Sunday, December 22, 2024
The Fourth Sunday of Advent
The Virgin Mary visits Elizabeth
The Rev. Wendy Wilkinson, Rector
St. Paul’s Episcopal Church
Katy, TX 77450
In this morning’s Gospel, we encounter two pregnant women. One is older and past the normal time of childbearing, the other is a young girl of perhaps fourteen. The Holy Spirit has come upon Mary and she has conceived a child. Now she goes to the house of Zechariah, to be with Elizabeth, her cousin. It is at this point that Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaims with a loud voice, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. She feels her own unborn child kick out with joy. Elizabeth, in the power of the Spirit, tells Mary that she is blessed because she believed what God has told her, that she would conceive and bear a son. Elizabeth is a prophet to Mary, assuring Mary of the fulfillment of the words spoken to her by the angel, Gabriel. Mary is then able to respond from her own relationship with God in the words of the Magnificat.
There is another woman’s song earlier in the Bible that is strikingly similar to Mary’s Magnificat. This woman too, like Elizabeth was older and had suffered shame from her community because of her inability to conceive a child. Like Elizabeth’s child, John, this other woman bore a son who became a great prophet. Her name was Hannah, the mother of Samuel. She too sang a song to the Lord in gratitude for what the Lord had done for her by giving her a son, Samuel, in her old age. I thought it would be interesting to actually hear the two songs, the Magnificat and the Song of Hannah, so ______ will read the Magnificat and I will read Hannah’s song.
Mary: 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,
Hannah: Hannah prayed and said, “My heart exults in the LORD; my strength is exalted in my God. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in my victory.”
Mary: 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.
Hannah: There is no Holy One like the LORD, no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God.
Mary: 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.
Hannah: Talk no more so very proudly, let not arrogance come from your mouth; for the LORD is a God of knowledge, and by him actions are weighed. The bows of the mighty are broken, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry are fat with spoil . . . He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts the needy from the ash heap, to make them sit with princes and inherit a seat of honor.
Both of these songs proclaim how God is working through these two lowly women for the sake of all the people of Israel. They are prophets to their own people just as much as their sons will be prophets to Israel and in Jesus to all people. Mary, Elizabeth and Hannah proclaim how God cares for those who are oppressed, those who are afflicted. In Judaism, wealth, status, and health were signs of God’s favor. These women proclaim that contrary to their societal norms, God’s favor is with those on the margins of society, that God will raise up the poor and bring down the powerful. These women, who were considered the property of their husbands and had no voice in their culture trusted in God to provide for them. God did not protect them from suffering; Elizabeth and Mary both saw their sons murdered by those who welded political power. But they both trusted in God to be with them in their joy and in their sorrow and pain. They were also present to each other. Mary went with haste to be with Elizabeth during her pregnancy.
Mary in the Magnificat is prophetically proclaiming the coming Kingdom of God that will bring healing, redemption and liberation to the world. The Kingdom of God that Jesus will proclaim in his own life and ministry.
Jesus came to John to be baptized in the Jordon River, where the Spirit descended upon Jesus. Just as Mary went to Elizabeth when she was filled with the Holy Spirit. Both John and Jesus, as adults, proclaim the same prophetic message of God’s care for God’s people.
Jesus reiterates the words of his mother in his own ministry as he announces what the Kingdom of God looks like to the people gathered to hear him teach:
Blessed are you who are poor,
for yours is the kingdom of God.
Blessed are you who are hungry now,
for you will be filled.
Blessed are you who weep now,
for you will laugh.
But woe to you who are rich,
for you have received your consolation.
Woe to you who are full now,
for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who are laughing now,
for you will mourn and weep. (Luke 6:20-25)
In the Beatitudes, we hear the echo of Hannah’s Song, the reiteration of Mary’s Magnificat. Blessed are the poor, those who sorrow, those who hunger because it is these people who are most open to God’s actions. We are called to depend and trust on God, not on our own riches or cultural norms. We are to be with each other as Mary was with Elizabeth and Jesus came to John. Elizabeth, Mary, John and Jesus knew the power of God’s Spirit working through them in their own lives. They unreservedly spoke of that power to those around them. They were open to God working through them even at the cost of their own suffering.
There is an icon of Christ that is hanging in the back of the nave. It is an ancient icon of Christ that if you look at the left side of his face, it appears to be open, loving, accepting. This is the Christ that says, Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest, (Matt.11:28) the one we eagerly embrace. The other side of Christ’s face is harsh, glaring and somewhat frightening. It is Christ the prophet, the stark direct Christ that challenges us to grow.
Christ the prophet is the one who challenges us to grow in faith. Jesus, like his mother, asks us to trust God in all things. Have you ever noticed that our churches are named for Christ the King, Christ the Savior, or Good Shepherd? Not once have I come across a church called Christ the Prophet. It is that challenging aspect of the gospels that we prefer to not deal with. This is the Christ who spoke the Beatitudes, the Christ who challenged the religious authorities of his day. Jesus the Christ, who called people to repent and return to God. The Jesus who told the rich young man to give all he had to the poor and then “come follow me.”
Today, the Gospel challenges us to look into the eyes of the prophetic Christ, the one most of us would prefer to ignore. During Advent we have heard the prophetic words of John the Baptist, to prepare ourselves for the second coming of Christ, when God’s Kingdom will be fully present in our world. This last Sunday of Advent we are asked to examine ourselves through the words of a young pregnant woman who trusted in God and gave herself fully to that divine love. Before we rejoice this week on Christmas Eve celebrating the coming of God’s Love into our dark world, take the time to ponder Mary’s words so that you too can say, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”