Godbearing

Lisa Rzepka, May 8, 2005
Scripture: Luke 1:26-45; Psalm 91

Now, you might be thinking I chose this text about Mary, the mother of Jesus, because it's Mother's Day. You would be somewhat correct, it is a nice fit, but it's not the primary reason I selected this text. Perhaps you've noticed Mary's been getting a little more attention lately. So much so that the week before Easter, Time magazine featured an article was about Mary and mainline Protestants. (That would be us.) The article points out that unlike our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, we Protestants are averse to thinking of Mary as the Queen of Heaven, the perpetual virgin mother of God who deserves devotion superior to any other saints.

Instead, we Protestants have made Mary much more down to earth. In the 18th and 19th centuries Mary became for us the "model of motherhood and the archetype of the ideal woman, who displays the gentle feminine virtues that are essential to the civilizing of men and nations." (Migliore, 119) (Note: a man wrote that!) Karl Barth, the mid-20th century theologian, rejected both the Roman Catholic and liberal Protestant views of Mary and said that she was "purely a receptive participant in God's saving action" minimizing Mary's freedom in response to God (Migliore, 120). Still other third world theologians hold that Mary is the prototype of the liberation struggle for the poor, especially poor women. But none of those are my reasons for selecting this text.

Primarily, I'm listening to Princeton Professor Beverly Gaventa's call to take Mary out of the storage box of Advent decorations, dust her off, and see how she informs our faith and relationship with God at times other than Christmas. So -- what is so special about Mary?

That question gets me thinking of a childhood game preacher Tom Long writes about called "Where's the treasure?" It's a game of imagination where you have something valuable - a large sum of money, or gold, or silver - and a crisis comes up. You don't have time to bury the treasure or go to the bank, you have to entrust the treasure to someone. "The fun of the game, of course, was sitting around in a circle with your friends exploring the character flaws and virtues of the various possibilities, searching for a trustworthy person.

"How about the school principal?" someone would suggest.
"Naw, he'd probably lose it."
"Well, how about the preacher?"
"Too risky, he's probably put it in the collection plate."
"Okay, then, what about your sister?"
"Are you kidding? I'd never get it back!"

And on it would go, the search for the right person to keep the treasure. In the mind of a child, the stakes were high: your whole treasure risked on something as fragile as the trustworthiness of another human being." (Long, 33)

In a sense, the first chapter of Luke is a divine version of where to leave the treasure. God is searching for some place in human life to leave the treasure. "In God's case the treasure is not gold, but the gospel. The treasure is not silver, but news…good news. The treasure is not cold, hard cash, but the deep abiding promise that when all is said and done, we are not alone." (Long, 34) We belong to God and God wants us as much as we need God. God is with us.

Where does God leave a treasure like that? Luke tells us much about God's choice when he starts the gospel with: "In the days of Herod, king of Judea…(Luke 1:5). It's as if he's saying: "Now there's an option!" God could leave the treasure with the Herods of the world, the politicians and the powerful. It's not that strange a possibility because the treasure is in part political, The treasure is the news that God is at work in our world to pull tyrants off their high horses and to lift up those who hunger and thirst for justice. News that when one more child in the world starves to death or dies in senseless violence - something at the heart of God dies also. God is at work to break down the walls of hate, to fill the bowls of the hungry, to send the greedy away empty. (Long, 34)

No, God didn't leave the treasure with the Herods of the world, because the gospel is the good news that if there is to be justice, there is only one true Sovereign. If there is to be peace, there is one True Ruler. If there is to be mercy, there is only one true Lord…and his name is not Herod. (Long, 34-35).

So Luke goes a little further in searching for a place to leave the treasure. "In the days of Herod…there was a priest named Zechariah…" (Luke 1:5) Now, there's another possibility! God could have left the treasure with the Zechariahs of the world. The ones who think holy thoughts, handle holy things, and perform holy deeds. You see, Zechariah was a priest and priests are theologians of a sort. After all, the treasure is in part theological. For theology are words about God. The treasure is the good news that God is at work to set things right. God gathers up all efforts of human good will and gives them strength beyond measure, compassion beyond comprehension, and hope beyond our most illustrious dreams.

But, God didn't leave the treasure with Zechariah and it was perhaps because of the response Zechariah gave to the angel when he announced, "Do not be afraid, your prayer has been answered. Your wife will become pregnant and bear a son."

It was then that Zechariah showed that he was not the place to leave the treasure. Skeptical, he asked, "How shall I know this? I need proof. I am an old man; my wife is an old woman. How shall I know this? I need proof." And so sadly, the angel reaches forth toward Zechariah's lips, saying, "You will be silent. You will be unable to speak, for you did not believe my words." Sometimes ironically, there is a familiarity with the holy that produces numbness to the holy, and Zechariah was not the place to leave the treasure.

