Saturday 22 December 2012

Background

We saw yesterday that Luke's Gospel parallelsthe story of the conception of John with that of Jesus. It goes onto parallel the narratives of their births, but at this pointbrings the two stories together. The precise nature of Mary'srelationship to Elizabeth is a matter of conjecture; the word inverse 38 simply means a relation or kinswoman. Why Mary travels tosee Elizabeth is not spelled out either. We might infer that shegoes in response to Gabriel telling her of Elizabeth's pregnancy ormaybe she wants to see the other woman involved in this unfoldingdrama. We are not given these details; the narrative at this pointis sparse.

Where Luke's Gospel does offer detail is in Elizabeth's greetingto Mary. She hails the younger woman as the most blessed of women.This is a text that provides the second part of the 'Hail Mary' incatholic devotion, emphasising that in whatever esteem Mary is heldit is on account of her being the mother of Jesus. It is the babywho is the focus of Elizabeth's delight. Startlingly she speaks ofthe unborn child as "my Lord" (v. 43).

The scene serves to establish the relationship between John andJesus. The movement of the baby in Elizabeth's womb points her tothe Christ child just as later (as we saw in Sunday's passage) it would be the ministry ofJohn to prepare people for the coming of the Messiah.

The NRSV and other English translations record Elizabeth twicedescribing Mary as 'blessed' (in v. 42 and v. 45). Luke uses twoGreek words. The first (literally 'spoken well of') expresses aSemitic idiom to say that Mary is (far) more than usually favoured.The second is a word that might be translated 'happy' and reappearsin Luke's Gospel's version of the beatitudes (Luke6:20-23). Mary is blessed because she is a disciple.

To Ponder

• Devotion to Mary has been a cause of division in the Church.How can we revere the 'mother of our Lord' appropriately withoutdamaging our commitment to worship God alone?

• This is a scene dependent on insights which only women couldoffer. How do we value the different perspectives of the two sexesin our church life?

• Whom do you call blessed?