Micah 5: 2-5a
Luke 1: 39-55
Luke 1: 39-55
Let’s tell a story about two women both pregnant,
both scared and unsure of their future. They are separated by a long distance,
it’s a hard journey. It’s a hard journey whether you are man or a woman, but
for a pregnant woman the journey becomes that much harder.
Both have been put into a situation beyond their
control and both have been given orders by a higher power. Unsure of what’s
going to happen in their futures, they feel that baby inside of them and know
that their destiny will always be linked to that little tiny person.
The thoughts that must have ran through their
heads; Elizabeth with her husband Zechariah who couldn't speak because he
refused to heed the power of the Lord. She would go about her busy days,
washing and cleaning, sweeping the floor while her husband sat in silence. Did she
talk? Just to hear her own voice, to hear a human voice, since her husband
could not participate in the conversation. Or did she sit there quietly while
she did her chores, to allow the silence to invade every nook and cranny of
that space? Was it a heavy silence or
was it calm and peaceful, almost holy and sacred?
How did Zechariah feel - this old man, this
stubborn old man watching the baby continue to grow inside of Elizabeth? Knowing no matter what he did or thought he
was not going to be able to speak to her because of his lack of faith and
trust.
Months pass, the baby continues to grow. And all
of a sudden, one day, in comes Mary. Now Mary’s story is about a young girl, we
know she is probably a teenager; a young teenager. We’re not sure about Joseph.
He could have been a young man or he could have been older too. Both have been
suggested. But Mary, pregnant and having never had sex – that would baffle
people today, let alone people back then.
Did she wonder if it was really God? Was an angel
really speaking to HER? Little old Mary from a tiny village. She was no one. She
was just a young girl, getting ready for her wedding day when the angel came to
her. The confusion and the bafflement she had to have felt. But she managed to
answer the angel and say, “yes I will do this”.
Although even as she says yes, at the same time how her head must have
swirled with thoughts. How her heart must have raced with fear and pure
adrenaline that something so magnificent, so monumental and scary had been
thrust upon her without her consent. No one asked Mary if this is what she
wanted to do. They told her after the fact.
Pregnancy back then was never as joyful as it is
today, because the chance of you surviving birth wasn't always that good, and
the chance of your baby surviving was even less so. If you managed to give
birth to that baby, more often than not they died in their first year, and if
not the first year then the first five when the children are the most
vulnerable.
And here is the angel of the Lord, coming to Mary
and saying, “You have been blessed.” Maybe I’m a cynic but I think in my head,
I would have been thinking, “That’s not a blessing. That’s a burden. You have
just given me the task of giving birth to the world’s savior. You have just
told me that the world’s fate rests on whether I can give birth to a healthy
baby and keep him alive.” But she managed to answer the angel and said she
would do it.
However, when the angel disappeared and she had to go
tell Joseph that she was pregnant, yet never had sex, and that somehow it was
magically the savior, the Messiah they had all been waiting for – I’m sure she
was terrified. I’m sure she had doubts about her own sanity. So what did she
do? What did Mary decide to do?
She got ready, she hurried to a town in the hill
country of Judea and entered Zechariah and Elizabeth’s home. Why did she do
that? What was the purpose of going to Elizabeth? Elizabeth even asks that, “Why
am I so favored that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” it was simple
really. Mary was scared and she was pregnant and probably felt very alone.
Elizabeth was pregnant and might as well have been
alone because Zechariah could not speak and their family was not supporting
them. So Mary sought out the one person who might know exactly how she felt.
Mary needed someone who knew what she was going though. She needed community. It
is one of the reasons that we come to church.
We need community. We need people to share our
common lot with. We need people who will understand when we say, “I believe in Jesus
Christ as my lord and savior. I believe in the Holy Spirit who resides in my
heart. I believe in God the Father who sent his only Son so that I could be
saved”. We need a place, a holy space where we can go and talk and commiserate
with each other. Listen to each other’s burdens and woes, embrace each other
and share in the joys that we have in our lives. The blessings we have
received. So we might have a moment of hope, to know that as bad as things sometimes
get, as scary as they were for both Mary and Elizabeth, there is joy and peace
to be found.
When Mary sought out Elizabeth, the two together
found faith and joy, they provided comfort for each other. Elizabeth as she
turns to Mary’s greeting, suddenly the baby leaps in her womb. I've never been
pregnant, but I've watched very pregnant ladies, and when the baby suddenly kicks,
you can see it happen. With my sister Allicia, she had twins, and you could see a hand pushing on one side and a foot on the other and you knew it
was both of them moving around; perhaps having a little baby fight or something
in there.
Those of you that have been pregnant or
witnessed such things can imagine the baby leaping in Elizabeth’s womb
as she was filled with the Holy Spirit. What is that Scripture we say so often,
“Where two or three gather in God’s name, His Spirit resides”. And Elizabeth in
a loud voice exclaims, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child
you bear”, which is an instant source of comfort for Mary who sought out Elizabeth
because she was terrified. She needed the reassurance that this was not all in
her mind, that this was not a burden, this was a blessing. She needed to know
the little baby inside of her would survive and would save the world, and she
was going to have a beautiful part in that.
Never in the story does it say it will be easy,
but now because she has sought out Elizabeth, she knows she can do it. There
are people there rooting for her, the Holy Spirit will be with her, and she is
blessed.
“Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would
fulfill his promises to her”. That is what Elizabeth tells Mary. “Blessed is she
who has believed that the Lord would fulfilled his promise to her”. And just with
those few words Mary’s terror and fear changed to joy and she began her song.
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my soul rejoices
in God my savior. Where he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant”.
Now, now Mary understands all will be
well. Because she has sought out one that understands her pain, understands her
terror of this not being a blessing, but a burden. Instead, she realizes with
Elizabeth’s words of reassurance and comfort that she can do this. That God has
made her a blessed person and generations of people will hail her name because
she was willing to set aside the shame, the fear, the pain of years of
uncertainty as she raises this child. She was willing to put all of this aside
to rejoice in the Lord and to accept what had been thrust upon her.
This is what God offers to us as we come to church,
and as we prepare ourselves for the coming of our lord and savior. We can put
the fears away. We can put the pain away for a moment. The burdens, the responsibilities,
the hurts inflicted by people knowingly and unknowingly will all be set aside
for a moment. We can put it all away so we may embrace our future, together in community,
sharing God’s love, sharing God’s commitment to us. Rejoicing in the promises
made that will NOT be broken. But we need that reassurance. We need that time
to reflect which is what Advent gives to us.
Tomorrow as we come together and read the story of
our Savior’s birth, and sing the songs that magnify our souls and help us to
rejoice, we will do so knowing that in the last four weeks we have taken a
moment to commiserate with those that came before us. We have taken a moment to
understand what it means to be faithful followers, and to know that God will never
leave us alone. He will never leave us nor forsake us for he has sent his son
to be with us, and we shall call him Emmanuel – God with us.
Amen.
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