Sermon 12/19/20: Rejoice O Highly Favored (Pr. Ben Adams)

Pr. Ben Adams

Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 19, 2020

Rejoice O Highly Favored

One of the things I get most excited for this time of year are my favorite Christmas cookies.  Now on my maternal mother’s side it’s pecan pie bars, and while technically not a cookie, they are divine. On my mother in law’s side its frosted buttermilk sugar cookies and they are (chef’s kiss) Sadly, this year Tara and I will be staying in Chicago for the holiday, so we either won’t have my favorite cookies, or we’ll have to try to recreate these recipes ourselves, but I have to be honest, both of my mom’s, they just have a magical touch and their cookie creations are often replicated, but never duplicated.

Now we all have favorites of our own, maybe this time of year it’s a favorite cookie, or ornament, or song. Maybe it’s that favorite sweater or worn-in pair of slippers, or that specialty drink from your local coffee shop. Whatever it is, it’s inevitable that we will have some favorites. And I’ll even say that this is a good thing! It’s good to know what we like and prefer. 

But, there are times when our favorites can lead to unfair treatment of our less favorite things. I know for me, the other cookies on the cookie trays at Christmas time get a lot less attention than the pecan pie bars and frosted buttermilks.  

Now this is a harmless individual example of favoritism, but what about when our favoritism expands beyond food preferences into our relationships with people? This is where favoritism can turn extremely harmful when it becomes power and privilege that is held by some over others and then is built into the very way we order our lives together.

Then we create groups who believe they are exceptional while others experience a collective lack of favor. This favor for some then develops a sense of superiority while those who experience unfavor internalize a sense of oppression.

In our Gospel today, Mary would have known what it was like to feel that internalized oppression. For one she was a woman in antiquity where women were regarded as property of their father or their husband. Not only that, she was poor and would have known the hunger pains and struggle of survival under a ruthless Roman empire that exploited her for its own gain.

It’s no wonder then that she is perplexed and ponders the Angel Gabriel’s greeting who shows up out of nowhere and says to her, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.”  

Mary must have raised her eyebrows and looked around her like, “Me? You are referring to me as a favored one? Is this a joke?”

But it wasn’t a joke, and God’s favor did rest on Mary whose life, as Rev Cindy Buggs says, “...is about to be both upended and established forever in the history of humankind. She does not know that her humble beginnings are not indicative of her calling as the mother of the Messiah. She does not know that the favor upon her will not translate to personal gain, or popularity, or privilege. We have the advantage of knowing what is next, but Mary does not know why an angel would disrupt the normal course of her life with the simple words, “Greetings favored one, the Lord is with you.”

Mary’s favor with God is a message to all of us that wealth, status, power, or privilege are not signs of God’s favor. Those things are a result of the unequal power structures of this world, a world that privileges a few over the many.

This message of favor on Mary is so radical it then inspires Mary to sing the Magnificat, that we too sung tonight and proclaimed, “Tell out, my soul, the greatness of His might! Powers and dominions lay their glory by; Proud hearts and stubborn wills are put to flight; The hungry fed, the humble lifted high.”

And not only was this message of favor proclaimed here tonight in scripture and song but in sacrament as well. In Cecily and Agatha’s Baptism the favor of God was announced and poured out over each of them as children of God in whom God is well pleased. It is a moment for us all to remember our own baptisms and experience God’s favor anew that rests upon us all and is not dependent on our worldly power, position, or privilege, in fact, God’s favor is upending all of those unequal systems and structures.

And that’s because God doesn’t play favorites. If God showed up to your Christmas Party, God wouldn’t have a favorite cookie from the tray. And that’s because God’s favor rests equally on all creation. This greeting by the Angel Gabriel to Mary is a greeting to us all. “Favored one, the Lord is with you.”  We can trust this greeting even as we wait with Advent Home for the Lord’s coming again. A return that Mary’s defiant song prophesies will bring the mighty down from their thrones, will exalt the humble and meek, Christ’s return will fill the hungry with good things, and send the rich away empty.

This good news of unmerited favor on us all was announced to Mary by the Angel Gabriel and it echoes for us to hear tonight. Through scripture, song, and sacrament we have been reminded not of our power and privilege over others, but of God’s favor and the Lord’s presence with us all, so rejoice O highly favored, the Lord is with you, and Christ is coming to make all things new. Amen.