High Hopes
51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:51-53)
Like most expecting mothers, Mary had high hopes for her son. But hers weren't just hopes for a good life, but for a life that would do so much good - righting wrongs, curing ills, toppling unjust authorities. Even attempting to fulfill Mary's hopes would yield a life of conflict and hardship rather than ease or luxury. Is that what she hoped for? Perhaps she didn't consider the cost of her dreams. Maybe Mary could only hear the words of the angel, Gabriel, playing on repeat in her mind: 32 "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end” (Luke 1:32-33). This promise from God gave her the courage to dream big dreams,
unhindered by fear.
Jesus did indeed fulfill God's promise and Mary's high hopes. It was always understood that this fulfillment would be received as a threat by those out of alignment with God's good will. Perhaps unexpectedly, that threat was perceived as much, or more, from within the community of faith as from secular leaders and governmental authorities. So steeped in traditions and man-made hierarchies, the religious leaders would feel acutely the sting of Jesus' ministry. We are not so different. We hope to be saved from THEM - that God's justice might punish THEM - never realizing the ways that we are them.
As we prepare to celebrate the promise God kept, we must consider if we are really ready for the eternal fulfillment of that promise. We are still deserving of judgement as often as we are in need of deliverance. But, in Jesus, God's love for the world created the opportunity for redemption that remains available for us today. Obedient hearts and minds are the only true preparation we need. When we do God's will, the hope of heaven continues to be revealed and fulfilled in us.
5 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; 6 in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'See, I have come to do your will, O God' (in the scroll of the book it is written of me)." 8 When he said above, "You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings" (these are offered according to the law), 9 then he added, "See, I have come to do your will." He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. 10 And it is by God's will that we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:5-10)
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