SPEAKER_01: My my bad.
SPEAKER_01: Moving on.
SPEAKER_01: Mary and her song of rebellion.
SPEAKER_01: So we've been doing the Chronicles of Advent.
SPEAKER_01: And um yeah, so the first week we did um Ben talked about Joseph.
SPEAKER_01: Last week I shared about Simeon.
SPEAKER_01: And then this week Sonia was supposed to preach, but her husband fell off a ladder.
SPEAKER_01: Fine.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say I'll do it.
SPEAKER_01: You know, something deal with her.
SPEAKER_01: Uh kidding.
SPEAKER_01: The good news is Jeff came home last night.
SPEAKER_01: He's at home, he's in his chair and stable, and he's doing really well.
SPEAKER_01: So we'd be praying for him.
SPEAKER_01: If you don't know what happened, he did fall off a ladder a couple weeks ago.
SPEAKER_01: It was actually pretty uh treacherous, but he's doing well and um he's healing, he's on the mend, and so praise God for that.
SPEAKER_01: And I'm happy to stand in for Sonia.
SPEAKER_01: And so uh here we are.
SPEAKER_01: So uh before we jump in, though, um, I wanted to open with my favorite quote of all time.
SPEAKER_01: The great Hunter S.
SPEAKER_01: Thompson.
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, I should I should warn you when I say this quote, I'm not endorsing Hunter S.
SPEAKER_01: Thompson's lifestyle or all that he did or his books, okay?
SPEAKER_01: I had someone pull me aside and say, you know, Hunter S.
SPEAKER_01: Thompson, not the most godly man ever in the world, Pastor Ryan.
SPEAKER_01: I got it.
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't.
SPEAKER_01: But here's what Hunter S.
SPEAKER_01: Thompson did say.
SPEAKER_01: I love this quote.
SPEAKER_01: He said this on some nights, I still believe that a car with the gas needle on empty can run about 50 more miles with the right music on the radio.
SPEAKER_01: I think he's right.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Give Hunter S.
SPEAKER_01: Thompson some love.
SPEAKER_01: May he rest in peace, hopefully.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, moving on.
SPEAKER_01: Music is incredibly powerful.
SPEAKER_01: I don't, I'm not a musician, but I love good music.
SPEAKER_01: It's powerful.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that music I read predates uh predates writing?
SPEAKER_01: That means that people were making music before they were writing down anything.
SPEAKER_01: Some people think, some archaeologists or anthropologists think that music actually predates uh verbal language.
SPEAKER_01: They found these ancient flutes made of bones and they have drums that they found in these ancient parts of the world.
SPEAKER_01: It's old.
SPEAKER_01: Music is powerful.
SPEAKER_01: It can actually, it can actually build resilience, emotional resilience in you.
SPEAKER_01: It can elevate your mood.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that music, if we all sing together, which we were just doing, it can synchronize our heartbeat.
SPEAKER_01: That after a while of all us singing together, we will have all of a sudden our hearts will be beating in synchronicity, that our heart rates will rise and fall at the same time with each other.
SPEAKER_01: We become like this one sort of unified presence.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible what music can do.
SPEAKER_01: Music can also strengthen courage and resolve.
SPEAKER_01: It's no wonder that warriors for centuries have been listening to music or having battle cries before they go to war.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, last week I was shoveling, you know, for the seventh time during that snowstorm, and it kept falling.
SPEAKER_01: I need to go up there for an eighth time, and I couldn't do it the eighth time.
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, I can't do it.
SPEAKER_01: But I put on the Eye of the Tiger and my headphones, ripped my shirt up, and I was out there just let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Eye of the Tiger got me through Survivor.
SPEAKER_01: I was ready to rock and roll.
SPEAKER_01: Music has this incredible power over us and our lives.
SPEAKER_01: It's this incredibly influential thing music is.
SPEAKER_01: And I love it.
SPEAKER_01: It's been shown too.
SPEAKER_01: If you listen to music when you're at the gym, your biceps will increase by 12%.
SPEAKER_01: True story.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're at a stoplight, if you belt out loud enough, it'll change the light to green.
SPEAKER_01: That's a true story.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, those last two weren't really true, but you know, you can imagine something like that.
