Third Sunday in Advent
Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Luke 1:46-55 And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
As beloved as
the film is now, It’s A Wonderful Life
was not all that well received at the time it was released. It was a bomb, in fact. Frank Capra lost more than $500,000 on it. That doesn’t mean that people hated it – just
that they were uninterested in it, I guess. But you know who really did hate
it? The FBI. They issued a memo after it was released
calling it “Communist infiltration of the motion picture
industry.” They claimed it was an
obvious attempt to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore, who played
Mr. Potter, as a ‘Scrooge-type’ so that he would be the most hated man in the film.
This, they said, is a common trick used by Communists.[1]
Looking back
and considering the climate of the times, not to mention that the FBI director
was J. Edgar Hoover, it isn’t surprising that they found it to be suspiciously
anti-American. In that climate of fear
that was beginning to take hold in the United States, people were prone to see
things a bit too narrowly, a bit too black and white, and make overly broad
generalizations. Fear will do that to
people.
But the
character of Mr. Potter is not really intended to represent any individual – banker
or otherwise. He symbolizes certain
weaknesses, certain flaws of humankind and society. As I have said, the character of Potter
represents evil, something that is present to some degree in every human heart.
A lot has
happened in the story of George Bailey since last week. After he confronted Mr. Potter so boldly, the
board of the Building and Loan insisted that George take over its management. So, once again, his dream of leaving Bedford
Falls was deferred. He married, started
a family, and settled into the rhythms of life in this small town he both loved
and hated.
His
management of the Building and Loan was true to the little speech he gave that
day in the meeting with the board of directors.
He worked with the poor folks in Bedford Falls, giving them a hand when
he could, a chance to lift themselves out of poverty – a chance to do something
other than crawl to Potter. Of course,
this meant that the Building and Loan was never as prosperous as the big bank,
run by Mr. Potter.
One day
something happened that changed everything.
Uncle Billy misplaced the day’s deposits. It was about $8000. He was at the bank and began talking to Mr.
Potter, got distracted, and forgot to pick up his envelope. Guess who walked away with it and never said
a word.
This was a
crisis of the highest order for George and the Building and Loan. This was when George went crawling to Mr.
Potter in desperation and this is where Mr. Potter truly exemplified evil. For all intents and purposes, he had stolen
the money. He listened to George beg for
his help. And he laughed in his face, telling George he would be worth more
dead than alive. Do you see what I mean
about evil?
As low as he
was already, it was enough to tip him over the edge. George went to the bridge
intending to jump. But this was where the angel of the Lord came in. He was a scruffy little angel named Clarence,
sent to redeem George. The way he did it
was to show George what things would be like if he had never been born. Over the course of the evening, George could
see that all the small faithful steps he had taken in his life had made a significant
impact on the lives of others and the quality of his community. And in this scene, we will see how that
affected him.
***
Isn’t it
funny to hear George gush with love for this town, the town he couldn’t wait to
get away from? He can see everything
with new eyes now, because he has been given the chance to see everything from
above. It’s a rare and unique gift he
has been given. Most of us will never
have this.
George was
able to see what it would be like to lose everything – without actually losing
it. I guess that’s why some people find
this movie too saccharine. Because most
of us only learn what it would be like to lose something by actually losing
it. Such is the case in the reading we
heard from Isaiah today.
The people of
Israel had experienced a great loss.
Their land had been taken from them by those who hated them, and they
were sent into exile far from home. In
their eyes they had lost everything. But
then a prophet, who was probably even scruffier than the angel Clarence –
because prophets tend to be the scruffy type – came to them with a message of
hope:
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall
rejoice and blossom; strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who are of a fearful heart, “Be strong, do not fear! Here is your
God.”
And thus promises were
made to the people of Israel from the God they thought had been lost to them. In their darkest moment, I wonder how well
they could believe it.
Belief does not always
come easily. When everything around us
seems dark, it can be hard to believe in the light that will overcome
darkness. I don’t know if there is an
increase in violence during the holiday season, but it seems to me that most
years our observance of Advent is affected by stunningly awful events. Three years ago at this time we were reeling
from the tragedy at Sandy Hook elementary school. Last year we were watching riots in Ferguson,
the shooting of Tamir Rice in Cleveland, and rising tensions over the deaths of
too many young back men. This year is no
better. When all we see is violence,
answered by more violence, it can be hard to imagine peace. When we are overwhelmed by the suffering us, it
can be hard to believe that the Lord will lift up the lowly and fill the hungry
with good things, as the young girl Mary sings.
Isn’t Mary
magnificent? Barely more than a child
herself, she has just been visited by an angel and told the most outlandish
thing: that she will bear a child, by the power of the Holy Spirit, and he will
be called the Son of God. “Do not be
afraid,” the angel says. And Mary
replies, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord.
Let it be with me according to your word.”
Somehow, Mary
believed. I don’t know if anyone else
believed it, but somehow Mary did.
Belief is a
peculiar thing, because it asks us to look beyond what our eyes can see. We see the corruption of power, and Mary sings
the proud will be scattered and the lowly shall be blessed. We see poverty, loneliness, and desperation,
and Isaiah proclaims the Lord has remembered his people and there will be joy –
everlasting joy.
The vision of
Isaiah, and the vision of Mary, is a vision of how things are intended to
be. It is a glorious vision, some would
say unrealistic, because it is a vision of the ultimate reign of God.
Can you
believe in it?
It does
require some divine intervention – but make no mistake; divine intervention is
always available. It’s why we come here
and gather together – for our prayers to be heard and to hear God’s claim on
us, to gather around a little light in this darkest time of the year. To carry that light back out into the world.
With a little
divine intervention, George could see that his life, which had never seemed
like enough, was actually rich with blessing.
George could see that his life was worth living. It really was a wonderful life. There were debts to pay and battles to fight,
difficult people and hard losses. But
even so, it was a wonderful life.
It really is
a wonderful life
Believe it.
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