December 15, 2023
‘So, just risk everything with no guarantees as to the outcome-that’s what sacrifice is.’
While taking trips down the celluloid memory lane during the recent SAG strike, I stumbled on Suits, and the above quote stopped me dead in my tracks.
I will leave it to you to watch the show for context, but wow, what a quote! Sort of a “Wish I had had a V-8” for those who remember those ancient commercials.
Sacrifice: risking everything with no guarantee as to the outcome.
I think the same insight can be made of our faith.
Faith in our God – Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer – oftentimes calls for risk-taking sacrifice; faith that ‘God’s Will will be done as we live in faith, even though the outcome is not a sure deal – at least not within the context of our own mortality.
This sacrificial, risk-taking faith really came to mind this Advent as I considered the risk-taking sacrificial faith of those individuals that gathered in ‘little Bethlehem.’
We know their stories – but do we understand the depth of their faith?
And what about those within their support system who also took sacrificial risks without any assurance as to a positive outcome?
Mary, the unwed teen in a culture where such a condition brought the possibility of death both for her and her unborn child. The young girl took a sacrificial risk and agreed to step out in faith “let it be done to me” as the Lord said. Mary had no clue what was coming – yet she was willing to risk her reputation, to sacrifice her future and perhaps her very life, for God’s divine plan.
And what of Mary’s parents? We never think much about them – but what of them? Mary’s condition was culturally a source of great shame, yet we don’t hear of her parents casting her out of their home, shunning their daughter for her situation, refusing to listen to what she had to say about the elephant in the room.’
We hear nothing at all. I find that curious: could it be that they believed her, continued to love her, and were willing to sacrifice their right to judge their daughter as they chose to appropriate Mary’s risk-taking faith as their own? Seems so.
Joseph – another sacrificial risk-taker. His default position was to take the high road and just quietly divorce Mary and leave her and her unborn child to figure out life on their own. After all, why should he care? This wasn’t his child, and so not his problem. But, as we know, the angel came to him in a dream and told him the truth of the situation….
Sounds easy enough. After all, if the angel told him it must be true!
But how many times have we ourselves dreamed dreams, or felt a ‘holy nudge,’ we just knew we were to act on; but instead, like Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol, we trivialized the dream/nudge as the consequence of something as mundane as indigestion!?
Not so Joseph! He risked his reputation, sacrificed his future prospects of marrying a woman not already ‘with child,’ and stepped out in faith not knowing what the outcome would be.
And what of Joseph’s family? Apparently, he wasn’t kicked out of the family carpentry business, but resumed his vocation once the Holy Family’s escape to Egypt was over and they could return home. Joseph’s familial support system seemingly risked in faith to support him as well.
What Mary, Joseph, and their families chose to do is huge.
They chose to take a risk that God was in the midst of what was going on. They chose to sacrifice their ‘rights’ in deference to God’s righteous plan.
They were willing to sacrifice everything without knowing how things would shake out either in the world at large or for themselves personally.
They lived in sacrificial faith in the One in Whom they believed!
And that is our call as well, not only during Advent, but throughout our lives.
Are we willing to risk our prestige and put aside our egos to ‘do what needs doing’ in faith-filled love of God and all others without exception?
Are we willing to refrain from judging others but rather offer ourselves as a support system for those whose lives are a mess?
Do we seek to listen so we might discover the deepest needs around us (which always comes down to the need for love and inclusion) and then gently walk with them on their journey of faith where that need is satisfied.
Are we willing to advocate for the shunned, and risk being shunned by the ‘religious leaders’ ourselves when Christ’s teachings conflict with human teachings?
Are we willing to sacrifice our need to be right so we might hear another point of view and risk being wrong ourselves?
Are we willing to risk loving unconditionally, sacrificially – loving as God loves – with no guarantee that we will ‘achieve a positive outcome’?
Bottom line:
Are we willing to follow Christ alone even when we might die – physically/socially/economically – somewhere along the way?
We live in terrifying times. Times of entitlement; times of demonization of the other; times where the default solution to any problem is violence. Times devoid of love – sacrificial, risk-taking love.
We are spiraling out of control.
BUT
In the midst of all this hate-filled chaos – there is a voice which says – “Father, forgive them, they don’t know what they’re doing”.
It’s the voice of sacrificial love!
The voice of the one who became flesh at Christmas time.
The voice we are called to follow in the living of our lives if we truly believe He is the Christ.
Perhaps this is our opportunity to live lives of risk-taking sacrificial faith out of our love for Him.
We might not see the outcome in our own lifetime.
But then, it’s not all about us, is it?
Is such faith worth the risk?
Mary, Joseph, and countless unnamed others seemed to think so.
Perhaps such lived out faith is to be our gift to God this Christmas…..
And to God be the glory! AMEN.
Preacher Woman 