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How welcome Mary’s presence was to
Elizabeth. After years of unanswered prayers
and living with the pain of infertility, an
elderly Elizabeth discovers she is
pregnant! Nobody but her husband,
Zechariah, knew it.
For five months Elizabeth stayed in
seclusion. In spite of the wonder of her news,
she was largely alone. It was not even
possible to speak openly, at length, about it
with her husband. Zechariah, remember, had
been speechless ever since he received the
angel’s news of John’s impending birth. He
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had been reluctant to trust the promise, and
so the angel told him he would be mute until
after the birth.
This meant that Elizabeth seldom heard
the sound of another human voice for
months. Imagine the isolation! How
welcome was Mary’s visit.
Elizabeth was a welcome sight to her
young relative. Mary herself was in the early
stages of an unexpected pregnancy. And it
must have been stressful to both Mary and
Joseph given they were not married yet.
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As we remember, Mary was perplexed at
the angel’s announcement. “How can this
pregnancy be?” She exclaimed. “It will be by
the power of the Holy Spirit,” God’s
messenger answered.
Mary then said, “Yes, let it be”, but many
unanswered questions remained. What will
Joseph think? What will the neighbors think if
they notice her figure beginning to grow
round? And how should Mary raise this
child? What did she need to do to help him
get ready for his mission?
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However, Mary didn’t go into
seclusion. She didn’t stay home alone with
the questions. Mary got ready as quickly as
she could, and hurried on a journey of many
miles from Galilee to Judea to visit Elizabeth.
How good it was to lay eyes on Elizabeth.
Mary was not only a blood relative but she
and Elizabeth were kin spiritually. Of all
people, Elizabeth would understand what was
happening to Mary. Elizabeth understood this
business of being called by God—both the
blessings and the problems that come with
God’s call. What a blessing to be
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understood! What a blessing to have some
company.
I often wonder how can people manage
without a faith family? Those of us who know
we couldn’t manage without a faith family
understand instinctively what Mary was
reaching out for. We know what it is like to
have the power of a community backing us
up, prayerfully and in so many other ways as
well. How good it is to celebrate our joys
together! How comforting not to have to
carry sorrow all by ourselves!
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Mary’s voice was more than music to
Elizabeth’s ears. Just then, before she even
saw Mary, just at the sound of her voice,
baby John kicked Elizabeth vigorously. The
Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth, and she cried out
with joy. She knew something big was
happening here! God was doing something
big!
Then Mary’s eyes met Elizabeth’s
eyes. “You are blessed,” Elizabeth declared,
“and your child is blessed. And why am I so
blessed that the mother of my Lord comes to
see me! The moment I heard your voice, my
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baby jumped for joy!” “You are blessed,
blessed because you trusted what God said,
blessed for trusting that God really is going to
keep his promises! God is doing great things
through you, Mary! You are blessed for
trusting him.”
What an encouragement for Mary! What a
blessing, to receive a benediction from
Elizabeth, from somebody well along on life’s
journey, and on the journey of faith.
The result? Mary bursts out with one of
the greatest songs of hope in the whole
Bible. It comes out of the mouth, not of a
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wealthy queen, but an unmarried teenage girl
in a society that saw women as property. The
song of hope comes out of the mouth of a girl
from a tiny village overshadowed and
oppressed by the wealthiest and powerful
empire the world had ever known at that
time: Rome.
“I magnify God,” Mary declared. “God has
done great things for me! God is lifting up the
lowly.” Mary’s song says that God lifts up the
weak and the small and the sick and the
hungry. God seems to turn things around!
Mary’s song is good news for everybody who’s
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on the underside, for everybody who’s on the
outside.
How could Mary have such hope when the
child hadn’t even been born yet, when there
was still so much pain and oppression all
around? Still she sings as though everything
is already fulfilled.
Well, I don’t think it is any accident that
Mary’s outburst of hope comes right after she
gets the encouragement and blessing of
Elizabeth. What we have here is the very first
instance of two people gathering in God's
name. Two of the weakest members of
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society help one another grasp what God is
doing and celebrate it. They are a community
of praise. They are a community of
hope. And it is clear that God's Spirit is in
their midst! Already the Spirit is changing
both of their lives. Hope is born and is
nurtured in their fellowship.
Mary didn’t know all that lay ahead for
herself, or for her Son Jesus. Unanswered
questions remained. Struggle remained. But
she got a glimpse of where God was going
with this plan and these promises.
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Hope is born in a community gathered
around the promises of God, encouraging and
blessing one another. When one person’s
hope slips, the others hold on to the hope,
and they hold on to the person.
We do have the power to help one another
hang in there. We do have the power to bless
one another. That is why we need each other,
why we need to get together again and
again. That is why we gather for worship
week after week. That is why we visit one
another, and study together and talk and
pray and work and play together. We wait for
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God together. We cling to God’s promises
and to one another. And we gather affirming
what God is doing and waiting together for
what God is going to do.
We need each other. We need help to
hold on to the promises. To keep hope alive,
we rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep
with those who weep, expecting the presence
of the Spirit to be there. Reminding one
another that God’s love will never, ever,
under any circumstances be taken away from
us--knowing that his heart aches for a better
day even more than ours do.
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It is Christmas wherever God's people
gather. We meet one another. We
encourage and empower one another. And
together we can go on.
Mary hurried to Elizabeth’s side. Dear
people of God, hurry to one another’s
side. Visit, comfort and care for each
other. Hurry…and get ready to sing!