Mary and Elizabeth Are Having Babies—Lectionary Reflection for Advent 4C [Luke 1:39-44 (45-56)]

Luke 1:39-44(45-56) New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

³⁹ In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, ⁴⁰ where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹ When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit ⁴² and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. ⁴³ And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? ⁴⁴ For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵ And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

⁴⁶ And Mary said,

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷     and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

⁴⁸ for he has looked with favor on the lowly state of his servant.

    Surely from now on all generations will call me blessed,

⁴⁹ for the Mighty One has done great things for me,

    and holy is his name;

⁵⁰ indeed, his mercy is for those who fear him

    from generation to generation.

⁵¹ He has shown strength with his arm;

    he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.

⁵² He has brought down the powerful from their thrones

    and lifted up the lowly;

⁵³ he has filled the hungry with good things

    and sent the rich away empty.

⁵⁴ He has come to the aid of his child Israel,

    in remembrance of his mercy,

⁵⁵ according to the promise he made to our ancestors,

    to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

⁵⁶ And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

                ***********

                The “Christmas Story” has its origins (according to the Gospel of Luke) in the angelic announcements that two women, Elizabeth and Mary were going to have rather special babies (Luke 1:5-38). As we draw one step closer to Christmas Eve, just a couple of days away, the Revised Common Lectionary presents us with the story of pregnant Mary’s visit to pregnant Elizabeth’s house. We’re told that God chose to bless Elizabeth, who like Hannah, prayed for a baby of her own. In an angelic vision, Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah is told that his wife will have a baby, that they should name him John, and that he will “be great in the sight of the Lord.” He’s also told that the child will be filled with the Spirit from before birth. There’s more to the story, but let’s just say that Elizabeth’s child will have a divine calling. As for Mary, the same angel—Gabriel—appeared to Mary, telling her that she was going to bear a child even though she wasn’t yet married. As to how this would happen, Mary learns that her child will also be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. He will also receive David’s throne. All of this will take place because the Holy Spirit will come upon her. This is the background to the story we read on the Fourth Sunday of Advent.  So, yes, Mary did know that her son might do great things!   

                In our reading for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Mary visits her relative Elizabeth who lives in the hill country of Judea near Jerusalem (remember that Elizabeth’s husband, Zechariah, was a priest). Luke tells us that she went in haste to Zechariah’s house. If we assume that Mary lived in Nazareth in Galilee, this would have been a rather long trip, lasting at least a week. Luke doesn’t tell us how she got there or who might have accompanied her. Would Joseph have accompanied her? Luke doesn’t say. Nevertheless, it’s unlikely that a pregnant woman would/could walk (or even take a donkey) from Nazareth to the suburbs of Jerusalem by herself. Nevertheless, in Luke’s account, Mary made her way to the house of Elizabeth and Zechariah. When Mary greets the couple, Luke tells us that Elizabeth’s baby leaped in Elizabeth’s womb. Thus, even before his birth, John gives his first witness to Jesus. With that, John’s path is being laid down. According to Luke, he will play the role of Elijah by preparing the way for the coming of the Lord.

                As for Elizabeth, she is said to have been filled with the Holy Spirit, who led her to exclaim to Mary: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:41-42). After making that proclamation, Elizabeth has a question for Mary: why did the mother of “my Lord” come to me? Yes, why me? Though, Elizabeth does confess that her baby leaped for joy at Mary’s greeting. Thus, Elizabeth, inspired by the Holy Spirit, offers a prophetic word about the nature of Mary’s baby. Elizabeth also declares that Mary is blessed because she believes the message given to her. What comes next is Mary’s song, the Magnificat. Or was it originally Elizabeth’s? As we read the Magnificat, it’s easy to see how it could have been placed on Elizabeth’s lips. There’s not really much there that doesn’t apply just as easily to John as to Jesus, except perhaps the word about the promise of Abraham, since John told his audience not to justify themselves by claiming to be Abraham’s descendants (Luke 3:8).