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what music is, this powerful thing.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, you know the the the the uh the Bible opens with music in a song.
SPEAKER_01: Did you know this?
SPEAKER_01: So you won't find it in Genesis, but uh, Job, God is talking to Job in this one part of the book of Job, and he says, Hey Job, were you there when I created the world?
SPEAKER_01: When I hung the moon and when I did all and then he says this, Were you there when I when I uh when the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy at the creation?
SPEAKER_01: Did you know that?
SPEAKER_01: That the creation opens with a song, and angels shouting for joy, and morning stars singing out loud together.
SPEAKER_01: That's how the Bible opens, or how the how the creation opens.
SPEAKER_01: Also at the end of the Bible in Revelation, there's this redeemed people, and the redeemed get together and they sing a song.
SPEAKER_01: They sing a new song before the throne of God.
SPEAKER_01: This is Revelation chapter 14.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, music is the beginning and also the end of the story of God.
SPEAKER_01: Now, I can't go much further without mentioning uh Christmas songs because it is Christmas.
SPEAKER_01: And did you know, well, maybe, do you know what the best selling single of all time is?
SPEAKER_01: It's actually a Christmas song.
SPEAKER_01: You know what it is?
SPEAKER_01: Not Silent Night, White Christmas by who?
SPEAKER_01: Bing Crosby.
SPEAKER_01: Not just the greatest-selling Christmas song, but the greatest selling single of all in the history of the world, Bing Crosby.
SPEAKER_01: And they didn't write it for the World War II uh families, but it was actually, it was it was played for the first time right after America joined the Second World War.
SPEAKER_01: So it became this very poignant moment, and Bing Crosby writes, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the one I ones I used to know, where the treetops glisten and children listen.
SPEAKER_01: Uh to hear the sleigh bells in the snow.
SPEAKER_01: Greatest selling single of all time in the history of the world.
SPEAKER_01: Now, in modern day, according to streaming numbers, there's a new number one.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know what it is?
SPEAKER_01: Mariah Carey, you got it.
SPEAKER_01: Let's go.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Mariah Carey.
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, she writes, I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know.
SPEAKER_01: Baby, make my wish come true.
SPEAKER_00: Baby, all I want for Christmas is you, baby.
SPEAKER_01: Just wanted you to never forget this sermon.
SPEAKER_01: That's how I'm gonna just shock and awe you.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, yeah, it's a great, it's the the highest streaming Christmas song of all time, according to modern numbers.
SPEAKER_01: It's an incredible song.
SPEAKER_01: My favorite Christmas song, though, is not, these are both good ones.
SPEAKER_01: Mine is actually the one that you heard Elliot read earlier.
SPEAKER_01: It's Mary's song.
SPEAKER_01: It's also called the Magnificat.
SPEAKER_01: You might have heard that's the Latin term for it.
SPEAKER_01: But Mary writes this song and belts it out right after the angel tells her she's gonna give birth and she goes and visits her cousin Elizabeth.
SPEAKER_01: And uh, here's Mary's song, in case you haven't heard it yet, the Magnificat.
SPEAKER_01: She writes, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.
SPEAKER_01: Surely from now on, all generations will call me blessed, she sings.
SPEAKER_01: For the mighty one has done great things for me, holy is his name.
SPEAKER_01: Indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
SPEAKER_01: He has shown strength with his arm, he's scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and also he's brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly, he's filled the hungry with good things, and he has sent away the rich empty.
SPEAKER_01: He's come to aid the child of Israel, the child of Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham, and to Isaac, and to Jacob, and all of his descendants, from now until forever.
SPEAKER_01: And this is the song of Mary.
SPEAKER_01: Magnificat, Mary's Magnificat.
SPEAKER_01: It's a beautiful song.
SPEAKER_01: A few things to note about this song, Mary's Magnificat.
SPEAKER_01: It's a declarative psalm of praise.
SPEAKER_01: That's the genre, a declarative psalm of praise.
SPEAKER_01: Now, declarative psalms of praise are different than like descriptive psalms.
SPEAKER_01: These psalms are when somebody gets up and publicly thanks God out loud for things that God has done, for blessings that they've received from God, or for deliverance, or for salvation that God has delivered them.