God did not leave the treasure with the Herods, they would crush it. God did not leave the treasure with the Zechariahs, they would not believe it. God left the treasure in the least likely of all places at the time - in the womb of a woman. "And Luke tells us that the first time that the gospel is proclaimed by human lips, it is not in the Roman Senate or in the Holy of Holies; it is not by Caesar, Peter, or Paul. It is in a place the world would count for nothing; a conversation between two women about their pregnancies." (Long, 37)

Now I could stop here and you would probably say, "That's a nice Mother's Day sermon from her. The women got it first." But that would be only a surface level look at this story about Mary and God. I believe deeply that God left the treasure with Mary because she illuminates for all of us the artistic creativity of our Living God.

Ponder with me a moment artistry as a metaphor for our relationship with God. Artistry implies creativity and creativity implies innovation - the idea that something new is given birth, so to speak. Some would say that creativity is an innate gift, something we don't have control over. I wonder about that and to some degree I think the seeds of creativity are planted within us. But what I have come to understand is that creativity is a process, a process requiring imagination and intuition, a process which must be nurtured and allowed to flourish.

The process of creativity requires acts of faith, hope, and risk. Without faith in something other than what already exists, who would have imagined that electricity would come down the string of a kite and that light would come from a bulb…that huge metal monstrosities would fly in high in the sky or soar into space…that viruses could become vaccines. Who would have imagined that a certain melody or the words of a song could render one speechless… that wood and hammers, nails and glass could create sacred spaces as well as homes to draw our hearts together…that a quilt maker can sew together fabric in a way that is both functional and breathtaking… or that horticulturists could create a park so beautiful or a golf course so frustrating? Where I'm going here is that creativity is realized in all sorts of places in our lives. You are creative in one way or another. God is the Creator, with a capital C that bestows creativity in us.

Faith in creative power made Mary God's extraordinary, irreplaceable partner. Mary had faith that nothing is impossible with God! And, she believed that there would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord. We also know that to be true because beyond our grandest imagining are impossibilities made possible with God: A barren woman gives birth…a virgin conceives… God enters human history as a child… from a tomb comes resurrection… the Holy Spirit can empower the Church for worldwide mission.

Mary also had hope in the creative process, which, when coupled with faith goes beyond mere optimism. You may think hope and optimism are synonymous because both involve positive expectations with regard to the future. Yet, theologian Jurgen Moltmann argues that they really are radically different stances toward reality. Optimism is based upon trial and error and the positive expectation that through correct extrapolation something is likely to occur.

Hope, unlike optimism, is independent of people's circumstances…Think of Mary's circumstances, "How can this be? I am a virgin…" Hope is not based on the possibilities of the situation and correct extrapolation about the future. Hope is grounded in the faithfulness of God and our faith in God's promise. (Christian Century, 28 Dec. 2004, p. 31)

The creative process is not an easy venture. Inherent in the process is risk. God takes a risk that we will allow creativity to grow within us. We take a risk in not claiming the creativity God imparts in us. Mary may have asked "How can this be?" but she was not saying, "Before I make a commitment please prove that this will be." Mary claimed God's creative call, risked it as a young, unmarried woman, and became forever known as the God-bearer, showing us how God works extraordinarily through ordinary people.

"Nelson Mandela could have had the God-bearing Mary in mind when he offered the following challenge to survivors of apartheid:

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our greatest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, "Who am I to be brilliant, talented, fabulous?"
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world." (Rigby, 153)

In God-bearing we become what God most graciously gifts us to be, both as individuals and as a community of faith. In this process God risks a sacrifice from us. Perhaps the biggest sacrifice is our fear - the fear of risk-taking - of reaching out beyond what is comfortable and embracing the impossible possibilities of our artistic, creative God.

God left The treasure with Mary, a capable, willing, creative, irreplaceable participant in the work of God. As participants in the Body of Christ, what treasure has God gifted you with and entrusted you to bear?

Amen.

Bibliography

Long, Thomas G. Something Is About To Happen: Sermons for Advent and Christmas.

Lima, OH: CSS Publishing Company, 1996.

Migliore, Daniel L. "Woman of Faith: Toward a Reformed Understanding of Mary."

Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary. Beverly Roberts Gaventa and Cynthia L. Rigby, eds., Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.

Rigby, Cynthia L. "Mary and the Artistry of God."

Blessed One: Protestant Perspectives on Mary. Beverly Roberts Gaventa and Cynthia L. Rigby, eds., Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.

Volf, Miroslav. "Not Optimistic."

he Christian Century 28 December 2004.

© Copyright, 2005, Rev. Lisa Rzepka
All Rights Reserved.
Providence Presbyterian Church
Fairfax, Virginia