Second Sunday of Advent 2009
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.”
The wait for the Messiah was long. Like a couple struggling with infertility, hoping each month would bring the news that the dream they so desperately desired had finally arrived, the people of Israel had waited for a Messiah to come and change their lives. There were false hopes, but those briefly shining stars burnt themselves out quickly playing the world’s games of violence and power grabs. And so the people waited.
And then when God was ready to send a Messiah that would challenge all expectations, he came to a young girl and asked her to carry his child. And she accepted the task – “May it be to me as you have said.”
The Carmelite theme for this second week of Advent is that of Accepting. Mary had to accept that all of her expectations of the savior coming as a king had to be left behind. She had to accept that she could be facing the wrath of her family and fiancé and the ridicule of the town. She had to accept that she had a vital role to play in the saving of her people. In this upside-down world, a poor young girl is chosen to take the first step forward. The unexpected and inappropriate choice, she pushes that aside and accepts anyway.
So often we want the magic-wand fix. The people wanted God to send a powerful warrior king who would rescue Israel while punishing their oppressors. They had a hard time then accepting a messenger who identified with the oppressed because he was one of them. He wasn’t going to abracadabra their troubles away. No, he expected them to follow his path and do the dirty work of ending that oppression themselves. Instead of longing each day to be rescued out of their situation, they were to embrace it fully enough to change it. The message of this unexpected messiah was similar to that the prophet Jeremiah sent to the exiles living in Babylon –
This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: “Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease. Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” Jeremiah 29:4-7
Be present enough to make a difference – that’s what accepting is all about. Mary chose to accept her task and live into the beautiful mess it would create. The followers of Jesus had to accept that walking alongside and even loving their oppressors was the only way forward. We have to accept the command to settle down in exile in order to ever even begin to change the world.
It’s all about learning to accept. Accepting the requests that destroy our lives in the best possible ways. Accepting that what we may have been waiting for is not what we really wanted after all. Accepting that our messed-up selves are the ones God is using to reach the world. Accepting God in spite of ourselves.