Mary's Visit to Elizabeth The interaction between Mary and Elizabeth is such an important moment in the story of Jesus’ birth. Elizabeth is likely the first person Mary told about her pregnancy, and, just to recap, Elizabeth’s pregnancy is a miraculous one as well. In both cases a messenger from God gave special instruction that these children would be a team to usher in the kingdom of God on earth. Elizabeth and Zechariah were childless and Elizabeth was said to be barren, with both of them, as the scriptures say “getting on in years” – but one day a messenger from God came to Zechariah while he was taking his turn serving in the temple. The messenger proclaimed the child to come and told Zechariah to name him John, and that he was going to be a herald of the messiah, to prepare the people for their Lord. But when Zechariah heard this he, perhaps, scoffed, because when he questioned Gabriel, the messenger, on how this was possible, he was struck mute until his son John was born and named. And, as we read a couple weeks ago, Mary, too, was visited by Gabriel and told of her own coming pregnancy, that her son was to be given the throne of his ancestor David, that he would have the never-ending kingdom and would be called the Son of God. And he let her in on the miracle of Elizabeth being already 6-months pregnant. The next sentence of Luke’s gospel has Mary going hastily to a town in Judea to see Elizabeth. It's more than notable that Mary and Elizabeth are the ones carrying the scenes forward. Joseph has zero lines in the story, and Zechariah is at the moment struck mute. In an age where the importance is usually put on men, the story of God’s coming among us begins with these two women. God knows, if you want something done right, put the ladies in charge. As soon as Mary speaks, Elizabeth tells her, Elizabeth’s child leaps for joy! “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” (Luke 1:42-43) Already, the first person to proclaim Jesus as Lord is Elizabeth. A very important moment in the gospel, a most important moment in the story of the Savior’s birth – and Elizabeth gets the honor. Much later, at the empty tomb, it is again the women who will first tell the story of God’s amazing work in Jesus. Next is Mary’s turn to talk about the work of God in Jesus – and with words borrowed from Hannah in 1 Samuel, and words that echo the most terrifying proclamation of the prophets and psalmists, Mary describes the work of God. Most notably: [God] 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. “In Mary’s Magnificat we find a picture of a God who has a heart for the underdog and is concerned about people who have been made to feel like nobodies. Those are the one God lifts up. This is the character of the God proclaimed in the Scriptures. That is the character of God’s Son.” (Hamilton, p. 77). "The Magnificat is a powerful reminder of an important dimension of God’s character and of God’s calling on the lives of God’s people. God cares for those who have been made to feel small by others and those who have nothing. God uses people to [fill the] hungry. And God calls those who, in the eyes of the world, have been successful, to humble ourselves, to lift others up, and to bless and help those in need." (Hamilton, p. 78-79). In our own preparations for Christmas, how are we joining God in the kingdom Jesus set in motion? Do we share a gospel that shows the equality and justice of a world where the hungry are fed by the act of sending the rich away empty? Are the lowly lifted up by the bringing down of the powerful, do we more fully realize the worth of our neighbor, and see the image of God – neither above nor below another – in all our fellow humans? In our book (and video) Hamilton shares some ideas of Christmas giving that have been transformative for some congregations and people, and that have been one way of living into the ethos of the Magnificat. However we choose to live this out, we do so because we recognize that our salvation is inextricably tied up in our neighbor’s. God’s kingdom is realized when all come together to build a world of peace, joy, and love – where all are seen with the dignity of image of God, beloved child God. Jesus came that all might be saved – the rich from their wealth, the poor from their hunger – and his method is that we do this together. Mary and Elizabeth are powerful women in this story, and they display the revolutionary nature of the kingdom of God coming to the world. It’s not through the powerful and mighty that God delivers the world, but through the child of a poor girl from Nazareth and first proclaimed by a formerly barren woman with a miracle baby; through this child of Mary who would grow to be a humble yet revolutionary teacher, die on a cross, rise from the dead, and lead generations of his followers to bring in the everlasting and radically equalizing kingdom of God on earth. *Our resource this advent, which I quote a couple times, is Adam Hamilton's The Journey: Walking the Road to Bethlehem. Abingdon Press, 2021.
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AuthorRev. Chris Sesvold is currently the pastor at Halfway Creek Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Holmen, WI. Archives
October 2021
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