The Quest And The Question Of The Way
Sermon
PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS
Sermons for Advent, Christmas and Epiphany
Life is a quest. For some, life is a quest for power. These people spend their waking hours planning and scheming to gain power over others. Perhaps Washington, D.C. is the symbolic city for those whose question is "How can I gain power over others?"
For some, life is a quest for money. They spend their time and energies getting things and spending money. Materialism is their God. Perhaps Las Vegas is the symbolic city most often associated with "glitz" and gaining or losing huge sums of money.
For some, the glory of winning is their quest. In sports, it has been said, "winning isn't everything; it is the only thing." In business, competition can run rampant and ruthless to such a degree that winning is the only thing. People can get crushed in the process. Perhaps New York is the city which symbolizes winning and glory at any price in the minds of most people.
Bethlehem is the city for those whose quest is God. Beneath all other quests is this seeking to know and follow our creator. All other quests are idolatrous thrusts coming from the hidden drive God put into every human heart - to return to him. In terms of a small American town, many nominations might be made to help us see the lowliness of the city of Our Savior. For me, Podunk, Iowa, and Elbow Lake, Minnesota, come to mind. Can anything good come from Bethlehem, Podunk or Elbow Lake? I don't know about the other two, but the son of God came from Bethlehem. That's the answer given by the prophet Micah to the question about the ultimate ruler of the universe. "Bethlehem ... you are one of the smallest towns ... but out of you I will bring a ruler of Israel (Micah 5:2, TEV)." The implied question of this Word from God about the little town of Bethlehem is "Will we align ourselves with the lowly King from this obscure place?"
The Quest
Rulers come and go. Power passes. Riches and things rot and rust. Glory fades. We speak here of the ultimate quest for the only one for whom power, riches and glory are an understatement. Unexpectedly, in the Bible, lowliness is often associated with this ultimate quest for God who alone has lasting power, riches and glory. The lowly are exalted.
The exaltation of the lowly is certainly the theme of Micah's prophecy. Greed and avarice ruled like a monarch in the hearts of the nobles, the priests and the false prophets in the eighth century B.C. in Jerusalem where Micah lived. This lowly farmer-prophet promulgated the theme of exalting the lowly - the poor, the homeless and the exploited. The shrewd schemes and unscrupulous business practices of the rich and powerful resulted in the poor getting poorer. Micah called people back to the quest for God.
From the little town of Moresheth, 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem, came a man of God with a message from God. He was a poor farm boy from a small town. "Who do you think you are telling us what to do?" the power brokers of the city asked Micah. "What makes you so sure that you know the will of God?" they queried. Abhorring greed and cruel oppression, this farm boy-prophet of high, holy, moral earnestness, indignantly confronted the deceit and cruelty he uncovered in Jerusalem. "The will of God is on the side of the oppressed people," Micah said.
If you want to know who speaks for God, one of the best questions you can raise is, "Who speaks for the people, especially the little people who cannot speak for themselves?" Micah spoke for the speechless poor of Jerusalem.
One of the most famous passages in the writings of Micah is about the ultimate quest to know and do the will of God:
He (God) has showed you, 0 man,
What is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice and to love kindness
And to walk humbly with your God?
- Micah 6:8, RSV
Justice, kindness and reverence are the three elements in the humble quest to know God and to be godly. Justice, kindness and reverence are the signs of God, so actually they are the signs of the true people of God. Justice, kindness and reverence are also the signs of the One who comes from the little town of Bethlehem.
Bethlehem, you are one of the smallest towns.
But out of you I will bring a ruler.
- Micah 5:2, TEV
"Do you really mean that you expect us to believe that we can find our ruler in Bethlehem?" "Yes," said Micah. "The quest for God has its fulfillment there." The quest for God is really a quest of God. God seeks us; only then do we seek God. The incarnation of the Son of God comes in a lowly town in the womb of a lowly maiden named Mary.
The Question
"Surely," some power-broker in Jerusalem said about Micah, "can anything good come out of Moresheth?" "Surely," some powerful and wealthly temple priest asked, "can anything good come out of Bethlehem?" We know that when Jesus' family fled Bethlehem, the town of great King David, because of Herod's slaughter of the innocent children, and went to Egypt for a time and then to Nazareth, another lowly place, that people raised the question, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth (John 1:46)?" Those are interesting questions about lowly towns and lowly people. Another lowly person raises another question.
Lowly Mary, the mother of Jesus, raises the ultimate question about the quest for God.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has regarded the lowly estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me
blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their
hearts,
he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away, He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever.
- Luke 1:46-55, RSV
Mary thus raises the ultimate question of God: "With whom will you and I align ourselves?" Will we join up with the powers of this world which are fading, with the riches of this world which are rotting and rusting, with the glory of this world which is going nowhere? Or will we align ourselves with the power, the riches, and the glory of God, which has put us on the ultimate winning side?
