There's Got to be a Revolution
Text: Luke 1:46-55
Title: There’s Got to be a Revolution
Thesis: Revolutionary change can come about as we follow Jesus, the Messiah.
Time: Advent, 3 Sun, B
Whenever I hear the word “revolution,” I tend to think in terms of the military or politics –maybe a guerilla leader staging a political coup in some Central American country, or even in terms of our own country with the American Revolution, also called the American War of Independence. Probably my decision to become an army chaplain has led me to think of revolution in military, political terms. But there have been throughout history and continue to be all kinds of revolutions. We have been told for the past ten years that we are continuing to undergo a revolution in terms of information, as the internet has made available whole libraries full of books and media of every kind. Economic revolutions occur. We on this side of the world heard about the European Monetary System and the agreement of European countries to streamline their various currencies into a common currency called the Euro. Revolutions come in all shapes and sizes, from political movements, to economic windfalls and economic fallouts, to information explosions and technological advancements –but whatever the revolution, revolution means that a sudden, radical or complete change has occurred.
It has been noted by commentators of the gospel of Luke that Mary’s song in Luke 1 should not be over-spiritualized. Indeed, there is much reason praise Jesus Christ as Mary does. Because of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ, we receive great spiritual blessings, even our eternal salvation. Mary’s song of praise, known as the Magnificat, does invite us to experience a whole new way of living that is otherworldly, spiritual; but it also speaks a word about worldly change and how God wants to reorder the world we live in. We could say that Mary’s words are potent, potent enough to incite revolution. Her words should not be taken lightly. Mary is announcing to the world that a sure new wind is blowing. God is about to act in a way in which he has never acted before. God is going to make possible a radical new way of living for every person that is both worldly and otherworldly. Mary’s announcement to the world is that this Savior soon to be born will make possible sudden, radical and complete change for everyone.
On the night of April 18, 1775 a wealthy businessman, a silversmith by trade, took off on horseback from his house in Boston, Massachusetts out into the outlying countryside. It would not seem that unusual a thing to happen; travel by horseback was a common occurrence to get from one destination to another. But what makes his story so important and forever being told was the reason for his ride. This man, a pro-colony and anti-British patriot named Paul Revere, along with another man named William Dawes, were instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren, a leader of the pro-colony cause, to ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the movements of the British Army. To ensure their success in getting the message out, Dawes took the long way to Lexington, known as the Boston Neck. Revere took the shortest route possible. Along his way, Revere warned other pro-colony patriots he met up with to deliver warnings of their own. By the end of the night, there were as many as forty riders throughout Middlesex County carrying news of the British army’s advancement. It wasn’t by some random chance that Paul Revere was chosen by other pro-colony patriots to be a crier boy for the impending revolution. Hancock had prior military experience –he was a soldier in the French and Indian War. He had powerful connections and plenty of wealth at his disposal to spread propaganda about the evils of the British Stamp Act that laid on the colonies hefty taxes. It was with calculating precision that Dr. Warren gave the all go to Revere and Dawes on the night of April 18, 1775, to make their way from Boston to Lexington to announce that the time for revolution had come.
What does it take for a revolution to happen? First, it takes someone who has a vision for what life can be like, for a better way of living. And second, it takes the right people to incite revolution, to get the ball rolling and who will see the vision through. Beginning with the opening pages of the Bible and moving forward, we read over and over again about numerous revolutions that God has initiated. God always has always had grand visions for what life can be like for his children. We also read that God chooses to use people to announce his visions, to incite revolution and to see his visions through.
We could say this about the people God chose in Luke 1, “What a strange, unthinkable list of main players God has chosen.” Think about it, of all the people in the world God could have chosen to be key players in the greatest of revolutions that the world has ever known or will ever know, the birth of Jesus, God chose for center stage a young girl named Mary. Of all people, Mary was God’s choice to be the mother of Jesus. God didn’t choose the daughter of the Caiaphas the high priest. God didn’t choose a daughter of the powerful, political King Herod. God didn’t even choose the daughter of the god-like emperor over the entire Roman Empire. But here, in Luke 1:46-55, Mary is the one inciting words of revolution announcing “A Savior is coming, a Savior is coming!” She would probably be the last choice of anyone wanting to stage a revolution at that time, but Mary was God’s choice. She was young, as ordinary a woman as could be found. She is identified as a humble woman in Luke 1:48. She was not of royalty. Mary was not rich or politically powerful. To many Jews the idea that the King of the Jews would be born of such a woman was unthinkable. To the Roman political leaders, they wouldn’t have given it the time of day, wondering if this young woman would give birth to someone who could threaten their authority. So what is the lesson here? God loves to take the most unlikely of people and to make them the most likely of people to do his godly work. God loves to take ordinary people and have them do his unordinary work. God still loves to take the most unlikely of people, people like you and me, to do his unordinary work.
Whatever the revolution that needs to take place in the life of just one person or in a whole group of people, God wants us to announce the vision of what God can do. No matter how big or small a revolution it would cause for people to begin experiencing God’s will and way, we are the one’s that God has chosen to lead them in singing a new song, the song of salvation.
I recall when my son Aaron was baptized; I was serving as an associate pastor in a large United Methodist church in the northeast corner of Arkansas, up in cotton country. The town was largely divided along racial lines. There was the white side of town and the black side of town. There were black churches and white churches, black stores and white stores, black schools and white schools. What made Aaron’s baptism so special to me was as we welcomed Aaron into membership into that church, there was also someone else who joined with the church in membership that Sunday. The church welcomed William into membership. William was the church custodian. Over the years he became a part of the church family. That Sunday, William became their only black member, their first black member ever. It was a worldly, otherworldly experience for all of us at what God could do as we allowed God to use us to incite a revolution.
Stanley Jones said this about Mary’s song: “The Magnificat is the most revolutionary document in the world.” What kind of revolution does it speak of? For starters, the song of Mary speaks of a moral revolution. Mary proclaims, “He scatters the proud in the plans of their hearts.” Jesus has also come to stir a social revolution. Mary sings, “He casts down the mighty –he exalts the humble.” And lastly Jesus has come to incite an economic revolution. Mary sings, “He has filled those who are hungry . . . those who are rich he has sent away empty.”
For all of us, Jesus our Savior has come to stir within us revolutionary spirits. Jesus has come to make possible everything that needs to happen so that we can experience the worldly, otherworldly promises of God. And as those who have bought into the vision, who experience firsthand what our Savior has come to fulfill, we are called to incite revolutions in the hearts of others. Let us join with Mary, with loud voices in the song, “A Savior has come, a Savior has come.”