December 21, 2003 (David Hyers)

Michah 5:2-5a

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall come forth from me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days. Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel. And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth and he shall be the one of peace.

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Luke 1:39-45

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 leaped in the 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 leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."

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It is the end of Advent, and Christmas is almost here. Here we are this Sunday morning, not at an ending but at a beginning, the beginning of Luke on the edge of the first Advent, the start of the Jesus story. Mary’s world has just been turned on its head. Yet rather than questioning the possibility, the probability, or the validity of the angel’s words, “Here I am,” she replies, answering the calling that will define her life. Mary hears a call upon her very body and soul to be the mother of Jesus the Christ. So with risky faithfulness, she answers, “The servant of the Lord, let it be with me, according to your word.”

She sets out, leaving home. We don’t really know why or where exactly. Luke is unusually quiet about the details of Mary’s journey. Why does she leave home? Where is Joseph? We are told only that she seeks out Elizabeth, her kinswoman who is also the recipient of a most miraculous blessing and calling. Mary arrives in the hill country at an unnamed Judean town and goes to the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah. Upon Mary’s greeting, the unborn John leaps within Elizabeth’s womb. One imagines that it is his recognition and enthusiastic acknowledgement of the unborn Jesus and a foreshadowing of his relationship with Jesus that is to come.

In a connection between mother, child, and God, Elizabeth herself is filled with the Holy Spirit, joyfully exclaiming: "Mary, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." And perhaps out of the depths of her exhilaration and the desire for understanding, she asks among the deepest of human questions, “Why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” This is a question for God, for Mary, and for herself. Why God, why this blessing, this calling? Why me? What will this mean for me? What does my future hold? Perhaps there is more to the conversation, more questions, more praise and proclamation; however, we do not know. “Mary,” she continues, “as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Perhaps Mary has taken this journey to answer her own questions, to seek an understanding ear from a relative. Maybe Mary seeks discernment and support to understand this blessing and direction for her risky faithfulness. Mary shares kinship with Elizabeth, kinship deeper than blood, kinship in shared blessing, in shared calling, in shared challenge.

I think there is more to this text, more than back story. I think there is more to Mary and Elizabeth’s relationship than a simple confirming of the angel’s prophesy, more than a preview of John and Jesus. I think this text offers us a quick but powerful insight into the personhood and humanity of Mary and Elizabeth. I am reminded of the sacredness in the process and practice of friendship and community as we together look for God’s activity and seek to discern God’s will for our lives.

Elizabeth’s question, I think, is also in part Mary’s question, and at some level it is my question. Why? How? These are questions out of the deepest parts of my being, questions born out of blessing and burden, celebration and shame, questions raised in the midst of adrenaline rush and the daily tedium. Why I am here? God, where are you in my life? Why have you blessed me in this way? Why is this happening? Am I up to this calling? Am I able to have faith?

I hope it comes as not a big surprise that I don’t claim to have the answers to these questions. If you have the answers, please let me know, and we can go on the road together, maybe get a book on Oprah. Most of the time, I am doing well if I even know what questions to ask. When I think I have the answer, that’s when the trouble really starts. My foot isn’t that sure. My will is too clumsy. There are too many broken bulbs to have final confidence in my ability to answer these questions. I don’t think that we are really able to know the answers or are even called to know the answers, and that is alright. For this text tells us that we do not ask alone. For it is in the midst of the unanswered and unanswerable questions that incarnate God comes into the world. Through the Holy Spirit in our brothers and sisters in Christ, we hear the offer of grace and new life.

In the midst of how and why, the living Christ calls us to a risky faithfulness. We may have uncertain waypoints on the journey of faith, but we have a promise of a certain destination in the living God we meet in this text and in each other. It is a destination in Jesus Christ, the vulnerable risky baby, the long-expected Messiah, the Good Shepherd, and risen Redeemer. And like Mary, we are called to set out, to live lives of risky faithfulness, to be about our callings and the ordering of lives in the middle of the mystery of Christmas and the promise of Easter. We are called to a faith lived out in risk and trust.

There is a quiet yet hope-filled message of good news in this small story. The journey of risky faithfulness isn’t one needed be done alone, or, I would argue, is it one that can be done alone. Just as Mary seeks out companionship, support, and discernment with Elizabeth, so, too, do we as the body of Christ. We need not ask questions alone, need not bear the risk of the long journey of faith without friends and family to help us determine the path. Together we are called to the task of making sense of the angel’s proclamations of God’s calling upon our lives.

We may look to Mary and Elizabeth, to the unborn babies in their wombs. We see that within the family of God we have partners to hear our questions, to help us listen for the call of God and to feel the presence of the risen Christ in our midst and be no longer alone in our joy and in our pain. In the questions and proclamations through the love and grace of God, incarnate in the fruit of Mary’s womb, is Jesus the Christ. We can know the comfort and clarity of family, of Christian family, blood kin or not. And together we may find ourselves moved, urged, and supported to exclaim as Mary does: “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” Alleluia! Amen.

 

 


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