Ain't No Mountain--December 21,2016
"Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child...." [Luke 2:4-5]
You know what is an underrated Christmas song? "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."
Yep--that one. No, I'm not confusing it with "Go Tell It On the Mountain," which everybody already knows as a Christmas song. No, I'm thinking of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Yep, the one you are starting to sing right now, "Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough--to keep me from getting to you, babe." That's the one.
And the reason I say it is underrated as a Christmas song is that in many ways, the story of Christmas is that the whole Christmas story is a sort of show of God's refusal to be stopped by any obstacle to come to us, and then along with that, how the people who are swept up in God's momentum find the same drive and determination. Despite the whims of Caesar, despite the lack of room made for the baby, despite a million other things that made it harder the way it played out, it still happened anyway. God came among us. Joseph and Mary still made the trip, still had the baby, still did all that followed after the birth, too. Because in a very real sense, they were free.
There is an unexpected kind of freedom for the people caught up in God's movement. It is a freedom to keep on doing what you are called to do, without fear of consequences or inconvenience. When you are clear about where God wants you, and when you are clear about what needs to be done, all of a sudden, you find a new courage, and a new peace. You find yourself almost singing the lyrics yourself as your own: there isn't any obstacle too high, too low, or too wide to keep you from getting where God is leading.
Yep--that one. No, I'm not confusing it with "Go Tell It On the Mountain," which everybody already knows as a Christmas song. No, I'm thinking of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. Yep, the one you are starting to sing right now, "Ain't no mountain high enough, ain't no valley low enough, ain't no river wide enough--to keep me from getting to you, babe." That's the one.
And the reason I say it is underrated as a Christmas song is that in many ways, the story of Christmas is that the whole Christmas story is a sort of show of God's refusal to be stopped by any obstacle to come to us, and then along with that, how the people who are swept up in God's momentum find the same drive and determination. Despite the whims of Caesar, despite the lack of room made for the baby, despite a million other things that made it harder the way it played out, it still happened anyway. God came among us. Joseph and Mary still made the trip, still had the baby, still did all that followed after the birth, too. Because in a very real sense, they were free.
There is an unexpected kind of freedom for the people caught up in God's movement. It is a freedom to keep on doing what you are called to do, without fear of consequences or inconvenience. When you are clear about where God wants you, and when you are clear about what needs to be done, all of a sudden, you find a new courage, and a new peace. You find yourself almost singing the lyrics yourself as your own: there isn't any obstacle too high, too low, or too wide to keep you from getting where God is leading.
This is part of what makes God's movement so radical--instead of stopping to pick fights any time someone or something wants to make it harder for us to live out God's justice and mercy, we won't have to get distracted. We will just keep on keeping on, convenient or not, consequences or not.
Yesterday we considered how Caesar Augustus tried to make himself seem as important as possible, even down to an exercise in imperial muscle-flexing by declaring an official government registry. And the irony, of course, in all of that, is that for all the imperial bluster and bragging, Augustus is practically irrelevant to us... except for the fact that during his reign, Jesus was born.
The flip side to that conversation is the position of Joseph and Mary in the face of all that Caesar did: they keep on doing what God has called them to do, and they do it while bearing with the stupid decrees of the arrogant emperor. They do not complain or get in a huff about the inconvenience of Augustus' self-serving census decree. Frankly, they don't expect any better from the powerful. But in the face of opposition and hostility... and the additional level of complication of the baby on the way... and the trek to Bethlehem, Joseph and Mary do it anyway. They go where the empire dictates, back to Bethlehem, even though it is a farce that the empire suddenly has to have a record of their names and locations, and even though it is a colossal hardship for a very very pregnant Mary.
Why? Because they are clear about who they are and what they are about. Joseph and Mary both are convinced by this moment that God has called them to raise this child, and that through this child, eventually all of history's empires and emperors will be put in their place and taken down a few pegs. They are willing to bear the added hardship of the trip, not out of fear of what Caesar might do to them if they refuse to comply, but frankly, because they have bigger fish to fry. They are a part of God's moving in history, and that frees them, in a manner of speaking, not to have to care anymore what Caesar says. Regardless of what Augustus wants, the promised child will be born--whether it's in Nazareth where they had been living, or in Bethlehem, Mary and Joseph are invested in God's mission for them.
It's not that Joseph and Mary suddenly think the empire is great, or that they have been intimidated into going along with the imperial decree to be registered. Rather, they have a clear focus on what God is calling them to do, and along the way they will put up with injustice, inconvenience, and hardship, because they are rising above pettiness. They will not give the empire the satisfaction of letting its decrees and soldiers break their spirits, and they will not give the empire ammunition for being more ruthless and authoritarian than they are already. They are simply going high when the empire goes low... which is pretty much the way of empires already anyway. And no matter how low the empire, or Herod, or anybody else goes along the way, it won't be enough to keep God and the people in God's movement from getting where they need to be.
