Fourth Sunday of Advent, cycle C

FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT, CYCLE C

LUKE 1:39-45

WHEN I WAS IN PRACTICE, I HAD A PATIENT WITH CANCER WHO WAS PARALYZED FROM THE WASTE DOWN, AND BLIND AS WELL, FROM HIS DISEASE. HE WAS SERIOUSLY DEPRESSED. ANOTHER PATIENT, A VERY SWEET LADY WHO HAD HER TREATMENTS AT THE SAME TIME HE DID, WOULD ASK TO BE PUT IN THE CHAIR NEXT TO HIM, AND JUST QUIETLY TALK TO HIM ABOUT WHATEVER WAS ON HER MIND. TO OUR SURPRISE AFTER A WHILE HIS DEPRESSION BEGAN TO LIFT AND THE ONE-WAY CONVERSATION BEGAN TO GO BOTH WAYS. SHE TOOK A TURN FOR THE WORSE, AND IT BECAME HIS TURN TO REACH OUT TO HER IN HER DESPAIR. THEY LIFTED EACH OTHER'S BURDENS.

THIS GOSPEL SEEMS TO DESCRIBE A JOYFUL MOMENT, WHEN MARY AND ELIZABETH MEET. AND IT IS JOYFUL; ELIZABETH IS PROMPTED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT TO RECOGNIZE THAT GOD HAS ENTERED THE WORLD, THAT THE BABY IN MARY'S WOMB IS THE LONG-AWAITED MESSIAH. AND IF YOU REMEMBER, SHORTLY AFTER THIS WE HEAR MARY'S MAGNIFICAT, HER GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING.

BUT MARY AND ELIZABETH HAVE THIS IN COMMON; THEY ARE BOTH CARRYING GREAT BURDENS, AND I AM NOT JUST REFERRING TO THE BABIES. MARY IS PREGNANT AND UNMARRIED. IN LUKE'S STORY, WE LEARN THAT SHE IS ENGAGED TO JOSEPH, STILL A VIRGIN, AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE ANGELIC ANNOUNCEMENT, SHE GOES TO ELIZABETH. IF WE PUT MATTHEW'S AND LUKE'S STORY TOGETHER, JOSEPH PROBABLY LEARNED OF HER PREGNANCY WHEN SHE RETURNED FROM HER VISIT TO ELIZABETH; BY THEN IT WAS PROBABLY OBVIOUS. BUT ALL THAT IS IN THE FUTURE. RIGHT NOW MARY IS PREGNANT AND ALONE, AND PROBABLY HAS NO IDEA OF WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS; AND WHEN YOU ARE BEARING AN AWFUL SECRET AND HAVE NO IDEA ABOUT THE FUTURE, YOU WORRY, AND PROBABLY MARY WORRIED, EVEN THOUGH SHE TRUSTED IN GOD.

ELIZABETH'S BURDEN IS DIFFERENT; SHE IS TOO OLD. SHE FINDS HERSELF PREGNANT WHEN ALL HER FRIENDS ARE GRANDMOTHERS. IN THOSE DAYS WHEN THE AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY WAS QUITE A BIT LESS THAN NOW ELIZABETH MUST HAVE WONDERED IF SHE WOULD LIVE LONG ENOUGH TO RAISE A CHILD; AND HER OLD HUSBAND ZACHARY COULDN'T TALK ANYMORE – PROBABLY THE FIRST OF MANY AILMENTS THAT WOULD EAT AWAY AT HIM BEFORE HE DIED; AND ELIZABETH COULD SEE THAT SHE WOULD SPEND HER OWN DECLINING YEARS TAKING CARE OF A BABY AND AN AILING HUSBAND.

MARY AND ELIZABETH ARE EACH OTHER'S REFUGE. ELIZABETH OFFERS MARY A SAFE HAVEN, AWAY FROM PRYING EYES, FROM GOSSIP, FROM PEOPLE DEMANDING EXPLANATIONS. MARY GREETS ELIZABETH, AND ELIZABETH REVEALS THAT SHE KNOWS ABOUT THE PREGNANCY, AND ALSO KNOWS OF ITS SIGNIFICANCE. WHAT A LOAD OFF OF MARY'S MIND! AT LAST, SOMEONE TO SHARE THE NEWS WITH, SOMEONE WHO ACCEPTED HER UNCONDITIONALLY, SOMEONE WHO HAD ALSO BEEN TOUCHED BY GOD. AND ELIZABETH, SIX MONTHS PREGNANT, HAVING HAD TO ASSUME ZACHARY'S BURDENS AS WELL AS HER OWN; HAVING NO ONE WHO WOULD LEND A SYMPATHETIC EAR OR OFFER A LITTLE HELP, NOW LOOKS FORWARD TO THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, THE MONTHS THAT WOULD BE THE MOST DIFFICULT OF HER PREGNANCY, WITH SOME SORT OF RELIEF, BECAUSE MARY WILL BE THERE TO HELP.