SPEAKER_01: And also, what happens is that it's an expression of future realities, as though they were happening right now in the present.
SPEAKER_01: I'll say it again, this is important.
SPEAKER_01: She's expressing future realities, things that will come as though they have happened or are already happening right now or have have happened.
SPEAKER_01: So she's sort of calling the future into the present.
SPEAKER_01: She's declaring out loud thanks to God for some things that haven't happened yet, but she's doing it as though it's already happened.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Some of you need to write your own declarative psalm of praise and just thank God for things in your life that haven't happened yet, as though they're already happening.
SPEAKER_01: Not like it's magic, but this is a declarative psalm of praise.
SPEAKER_01: Also, you should know this about this great song, the Magnificat, Mary's song.
SPEAKER_01: This is a politically charged and energized song.
SPEAKER_01: This calls for the rulers and authorities on their thrones to be cast down.
SPEAKER_01: It talks about a reversal of economic systems and structures that are in place in Mary's day.
SPEAKER_01: It also talks about God's preferential concern for the poor.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is a wildly radical song that would have gotten many people's attention in this day and age.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, this song, this Magnificat from Luke chapter 1, was banned in certain countries in certain times.
SPEAKER_01: So in India, when India was under the British Empire, the rule of the British Empire, it was banned to sing this song or read it out loud during the British rule of India.
SPEAKER_01: Also in Argentina, during the late 60s and early 70s, this song was banned.
SPEAKER_01: You couldn't read it out loud.
SPEAKER_01: You couldn't sing it, you couldn't even talk about it.
SPEAKER_01: Or in Guatemala in the 80s, these are authoritarian dictatorships in these countries.
SPEAKER_01: And you it was banned from reading or singing the song out loud.
SPEAKER_01: Because these rulers, these authoritarian regimes, these tyrannical leaders, these dictators, were afraid it would inspire uprisings from those at the bottom, the poor and the weak and the oppressed.
SPEAKER_01: And they were afraid it would upturn their rule and their leadership in these countries.
SPEAKER_01: And so, like sometimes governments do, they banned this song.
SPEAKER_01: You couldn't sing it.
SPEAKER_01: In other words, my friends, you have to know this about the song of Mary.
SPEAKER_01: This is a very dangerous song that Mary sings.
SPEAKER_01: In fact, uh, yeah, yeah, there we go.
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
SPEAKER_01: I fixed it.
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: That got no laughs at the 8:30.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for laughing.
SPEAKER_01: That's a hilarious joke and so clever, I thought.
SPEAKER_01: It's a dangerous song that Mary sings.
SPEAKER_01: It would have gotten all kinds of attention.
SPEAKER_01: People from all around have heard this and known what was going on.
SPEAKER_01: It's because Mary is a very dangerous woman.
SPEAKER_01: A woman like Mary, singing a song like this in this region of the world would have been a scandalous and shocking and audacious thing to do.
SPEAKER_01: You have to remember who Mary was.
SPEAKER_01: Mary was this 14-year-old girl, which is common to get married or have a child at this age, but it's still pretty young.
SPEAKER_01: And she came from a poor family, a very impoverished peasant family.
SPEAKER_01: Didn't have much.
SPEAKER_01: She came from a small town called Nazareth, about 300 people or so back then.
SPEAKER_01: It's still a pretty small town.
SPEAKER_01: I've been there.
SPEAKER_01: In this region called the Galilee, and uh a very small town, Nazareth, full of lots of other poor peasants.
SPEAKER_01: It was just a very strange place to grow up, but a lot of poverty.
SPEAKER_01: This is who Mary was.
SPEAKER_01: And Galilee, by the way, this is the region.
SPEAKER_01: So Nazareth is up here.
SPEAKER_01: This is Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And uh there's Jerusalem, the hub of all things religious and social and economic in Israel.
SPEAKER_01: Way in the north, in this rural part of town called the Galilee region, in there is Nazareth.
SPEAKER_01: And in Galilee, Galilee was known for causing trouble.
SPEAKER_01: See, this region was known for like uprisings, and it was known, it had a history of rebellions against foreign powers.
