Faith Venture

“His mercy extends to those who fear him,

    from generation to generation.

He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

    he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

He has brought down rulers from their thrones

    but has lifted up the humble.

He has filled the hungry with good things

    but has sent the rich away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,

    remembering to be merciful

to Abraham and his descendants forever,

    just as he promised our ancestors.”

This quote from the Gospel of Luke is Mary’s Song (sometimes called the Magnificat). She is overjoyed at the news that she is the chosen one from among generations of young women praying to be the mother of the messiah. 

I think this passage, just like many others, has been subject to much interpretation by reading our own personal hope and attitudes into it. Some say that this is prophecy (meaning forecasting) of what will happen. But to me, the not-Greek-scholar) reads the verb tenses not as future tense but as events done in the past pointing to God’s continuing work.

What captured my interest with this year’s reading coupled with the next passage recording Zechariah’s joy at having a son was how they both interpreted this coming Messiah in terms of the long tradition of hope in Israel.

John was the forerunner of Jesus. Jesus was the Messiah. But both reinterpreted the tradition. 

John taught repentance. Turn your life around and start doing what God wants. Jesus also preached that when he began his ministry. He didn’t preach arming yourselves, forming an army, and kicking the Romans out of the land. In fact he taught the opposite.

He turned the entire Roman ethos of all relationships based on power to an ethos of being strong through serving. He was not the traditional version of the Messiah as savior meaning saving the country from foreign invaders. It was more saving people from their sinful lives and totally inverting culture and society.

I do not find fault that Mary and Zechariah had a different view. They simply gave voice to what they had been taught. Much to everyone’s surprise, Jesus changed things.

Many today continue to view relationships from personal to society in terms of power dynamics. Jesus followers take a different attitude toward life. Someone told me recently that many believe in Jesus, but few follow him.

Have you been awakened by Advent and the stories of Jesus’s appearance this year? Or re-awakened? Is it time to become a follower?

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Official Advent readings include the story of the birth of John the Baptizer. He was the forerunner or preparer of the way for Jesus. And also his cousin.

We can consider John as the start, the first lesson, of Jesus’s ministry.

I thought of this when I recently heard this old Sufi story.

A person wanted to learn to play the flute. A woman in town plays and teaches the flute. The person goes to her house and knocks at her door. 

“I would like to learn to play the flute. Can you teach me?” 

“Yes, I can. The first lesson is 20 rialis. All the rest are 10.” 

“Great,” came the reply. “Let’s start with lesson two.”

But, you can’t begin with lesson two. The first lesson is important. The first lesson is the first lesson, not the second.

And the first lesson about a crucial meaning for the coming of Jesus?

John lived in the wilderness and preached, “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is around us.”

Repent—perhaps an emotion-laden word these days. Translate it as—change your ways. Instead of living like you have been, choose the better way, the way of living in God’s Kingdom.

How are you (we) living? Would it be better if you (we) changed our direction? Even just a little?

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Americans are perhaps the most generous people in the world. Americans of almost every political and religious persuasion contribute generously to many charities especially at this time of year.

Making a special effort toward generosity at this time of year builds a strong sense of well-being and happiness as part of our Advent preparations.

This attitude will enhance our lives throughout the coming year.

As we act, so we become. We can say together—we are someone who lives with generosity.