MARY AND ELIZABETH CONFIRM THE REALITY OF THEIR EXPERIENCES. AN ANGEL HAD COME TO MARY. I THINK IF AN ANGEL CAME TO ONE OF US, EVEN THOUGH WE BELIEVE IN ANGELS, WE MIGHT VERY WELL DOUBT OUR EXPERIENCE. PEOPLE IN THOSE DAYS WEREN'T DIFFERENT. IF YOU WENT AROUND TELLING PEOPLE YOU HAD SEEN AN ANGEL, PEOPLE WOULD REACT IN ONE OF THREE WAYS – THEY WOULD CALL YOU ARE A LIAR; THEY WOULD THINK YOU WERE CRAZY, OR PERHAPS THEY MIGHT BELIEVE YOU HAD SEEN AN EVIL SPIRIT. WE THINK THE SAME WAY NOW AS THEN; WE WOULD PROBABLY GIVE MORE WEIGHT TO DELUSION AND LESS TO AN EVIL SPIRIT, BUT THE POINT IS, MARY DID NOT DARE TO TELL ANYONE ABOUT HER EXPERIENCE BECAUSE WHO WOULD BELIEVE A TEENAGER? ELIZABETH EXPERIENCES THE HOLY SPIRIT IN MARY'S PRESENCE, AND THE KNOWLEDGE THAT HER SON AND MARY'S SON HAD BOTH BEEN SELECTED BY GOD FOR A SPECIAL MISSIONS. WHEN MARY HEARS ELIZABETH, IT MUST HAVE BEEN A RELIEF. WHEN ELIZABETH HEARS MARY'S STORY, SHE REALIZED HER OWN PREGNANCY WAS NOT AN ACCIDENT, NOT A HORRIBLE JOKE PLAYED ON HER BY FATE, BUT ORDAINED BY GOD TO FURTHER HIS PURPOSES IN THE WORLD.

MARY AND ELIZABETH STRENGTHEN EACH OTHERS FAITH. ELIZABETH PRAISES GOD IN HER GREETING TO MARY, AND MARY, IN TURN, GOES ON TO PRAISE GOD IN THE PRAYER SHE WILL SAY AFTER THIS GOSPEL STORY IT IS TRUE THAT BOTH WERE WOMEN OF FAITH. BUT EVEN AMONG THE MOST FAITHFUL OUR FAITH GETS STRONGER WHEN WE SPEAK ABOUT IT TO EACH OTHER. LATER WE WILL SEE ELIZABETH'S FAITH WHEN THEY ARE ABOUT TO NAME THE BABY. WE HEAR THAT THEY WANT TO CALL HIM AFTER HIS FATHER'S NAME, BUT ELIZABETH SPEAKS UP AND SAYS, “NO, HIS NAME SHALL BE JOHN”. WHAT WOMAN WOULD DARE PRESUME TO NAME HER SON IN THOSE DAYS? BUT SHE HAS FAITH, AND ZACHARY CONFIRMS THIS IN WRITING AND IS GIVEN HIS VOICE BACK. AND MARY RETURNS TO JOSEPH STRENGTHENED BY HER INTERACTION WITH ELIZABETH, AND CONFRONTS JOSEPH WITH THE NEWS THAT HER PREGNANCY IS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, AND JOSEPH WILL JUST HAVE TO DEAL WITH THAT.

SOME PEOPLE SEE IN THE STORY OF MARY AND ELIZABETH THE END OF THE OLD DISPENSATION AND THE BEGINNING OF THE NEW; ELIZABETH REPRESENTS ISRAEL, OLD, WORN OUT, HER BEST DAYS BEHIND HER, GIVING RISE MIRACULOUSLY TO ONE LAST PROPHET, THE ONE JESUS SAYS IS THE GREATEST BORN OF WOMAN UNTIL NOW; AND MARY, YOUNG, VIRGINAL, BRINGING FORTH A NEW CREATION, CONCEIVED BY GOD, SUCH THAT EVERYONE WHO IS OF THE KINGDOM HE WILL ESTABLISH IS, AS JESUS SAYS, GREATER THAN JOHN. AND OTHERS SEE MARY AS THE NEW ARK OF THE COVENANT, COMING DOWN FROM THE HILL COUNTRY BEARING THE PRESENCE OF GOD, JUST AS THE FIRST ARK WAS BROUGHT DOWN TO JERUSALEM BY KING DAVID. ALL THAT MAY BE TRUE; BUT I THINK WE CAN SEE IN MARY AND ELIZABETH, IN THIS MOMENT PORTRAYED IN THE GOSPELS, HOW TWO PEOPLE OF FAITH, TROUBLED BY CIRCUMSTANCES OVER WHICH THEY HAVE NO CONTROL, WITH THE HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT CAN STRENGTHEN EACH OTHER AND HELP EACH OTHER AS THEY CONFRONT OVERWHELMING ODDS. AND THAT WAS TRUE THEN, AND IT IS TRUE NOW.

ON THIS FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT LET US RESOLVE TO SHARE OUR BURDENS AND OUR JOYS WITH EACH OTHER, KNOWING THAT JESUS IS PRESENT WHERE TWO OR THREE ARE GATHERED IN HIS NAME. LET US ALSO REMEMBER THAT THE HOLY SPIRIT GIVES EACH OF US GIFTS SO THAT WE CAN BE OF SERVICE TO EACH OTHER, AND IT'S VERY SAD WHEN WE HAVE A GIFT SOMEONE NEEDS, AND WE DON'T USE IT.

AND LET US ALSO REMEMBER THAT JESUS IS PRESENT IN US, WHO ARE HIS BODY, JUST AS HE WAS PRESENT IN A TEENAGE GIRL MEETING HER OLD COUSIN SO LONG AGO IN THE HILL COUNTRY OF JUDEA.