Scripture Reading Luke 1:39-56
At that time
Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea,
where she
entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.
When Elizabeth
heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled
with the Holy Spirit.
In a loud
voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you
will bear!
But why am I
so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
As soon as the
sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for
joy.
Blessed is she
who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Mary’s Song
And Mary said:
“My soul
glorifies the Lord
and my spirit
rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has
been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on
all generations will call me blessed,
for the Mighty
One has done great things for me—holy is his name.
His mercy
extends to those who fear him, from generation to generation.
He has
performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in
their inmost thoughts.
He has brought
down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.
He has filled
the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.
He has helped
his servant Israel, remembering to be merciful
to Abraham and
his descendants forever, just as he promised our ancestors.”
Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three
months and then returned home.
Here ends this reading of the Word of God
for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Prayer for Understanding
Let the words of my mouth and the
meditation of our hearts be always acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our
strength and our redeemer. Amen.
Message
Moving with Mary’s Song
In 2021, in just 3 and a half hours,
you can take a bus from Nazareth in Israel to Hebron in Palestine. The towns are 220 kilometers or 137 miles
away from each other.
When Mary was visited by the angel
Gabriel, he told her that not only was she going to become pregnant with a
miracle child, but that her cousin Elizabeth was already pregnant with a
miracle baby. Elizabeth was older and
was beyond her childbearing years. And,
Elizabeth was not able to become pregnant during her childbearing years. So,
Elizabeth was doubly blessed with her miracle baby.
After learning of the pregnancies,
Mary quickly got ready and travelled to Hebron. A 3 and a half hour bus ride
distance takes at least 40 hours to walk.
So, figuring an in-shape pregnant woman or girl can walk 8 hours a day,
it would have taken Mary at least 6 days to walk to Elizabeth’s home.
But, Mary wanted to be with
Elizabeth – her relative, her cousin, a nurturing member of her family. For
Mary, Elizabeth was perhaps the only other person who could relate to her
plight – pregnant with the help of the Holy Spirit, given the responsibility to
birth and raise an extraordinary child, given a mothering task that was laden
with pressure and exceptional challenges.
Plus, Mary had the problem of
finding herself unmarried and pregnant. Although she was betrothed to Joseph,
they weren’t married all the way. The
people of Nazareth would have wondered at the cause of Mary’s pregnancy. She at
risk for malicious gossip and shunning. Mary was a risk of being stoned or
killed for her unusual pregnancy. It was
safer for Mary to head out of town and find rest and consolation alongside
Elizabeth.
Res t and consolation is not
something we have a lot of as we prepare for Christmas. In this season when we
direct our attention to celebrating the birth of Jesus – the holy breaking into
the mundane – we add a lot of extras to our schedule. We put pressure on
ourselves to find the perfect presents and decorate our houses with finery. We
add extra activities to our lives – work Christmas parties and holiday friend
gatherings. We stay up later than normal trying to get everything done. We
probably do the opposite of what OBGYN’s tell pregnant women to do – we take on
more work and more tasks, sleep less, eat more and stress out about all kinds
of things. We should take a lesson from Mary and step away from our work and
seek consolation and rest.
I hope we work to embrace a Marian
approach to the birth of Jesus. Mary turned her attention to God and praised God
for God’s mercy. Mary appreciated that God is present in the humble – God didn’t
chose for Jesus to be born to a princess who lived an easy life surrounded by
servants and bonbons. ..God chose for Jesus to be born to a poor mom and a
working man, a carpenter. Mary would have spent her days grinding wheat and
baking bread, washing clothing and spinning wool, stirring pots and weeding
gardens, hauling water long distances from the well and making sure goats didn’t
break out of then pens. And, after Jesus’ birth, Mary also had to change
diapers and wipe snotty noses. Mary remained faithful and humble as Jesus grew
up to be the savior of the world.
What does it say about God that he
chose a lowly women to be Jesus’ mom?
What does it say about God that he chose to have Jesus grow up in a poor
working family?
In our society, in America of the 21st
century, we glorify the wealthy. This year, the Time Magazine person of the
year is Elon Musk, a rich entrepreneur. We watch tv series about kings and
queens, we read articles about the exploits of the rich and famous, we aspire
to become like the wealthy and drive luxury cars and live in posh homes. We
admire the both people born into wealth and are especially impressed with
self-made men and women.
Yet, God chose for Jesus to be born
to a humble village girl. Jesus grew up in a small, rural town. Jesus didn’t go
to the best schools or wear the latest fashions—as far as we know, Jesus didn’t
go to school at all.
God values things that our culture distains. God values humility. God loves people who are
poor. God wants us to treat each other with kindness and fairness. God is more
impressed with the sincerity of our heart than with the weight of our wallets.
God wants us to focus on serving God and helping others, not just on making
wealth to serve ourselves.
In Mary’s song, she says: God has
filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty. Friends, we are the rich. Compared to most
people in the world, average Americans like us are the rich. And, as the rich,
we must work to be cognizant that the things our society emphasizes: wealth,
celebrity, idolizing people like Elon Musk – these things our culture values
are inherently empty. God has sent the
rich away empty.
We must remember that our lives are
dependent on working to be more like Jesus – to live lives embracing the
teachings and values of our God. And, to do so, we must work to free ourselves
from the values of our world. Instead of admiring the wealthy, we must put our
hope in God. God wants us to share our extras…to love our fellow men and women…to
support those who are weak…to wipe away the tears of those who are grieving….to
help lift up the people who are struggling.
We want our lives to be filled with
the goodness and the glory of God. Jesus came to earth to teach us how to
declare independence from the shallow things the secular world values. Let us
work to live lives of compassion and care for the people of our world and to
live lives recognizing and appreciating the glory and grace of our God.
May we do so in love. Amen.
Photo by Juli Kosolapova on Unsplash
