Sunday 22 December 2024
"For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy." (v. 44)
Background
One of my treasured keepsakes is a card from a female friend given to me after a year of job-sharing together. It depicts Mary and Elizabeth greeting each other as described in this passage. The line drawing shows two unidealised female forms who are clearly pregnant. Mary and Elizabeth show joy in each other’s presence and this joy and delight leaps off the page.
The account of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth has some fascinating vagueness. Verse 39 speaks of the visit taking place, “in those days” and the location of the visit as in "a Judean town in the hill country”. Luke, who is usually very precise about location elsewhere in the gospel, gives little information about the time or location of the visit, or indeed the reason for the visit. The clarity is provided by the two women. They have both discovered that they are to bear a child under difficult and challenging circumstances and it is natural that they seek each other’s company.
There is confirmation from Elizabeth of the earlier words of Gabriel to Mary, “Greetings favoured one! The Lord is with you” (1:28) when she greets Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb." (v. 42) Both greetings announce that God is acting in a way that will bless Mary.
This story offers a further development in our understanding of Mary as a disciple when Elizabeth offers a blessing to Mary (v. 45) which indicates her understanding that Mary has not just passively acquiesced to Gabriel’s message about the child she will carry. There is no resignation to what God has planned for Mary. Rather Elizabeth expresses that Mary’s response is a confident engagement and co-operation with God, and an assertion that God will bring God’s promise to birth, into reality.
The joy and understanding that Mary and Elizabeth show in their encounter is an encouragement to us all of the joy to be found in co-operating with God in God’s love for the world. This joy and understanding then flows into the hymn of praise and promise we know as the Magnificat.
To Ponder:
- The poet Mary Oliver says that “joy is not meant to be a crumb”. What, or who makes you feel joyful?
- Saying 'yes' to whatever you discern God is asking you to do can be scary and overwhelming. Who do you seek out to discuss that with?
Bible notes author: The Revd Helen Cameron
Helen Cameron is a presbyter of the Methodist Church and currently serves as President of the Methodist Conference.