Friday 16 December 2022

Background

Immediately after Gabriel tells Mary she is going to have a baby (Luke 1:26-38), the young unmarried Mary left her home in Nazareth. No reason is given. Was it to avoid the inevitable shame of pre-marital pregnancy? She goes to her cousin Elizabeth’s home, the location of which is entirely vague, except for it being in Judea. 

This story is drenched in the mature faith of Luke, several generations later. He has reflected at length on the significance of John, and very much more of Jesus – his ministry, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension and the birth of the Church. His Church honours both Elizabeth and Mary. To communicate his faith, Luke now re-tells the story of the first encounter of the two men and their mothers. 

Elizabeth and Mary were chosen by God not only to give birth to these two pivotal men but also, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, to fully  understand the meaning of John and Jesus. We are to listen here in particular to John’s first acknowledgement of Jesus’s importance; and to Elizabeth’s insights and witness – to Mary and to Jesus (her ‘Lord’, perhaps referring to the long-awaited Messiah).

Mary greets Elizabeth on her arrival. Immediately the baby in her womb (John) leaps for joy, not so much at the sound of Mary’s voice as the nearness of his ‘Lord’. With a loud cry (she is ‘in the Spirit’) Elizabeth declares Mary to be the most blessed of all women. What truly humbles Elizabeth is Mary coming into her home as ‘the mother of her Lord’. And in v. 45, as a further blessing or as an interpretation of the blessing in v. 42, Elizabeth affirms that God has blessed Mary because she believed that God will fulfill the promise God had made to her. 

To Ponder:

• Since the Reformation, Protestants have found it difficult to honour Elizabeth and Mary: two women hiding away together to avoid public shaming, who become Spirit-filled witnesses to God’s creative work. They are a sign that, in God’s way of saving the world, patriarchal structures and cultural prejudices around age and child-bearing are to be swept away. In your experience, is this vision fully achieved in your church and in your local community?
• In your own words, can you frame a prayer of praise, to be used in your congregation or fellowship group, that celebrates Elizabeth and Mary together, and which is faithful to the insights you garner from today’s passage?