SPEAKER_01: Remember, Rome was in charge in this whole area.
SPEAKER_01: And so the Romans would watch this area for uprisings or for rebellions.
SPEAKER_01: And this area was like filled with like anti-Roman agitators and bandits and revolutionaries.
SPEAKER_01: And it was it just had a history of people like causing all kinds of trouble.
SPEAKER_01: So the Roman Empire had its eyes on this part of the world, it was very unstable.
SPEAKER_01: Galilee is kind of like that friend you had growing up, you know, the friend who was from the other side of the tracks, who was always in trouble.
SPEAKER_01: The cops knew him by name.
SPEAKER_01: He was always saying, Hang on, wait, let me explain, let me explain.
SPEAKER_01: You know, that kid.
SPEAKER_01: Every story he started was like, uh, so we weren't allowed to be in there, but and then he'd go off.
SPEAKER_01: His house like always had one window that was like always broken, you like never knew why it was broken.
SPEAKER_01: Had a brother who smoked two packs a day, and he was only 14 years old.
SPEAKER_01: That hypocrite smoked two packs a day.
SPEAKER_01: Uh yeah, and he, you know, he had a Raging's Machine t-shirt on all the time.
SPEAKER_01: Jack Karouac novel in his back pocket.
SPEAKER_01: Okay, a couple.
SPEAKER_01: All right, fair enough.
SPEAKER_01: Any Jack Karouac fans in the house?
SPEAKER_01: Not at the last gathering either.
SPEAKER_01: I should have kept it out.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, moving on.
SPEAKER_01: That's Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: It's like this, it's this region that's full of like all kinds of uprisings and revolutionaries and bandits and like crazy things happening.
SPEAKER_01: And this is where Mary, this peasant, 14-year-old girl, was born and raised and living at this time in this region.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, Mary, her name, it comes from the Hebrew story.
SPEAKER_01: The Hebrew word is the word Miriam.
SPEAKER_01: You guys know who Miriam was?
SPEAKER_01: Miriam, believe it or not, was Moses' sister.
SPEAKER_01: Do you know Moses had a sister?
SPEAKER_01: Moses leads, I would say, along with Miriam, led the Exodus.
SPEAKER_01: They they undermined the Pharaoh, the great and mighty Pharaoh.
SPEAKER_01: And they undermined the Pharaoh and they escaped out from underneath the Pharaoh's slave, uh, you know, slavery enslavement, and they get free.
SPEAKER_01: And Miriam is a part of this.
SPEAKER_01: Like she's a revolutionary in herself.
SPEAKER_01: She's this incredibly brave woman.
SPEAKER_01: And when they cross over, remember, they're running for their lives, they cross the Red Sea, and all and then the waters part, they get through safely, and then when they're and then the Egyptian army comes in and the waters crash down and it kills you know thousands of soldiers.
SPEAKER_01: And when they get across to their side, Miriam, Moses' sister, you know, sings a song like you do.
SPEAKER_01: And here's what she sings.
SPEAKER_01: She grabs her tambourine and she sings this.
SPEAKER_01: Uh, she sings, uh, Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously.
SPEAKER_01: Horse and rider, he's thrown into the sea.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the bodies are probably still warm in the water.
SPEAKER_01: And she's, you know, it's cheering and singing with her tambourine.
SPEAKER_01: She was definitely Pentecostal with that tambourine going.
SPEAKER_01: Flags, Mary.
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
SPEAKER_01: This is who Mary, the mother of Jesus, is named after.
SPEAKER_01: Miriam.
SPEAKER_01: But the word the word Mary or Miriam, it can mean a number of things.
SPEAKER_01: It can mean bitter one.
SPEAKER_01: It can also mean, I don't know if you knew this, but it can also mean uh rebellious.
SPEAKER_01: Yo, hey, if you name your kid Miriam or Mary and they wind up rebellious, that's on you.
SPEAKER_01: That's your fault.
SPEAKER_01: You should have seen that coming.
SPEAKER_01: It's like naming your kid Maverick.
SPEAKER_01: Like, who does that?
SPEAKER_01: Or Gunner or Blaze or Maniac?
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who names their kid Maniac.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying.
SPEAKER_01: If you did, you know.
