I got the chance to plan and lead a weekday service at my university’s chapel this morning. Below is the transcript of my sermon!
If you think about it, Advent is a time of waiting. We wait for four weeks, from the very end of November right up to Christmas Eve to celebrate Jesus.
In modern times, the wait seems even longer. Advertisers plug “Christmas in July” and stock their shelves with holiday deals as soon as Halloween candy clears the shelves. Even before Christmas was commercialized, Advent was a wait. It is explicitly “the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas.” The season of Advent began with a wait, too. When the angel Gabriel visited Mary, he told her, “Do not be afraid. . . you will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.”
Could you imagine that pressure, learning that your womb will bear the Earth’s salvation, that your son will be the Son of the Most High? And then you’re left in a blaze of heavenly light, with only your thoughts to keep you company, knowing all you are to do but being forced to wait some nine months until you can bring it into the world.
As Mary grew pregnant with her child—the Son of the Most High—it wasn’t easy. She and Joseph had to travel 75 miles from Nazareth to Bethlehem. While pregnant. When they finally got to Bethlehem, there was no room for them, not even for a pregnant woman. Not even for the mother of the Son of the Most High. I suspect we all know how the rest of the story unfolds, with Mary birthing Jesus and laying him in manger and shepherds in a field hastening to view the savior born unto them.
And somehow, all of this Mary bears with grace and poise and patience. She bears the news of her pregnancy, and she bears her journey to Bethlehem and her son’s life and, eventually, her son’s death, and through it all, she says “Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.”
That is her endurance.
And that is also something I do not know if we can all do all the time, though we may strive for it.
“Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord, let it be to me according to your word.”
Luke 1:38
Earlier this summer, I had a little accident while running and ended up needing a pretty invasive knee surgery. I have the 8-inch scar on my leg to prove it.
When I first got hurt, I tried to ignore it. I didn’t tell my teammates because I, however stupidly, believed I could be back before the season started. And then I got surgery; and after surgery, I worked really, really hard, and I endured all my physical therapy visits and blood flow restriction sessions and laps in the pool just waiting to run again.
Originally, my doctor told me I could start running again 12 weeks after surgery. I had September 30th starred on my calendar. This was the big day.
And all of that is because, when you work really, really hard, you want to see the results. Immediately, or at least as soon as possible. That goal you’re working towards—it should happen right now, shouldn’t it?
But September 30th came and went. And then October 31st came and went. And then November, until finally, two days ago, on December 7th, a solid 68 days after I thought I could start running, I ran.
Good end to the story, but through that whole process, I had the idea that “I’m working really hard, so the results—the running—should be happening right now.” I was internally, if not externally, the least patient person ever.
Hupomeno: “to remain under, not simply with resignation, but with a vibrant hope.”
Bethany Harris
In the Greek New Testament, there are two words to describe patience: Makrothumia and Hupomeno. The first means longsuffering, the opposite of being short-tempered. The second refers to endurance and the ability to get through challenges. This second form of patience is mentioned in the Bible twice as much. And that tells me that the emphasis is Hupomeno. Endurance. Getting through challenges.
Like Mary and her glorious surprise pregnancy and her arduous journey to Bethlehem and her months spent waiting for the Son of the Most High and then her watching as her son was lifted onto the cross, we do not always pick our life paths. We do not get to decide that, today I want to not face any hardship and so I will not.
Yeah, no. It is without question that life can be pretty tough. Every single person in the world will at some point in their life face hardships and trials and tribulations. That is the law of the world.
But here’s the thing: God does not allow us to despair or wallow in our suffering too long. Romans 5:3-5 reads, “We also glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.””
So yeah, life sometimes sucks. But we also have this amazing evidence of patience. Mary shows us the power of endurance through hardship. She praises God even as she remains unaware of the future. She glorifies Him who will take her son to the cross.
And if we look at God, we can likewise see that patience reflected onto us. He is not quick to anger. He remains faithful. Romans 15:5 calls Him, “the God of patience and comfort.” And so, we can rejoice in this fact, that God grants us love and grace and, perhaps most importantly, patience. The ability to face what we must endure and stand through the storm. A sense of clarity for the hardships we go through. Love.
And to me, this all seems so radical. How can a woman who is surprised with the news that she will be the mother of the Son of the Most High; and then travels 75 miles from her home to give birth where the inns have no room for her; and then watches as her son endures his sufferings; and then watches as he dies on the cross—how can she remain standing? How can so many bad things, so many hardships, keep piling upon her but not bring her to her knees?
Unfortunately, I do not have all the answers to these questions for us today.
What I do have, though, is the word of the Scripture. I have the Greek word for patience in endurance. I have Romans 5:3-5: “We also glory in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope.” I have evidence of Mary’s own patience through every hardship of her life, from the news to the journey to the birth to Jesus’s life and death. I have seen her patience.
And I have seen how great, how powerful this act of radical patience is, during any wait.
CALLIN NADDY 