For some, life is a quest for money. They spend their time and energies getting things and spending money. Materialism is their God. Perhaps Las Vegas is the symbolic city most often associated with "glitz" and gaining or losing huge sums of money.
For some, the glory of winning is their quest. In sports, it has been said, "winning isn't everything; it is the only thing." In business, competition can run rampant and ruthless to such a degree that winning is the only thing. People can get crushed in the process. Perhaps New York is the city which symbolizes winning and glory at any price in the minds of most people.
Bethlehem is the city for those whose quest is God. Beneath all other quests is this seeking to know and follow our creator. All other quests are idolatrous thrusts coming from the hidden drive God put into every human heart - to return to him. In terms of a small American town, many nominations might be made to help us see the lowliness of the city of Our Savior. For me, Podunk, Iowa, and Elbow Lake, Minnesota, come to mind. Can anything good come from Bethlehem, Podunk or Elbow Lake? I don't know about the other two, but the son of God came from Bethlehem. That's the answer given by the prophet Micah to the question about the ultimate ruler of the universe. "Bethlehem ... you are one of the smallest towns ... but out of you I will bring a ruler of Israel (Micah 5:2, TEV)." The implied question of this Word from God about the little town of Bethlehem is "Will we align ourselves with the lowly King from this obscure place?"
The Quest
Rulers come and go. Power passes. Riches and things rot and rust. Glory fades. We speak here of the ultimate quest for the only one for whom power, riches and glory are an understatement. Unexpectedly, in the Bible, lowliness is often associated with this ultimate quest for God who alone has lasting power, riches and glory. The lowly are exalted.
The exaltation of the lowly is certainly the theme of Micah's prophecy. Greed and avarice ruled like a monarch in the hearts of the nobles, the priests and the false prophets in the eighth century B.C. in Jerusalem where Micah lived. This lowly farmer-prophet promulgated the theme of exalting the lowly - the poor, the homeless and the exploited. The shrewd schemes and unscrupulous business practices of the rich and powerful resulted in the poor getting poorer. Micah called people back to the quest for God.
From the little town of Moresheth, 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem, came a man of God with a message from God. He was a poor farm boy from a small town. "Who do you think you are telling us what to do?" the power brokers of the city asked Micah. "What makes you so sure that you know the will of God?" they queried. Abhorring greed and cruel oppression, this farm boy-prophet of high, holy, moral earnestness, indignantly confronted the deceit and cruelty he uncovered in Jerusalem. "The will of God is on the side of the oppressed people," Micah said.
If you want to know who speaks for God, one of the best questions you can raise is, "Who speaks for the people, especially the little people who cannot speak for themselves?" Micah spoke for the speechless poor of Jerusalem.
One of the most famous passages in the writings of Micah is about the ultimate quest to know and do the will of God:
He (God) has showed you, 0 man,
What is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But to do justice and to love kindness
And to walk humbly with your God?
- Micah 6:8, RSV
Justice, kindness and reverence are the three elements in the humble quest to know God and to be godly. Justice, kindness and reverence are the signs of God, so actually they are the signs of the true people of God. Justice, kindness and reverence are also the signs of the One who comes from the little town of Bethlehem.
Bethlehem, you are one of the smallest towns.
But out of you I will bring a ruler.
- Micah 5:2, TEV
"Do you really mean that you expect us to believe that we can find our ruler in Bethlehem?" "Yes," said Micah. "The quest for God has its fulfillment there." The quest for God is really a quest of God. God seeks us; only then do we seek God. The incarnation of the Son of God comes in a lowly town in the womb of a lowly maiden named Mary.
The Question
"Surely," some power-broker in Jerusalem said about Micah, "can anything good come out of Moresheth?" "Surely," some powerful and wealthly temple priest asked, "can anything good come out of Bethlehem?" We know that when Jesus' family fled Bethlehem, the town of great King David, because of Herod's slaughter of the innocent children, and went to Egypt for a time and then to Nazareth, another lowly place, that people raised the question, "Can anything good come out of Nazareth (John 1:46)?" Those are interesting questions about lowly towns and lowly people. Another lowly person raises another question.
Lowly Mary, the mother of Jesus, raises the ultimate question about the quest for God.
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has regarded the lowly estate of his handmaiden.
For behold, henceforth all generations will call me
blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.
And his mercy is on those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their
hearts,
he has put down the mighty from their thrones, and exalted those of low degree;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent empty away, He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to his posterity forever.
- Luke 1:46-55, RSV
Mary thus raises the ultimate question of God: "With whom will you and I align ourselves?" Will we join up with the powers of this world which are fading, with the riches of this world which are rotting and rusting, with the glory of this world which is going nowhere? Or will we align ourselves with the power, the riches, and the glory of God, which has put us on the ultimate winning side?