SPEAKER_01: Like nobody names their kid Maverick, and that kid, I mean, he never grows up to be an accountant with a white fort Taurus at a medium-sized house.
SPEAKER_01: That never happens.
SPEAKER_01: Maverick ends up being like a, you know, a rodeo clown or an astronaut or something like that, a gambler.
SPEAKER_01: Anyway, back to the sermon.
SPEAKER_01: Miriam.
SPEAKER_01: Her name is Miriam.
SPEAKER_01: It means rebellious.
SPEAKER_01: She's a rebellious one.
SPEAKER_01: She's 14.
SPEAKER_01: Growing up in this region full of revolutionaries and bandits and scoundrels and riffraff and who are anti-Roman agitators who've been oppressed a long time.
SPEAKER_01: This is Mary.
SPEAKER_01: I think Mary, to be frank, I think she was quite feisty.
SPEAKER_01: I really do.
SPEAKER_01: I love this.
SPEAKER_01: This is called Mary Punches the Devil.
SPEAKER_01: Mary was a bad mamma jamma.
SPEAKER_01: She was a bad mamma jamma, Mary was.
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
SPEAKER_01: That's Mary, a feisty 14-year-old girl who's gonna give birth to this baby, and sings this song, the song of revolution.
SPEAKER_01: And when she does it, it's an indication that like something, some kind of upheaval, an overturning of the way things are is coming.
SPEAKER_01: And she's declaring it as though it's already happened right here and right now.
SPEAKER_01: Remember her history.
SPEAKER_01: She's a Jew, a young Jewish girl.
SPEAKER_01: Her history is full of people waiting for the Messiah to come, an anointed king, a Messiah, Christ, to come and save them.
SPEAKER_01: They've been under now that in her day and age, they're under Roman rule, under the oppression of the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_01: They're far from being at home in their own land and ruling themselves.
SPEAKER_01: The temple's been corrupted.
SPEAKER_01: The Spirit of God has left the temple.
SPEAKER_01: It's like not things are not how they should be, and they're waiting for God to deliver them and to save them.
SPEAKER_01: And it's in this context that she belts out this song.
SPEAKER_01: And you have the Caesar who's in charge.
SPEAKER_01: He's the king of the day.
SPEAKER_01: He's this, you know, this tyrannical leader who's brought peace to the empire.
SPEAKER_01: But he brought peace through a sword, the poxromana is the historical term.
SPEAKER_01: And he's brought peace, but by like slaughtering people.
SPEAKER_01: It's wild.
SPEAKER_01: Herod, the king of the Jews, he's not really a Jewish king and like God didn't declare him king.
SPEAKER_01: He wasn't born as a king.
SPEAKER_01: No, the Romans made him king because he had close ties with the Roman Empire, his family.
SPEAKER_01: So he leverages those ties to become king, and he's given all this power and this land to be in charge of it.
SPEAKER_01: And he works with the Romans.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't honor God.
SPEAKER_01: He's not loyal to God.
SPEAKER_01: He's loyal to the Roman Empire.
SPEAKER_01: But he's the king of the Jews.
SPEAKER_01: And so it's under this regime that Mary sings this song.
SPEAKER_01: It's wild.
SPEAKER_01: This angel visits Mary's like, hey, you're gonna have a son.
SPEAKER_01: This son will be called Jesus or Yeshua, which means Yahweh saves.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus will save you.
SPEAKER_01: And she sings this song because salvation has come.
SPEAKER_01: This, my friends, would cause all kinds of trouble, especially in this region.
SPEAKER_01: She sings out loud, he's brought down the powerful, the kings from their thrones.
SPEAKER_01: He's torn them off their thrones.
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
SPEAKER_01: I can imagine Caesar driving to work, you know, maybe he's in the Uber that day, and he turns on the radio, maybe his uh maybe his Spotify, and he hears this song, and he's singing along.
SPEAKER_00: He's brought down the powerful from their thrones.
SPEAKER_01: And then it dawns on him.
SPEAKER_00: Wait a minute! That's me! Hey, turn this off! Turn this off.
SPEAKER_01: He calls the radio station.
SPEAKER_01: Get that song off the get it out of the play.
