December 22, 2024
Rev. Mary Erickson
Hope Lutheran Church
Luke 1:39-55
Where Community and Joy Reside
Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Today we meditate on the scriptural passage known as “the visitation.” The newly pregnant Mary goes to visit her relative, Elizabeth, who is also expecting.
There is, perhaps, no other story in the gospels that provides a better model for our life together in Christian community. This isn’t glamorous; this isn’t rocket science. It’s just a visit. Mary comes to visit her kin as they’re on this shared journey of pregnancy. It’s a beautiful story and too often overlooked and underrated. So let’s spend a little time today and simply meditate on this special visit and what it means for us in our life together.
Mary and Elizabeth were kinfolk. And they were both of them unlikely candidates for having a baby.
Some of you know I’m into ancestry. So my mind is trying to figure out the relationship between these two women. I’m nerding out on it, basically! Are they cousins with a great age span between them? Or maybe Elizabeth is a sibling to one of Mary’s parents. Maybe she’s Auntie Elizabeth. We don’t know, but I think it’s okay to use our spirit-filled imagination when we unpack the scriptures.
Here's what we do know for sure. Elizabeth is married to a man named Zechariah. Zechariah is a priest at the Jerusalem temple. We also know that throughout the years of their marriage, they’ve experienced fertility problems. Elizabeth has been unable to conceive. And now Elizabeth has reached an age where her child rearing years are pretty much past her.
But this is when something very unusual happens. The angel Gabriel visits Zechariah while he’s on duty in the temple. Gabriel tells him that Elizabeth is going to give birth to a son and they’re to name him John. John will be a special herald in God’s salvation plan. Zechariah isn’t too sure about this. Can this really be? Aren’t they too old?
But it does happen. Elizabeth, at her advanced age, conceives! What joy! She had likely given up hope that she’d ever be a mother. Luke tells us that Elizabeth cloisters at home. I think she knows this is her one shot at motherhood and she doesn’t want to take any unnecessary risks in losing this child. The months pass by, and Elizabeth’s child grows and grows.
Six months pass and the scene shifts to Nazareth. If Elizabeth is too old to conceive, Mary is young and unwed. Pregnancy for Elizabeth is an unexpected joy and a social triumph. But for Mary, pregnancy only spells trouble.
Again, Gabriel shows up. He tells Mary that she’s going to conceive and bear a son. His name is to be Jesus. He will be the promised Messiah.
Mary’s not sure how this will happen as she’s not married yet. But Gabriel assures her that all of this will occur by God’s power. It’s the same power that has allowed her relative Elizabeth to conceive at her advanced age. Elizabeth’s pregnancy is a sign to Mary for her own.
So Mary sets off to visit Elizabeth in Judea. When she arrives, there is great joy in their reunion. Even baby John gets excited.
There’s a reunion. They delight in the presence of one another. I think the same is true for us when we gather as a community. We just like being together, sharing this holy moment. All week long, we tend to our personal lives and obligations. Life takes us in varied directions. But when we come here on Sundays, there’s that spark of joy as we delight in the company of our faith friends.
One of my seminary professors referred to our opposing needs for inward renewal and for outward service. He said our lives take on an “inward – outward” rhythm. Much like breathing, we inhale and we exhale. The one is for re-energizing, feeding the body. The other is for exertion. In the same way, we exert our energies in service throughout the week. We engage in all the avenues of how each of us is called – at home, at work, in the neighborhood, to our extended families. But when we come here, part of this gathering involves being renewed.
Both Mary and Elizabeth are undergoing a season of radical transformation. Their pregnancies will divide their lives into a Before and After. This visitation was an inward time before everything shifted into a new gear. They delighted in this special time they were given. Their spirits were renewed.
This went on for three months – an entire trimester.
Nothing fancy happened during that time. It was all quite ordinary, the stuff of life. They just dwelled together. It was simply a ministry of presence. During these three months of their godly adventure, they supported each other, rejoiced together, worried together, pondered together.
I can’t help but think of our relationship with the Lutheran Community of Los Heroes in San Salvador. We have shared a common journey with them for many years. Through this long-term connection, we’ve become kin to one another. Our dear sister, Lidixe, came here through this connection. And in January, our delegation will engage in a visit much like Mary and Elizabeth’s. They will go to celebrate the opening of the health clinic, and also the installation of a new bishop. It's an accompaniment. We share our mutual sorrows and joys.
That same spirit of joyful accompaniment is experienced today as we celebrate the baptism of little Emerson. She holds this promise of new life.
Much like Mary and Elizabeth, surely they also wondered about the future days of their child: who will this little one become? How will his life unfold? What joys will he delight in? What challenges and sorrows will cross his path? And most of all: how will this little one walk in faith to fulfill all that God has in mind? These same questions come to mind for us whenever we gather for a baptism. We lift up the entire life course of this little one.
Mary and Elizabeth provide a model for our Christian community. They rejoice in each other. They join around the promise spoken to them. Together they wait with growing anticipation at what actively grows within them.
This exactly describes the grace we’ve been given in our faith community. We gather around the promises spoken to us by God. And in that promise, we dwell together. Each Sunday we gather here in the spirit of accompaniment. We laugh and cry together. We listen to and support each other. We draw strength and courage for the journey ahead. But mostly, we wait in hopeful expectation for the unfolding experience of Jesus Christ.
