Pastor, Western Presbyterian Church
Washington, D.C.
January 10, 2010
Text: Luke 1:39-45
As I was taught the bible in Sunday school in the 1950s, I thought the Bible was pretty much a book about men, for men. I learned about Abraham and David, Jesus and Paul. I am sure someone mentioned some of the women in the bible. But they were clearly placed in the background, not the foreground.
Fortunately, I went to seminary during the period when feminist biblical and theological scholarship became prominent within progressive church circles. Disciplined, brilliant female scholars probed deep into biblical texts and the history of the bible’s creation, teaching us about the crucial role of women in the bible in new and exciting ways. They documented and exposed the sexism that has infected the dominant interpretations of many important biblical texts.
As a result, it is now impossible for me to read the bible without noticing the sexism in many texts and the key role women play in the narratives. Nowhere are women more important than in the Advent and Christmas stories where men perform, well, rather functional roles. Elizabeth seems to have needed Zechariah only to become pregnant with John. Joseph wasn’t even needed for that purpose. Although Joseph must have later played a huge role in raising Jesus, in the birth narratives, Joseph’s primary function is helping Mary get to Bethlehem.
Bottom line, the men in the birth narratives are accessories. Indeed, how many Christians can name the father of John the Baptist? How many Christians can say anything meaningful about Joseph? The Wise Men carried gifts around. The shepherds were perplexed (We men have had that one down for thousands of years.). Herod is the archetype of a bad guy. John the Baptist was prone to rants and tantrums. All of which leads me to conclude that God did not need an extended casting session to find the men in the Christmas story. These were relatively easy roles to fill.
By any fair appraisal, the focal point of the Advent and Christmas stories are two humble and very young women: Elizabeth and Mary. These compelling women developed a special relationship with God, each other and the children they were carrying in their wombs. It is the trajectory of two women we follow in the Advent and Christmas seasons.
I’m not suggesting that women in the Bible are prominent only at this time of year. Women are at the heart of God’s redemptive story from the beginning. If we drop Eve from the creation story, Adam is just another lonely guy looking for love in all the wrong places. Without Sarah, Abraham is unable to fulfill God’s commands. Without Hannah’s prayers, Samuel is never born and the Kingdom of Israel never created. The list goes on. From the first chapter of Genesis through the New Testament, we see women playing crucial, irreplaceable roles in God’s redemptive drama.
The relationship between religion and misogyny is long and complex. It needs to be well understood by any religious person who wants to live his or her spiritual life with integrity. Because just as religion has been used to affirm slavery, fascism, holocausts and other despicable historical realities, so religion has been and is used by misogynists in an effort to limit the role of women in society.
Religious fundamentalists, no matter what their religion, have some common characteristics. One thing they share is a deeply rooted fear and oppression of women. Whether it be the Taliban, ultra-orthodox Jews or Christian fundamentalists, they all share a belief that women are meant to be subjugated to men. Concocting religious pretexts for their misogyny, they attempt to systematically and thoroughly deny women the right to develop their fullest, God-created potential.
Because of this reality, I am willing to give this Afghanistan military operation a bit more time just because I hope the Taliban can be kept out of power. If these thugs return to power, we know what will happen. They will slaughter moderate Muslims and enslave women. Avoiding that seems to me to be a worthy foreign policy goal, as long as there is some end game in sight.
In contrast to the twisted view of life and God we see at work in religious fundamentalism, the Christmas story is a thing of beauty. Elizabeth and Mary are fully developed children of God, willing, gifted and able participants in God’s efforts to heal the divisions in the world and our souls. Without them, there is no Bethlehem, no Baptist preparing the Way. Without them, you and I aren’t here this morning.
Every line in the stories about Mary and Elizabeth is a sermon. This morning, I would like to spend just a few moments focusing on Elizabeth’s comment about Mary. She says, “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
It is a simple yet profound statement. Mary’s ability to serve God was rooted in her willingness to trust God. God asked Mary to believe that she would give birth to the Messiah. She believed.
Now, let us again remember that Israel expected a Messiah who would lead a battle that would defeat the Romans and restore Israel to a position of primacy among the nations. How could Mary, an uneducated, powerless peasant, possibly raise and educate a child to that end?
Mary could have argued with God, claiming she wasn’t up to the task. There are lots of stories of men doing that in Scripture. She could have flat out refused to do what God asked. There are plenty of stories of people doing that as well. But she didn’t. Despite the seeming absurdity of God’s request, Mary never questioned God. Instead, she responded, “Here I am.”
This is one of the many ways in which Mary serves as a marvelous role model for you and me. God oftentimes asks us to do things that seem to be outside our capabilities. Maybe we are asked to care for a dying or aging family member, basically putting our lives on hold so they can have a better quality of life. Maybe we are asked to challenge an injustice at work, a task that will put our career at risk. Maybe we are asked to make a total switch in our lifestyle—forsaking things we have been doing since we were young. Maybe we are asked to cope with a family member who is totally dysfunctional. Maybe we are asked to serve as elders or deacons in this congregation.
Whatever challenge God places before us, we will succeed in meeting the challenge as we, like Mary, believe that what God has asked us to do is something we must and can do. We succeed when we place our trust in God’s call, not in our evaluation of our gifts.
What I am suggesting is way beyond the power of positive thinking approach. I’m not saying that we can do something simply by willing it to happen. Nor am I saying that we must envision ourselves succeeding in order to succeed. No, I am saying that when we are aligned with God, when we are doing that which God is calling us to do, we cannot be stopped. Because God cannot be stopped.
We have been feeding the homeless for 26 years here at Western because our members have believed that God wants and will help us feed the hungry. We have been growing our membership because we believe that God wants and will help us grow a progressive Christian voice in this neighborhood. We have been effective in ministry in Africa because we believe that God wants and will help this congregation to empower Africans.
What God ordains will happen. It is just a matter of who makes it happen and when. This is what Mary and Elizabeth teach us. These women trusted that God was at work in and around them. So it is with the officers we ordained and installed today. So it is with the children who inspired us with their pageant. So it must be with you and me.
Let us pray: Gracious God, you call us to ministry. Help us to follow where you lead. As we do so, may our lives become instruments with which you fashion a just and peaceful world. We pray this in your most holy name. Amen.