SPEAKER_01: We're not playing that song again.
SPEAKER_01: Put Mariah Carey back on.
SPEAKER_01: That's way better.
SPEAKER_01: They're talking about Herod and Caesar.
SPEAKER_01: No wonder Herod slaughters every infant under two years old.
SPEAKER_01: His throne, his power, his prestige is it is at ri is at play here.
SPEAKER_01: It's in danger.
SPEAKER_01: This is why places like India and Guatemala and Argentina wouldn't let people sing this song.
SPEAKER_01: It's very, very dangerous for people in power.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: See, there's two ways of being in the world.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: There's the way of the Caesar and the way of the Herod, the powers and the principalities of the world.
SPEAKER_01: And then there's this other way, this alternative vision of the way things can be ordered, the way of Miriam and Mary and Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Right?
SPEAKER_01: There's this way over here.
SPEAKER_01: You might call this Jordan love.
SPEAKER_01: This is the Bo Nick's way over here.
SPEAKER_01: I'm just telling you.
SPEAKER_01: My jokes are not working today.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: Any Packer fans in the house?
SPEAKER_01: Nobody.
SPEAKER_01: That's why it didn't work.
SPEAKER_01: Fair enough, okay.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that there's these two different ways of like seeing like the an ordering of the world.
SPEAKER_01: And this is in power right here and right now.
SPEAKER_01: And Mary is singing about a different way of ordering the world, this way over here.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: This would have caused all kinds of ruckus.
SPEAKER_01: By the way, a quick note on principalities and powers.
SPEAKER_01: So uh Paul uses this language.
SPEAKER_01: He says in Ephesians 6, that this is after Jesus, but Paul writes, we don't war against flesh and blood, but we war against the powers and principalities at play here.
SPEAKER_01: And there are definitely in this way over here powers and principalities.
SPEAKER_01: And these powers don't want to not be in charge.
SPEAKER_01: They like being in charge.
SPEAKER_01: They like the way things are right now.
SPEAKER_01: They like their power.
SPEAKER_01: They don't want to be taken away.
SPEAKER_01: If you push back against that, they will fight you.
SPEAKER_01: This is why these authoritarian leaders didn't want them to sing the song.
SPEAKER_01: Because their power was at stake.
SPEAKER_01: This is also why when you try to get sober, it's hard to do it.
SPEAKER_01: And your friends who you usually go out drinking with, they don't like it when you try to get sober.
SPEAKER_01: Like, no, what are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: You're upsetting the apple cut.
SPEAKER_01: What are you doing?
SPEAKER_01: You're messing with our order of life.
SPEAKER_01: We don't like that.
SPEAKER_01: Don't do that.
SPEAKER_01: Just come on with us.
SPEAKER_01: This is why, too, like when you're at work and you're like, I'm gonna stop lying, or at school, I'm gonna stop cheating.
SPEAKER_01: It's super hard.
SPEAKER_01: Because the systems around you probably endorse that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: Or everybody's doing it.
SPEAKER_01: And so when you go against the flow, it's super hard.
SPEAKER_01: Or when you finally decide to like work on your marriage, like I'm that's it, I'm done, we're gonna we're going to counseling, or we're gonna we're gonna read a book together, we're gonna pray.
SPEAKER_01: It's super Difficult because the powers and principalities at work don't want change.
SPEAKER_01: When you're a dysfunctional family, right?
SPEAKER_01: And you're like, I'm done.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna get sucked into the rabbit hole anymore, I'm not doing that anymore.
SPEAKER_01: Or when they say to you, because you're the dysfunctional one, hey, we're done with your dysfunction.
SPEAKER_01: You know, it's super hard to change.
SPEAKER_01: Because the powers and principalities, the way things are, they don't like change.
SPEAKER_01: Now, people think about this in different ways.
SPEAKER_01: Some people think that Paul meant, like, oh, by principalities and powers, he meant like a demon with like horns and a and a tail and a pitchfork running around terrorizing people.
SPEAKER_01: Others think that he just meant, oh no, just really mean people, you know.
SPEAKER_01: But maybe it's more like this: like there are these evil forces at work.
SPEAKER_01: And I know this sounds mystical, but just bear with me.
