the natural order. It went against common sense. It went against everything that people expected.

It was like predicting that the Davis cup would be won by two brothers from a tiny village in Scotland where tennis can only be played for a limited time each year, unlike in a warmer, bigger city like Miami, Sydney, Madrid or even London.

It would be a daft prediction.

How could a baby upset the natural order of things?

How could a baby born in a tiny village ever dream of upsetting the world order and the way things naturally occur?

And yet …

And yet, that is precisely what happened.

The Messiah was born to a young, unwed, teenage girl in Bethlehem and, even she, uneducated as she was, recognised just how significant this would be.

Listen to what she herself said (Luke 1: 46 – 55):

My soul glorifies the Lord
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
48 for he has been mindful
of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me—
holy is his name.
50 His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
51 He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;
he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
52 He has brought down rulers from their thrones
but has lifted up the humble.
53 He has filled the hungry with good things
but has sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful
55 to Abraham and his descendants forever,
just as he promised our ancestors.

Mary recognised not only the importance of what was happening but also the significance.

Her baby was going to turn the world order on its head. A world turned upside down by his coming.

Humility and service would be the clarion calls of the new order, not privilege and wealth.

Jesus did not start his ministry by marching up to the Roman governor in Caeserea Philippi and demanding an audience. He did not go down to Jerusalem to speak to Herod or to the High priest.

He approached fishermen, shepherds and tax collectors. He healed the demon-possessed, the leper, the disabled.

The church has become so much part of the establishment now that I think we forget that, for the first 300 years or so, it had no buildings, few wealthy patrons and was, for the most part, an underground movement of ordinary people, often slaves, in ordinary houses meeting together to try and support one another, while also witnessing to the joy of a close relationship with God.

It was only after the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, around 320 AD, that the church broke out of the ghetto into the establishment.

Some theologians and historians still, to this day, argue about whether that actually did more harm than good to the church.

So how do we live this new world order today?

How can we side with the poor and the marginalised and bring redemption in Lossiemouth and beyond?

I think that Mary provides us with a model.

One of the commentators asks the following question. When Mary said, “and now generation after generation will call me blessed,” was she being proud? No, the commentator insists, she was recognising and accepting the gift God had given her.

If Mary had denied her incredible position, she would have been throwing God’s blessing back at him.

Pride is refusing to accept God’s gifts or taking credit for what God has done. Humility is accepting the gifts and using them to praise and serve God.

The commentator goes on to say that we should not deny, belittle or ignore our gifts. Instead, thank God for them and use them for his glory.

In the original ‘Toy Story’ film, the toys realise that they have to work together to save Buzz Lightyear from Sid, the evil boy next door to Andy. Each one of them has a part to play in the rescue, including the toy frog whose job is to distract Sid’s vicious dog. So the last thing they have to do is to wind the frog.

This last Sunday before Christmas is very much like that command to wind the frog.

It is saying to us: “Realise the potential within you to do great things for the Kingdom of God”.

You might not be a wealthy business man or a mighty ruler. You might not be a world famous theologian or professor. But, if you are faithful and are prepared to humbly accept the great gifts God has given you and use them for his glory, then you become the realisation of Mary’s song.

You will see great things happen, even if you are from a fairly small, insignificant fishing village miles from the corridors of power.

In fact, it is precisely because you are humble enough to accept God’s gifts and because you are not part of ‘the great and the good’ that God will use you to achieve great things for his glory.

At this Christmas time, instead of asking what gift you might give to others, consider how you might be the gift. Consider how God might use you to be a blessing.

For Christmas is about more than God’s gift to humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, the baby in the manger. It is about our gift to God and to humanity, in being prepared to humbly accept what God desires through us and accepting that gift, using it for His glory.

My soul glorifies the Lord
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.

Thanks be to God. Amen.