Luke 1:39-56
Joy
For nine- or ten-days Mary had carried with her the most astounding secret: She was pregnant, and the child was to be the long-awaited messianic king, Israel’s deliverer.
Understandably, she had been afraid to share this news, because if the wrong person heard, Herod could have had her killed; or, if her loved ones didn’t believe her, the religious leaders might have condemned her and had her put to death.
Mary was in a predicament.
She needed someone in whom she could confide.
She needed encouragement.
It turns out that Mary found encouragement from Elizabeth.
Elizabeth was older than Mary and was married to a priest named Zechariah.
In many ways, they were the New Testament’s Abraham and Sarah.
Luke tells us that after years of hoping to have children, Elizabeth and Zechariah had resigned themselves to that fact that children were not going to be a part of their lives.
Many couples who have been unable to have children treat their nieces and nephews as if they were their own.
Perhaps this is why Mary went to see Elizabeth: Maybe Elizabeth had been like a mother to Mary in years past.
And so, Mary trusted Elizabeth, loved her and knew that Elizabeth would be a safe person to confide in.
Maybe Elizabeth could give Mary some wisdom, some advice like she had on many occasions in the past.
And when Elizabeth prophesied over Mary and announced that she was blessed, Mary was finally able to trust that God really was at work in her life.
She believed that, despite the danger of carrying the Messiah; despite the reality that her hopes and dreams had been turned upside down; and despite the fact that she didn’t fully understand what was going on, God would work through her and her child.
In her acceptance of this amazing truth, Mary finally shouted out her song of joy.
Can you hear the tone of her song in its opening words?
“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”
Have you ever felt great joy in the Lord?
If so, has it ever come through the encouragement, the acceptance and love of another?
God used Elizabeth to be Mary’s encourager.
I think all of us could use an Elizabeth in our lives, an older person who understands, who can guide and encourage and affirm us.
In the same way, we all can be an Elizabeth for a younger person.
I believe that part of God’s purpose for our lives is that we seek to mentor and encourage other people.
Who is your Elizabeth?
Who is your Mary, that younger person you’re encouraging and investing in?
One of my Elizabeths is a man named John LeGault.
John was an older colleague in the ministry.
I met him after I had graduated from seminary and was going through the three year “probationary period” “They now call it the Candidacy Process” when seminary graduates are assigned to a church, but have not yet been fully ordained.
During that time, we go through an intense time of more continuing education, and lots of examinations by district and conference boards.
When I was going through my probationary period, about 50% of the people trying for ordination were turned down.
This can be a very stressful experience; it was for me.
John had a small group that met at his church every Tuesday morning, and he invited me to join.
John had much wisdom from his many years as a pastor.
We spent many hours together discussing various aspects of being a pastor and the difficulties of trying to make it through the probationary process.
We also got into the habit of sending each other our sermons once we had written them for the following Sunday.
We would read through them and sometimes give suggestions as to how to how to, perhaps make them better.
John helped me immensely.
He was my mentor, my encourager.
He kept me going, when, at times I wanted to quit.
He cheered for me when good things happened and offered a listening ear when I was going through difficulties.
As a pastor I have had the great privilege of trying to encourage other people as they have faced hard times and celebrating with them when good things happen.
When I think about being someone’s Elizabeth, I think of a couple in one of the churches I served who had great musical gifts.
When they lost their daughter to suicide and the music had stopped for them.
One of our church members asked them if they would help other parents who had lost children to suicide.
They began to mentor them and try to help them through the difficult journey they were taking.
Later they told me, “As we helped others, we began to find joy again.
And for the first time in six years, we’re singing once more.”
They soon became instrumental to the beauty of our choir.
Their healing started when they started to mentor and care for others.
I think too of Marcy, one of the members of another church I served.
She is in her early eighties, and over the course of her life-time she has served as a mentor for many young people.
Younger women and men are drawn to Marcy for her wisdom, her encouragement, and her knowledge of God and the Scriptures.
As I was writing this sermon, I called Marcy to ask her about her role as a mentor and she said, “I simply listen to these young people and encourage them.”
She went on to say, “If they ask for advice, I give it sparingly.
Mostly, we just share our lives.
I am working with a young woman now who looks at me like a grandmother, but I cherish the friendship.
The parts of her life she shares with me bring back so many memories from my own life.
I get far more than I give.”
That’s how mentoring works. It blesses the one who is being mentored, but it also blesses the one who is mentoring.
And mentoring is not telling younger people how to do things.
Mentoring is listening, encouraging, and, when asked, offering perspective and ideas.
And I think that is part of what we see in Mary’s visit to Elizabeth from our Gospel Lesson for this morning.
Elizabeth was Mary’s encourager, her mentor.
I believe God has created us to help and encourage one another.
Sadly, in this world, many of us get criticized too much.
Have you ever endured so much criticism that you started to believe you were no good, or unlovable?
Have you ever lost confidence in yourself because you were undergoing continual attacks?
I have, and it can be devastating.
The message of Christmas and the message of Christ is good news, glad tidings, great joy!
Christ came to lift people up, not tear them down.
Christ came to save people, not destroy them.
I’m sure we’ve all heard the saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.”
That doesn’t ring true in my life, how about yours?
A little boy who was in the school Christmas play was playing the part of an angel.
He was supposed to go to the shepherds in the field and announce Christ’s birth with enthusiasm and excitement.
But he was having trouble learning his part.
He was finding it especially difficult to say his line: “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy.”
The boy didn’t normally talk that way, so the line was hard for him to memorize.
The play’s director worked with him and explained that “glad tidings” simply means good news.
Finally, the boy learned his part.
But on the night of the play, the boy got stage fright and forgot his line.
Instead of saying, “Behold, I bring you glad tidings of great joy,” the little angel made this play different from any other by suddenly running all over the stage, flapping his wings wildly, and shouting over and over, “Boy, have I got good news for you!”
That’s part of our task as Christians, isn’t it?
We are called to say to a scared, anxious, confused world: “Boy, have I got good news for you!”
The good news is we can make it because God is with us and God will never leave us.
Our part of that good news is saying to people near us, “I care about you,” “You are important,” “God loves you,”
“I believe in you,” “I trust you,” “You can do this.”
Like Elizabeth did for Mary, which caused Mary to break out in a song of great joy and thanksgiving…
…maybe the best Christmas gift we can give someone is the joy of encouragement.
We all need that, do we not?
