Today is the Fourth Sunday of Advent. The last Sunday of Advent. Christmas is coming in just a few days. For some people these days of Advent, days of December, days of preparation for Christmas, have gone by very fast. For some, they may have seemed to really drag, really take a long time. We have become a people that is very impatient. We want things to happen quickly. We complain if our computers or televisions take too long to come on, or change programs, or do anything. We usually want fast foods, not slow cooked ones. I have a sweatshirt that Nell gave me years ago that says “Instant gratification takes too long.” We don’t want to wait.
If we are left to ourselves, we seem to try to turn God into an object, something we can deal with, something we can use to our benefit whether that thing is a feeling or an idea or an image. Prophets scorn all that stuff. They train us to respond to God’s presence and voice. The prophets, in general, have a message of keeping people alive to God and alert to listing to the voice of God.
Prophets use words to make changes in the world. They deal with realities like love and compassion, justice and faithfulness, sin and evil, and mostly God. All these are things that are difficult to define, other than by describing them. Think about that. Try to define love without giving an example or a description. Much of the world’s action takes place within realities that we can only describe, but are unable to explain with a concrete definition.
Here we are, on December 22, the 4th Sunday of Advent, the last Sunday of Advent. This is one of those waits where even if it seems too long, we just have to wait it out. During this Advent Season we have had several scripture lessons that were Old Testament prophets predicting and pointing to the birth of the Messiah, the one we call Jesus.
Today we heard from the prophet Micah. The book of Micah is relatively short. It is just 7 chapters long. Micah was from the south of Judah. He wrote sometime between 750 and 686 BC. He has a deep sensitivity to the social ills of his day. The beginning of the book is mainly oracles of doom, and the end of the book is mainly oracles of hope. Micah sees that the Kingdom of David may look to end, but it will reach even greater heights though the coming Messianic deliverer.
In our lesson today, Micah begins by pointing to Bethlehem Ephrathah. We have heard of the town of Bethlehem. Ephrathah is an older name, a former name of the town of Bethlehem. The town is about 6 miles southeast of Jerusalem in what, at that time, was a rich agricultural area. The name Ephrathah means “Fruitful”. In the Old Testament this is known as a Canaanite settlement that was there before the Jews settled in the land. It is mentioned in Genesis 35:19 as the burial site of Rachel, Jacob’s favorite wife.
The town became known as Bethlehem, which means “House of Bread”. Bread was one of the staple foods of the people. Much wheat and other grains were grown to supply the flour for that bread. A place that was fruitful and a place known as a house of bread are both referring to an abundance of the staples of life. Eventually Bethlehem was known as the hometown of King David. Apparently, the designation in our text of Bethlehem Ephrathah, with both the old and new names of the town, is simply to distinguish it from some other town called Bethlehem, somewhere in Israel.
We know of the town of Bethlehem as the birthplace of Jesus. In the Christmas story we hear that Caesar Agustus decreed that a census should take place. Simply a counting of the people so that he could collect as much tax from as many people as possible. Joseph was from the family of David, and so was to go to Bethlehem, the city of David, to register and pay his taxes. And Mary goes with him. And the town and the inns are full of people, because of the census.
So, we have the hope from Micah. “You Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are the least significant of Judah’s forces.” The people of Micah’s day, just like us, tend to expect important people to come from some important place, not from an insignificant area. Here, coming from Bethlehem, which had little to nothing important happen there from the time of David’s birth in Bethlehem, until the birth of Jesus. Not an important place, but still to be the place of the birth of the coming Messiah, one who is to be ruler of Israel.
Then Micah gives an example, one that we immediately read as pointing to Mary, “when she who is in labor gives birth.” It is difficult to think of a baby, and especially of an infant yet to come, difficult to think of them as coming on behalf of God. Even so, that is what Micah tells will be the case of this baby that is coming. I have met people who firmly believe that they were called by God from birth, or even before. Such is the case of this baby that is coming. This is a sign of hope, and a call to get ready.
We need to get ready. If you know you are getting guests, you may have all sorts of things that you feel you need to do to get ready. You may be waiting impatiently for them to show up. We do that when we are expecting a birth. When will it happen? When my oldest daughter, Maren, was born, I wasn’t ready. I had picked up a used crib to use. The crib came to me in pieces and with no instructions on how to put it together and with me having never seen it when it was together. Maren was born 6 weeks early. I came home from the hospital the day she was born, took all the pieces of the crib and spread them out on the living room floor, because that was the biggest open space, and worked on it and finally got it put together. Then I took it to the room that was to be the nursery. It was too wide to get through the door! I had to take it apart to get it through the door, and then put it together again! A hope of a birth and a call to get ready.
Micah goes on to tell us of the strength and power and majesty of this one to come. Such strength and power and majesty that can hardly happen, unless there is help from above. And in this case, as Micah says, it will all be in the name of God.
The power and strength of this one to come will not be like the power that we see in current political leaders, here or anywhere else in the world. It is different because this one to come is not gaining strength and power from war and not gaining majesty and glory for themselves from that strength and power. This one to come gains power and strength and glory because “He will become one of peace.” That would truly change, or at least should change, our world. He will become one of peace.
As Advent comes to a close and Christmas draws near, let us draw our hope from this one who came in peace. Let us use that peace to be a light to all in our world who need that light and that peace. Amen.