Luke 1:26-56
Today’s scripture is the tale of two women, women it turns out who had famous sons.
Mary of Nazareth is young, unmarried, and pregnant. That means she is in trouble, about to lose her future marriage (although we learned last week that fiancé Joseph pulled through and that turned out better than it might have). The news of a baby coming can’t have been welcome to her.
Elizabeth is old, married a long time without children. She too is pregnant. Perhaps she was overjoyed at the possibility, having waited a long time.
We read that Mary travels to seek Elizabeth’s company. An older, wiser cousin who can help her process this unsettling news? A safe place to stay as her pregnancy begins to show, a shelter until she figures out what to do next?
Although the circumstances of these two pregnancies differ, both of these women were vulnerable, in danger. Pregnancy has never been a truly safe condition. So much can go wrong. We sometimes forget how many women have died in childbirth over the years. Or how many have been condemned for being pregnant inconveniently. If we’re going to understand how these women saw God moving in their lives, we have to acknowledge their vulnerability.
The story tells us that Elizabeth celebrated Mary’s pregnancy. Surely it helped Mary to have that support. A baby is something to celebrate, even if the circumstances are uncertain. And the story tells us that Mary also celebrated. I wonder how long it took her to work around to that. How she managed to get her head around that reality. She decides this child is going to change the world. Maybe every mother thinks that – she’s carrying a doctor, a famous actress, a priest. Every child has the potential for greatness.
We give great credit to the two men these women birthed – John the Baptizer and Jesus of Nazareth. Both spoke to troubled times…violence, poverty, illness, Empire. Both gave voice to God’s Word, coming to people waiting for some good news. Both pointed to reform and change – the coming of God’s reign among us. These are miraculous births!
Before John and Jesus changed the world as we know it, they were raised by Mary and Elizabeth. We put a lot of emphasis on the role God plays in raising up these prophets, and we should. But what of the role their mothers played? Who fed them, protected them, healed their skinned knees? Who taught them to see God in the world around them? Who taught them to speak out for justice and change? Surely their mothers played a part in creating their vision and their commitment.
The story says that from the beginning Mary and Elizabeth shared a vision of what these babies might mean. I like to picture them, young and old, both worried about what comes next. Both determined to bring healthy babies into the world and both dreaming of the difference these babies will make. Listen again to the way Mary described what God will do through this change that’s coming:
God’s strength will shape the world and scatter the proud who seem to be in charge.
God has brought down the powerful and lifted up the powerless.
God has fed the hungry and sent the rich away.
God has rescued the people from Empire, and created the world of God’s promise.
She doesn’t say, “Oh, I hope this will be someday.” She says, “It’s done!” Then she has this baby, raises him, and sets him loose on the world to make the promise come true.
Theologians talk about God’s working in the world as a mystery of time…things that have been accomplished that haven’t yet happened. It’s already and not yet. Mary’s song is an already/not yet prophecy. God’s way has come to be the way of the world and someday it will be so.
Today’s angel message to Mary is that things that are coming are already accomplished. It’s a message of hope and possibility. What we can believe, we will one day see. What we can imagine as coming from the heart of God, we can create as God’s way on earth.
This Christmas many of us are struggling with unimaginable things happening around us. If I had told you last year that the United States would end food aid to the world and to our own people, would you have believed me? Would you have believed that Gaza would be flattened, Ukraine in limbo, health insurance cut off, drug lords pardoned and fisherfolk bombed in their boats, hardworking people deported without process, education programs cut short… Every day I hear people – all of us – say, “How can this be?” We feel powerless.
The angel tells Mary that what needs to change is already changing. That even a young peasant girl in trouble can be an agent of miracles. That the next baby born, or the one graduating from high school this year, may be the leader who makes a difference. And in the meantime, while we’re waiting for history to turn and the world to shift, God is with us. No matter the trouble around us, God is here. We are not alone. Those who seem to be in charge will not have the last word. Tell everyone who longs for good news: God who has come is also coming. The poor will be lifted up, the proud scattered, the hungry fed. The world CAN change and will change.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.