I have a newfound, or maybe newly rediscovered, appreciation and respect for Joseph and Mary that way. To be honest, a lot of the Christians I know, myself included, are pretty coddled, and we work up a huge sweat of righteous indignation when the way ahead is not a primrose path. We work up persecution complexes, sure that everybody out there in "the world" is on a crusade to stop us from saying "Merry Christmas." We get incensed about not getting special treatment. We get upset when governments, or businesses, or just "the powers that be" seem to make it harder to do the Kingdom work we believe we are called to do, when maybe what we are really just wishing for is special treatment. But the people of God have never had a right to expect special treatment. My goodness--Jesus' own parents had to get in line with everybody else and go to be registered! They knew that the registration was just a prelude to a tax... and that their tax money would end up helping to pay for things they didn't like, probably... like the "privilege" of having more Roman soldiers occupying their land, as well as foreign wars in other corners of the empire that they didn't have any investment in. But Joseph and Mary go anyway. They get registered anyway. Not because the empire is always right, but because they know better than to expect any help from the powers-that-be and the barking lunatic of an emperor in Rome who thinks he is so great. And frankly, Joseph and Mary go anyway because they have clarity about where they need to dig their heels in, and where they don't. They have bigger fish to fry, and so they just don't need to get all worked up about the real, but not insurmountable, obstacle of having to go all the way to Bethlehem.
Today, instead of expecting things to be made easy for us, and getting all upset if they are not, what if instead we aimed for Joseph and Mary-like focus on what matters today, where we need to be, how we are called to spend our minutes, and what Kingdom work is needing to be done today. If the Movement of Mercy, the Reign of God, is the most important thing in the world (and, yes, it is--Jesus says seek the Kingdom first and everything else you need will come along for the ride), then that's where we spend our energy.
Love people, regardless of how it inconveniences you.
Go where you are needed, regardless of how much further out of your way you have to go then.
Spend the time with the people God has put as top priorities in your path--the brokenhearted, the lowly, the hurting, the folks aching for good news and mercy--regardless of whatever else you had in your calendar for the day.
And when that happens, when that becomes our aim for the day, all of a sudden the other obstacles don't seem nearly so high, or so low, or so wide, as they can keep us from being about God's business.
None of that stopped God, either, from coming into the world.
Lord God, give us such an appreciation of your coming to us that we have new focus and clarity like Joseph and Mary to go where you are sending us, to do what you are calling us to do, and not to be goaded into falling for the petty fights along the way. Let us go where you are leading us, as your mercy is moving us.
I have a newfound, or maybe newly rediscovered, appreciation and respect for Joseph and Mary that way. To be honest, a lot of the Christians I know, myself included, are pretty coddled, and we work up a huge sweat of righteous indignation when the way ahead is not a primrose path. We work up persecution complexes, sure that everybody out there in "the world" is on a crusade to stop us from saying "Merry Christmas." We get incensed about not getting special treatment. We get upset when governments, or businesses, or just "the powers that be" seem to make it harder to do the Kingdom work we believe we are called to do, when maybe what we are really just wishing for is special treatment. But the people of God have never had a right to expect special treatment. My goodness--Jesus' own parents had to get in line with everybody else and go to be registered! They knew that the registration was just a prelude to a tax... and that their tax money would end up helping to pay for things they didn't like, probably... like the "privilege" of having more Roman soldiers occupying their land, as well as foreign wars in other corners of the empire that they didn't have any investment in. But Joseph and Mary go anyway. They get registered anyway. Not because the empire is always right, but because they know better than to expect any help from the powers-that-be and the barking lunatic of an emperor in Rome who thinks he is so great. And frankly, Joseph and Mary go anyway because they have clarity about where they need to dig their heels in, and where they don't. They have bigger fish to fry, and so they just don't need to get all worked up about the real, but not insurmountable, obstacle of having to go all the way to Bethlehem.
Today, instead of expecting things to be made easy for us, and getting all upset if they are not, what if instead we aimed for Joseph and Mary-like focus on what matters today, where we need to be, how we are called to spend our minutes, and what Kingdom work is needing to be done today. If the Movement of Mercy, the Reign of God, is the most important thing in the world (and, yes, it is--Jesus says seek the Kingdom first and everything else you need will come along for the ride), then that's where we spend our energy.
Love people, regardless of how it inconveniences you.
Go where you are needed, regardless of how much further out of your way you have to go then.
Spend the time with the people God has put as top priorities in your path--the brokenhearted, the lowly, the hurting, the folks aching for good news and mercy--regardless of whatever else you had in your calendar for the day.
And when that happens, when that becomes our aim for the day, all of a sudden the other obstacles don't seem nearly so high, or so low, or so wide, as they can keep us from being about God's business.
None of that stopped God, either, from coming into the world.
Lord God, give us such an appreciation of your coming to us that we have new focus and clarity like Joseph and Mary to go where you are sending us, to do what you are calling us to do, and not to be goaded into falling for the petty fights along the way. Let us go where you are leading us, as your mercy is moving us.
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