December 22, 2024
Advent 4
Friends, please be seated.
A long time ago, in a world far, far away, someone was contemplating how to write his gospel. We call that person Luke and this, beginning on the First Sunday in Advent, is the Year of Luke.
Luke’s language hints that he was a man of learning, that he was versed in other peoples’ gospels, as, for example that of Mark, and that he liked Greek novels, possibly even Greek romance novels. Now why that should be is the stuff for another day. Suffice to say Luke was an interesting person.
Moreover, Luke thought about how to begin his story given what his hopes were for his gospel. And so, by the time he’d composed a chapter and a half, he’dincorporated 4 songs into his narrative. It’s almost like his gospel, at least for now, had more in common with a Mervish musical … a Stratford musical, than with any other gospels as we’ve come to know them. There’s some text and someone sings a big opening number. More words and another solo. More wordsand a whole chorus. Angels, no less. And then one more important solo. And Luke is only half-way through chapter two! Moreover, the words werefamiliar … at least to Jewish ears. These were their words and here they were, newly strung like pearls of great price, on the lips of Mary, Zechariah, an Angel chorus –big dance number– and finally, Simon.
Ever since, Christians have been singing them in our sabbath liturgies and in occasional services of all sorts. In order, the four opening numbers are the Magnificat– the stuff of today’s Gospel — the Benedictus, the Gloria and the Nunc Dimittis. All are called by the first words of their Latin translations – mostly because some in the church have long thought that God prefers Latin –open to debate, as some know that God prefers Old English. Luke wrote in Greek.
And when you look at the Greek, you want to break into song with Mary or the Angels such is the way the pieces are framed. And so today: the Magnificat from the Latin Magníficat ánima méa Dóminum. My soul doth magnify the Lord or My soul proclaims thegreatness in our contemporary translation.
The Magnificat –Bonhoeffer called it the oldest of Advent hymns– is very Hebrew in its poetic sensibilities –it reminds us of the Psalms– and together with the other three songs was part of the familiar hymnody of the early Christian community. Luke knew his community’s own Jewish poetical roots. And what’s the song about? It’s about God turning the universe upside down, casting down the mighty from their thrones, lifting up the humble, filling the hungry with good things, and sending the rich away empty.Little wonder that the text is often associated with movements of social justice, equity and righteousness.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer called the Magnificat “the most passionate, wildest … and most revolutionary Advent hymn there ever was. … Mary is passionate, carried away, proud, enthusiastic. [This is] a hard, strong, relentless hymn about the toppling of the thrones and the humiliation of the lords of this world, about the power of God and the powerlessness of humankind. This is the sound of the prophetic women of the Old Testament — Deborah, Judith, Miriam — coming to life on Mary’s lips. Mary, who speaks, by the power of this Spirit, about God’s coming into the world, about the Advent of Jesus Christ.” Bonhoeffer.
Now, what connects the four songs, the four canticles, is that they will all serve as preface to a Gospel story in which the offer of God’s saving grace is extended fromsome Jewish roots –the world of Deborah, Judith and Miriam– to the whole of the Gentile world beyond. No longer is God our God but now, in Christ, God is the God of everyone. That’s Luke’s writerly ambition … to tell that story. Luke will demonstrate that God’s grace is not limited to a particular culture, shrine, place or people; that God’s grace can infuse and infect the powers and principalities of the whole cosmos for good and especially to heal the bruised and broken places of God’s world.
Last week, Preston said “grace changes you. To know grace, to receive the proclamation of forgiveness and reconciliation in Christ, is to be transformed into the likeness of God. … To receive grace, pardon, reconciliation is what empowers us to act likewise towards others.” And Luke’s accent is on grace towardothers.
Singing the songs of Luke changes us. Repeating their words changes us. For they are prayer and aspiration and proclamation and exultation. They are grace infused … grace infected and they are holy.
We have four apprehensions or aspects of grace. Four intimations of the long arc of the moral universebending toward justice. Four Christian playlist songs on repeat for two millennia.
In the Magnificat the moral universe is upended. In the Benedictus, Luke plants his Gospel in the thrall of the Ancient God of Israel. We sang that song on Advent 2. It’s an ancient declaration of freedom and a very Jewish song on the lips of Zechariah. In the Gloria – the stuff of Christmas – we have the shortest of Christian hymns, repeated and repeated and repeated forever. Here is the good news. Pay attention. In a manger, no less. And with the Nunc Dimitis, Luke sets forth his manifesto. The light which is glory to the Jews is revelation to the Gentiles. Luke proclaims an expansive Gospel wherein grace knows no bounds and the fruits of grace — love incarnate — will be the very essence of life.
Now … a brief footnote. When Simon sings his Nunc Dimittis – Lord, now let your servant go in peace — Mary is completing a ritual of purification upon the birth of her first-born. Also, very Jewish. Moreover, Luke knows that the law requires the sacrifice ofpigeons instead of a lamb so poor were Mary and Joseph. Poor people were exempt from the sacrifice of a Lamb. Jesus is born into poverty. Jesus may have had more in common with the them outside than with the usin here. (Victoria) But that’s what Luke’s Gospel and God’s grace and our love are about. There is no us and them. Those lines are blurred forever.
Today, Luke is cuing up his Gospel and the unfolding story of salvation. And we are at the cusp of Luke’s bright New Year. Today, Advent yields to Christmas.In this liturgy and in this afternoon’s Lessons and Carols. Welcome to the Year of Luke in the continuing journey of the people of St. John’s.
Silence.
May the words of my lips and the song of our hearts be witness to our God. And may the church say “Amen”. Amen.
André Lavergne CWA (Pastor)
Honourary Assistant,
Church of St. John the Evangelist, Kitchener.