Great Expectations: Rediscovering the Hope of AdventSample

The first Sunday of Advent is the Sunday of hope. In fact, the whole season of advent is about hope, the hope of Israel that God will make good on His promises. We look back to, for example, the prophecies and promises of the book of Isaiah that say that a child is going to be born who will then become the Prince of Peace and bring peace to a needy world. In this season, we are reminded of a popular Advent hymn: “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”:

Come thou long expected Jesus
born to set Thy people free,
from our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,
hope of all the earth Thou art,
dear desire of every nation,
joy of every longing heart.

As we sing that hymn in the Advent season, we are reminded of Mary's Magnificat, sometimes called “Mary's Song of Praise.” Here we have Mary, the mother of Jesus, who's just found out that she's with child in a miraculous way.

She goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, and as she greets her cousin, she bursts out into song:

"And Mary said, ‘My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me, holy is His name. His mercy extends to those who fear Him, from generation to generation. He has performed mighty deeds with His arm, He has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He has brought down rulers from their thrones, He has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful to Abraham and His descendants forever, just as He promised our ancestors." (Luke 1:46-55)

This song is not just about Mary. In those first few verses, she reflects on the great things God has done for this nobody in a world full of powerful men. At the same time, six of the nine hymn verses are about what God will do through this child for the whole world. God will turn upside down the injustices she and many people around her have experienced.

One of the keywords that Mary uses in the song of praise is mercy. God is merciful, compassionate, and caring. You see, in Mary's world, the gods of the nations were not known to be compassionate and merciful. But Mary remembers the tenderhearted nature of her God.

When we sing Mary's song with her today, we're not just looking back on what God has already done in the past. That's part of it; that's part of the hope we sing about at this time of year.

It's also about singing this song with hope about what God is still doing in His world.

As Mary does, we can sing very personally about what God has done in our life. But the rest of this song is about these great overturning of injustices that God has yet to do.

And we can have hope for that as well. Mary clearly believed that this child would indeed be Israel's strength and consolation. As we light candles, gather together, go to church, and pray in the Advent season, we mustn't be just looking back, but we're also looking forward with the same hope that filled Mary and gave her a song of praise.

(Adapted from a message by Nijay Gupta.)