Luke 1:39-45(46-55)
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
And Mary said,
‘My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’
Can I put it to you that of all the Gospel Readings you may have heard during the course of the year, be it here or elsewhere, that today’s reading from Luke is almost certainly unique.
As to why so, I’ll come to that in a moment. But as I read it, with a view to speaking about it, I thought… what a wonderful little story. And I can just picture it; as it must have been centuries ago, AND, I can also picture it’s modern day equivalent.
Two young women, well OK, Elizabeth’s not so young, but two girlfriends, cousins as it happens, both expecting a child, one rushing to see the other. And when they meet excitedly, probably hugging, having so much to say that they talk over each other, shrieking with joy. Just being young women. And when it comes to this sort of thing, women are so much better at it. Cos’ we blokes, we just can’t share the love like our female counterparts.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a image of Mary with a big grin, or when she looks in a party mood. Pity, because I reckon when she met Elizabeth she probably had one of those faces that I’m told you see on Instagram.
So what’s unique about today’s Gospel? It’s what’s missing, what’s NOT there. Blokes for a start, it’s just two women. And there’s nobody sick or lame. No deaths. No diseases like leprosy. No bleeding. Nobody destitute. No sinners.
No doubters, or cynics, or people trying to catch believers out. No nasty Romans. No self serving Jewish leaders and teachers. No demons or devils. And no warnings about straying from the paths of righteousness. No hints about the future fate of Jesus.
All of the above are part of the staple fare that our Weekly and Daily Gospel readings serve up. We sort of expect to hear it. And some of the stuff from the Weekday Lectionary’s a good deal worse. But we need that, we need that background, we need to recognise the cost of carrying our cross, what it means to serve Christ.
But in THIS reading, there’s NONE of that. From start to finish, there is ONLY joy. Elizabeth’s happy. Mary’s Happy. And the reading doesn’t include any if’s, but’s or howevers to shatter that illusion. It starts happy and it finishes happy. And that, in the Readings we get to hear during the course of a Church year, is a rare thing indeed.
Now if you want to go into the theological, intellectual meaning of today’s Gospel, well you can go and look at a Study Bible, or the internet. Or you could ask Fr.Andrew.
Or you could treat me to a coffee in one of the many local establishments while I explain, if I can, what it might mean. All safeguarding rules being respected of course.
OR, you can just share in the joy. The watching and waiting of Advent is almost over. It’s nearly Christmas. And hey, we’ll be starting the festivities this afternoon, with Lessons and Carols, and mince pies and mulled wine.
Sure, life can be hard. For some of us, very hard. And tricky to negotiate. We can struggle with our daily lives and we can struggle with our faith.
And the Readings we hear most of the time reflect that. But today’s reading talks only of Joy and Friendship. If you’re short on friendship, I hope you can find it here, because that’s what we try and offer, stick with us.
When it comes down to it, we’re human, and we humans, we need little periods of celebration to lift us and keep us going.
So I pray that this Christmas, like Mary and Elizabeth, we get a chance to forget the bad stuff for a little while, and have a time of unfettered and unrestrained joy. May we have a Mary and Elizabeth moment, or maybe several. And when we do, let’s thank God, for it’s from HIM that all good things come.
St Peter's Church 