Surprise

How do you feel about surprises? By now you know me well enough that a question like that at the beginning of a sermon might make you a little nervous. But I promise I have nothing up my sleeve. It is a simple straightforward question. How do you feel about surprises?

Perhaps that all depends on the surprise itself, doesn’t it? I mean if you get a surprise bill in the mail I don’t think anyone looks at that and says, “Yes! Awesome!” Now a surprise check? Absolutely. What about a surprise party? That could go either way, I guess. It all depends on who you are. I know that I would rather be the surprise-er than be the surprise-ee.

Today, in this Fourth Sunday of Advent, we take a moment to pause and reflect on a big and awesome surprise. And what a surprise, I mean nothing like this has ever happened before. This is not anything new. I am not going to share with you some new, never-been-heard-before information. And yet, it is still quite surprising. Because what is surprising is not that it happened, but the way that it happened.

Now from our perspective, from the perspective of the way things usually work, big things happen in big ways. The celebration of Christmas is a big deal (and a big industry). Think about all the extra things that we do at this time of year. How easy it is for the other eleven months of the year to feel overwhelming to us with all the things that we fill our days with. And yet, it the midst of that, we add a whole bunch of extra stuff during this month.

Why do we do such a thing? It’s simple, because Christmas is a big deal. And big things happen in big ways. And, I would suspect, and really hope, that all the extra stuff is not being done so that we can experience seasonally higher stress levels, but in order to enhance our celebration of the Christmas season.

Big things happen in big ways. So we have in our Old Testament lesson today King David. He is kind of a big deal. He defeated a really big guy in his battle with Goliath.   He has been given a really big responsibility in being king over God’s people. He has accumulated a really big amount of wealth. And as a result now lives in a really big palace.

But that is how things go for kings and kingdoms, isn’t it? Wealth, power, might, they use these things to exert their influence in the world and in order to bring about their will. So here is David, king. He notices that he is living in a beautiful house, but that there is no house of the Lord. So David has the desire to build a temple for the Ark of the Lord. He goes to the prophet, Nathan, and tells him his plans.

The word of the Lord comes to Nathan. And guess what? Surprise. The Lord’s response is this. You cannot build a house for me. I have never, in the entire time that I have dwelt with my people Israel had a house to dwell in. Instead I will build for you a household. In a nice twist the Lord makes a promise to David that he will establish David’s household and throne, and that his throne shall be established forever. In the establishment of David’s throne, we have a special connection and relationship that exists between God and the people of his creation.

Well, now that’s kind of a big deal. That is something that is really big. And big things happen in big ways right? Well, normally, usually yes, but not on this one. Not this time. Not in this case. Instead, the fulfillment of this one comes as a bit of a surprise. Because David’s kingdom will only stand as he currently knows it for one more generation. And as soon as his grandson takes his place on the throne, the kingdom undergoes a split. It will only be a few centuries before both kingdoms are finished. They are gone and in exile. And even after God brings his people back from Babylon, things are not what they were in David’s day.

And yet, God’s promise that David’s throne would be established forever remains. So what is going on here? Well, simply speaking God’s ways are not our ways. He works in ways that are different from what we know and understand. And what we would correctly label as a big thing, and expect to find in a big way, we actually do not find in a big way. And that is where the surprise comes in. Surprise!!

The establishment of David’s throne forever, would be something that we might expect to depend on the wealth of the nation, or the power of its army, or its ability to get along with the neighbors in the region. Those would be big ways to bring about that big thing. But that is not the case here. Instead, God brings about the establishment of David’s throne, in a small and unexpected way. He does so in a way that is, well, in a word. . . “surprising.”

But this throne is not established with human wealth, power or might. Instead, it comes though incarnation. This is the word the church uses to talk about the Word becoming flesh and living among us. This is what happens as our God becomes a human being. He becomes one of us. He comes and lives among us, in order that in him and through him we might have and know life.

Incarnation is what happens when the eternal God who exists outside of time, enters into time. The God who is infinite, becomes finite. The God who is all-powerful, becomes dependent on a carpenter and his young bride. The God who created everything in existence, merely by his word, now is knit together in the womb of a virgin. You see, God brings about something very big, by himself becoming very small. Surprise!!

Why? This way, there is no room for doubt. What God brings about in establishing the throne of David forever; what God brings about in giving to us forgiveness, life and salvation. Only comes by the work that he has done. It only comes to us through Jesus. While we may expect to find such big things come about in big ways, with mighty demonstrations of power and force. Instead, they come through a means that is quite surprising. That is quite small. That is incarnation.

You see, we like the big things. We like to think that big things happen in big ways. We even can have a tendency to work for and try to bring about big things in our own lives. So we work and study to better ourselves and provide for ourselves a better lifestyle. We works and study really hard, because we believe deep down in our core that if we just try hard enough, if we just work long enough, that we can earn, merit, or deserve the love and approval of others. We can earn, merit, or deserve the love and approval of friends and family. We can earn, merit, or deserve the love and approval of ourselves, and even the approval of God.

If we just do enough of the right things, in the right ways, then we will have a claim to all that our hearts desire. And yet, forgiveness, life, salvation, love, acceptance and approval do not come from us. They are not earned by our actions. They are not merited through our sacrifice.

Instead they come only from the God whose love for you, and me and all the people of this world, is so real and true that we can hardly comprehend and understand it. While we may be good people, and I don’t think that is a stretch to say. We cannot earn anything from God; no matter how good we are, no matter how hard we work, no matter how much wealth or power or might we have at our disposal.

But none of that really matters here, because the God who has all wealth, power and might at his disposal, brings about a really big thing, not in a big way, but instead in a small way; by becoming a small baby, a child. In the incarnation we see that human beings, and all of human life matters and is important to God. The goal of life with God is not that we would cease to be human, but that instead we would experience the full and abundant human life that can only be found in and through Jesus.

Humanity could not be redeemed apart from the incarnation. Our savior, had to be fully 100% human and fully 100% God, and this is exactly who Jesus is. And this big thing, God brings about through a small means. And because of Jesus, his life death and resurrection, we are able, and indeed we do, know peace with God. We have the forgiveness of sins. We have victory over death and the devil. And we have life. This life is life that will never end. What a great and awesome gift our God gives to us. What a great and awesome surprise that comes to us through Jesus.

May the gift of life in him, always be for you a great source of hope, love, joy and peace. Now and always. Amen.