An Advent Reflection

Advent is probably my favourite season in the church calendar. As we remember how God put on human flesh and walked among us in this messy world, we look forward to when Christ will come again. Only then will all the wrongs be made right; only then will ultimate and true justice come; only then we will fully understand and know the depth of the mercy and grace that God has given us; only then will we know true peace as we have never known it before.

As I reflect during this Advent season, there is one thing I know with certainty: the world is not well. The world is broken, and nothing is untainted. We all know hurt and we all have hurt others. Those in positions of power all over the world always seem prone to abusing that power and using it for evil. Everyone just seems to arbitrarily do what seems right in their own eyes, and there is no peace.

That's what makes the words spoken in the Old Testament prophets foretelling the coming of this Messiah so beautiful and striking:

A shoot will grow up from the stump of Jesse;

a branch will sprout from his roots.

The Lord’s spirit will rest upon him,

a spirit of wisdom and understanding,

a spirit of planning and strength,

a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.

He will delight in fearing the Lord.

He won’t judge by appearances,

nor decide by hearsay.

He will judge the needy with righteousness,

and decide with equity for those who suffer in the land.

He will strike the violent with the rod of his mouth;

by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.

Righteousness will be the belt around his hips,

and faithfulness the belt around his waist.

The wolf will live with the lamb,

and the leopard will lie down with the young goat;

the calf and the young lion will feed together,

and a little child will lead them.

The cow and the bear will graze.

Their young will lie down together,

and a lion will eat straw like an ox.

A nursing child will play over the snake’s hole;

toddlers will reach right over the serpent’s den.

They won’t harm or destroy anywhere on my holy mountain.

The earth will surely be filled with the knowledge of the Lord,

just as the water covers the sea. - Isaiah 11:1-9 (CEB).

The Messiah figure is one Scripture constantly depicts as one sympathetic to the sufferings of his people. He is portrayed as one who does not judge unfairly, and will right all wrongs. He will come and turn everything upside down. These themes of turning the tables, of this reversal of how things usually are on this fallen earth, is something that I also find echoed in the songs of two women in Scripture: one in the Old Testament, and one in the New Testament. Both miraculous births. Both sung after God has granted them a son. Mary's song that she sings when she visits Elizabeth is well known and well-beloved. Something that has always struck me, though, is the similarities between it and Hannah's song from 1 Samuel 2.

Hannah was a woman who was devastated she could not give birth. She goes to the Temple and prays to God for a son. God hears her prayer and she conceives. She then praises God, saying:

My heart rejoices in the Lord. My strength rises up in the Lord! My mouth mocks my enemies because I rejoice in your deliverance. No one is holy like the Lord— no, no one except you! There is no rock like our God!

Don’t go on and on, talking so proudly, spouting arrogance from your mouth, because the Lord is the God who knows, and he weighs every act.

The bows of mighty warriors are shattered, but those who were stumbling now dress themselves in power! Those who were filled full now sell themselves for bread, but the ones who were starving are now fat from food! The woman who was barren has birthed seven children, but the mother with many sons has lost them all! The Lord! He brings death, gives life, takes down to the grave, and raises up! The Lord! He makes poor, gives wealth, brings low, but also lifts up high! God raises the poor from the dust, lifts up the needy from the garbage pile. God sits them with officials, gives them the seat of honor! The pillars of the earth belong to the Lord; he set the world on top of them! God guards the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked die in darkness because no one succeeds by strength alone.

The Lord! His enemies are terrified! God thunders against them from heaven! The Lord! He judges the far corners of the earth!

May God give strength to his king and raise high the strength of his anointed one. - 1 Samuel 2:1-10 (CEB).

It's a beautiful passage of Scripture. Its language reminds us of what we read in Isaiah. Hannah rejoices in a God who lifts up those who are in low places and gives them honor. A God who fills the hungry with food and is faithful to those who trust in him. At the end of her song, Hannah mentions God's "anointed one". The Israelites were always looking forward to God's promised Messiah. The anointed one she speaks of here is, ultimately, Christ. Mary is also given a son, and it's also miraculous. Hannah was barren, and Mary was a virgin.

Mary also reacts by praising God:

With all my heart I glorify the Lord!

In the depths of who I am I rejoice in God my savior.

He has looked with favor on the low status of his servant.

Look! From now on, everyone will consider me highly favored

because the mighty one has done great things for me.

Holy is his name.

He shows mercy to everyone,

from one generation to the next,

who honors him as God.

He has shown strength with his arm.

He has scattered those with arrogant thoughts and proud inclinations.

He has pulled the powerful down from their thrones

and lifted up the lowly.

He has filled the hungry with good things

and sent the rich away empty-handed.

He has come to the aid of his servant Israel,

remembering his mercy,

just as he promised to our ancestors,

to Abraham and to Abraham’s descendants forever. - Luke 1:46-55 (CEB).

Mary's words also remind us of Isaiah when she mentions God's strong arm:

The Lord has bared his holy arm in view of all the nations;

all the ends of the earth have seen our God’s victory. - Isaiah 52:10 (CEB).

Just who or what is this "strong arm"? It is the servant God will raise up:

Look, my servant will succeed.

He will be exalted and lifted very high.

Just as many were appalled by you,

he too appeared disfigured, inhuman,

his appearance unlike that of mortals.

But he will astonish many nations.

Kings will be silenced because of him,

because they will see what they haven’t seen before;

what they haven’t heard before, they will ponder. - Isaiah 52:13-15 (CEB).

It is amazing that this anointed one, God's strong arm, who is supposed to come and set the captive free and redeem God's people would be from a lowly estate, with no beauty or majesty.

And indeed, that's how it was.

Imagine the spectacle when the carpenter's son stood in the synagogue on the Sabbath and read from this passage from Isaiah, proclaiming that God's promises foretold by the prophet were being fulfilled before their very eyes:

The Lord God’s spirit is upon me,

because the Lord has anointed me.

He has sent me

to bring good news to the poor,

to bind up the brokenhearted,

to proclaim release for captives,

and liberation for prisoners,

and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. - Isaiah 61:1-2 (CEB)

It was far too unbelievable for Jesus's audience then.

The way God works isn't always (or ever, really) how we would work. It seems so backwards, so ridiculous, so upside-down for God to humiliate himself by putting on human flesh and experiencing suffering on this earth.

It seems that God is always delighting in raising up the lowly. Turning the tables. Making life where there was none. In Paul's words:

But God chose what the world considers foolish to shame the wise. God chose what the world considers weak to shame the strong. And God chose what the world considers low-class and low-life—what is considered to be nothing—to reduce what is considered to be something to nothing. So no human being can brag in God’s presence. - 1 Corinthians 1:27-29 (CEB).

God's wisdom and his ways are made fully manifest in the person of Christ. It is on such a God I meditate during this advent season.