SPEAKER_01: Evil and dark forces at work, sort of promoting an alternative way of life.
SPEAKER_01: And these forces are often embodied in human structures or human kingdoms or human systems.
SPEAKER_01: A great example is Nazi Germany.
SPEAKER_01: Like, what is Nazi Germany?
SPEAKER_01: It's bigger than Hitler.
SPEAKER_01: Hitler's been dead for decades, but Nazism is still around.
SPEAKER_01: You can feel it, you can sense it, you know it's there.
SPEAKER_01: Nazism like this powerful evil force is like at work and at play, this power and principality that becomes embodied when people sort of begin to own this thing.
SPEAKER_01: You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_01: Rome was definitely seen that way in the ancient world.
SPEAKER_01: Rome had embodied this sort of evil force, oppressing other people, crucifying people, it was crazy and madness.
SPEAKER_01: And so these powers and principalities are at work here.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus, the scripture says, came to confront and overturn the powers and to go to war with these principalities and to turn them upside down.
SPEAKER_01: And this, my friends, is very dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: It is very dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: It's dangerous.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus comes to do this thing, to turn things upside down, yeah, upside down.
SPEAKER_00: There we go.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: And this song is the great reversal.
SPEAKER_01: She's like teeing it up.
SPEAKER_01: Things were this way, but now they're gonna be this way.
SPEAKER_01: And she says it a number of times.
SPEAKER_01: She says, hey, look, he's looked upon the lowly with favor.
SPEAKER_01: Well, in the ancient world, the lowly never were deemed favorable.
SPEAKER_01: Mary also sings, he's scattered the proud.
SPEAKER_01: In the ancient world, no, the proud were elevated and lifted up.
SPEAKER_01: That was sort of the Greco-Roman way to do things.
SPEAKER_01: Also, he's brought down the powerful from their thrones.
SPEAKER_01: He's lifted up the low, he's reversing everything here.
SPEAKER_01: Then she says this as well.
SPEAKER_01: He's filled the hunger with good things and he sent away the rich empty.
SPEAKER_01: And this is a hallmark of Luke's gospel.
SPEAKER_01: Luke does this a lot.
SPEAKER_01: He sort of flips everything upside down on its head.
SPEAKER_01: Things are reversed.
SPEAKER_01: The first or last, the last or first.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said that.
SPEAKER_01: It's how it works in the kingdom of God.
SPEAKER_01: It's sort of upside down.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's the deal.
SPEAKER_01: This is super good news if you're poor and oppressed, and if you're the lowly, if you're the outsider, if you're the marginalized, if you're the weak, if you need to have your bellies filled, then that's good news for you, right?
SPEAKER_01: But uh, here's the elephant in the room.
SPEAKER_01: If that's not you, this might be a warning for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you find yourself on the top of some power structures or some even some hierarchies of value or any kind of hierarchy that it might be a warning to you.
SPEAKER_01: Hey, be careful how you use your power.
SPEAKER_01: If you are a person, if you're a CEO, if you're a pastor, if you're a head coach of a football team, if you are a political leader, be careful how you use your power.
SPEAKER_01: Because the great reversal is coming.
SPEAKER_01: And those who abuse their power, be careful.
SPEAKER_01: Now here's one more elephant in the room, and I want to say this when I just qualify, just hang with me, okay?
SPEAKER_01: Don't throw stones at me just yet.
SPEAKER_01: Buckle up for just a second.
SPEAKER_01: Uh a couple folks came and got me after we were at the first gathering, but it's all good.
SPEAKER_01: Um I want to say this though.
SPEAKER_01: That uh America as a nation is has much more in common with Rome than it does with Israel.
SPEAKER_01: America with all of our power and our wealth, enormous wealth, greater wealth in the history of the world, this country has.
SPEAKER_01: Privilege and power and influence, social, cultural influence.
SPEAKER_01: Hollywood, New York City, our sports teams.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, we're done.
SPEAKER_01: America is much more like Rome in this way.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying America's an oppressive military, I'm not saying that.
SPEAKER_01: I'm saying with all of our wealth and all of our access to health care and technology, we are much more, we have much more in common than Rome than we do a 14-year-old peasant girl who grew up in a small peasant country or area called Nazareth.
