Advent 4C Luke 1:39-49, (50-56)
December 19, 2021, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Little Rock.
On this fourth Sunday in Advent, a few days before Christmas, the atmosphere in our church is more like a hospital maternity waiting room where all the relatives gather during these last hours before the birth of the family’s first baby.
But in our excitement, we are ahead of our story. Back up. Teenage Mary from upstate Galilee, possibly thirteen years old, engaged to Joseph the carpenter, descended from King David, is visited by an angel, Gabriel. Mary’s eyes must have said “no,”/ for the angel’s first words are “Fear not.” Gabriel then delivers to Mary the first Christmas card, “Rejoice,/ the Lord is with you,/ you have found favor with God.” The angel then promptly tells Mary she will be the God-bearer, the Mother of God, Theotokos (THEE-oh-Toh-kus), our Greek friends will call her.
The heavens and the stars all hold their breath for that one moment waiting for Mary’s answer. Mary’s response is not “well--ll, I suppose so” or “if you say so,” or “well I don’t like this, but you are the boss.” Instead, Mary says, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38). With that,/ Mary agrees to smuggle God into this world inside her own body, and the sun and the stars give a great SIGH of relief and begin to breathe again.
But making a decision to say “yes” does not mean Mary is not frightened. She is so worried she asks her parents to let her leave town for a while and visit her relative Elizabeth, a priest’s wife, who lives south in the Judean hill country. Mary longs for a kindred spirit in this time of crisis, and Gabriel tells her that Elizabeth is also having a miraculous birth. If anyone can, Elizabeth will support her. Elizabeth is older than Mary, but never patted Mary on the head or used that tone of voice adults utilize when speaking down to children. Instead, Elizabeth has always treated Mary like a friend, a soul mate. Mary’s parents respond, “Yes, Mary, you have been looking a little peaked lately. Perhaps a visit to the country will do you good.”/ Mary leaves, and on the long, dangerous journey, probably in a caravan, she now has even more time to worry. Will Joseph stick around? Will her parents still love her? Will she be dragged into town and stoned? How will she, a pregnant teenager, take care of a baby, with no place to live, no way to get food, no one to help her?
When Mary arrives at Elizabeth’s, she is a mental wreck, but at the sight of her beloved cousin humming softly in her outdoor courtyard in the sunlight, she forgets all her fears. Elizabeth is six months pregnant and gorgeous. Not movie star gorgeous, but so full of life that it is hard to see anything but her joy, what Frederick Buechner calls “joy beyond the walls of the world.” Her grey hair is plaited and tied under a scarf. As Elizabeth takes Mary’s hands in hers, the girl cannot help but notice the dark spots on Elizabeth’s hands, the ones that come with age. The younger woman, hardly showing, then moves Elizabeth’s hand to her body and whispers, “ I am going to have a baby as well!” Luke then tells us that the baby in Elizabeth’s tummy leaps for joy. Actually, the Greek translation says the baby we know as John the Baptist “dances” for joy./ Elizabeth then takes in a deep breath as she is filled with the Holy Spirit and sings those beautiful words that Roman Catholic friends recite daily with their rosary, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Except Elizabeth didn’t just say the Hail Mary, the gospel tells us she “exclaims it in a loud cry.” She shouts it!
After Elizabeth lets loose,/ it is Mary’s turn again. The younger generation now enlightens her mentor, launching into a prophecy that we sing or recite today, especially in Evening Prayer. /This exchange between Mary and Elizabeth models for us what happens when we recognize and affirm God in each other. Our feet start tapping. We want to make music: harp, guitar, drums, violins, organ, an entire symphony to accompany the outpouring of our joy and gratitude. Mary’s voice and heart sings the Magnificat, “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.”
What allows Elizabeth and Mary to sing in harmony is gratitude and praise for God being alive within each other. Each one carries that presence in her body, kicking and growing until no one looking at her can miss it. This always happens when we recognize God’s presence in each other.
Mind you, the Magnificat is not a wimpy sentimental song. If you think Mary and Elizabeth are sweet and retiring, re-read Luke. “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones.” /
For the next three months, Mary stays with Elizabeth and must have been present at John’s birth. Imagine the beautiful music at that home? /
In the first two chapters of Luke’s gospel, everyone sings. Until John is born, there is only a women’s chorus. For that same angel who visited Mary silenced Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband. But then, with John’s arrival, Zechariah pours out the powerful Benedictus our choir sang on Advent 2, “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. He has raised up a mighty savior for us in the house of his servant David.”/
And so, our story on this fourth Sunday in Advent from Luke has become the first act of a musical where everyone has a singing part: Gabriel sings, Elizabeth and Mary sing, Zachariah sings. And in a few hours in the second and third acts, we will hear more angels, heavenly hosts, shepherds, and later old Simeon will even sing./
Barbara Brown Taylor tells us that this musical also has a dance part, and it is a divine dance where God gives each of us the opportunity to play a role. God leads,/ but it is up to us whether we will follow. It is a two-step, just like that relationship between Mary and Elizabeth when they see God in each other. God acts. Then it is our turn. God responds to us. Then it is our turn again. The only thing that is absolutely certain in this scenario is that our partner is always, always with us and supports us and wants us to have that same new life and a new spirit within us that is gifted to Mary.////
The birth of Christ not only happened 2000 years ago. We are here because the living Christ is inside each of us, ready to be born. Mary’s trust in that fact is all she has. What she does not have is a 3-D fetal ultrasound, a husband, or a written sworn statement from the Holy Spirit saying, “The child is mine. Leave this young girl alone.” All she has is her unreasonable willingness to believe God has chosen her,/ and that is enough to make her burst into song. She does not wait to see how things will turn out later on. She trusts the Holy Spirit, and sings ahead of time,/// and all the angels sing with her.///
If there is some restlessness going on inside you right now, and your stomach is rolling with your own version of morning sickness,// then you might try following Mary’s lead. Who knows? Maybe the Holy Spirit has come upon you. Perhaps that shadow hanging over you is the power of the Most High.
While it certainly would be appealing to have more details about what all this uneasiness inside of us will lead to, Mary’s experience and wisdom mentors for us that we do not need to possess the knowledge of what is in this “cloud of the unknowing.” Mary’s story reminds us how God has acted in the past. She models for us what happens when we say, “Yes,/ thank you, /I’d love to sing and dance.”
Joanna Seibert
Barbara Brown Taylor, “Mary,” in Mixed Blessings (Sue Hunter 1986), pp. 21-24.
Barbara Brown Taylor, “Mothers of God,” in Gospel Medicine (Cowley 1995), pp.150-153.
Barbara Brown Taylor, “Singing Ahead of Time,” in Home By Another Way (Cowley 1997), 15-19.