                In Gabriel’s message to Mary, the angel seeks to give assurance to Mary that this pregnancy is from God by pointing her to the pregnancy of Elizabeth, who is described as being Mary’s relative. The nature of the relationship isn’t stated, but the assumption has been that they were cousins, making Jesus and John cousins (Luke 1:36). Now if this is true, it raises significant questions. Mary and Elizabeth are said to be cousins and yet they are from different tribes. Mary, according to the Gospels is from the tribe of Judah, which is necessary if Jesus is going to descend from the house of David. Elizabeth and her husband, on the other hand, come from a priestly line, which means they are from the tribe of Levi. So, that would make them really distant cousins! It should be noted that the story of Elizabeth and Mary’s relationship only appears in Luke and not in any other Gospel. That detail isn’t necessarily important, but it does remind us that there are inconsistencies in the story that need to be faced. The point here is not on the relationship but the word of assurance that if God can provide Elizabeth a child in her old age, so could the much younger Mary even if she and Joseph haven’t consummated the relationship.

                Although the Magnificat is an extension of the primary reading, it is worth pondering its message as it has a prophetic feel to it. Although Mary (or Elizabeth) gives thanks for the honor of being chosen to receive this honor, she focuses on God’s purpose in making this call on her life. The song is reminiscent of Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10, which is one of the reasons this could easily be attributed to Elizabeth (and is so in some manuscripts. E. Elizabeth Johnson is correct in suggesting that “There is a sense, though, in which the song belongs to both Mary and Elizabeth—and, beyond them, to all women who long for redemption, who chafe at the perdurance of poverty, warfare, injustice, racism, and oppression, who call on God to keep ancient promises and fulfill God’s own purposes in creation” [Connections, p. 61]. Thus, the core message of the song speaks to this sense of purpose, such that the song speaks of God scattering the proud and pulling down the powerful from their thrones. As Fred Craddock notes, “What God has done for Mary anticipates and models what God will do for the poor, the powerless, and the oppressed of the world, the central them of the second movement of the song, the triumph of God’s purposes for all people everywhere (vv. 50-55)” [Craddock, Luke: Interpretation, p. 29]. Therefore, Luke’s Mary essentially lays out the mission of both John and Jesus, who would in their ministries express God’s preferential option for the poor. Thus, Mary sings of God’s work in the world:

He has brought down the powerful from their thrones

    and lifted up the lowly;

he has filled the hungry with good things

    and sent the rich away empty. (Luke 1:52-53).

Therefore, we can say with Luke that these two men would not have embraced any political movement that centered on greed, exploitation, and oppression.  

                While John will let the crowds who gathered to hear his message and be baptized know that forgiveness of sins wasn’t the end of the story. They would need to give evidence of their repentance by acting appropriately—largely in how they dealt with the poor. Apparently, people had been claiming that since they were children of Abraham, they were exempt from such requirements. John was clear—don’t count on your ancestry. God can make children of Abraham from the rocks. In this song, however, Mary affirms the eternal promise made to Abraham and his descendants. The message there speaks to God’s faithfulness to the covenant, such that as John reminded his audience, you can’t rely on your ancestry to get you out of trouble. So, for Luke, the message here as elsewhere is that in God’s realm, there will be a reversal of fortunes. The rich and powerful will change places with the poor and the weak. It’s a message that modern Christians, especially in the United States might want to heed. Our calling as Christians is not to seek power so we can dominate, but to follow Jesus in being servants.

                At the end of Mary’s song, the “Magnificat,” we’re told by Luke that Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months before returning home. Could this return home coincide with John’s birth? We can only speculate. Of course, after returning home she and Joseph would head to Bethlehem, where she would give birth to Jesus. That part of the story is yet to be told (Luke 2:1-20).

Image Atrribution: Visitation, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56718 [retrieved December 14, 2024]. Original source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/johndonaghy/22885862/ - John Donaghy.