Luke 1:39-55
The Holy Gospel according to St. Luke, the first chapter.
Glory to you, O Lord.
39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb.
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
46And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, 47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48for God has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is the Lord’s name. 50 God’s mercy is for those who fear God from generation to generation.
51God has shown strength with God’s arm;
the Lord has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53
God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
54The Lord has helped God’s servant Israel, in remembrance of God’s mercy, 55according to the promise God made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
56And Mary remained with Elizabeth about three months and then returned to her home.
The Gospel of the Lord.
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This is my favorite Bible story. I love love love this story. There are a couple of reasons:
First, this is one of the only places in the Bible (besides the book of Ruth) where we have a story of two women talking with one another without any men around. Besides the babies in their wombs, there are no men in this story— just two women and their Lord. It makes it unique and unexpected and I love it.
Secondly, I love surprises. I think it is my love language. I get this unbelievable thrill out of unexpected things, which is probably why I love working with college students so much, because I never know what is going to happen from week to week with them. College students tend to surprise me with challenging questions and incredible insights.
This story is filled with unexpected things:
Mary is pregnant. Of course we know this is a surprise because she is a virgin.
Elizabeth is pregnant too. We are told that Elizabeth was barren and quite a bit older, but she is pregnant too. This story is filled with unexpected things.
Elizabeth knows Mary is pregnant even before Mary tells her. If the timeline fits, there’s no way Mary is already showing at this point. But Elizabeth knows. Whether it’s her glow, the Spirit, or womanly intuition, Elizabeth knows not only that Mary is pregnant, but that she carries the son of God.
Right here, the story should go a different way— Elizabeth could get into a lot of trouble hosting an unmarried pregnant woman in her house. But this is another unexpected part of the story. Not only does she let Mary stay, she lets her stay for three months. By that time even if her pregnancy wasn’t showing, I’m sure the rumors would have reached the town about this unmarried girl being pregnant. The shame could have been fatal for Elizabeth and Zachariah. This story is filled with unexpected things.
We are told that women the women greet each other, Elizabeth uses her outside voice— the word literally translates to megaphone— she yells her greeting and blessing to Mary, in a world where women were supposed to be quiet, seen and not heard— she yells.
I have a couple of friends who have been my best friends since high school. We don’t keep in touch as much as we should anymore, but last summer I went to visit one of them in Nashville where she lives and teaches elementary school. It had been over two years since I’d seen her at my wedding and when I drove into her apartment complex, she was standing in the driveway bouncing with excitement. I had barely turned the car off when she flung open the door and practically threw herself into my arms. Then she started telling me everything that had happened in the past two years without taking a breath. We started talking at the same time and laughed when we both got louder and didn’t shut up to listen to the other one. We both had incredible news to share with one another. She couldn’t wait to tell me that she had fallen madly in love with someone. And I couldn’t wait to tell her that my husband and I were trying to have a baby!
I imagine a similar greeting between these cousins. They both have incredible, unbelievable, unexpected news to share with one another and they are so overwhelmed with joy that Elizabeth shouts and Mary sings. Both are overcome with the Spirit and these two women prophesy to one another. This story is just filled with unexpected things.
God has chosen these two women, Mary and Elizabeth, who were shamed and lowly, to begin the transformation of the world. Not just because of whose mothers they are, not just because of the babies they carry within them. The transformation of the world begins with their selfless willingness to be a part of God’s grand narrative. It begins with the words they speak to one another in this greeting, because these prophecies are so unbelievable and incredible.
Elizabeth declares not only that Mary is pregnant— something she wouldn’t have known yet— but she also exclaims that she knows who Mary’s child will be— the Lord. Soon enough Elizabeth’s own son will be the one who prepares the way for Mary’s.
Then Elizabeth blesses Mary, beginning a chain of blessings that will continue by Mary and Zechariah and Simeon, all of them praising God for what God is doing in this incredible moment in history.
Then, unable to contain herself, Mary chimes in with her song, overwhelmed with joy and gratitude for God, who is inviting her into the saving work that is starting even now. This story is filled with unexpected things, and perhaps the most unexpected thing is Mary’s song.
To understand exactly how unexpected this song is, how unbelievable and incredible it is, we have to understand the world Mary and Elizabeth were living in. About four miles from where Jesus grew up in Nazareth, Rome burned the city of Sepphoris and subjected the Jewish inhabitant to slavery. These two mothers witnessed, or at the very least heard about, this horrific event.
The Jewish people believed that the only way to overcome the power of Rome was through God’s saving power. Their own rebellions were being crushed, nothing seemed to be improving. It was only God who could save them from Rome’s crushing power. That is where Mary’s song comes in. Mary declares what God is going to do because she knows what God has already done. And God is faithful to God’s people. You see, her song is in the past tense. She is singing about what God has already done.
51God has shown strength with God’s arm;
the Lord has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52God has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53
God has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.
54The Lord has helped God’s servant Israel, in remembrance of God’s mercy, 55according to the promise God made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
All of this is in the past tense…
God has shown strength.
God has brought down the powerful and lifted up the lowly.
God has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty.
Mary knows that God has already done these things and she knows God is doing them again. Somehow even now, she knows that it is God’s son, her son, that will bring about these things again.
It is in her song, this rebellious, surprising song that echoes social upheaval and economic exploitation, that she declares that God is faithful and times are changing. The Jews longed for a Messiah to bring physical and spiritual healing, the promised one who would restore them to health and shalom.
This song, this story of redemption and turning the world around, is full of unexpected things. In the midst of Roman oppression, Mary is declaring a new way— a world in which God rules instead of Caesar. And Christ’s salvation does not only concern the Jews in that time, it is not only past tense. And it is not only a declaration about the future, the coming of the Messiah on Christmas and in the future. This song is a song for the present time. God is concerned with not only the spiritual wellbeing of God’s people, but also our social and political life. God has acted on behalf of God’s people, God is acting on behalf of God’s people, and God will continue to be faithful. Saying that God rules instead of Caesar was the ultimate political and social statement. It was the ultimate hope for the Jewish people. It is hope for us now.
Anger does not rule.
Fear does not rule.
Death does not rule.
Poverty, hunger, and homelessness do not rule.
Partisan politics does not rule.
Racism does not rule.
Nationalism and patriotism do not rule.
Anxiety does not rule.
The hope that Mary’s song gives to us today is that God rules. God is the only ruler. And God is faithful.
We see it in this Advent season, as even now— God is among us, coming to us in the hymns that we sing this morning. I look at the world today and think about the world that Mary and Elizabeth experienced. A world full of all of these false rulers, kings, and authorities. A world in which we often have to look extra hard to find the goodness. Yet we stand this morning and sing, “Joy to the World.” Because we know that God is among us and God is faithful. God was, is, and is to come faithful to God’s people. And like Mary and Elizabeth, we are calling into the story, to be bearers of the glory of God. People who shout out with joy at the coming of the Lord, ones who are overwhelmed with the excitement of it all.
So maybe this story is not so unexpected after all— because it tells the age old story, the story of joy and redemption, the story of salvation and faithfulness. The story that tells us that God, and only God, rules our lives with love and peace. God is with us, God has always been with us, and God will continue to be with us to the end of the ages. So let us sing, like Mary, and declare it to the world.