SPEAKER_01: Now, we read the Bible as though we're the underdog, because we Americans, we love an underdog story, because we were once underdogs, you know, in the Revolutionary War, we went to war with the great British Empire with pitchforks and shovels, and we won somehow.
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
SPEAKER_01: But now we're much more like Rome with this incredible reach and and wealth and all that we have.
unknown: Yeah.
SPEAKER_01: Now, here's the thing though, too.
SPEAKER_01: There might be some of us in this room who who do, even in the midst of this beautiful, prosperous country, which I love, and I live here, I love this place.
SPEAKER_01: There might be some of you in the individually that are impoverished and really have empty bellies, and the rent is due, and you don't have anything and no family, no support.
SPEAKER_01: I get that.
SPEAKER_01: I hear you.
SPEAKER_01: And there might be you like in this room, like, hey, I'm I'm not wealthy compared to them, and I get that too.
SPEAKER_01: But I just would want to say, again, this is good news to the lowly, and it's a warning to those who are in power or who have lots and who don't handle it in these proper ways.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're here today and you're like, hey, Ryan, I'm not poor, I'm not lowly, dude.
SPEAKER_01: I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: I got plum, I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: And uh Ryan, I'm not, I'm not, I don't know what it's like to be weak.
SPEAKER_01: I'm not, I'm not, I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: Then I would say I don't have any good news for you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: I don't.
SPEAKER_01: If you're here like I got it all I got all together, my life is good, man.
SPEAKER_01: I'm fine.
SPEAKER_01: Don't worry about me, I'm good.
SPEAKER_01: Then I probably don't have anything to share with you this morning.
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01: But there might be others of you in here that need to hear this good news.
SPEAKER_01: And here's the good news.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus doesn't really care about your power or your wealth or your position at work.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't care about that really so much.
SPEAKER_01: He's not super interested in how squeaky clean you are and how much you have it all together and how, you know, what a role model you are for the community in the neighborhood.
SPEAKER_01: He doesn't really not that interested in that.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, good for you, but he's not that not that interested in that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01: He's interested in the places in your life where your dreams have burned to the ground.
SPEAKER_01: And you sit among the ashes.
SPEAKER_01: Where you're broken and weak, and you need something.
SPEAKER_01: Because you can't face tomorrow.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus is interested in.
SPEAKER_01: Where all the all the playing of games and all the you know, acting and pretending you're just tired of it.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Jesus is interested in.
SPEAKER_01: That's where he's coming, that's where the great reversal will happen.
SPEAKER_01: The good news is that you can finally stop pretending.
SPEAKER_01: And stop white knuckling it.
SPEAKER_01: And stop trying to give yourself a pep talk and read all the self-help stuff that's good, but it's not what's gonna you can finally stop.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're here today and you're behind on your rent and your fridge is empty, or you're ashamed, you can't overcome your addiction, and you keep getting your own way, or you're exhausted, and you just you're too tired to pray, and your soul feels weak, and you've lost your faith.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is good news for you.
SPEAKER_01: Because that's where Jesus is found.
SPEAKER_01: I think about my mom who lost her husband a month and a half ago.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the many of you who've lost a loved one this time of the year.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is good news.
SPEAKER_01: This is the gospel for you.
SPEAKER_01: That Jesus will meet you there.
SPEAKER_01: Mary's song is almost a verbatim quote of another song in the Hebrew Bible called Hannah's Song.
SPEAKER_01: Hannah writes this in her song.
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
SPEAKER_01: He raises the poor from the dust and he lifts the needy from the ash heap, or the garbage dump is what it says.
SPEAKER_01: He seats him with princes and he has an uh he has them inherit a throne of honor.
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's good news.
SPEAKER_01: If you find yourself in some way sitting on the ash heap or in a garbage dump, yeah, you're in good company.
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I would say then.
SPEAKER_01: This advent, sit there and wait.
SPEAKER_01: That's where Jesus will find you.
SPEAKER_01: In your lostness, your brokenness, your disappointedness, your your broken heartedness, your meekness.
SPEAKER_01: Sit there and wait.
SPEAKER_01: Because Jesus is coming.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.