HOMILY FOR THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT
18 DECEMBER 2005
THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST. PHILIP, MIKELL CHAPEL
THE REV. CANON TODD D. SMELSER
“How can this be?”
There have been many moments in the past year when I have repeated Mary’s simple question? A devastating tsunami in south East Asia. How can this be? Cataclysmic hurricanes decimating the Gulf Shore of the United States. How can this be? Polar bears drowning in the Arctic Circle because there ice caps are melting. How can this be? Closer to home I have too often stood at the foot of a hospital bed, trying to make sense of difficult diagnosis and uttered quietly to myself, how can this be?
Mary’s question in today’s familiar Gospel strikes a resonant chord. In the story Gabriel has told Mary only that she has been chose to give birth to a son, the son whom God favors to take the throne of David and rule forever. Although it was every Jewish woman’s dream to be the mother of the King who would save God’s chosen people from tyranny, Mary had no reason to think that Joseph wouldn’t be her child’s father. She is engaged to him, and he is of David’s lineage. So why does she ask, “How can this be?”
While this question has been argued by scholars for centuries, there seems to be a central revealing theme. It’s not that Mary needs to ask the question: its’ that we who have heard this story all our lives, need to hear the answer. Mary doesn’t have any problem with understanding the idea that God can do whatever God chooses. We are the ones who have trouble with that idea. We are the ones who have trouble believing that “nothing is impossible with God.”
Later in this chapter of Luke’s Gospel Mary sings out, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my savior.” These familiar words of what we call the Magnificat are recited or sung at every service of Evensong every day here at the Cathedral. It reminds us that when we know God’s voice and answer his call, we sing, for we ourselves are magnified, becoming greater than the sum of our parts. While Mary had little idea of what would be required of her, she could express her wonder and joy.
Yet we still ask the question, how can this be? How can this be that the birth of God has anything to do with us, or with the salvation of the world?
This is a difficult season of the year for many people. We have the shortest amount of sunlight, we have had to don our winter coats before January, and American troops are still being killed in the streets of Iraq, leaving orphans and widows at Christmastime. Evacuees from the hurricanes are still displaced, and there is all this intense pressure to buy so that we might have a profitable holiday. We are all supposed to put on a happy cheerful face, even when we feel empty inside. And we all know that those idyllic family gatherings can produce an additional layer of stress on an already stressful time.
The annunciation to Mary does make it clear that she was able to sing her song because she had listened well and said yes to God. With all the wealth of mystery provided in these texts, we do still wonder if God is foolish to choose us human beings as the foundation of his kingdom. We are not only mortal, but fickle and sometimes even unfaithful, and so easily distracted. When the noise of our busy lives becomes elevated, we give God a deaf ear, because it takes too much effort to listen that carefully. We cling to what we know, the ordinary life that pays the bills. But God keeps calling and surprisingly, is often answered by the least among us…like a women of the street, or a tax collector, or a young woman full of promise.
And the promise was made real, in a stable in Bethlehem. The promise grew in stature and came alive in Jesus Christ. The fulfilled promise makes real the joy of that we will celebrate next weekend, because God has promised to be with us, Emmanuel. And although we know the story by heart, we still need to hear it again and we need to hear the answer anew. The promise is fulfilled because of the Holy Spirit, and the power of the Most High. It can be so because the child is born and is holy, and is the Most High God. How can this be? We still need to hear the answer. It can be so…it is so….because nothing is impossible with God.
Comments? Contact The Rev. Todd Smelser: tsmelser@stphilipscathedral.org