I hope that you have all of your Christmas shopping done by now. For those of you who put things off till the last minute, like me, the last minute has arrived. There are officially 4 days left until Christmas. If you have Christmas presents for family members who live far away, I hope that you got them into the mail in time for them to arrive for Christmas. If you didn’t, you may find yourself doing what we find Mary doing in our gospel this morning, delivering her Christmas present to family members in person.
Mary rushes off from Nazareth in Galilee to the hill country of Judah with her Christmas present for Elizabeth. Her Christmas present is, of course, Christ Himself.
And how wonderfully wrapped her present is. I don’t know about the rest of you, but at my house, everyone always knows which presents under the tree have been wrapped by dad. The wrapping is, shall we say, unique. Long ago, at many times, God has given His Christmas present to His people of old wrapped in various ways. Uniquely wrapped in a burning bush or in a pillar of cloud and fire; wrapped in manna lying on the ground, wrapped in a rock gushing with water, wrapped in a still, small voice. But now, in these last days, He has given us His Christmas present wrapped in a virgin mother, bread and wine, water and His Word preached. But never has it been so uniquely and wonderfully wrapped as it is in the virgin Mary.
But why the great rush? Luke says that she arose and went in a HURRY to her relative, Elizabeth. For Mary, Christmas was still 9 months away. What’s the rush? Some think Mary rushed out of town before anyone found out she was pregnant. If a good Jewish girl were discovered to be pregnant out of wedlock in those days it would be scandalous and sometimes even deadly. Some think she rushed to Elizabeth’s because she needed another pregnant woman to talk to. I doubt that either of those explanations are accurate. It’s not like the hill country of Judah was any more open and accepting of single mums-to-be than Nazareth. And if Mary needed someone to talk to, surely there were other pregnant girls closer to her own age right there in Nazareth.
No, I rather think that Mary arose and went with haste to see Elizabeth because she believed what the angel Gabriel had told her. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. (Luke 1:36). Gabriel gave Mary a sign to assure her that the incomprehensible news he had just given to her about her own pregnancy was true. And Mary believed the Word she heard and did what the Word invited her to do.
Same thing happens with the shepherd in the fields watching their flocks by night. The angels appear and announce to them good news of great joy for all people. The angels give the shepherds a divine sign that their announcement is true. And this shall be a sign to you. You will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger. And then after they sing their favourite Christmas carol and depart, St. Luke writes, And they went in a HURRY and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. Why did they leave their sheep in the fields and look for the baby in the manger? Because they believed the Word they had been told and did what the Word invited them to do.
Faith and works go together. Faith without works is dead. How do we know that Mary believed the word of the Lord delivered to her by Gabriel? She went in a HURRY to see if Elizabeth was wearing maternity clothes. Had she not believed this incredible thing that Gabriel had told her she would have simply shrugged the whole thing off and only after she missed her period and started to feeling nauseas for no real reason would have said, well maybe I ought to go see my relative Elizabeth.
So, if we picture the scene in our mind just the way Luke writes it, no sooner does Gabriel mysteriously disappear, than Mary begins to pack her bags for a trip to Elizabeth’s. Mary is not one who’s afraid of travelling, as we who know the whole story well know. And where does Elizabeth live? In the hill country of Judah. I was curious as to just where this hill country of Judah is. None of the commentaries that I have were curious about this, so, me being me, I went on the internet. Lo and behold, up popped lots of maps of the Holy Lands that show where the hill country of Judah is located. And it’s would be something like a county containing several towns and cities. There was one town that showed up prominently within the hill country of Judah. It was a little town called Bethlehem. Now I’m not saying that Elizabeth lived in Bethlehem, (In fact, it seems for sure she didn’t. If she did, Mary and Joseph wouldn’t have had such a hard time finding lodgings on Christmas night). But what I am suggesting is that as Mary leaves Nazareth in Galilee to visit her relative Elizabeth in the hill country of Judah, unbeknownst to her, she’s making a dry run of a very similar trip that she’ll be making again just 9 months later.
Faith believes the Word and does what it says and goes where it leads, in a hurry, without delay. The Word of the Lord to Mary was that the holy, Son of God was present in her womb. That Word is confirmed by the pregnancy of Elizabeth. In faith, Mary goes without delay, and her faith is confirmed.
Likewise, the Word of the Lord says to us that the holy, Son of God is present in the bread and in the wine, present for the forgiveness of all our sins, for the giving of real life and as a foretaste of the feast to come. And to that incomprehensible promise is added the following invitation. Take and eat; take and drink. So in faith, we come to this church, we come without delay expecting to find what we are told to seek. Whoever seeks, finds. God has wrapped His great Christmas gift to us in the bread and wine.
This is only half of the scene as St. Luke records it. To get the complete picture, we need to look see Elizabeth’s reaction to Mary’s visitation. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. We already know who this baby in Elizabeth’s womb is. He is John, the one who will go before the Lord to prepare His way, to give His people the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins. The same angel Gabriel who informed Mary about her baby also informed Zechariah about Elizabeth’s baby. He said, He will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb. (Luke 1:15).
Allow me to digress for just a moment please. We need to switch gears and talk about shepherds. The job of the shepherds of Israel was to raise sheep and raise sheep for several purposes. For the wool to make clothing, for the meat to eat, and for the ceremonial sacrifice at the Temple. The most valuable and profitable lambs were those that were fit for sacrifice. They had to be year old males and without blemish. God had commanded the sacrifice of these lambs as the payment for the sins of the one who offered it. Sort of a mini-Passover every time a lamb was slain. The innocent lamb was accepted by God as a substitute for the guilty sinner who offered it.
Earlier, from Hebrews reading, we heard that these animal sacrifices were only a shadow of the good things to come. Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then, we hear the one who is speaking these words say, Then, I said, Behold, I have come do to your will, O God, as it is written of me. (Heb.10:5-7). So, if you will stretch your minds just a bit, can we accept the idea that Mary is the shepherd? Mary is shepherding this little lamb who is to be the sacrifice to which all the previous sacrifices were only a shadow. He abolishes the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been made holy through the offering, not of sheep, but of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Heb.10:9-10).
The digression is now officially over. As Mary shepherds this pre-natal male offering without blemish, the pre-natal forerunner sticks out his foetal finger which jabs into the uterine wall of his mothers womb, and in baby talk that only a mother could understand, says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. John begins his ministry in the womb. And his first congregation consists of his mum and his aunt Mary. And to them, John proclaims the presence of Immanuel - God with us.
And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.
This is the same leaping for joy that adult John would do as he saw the adult Jesus approaching him in the water of the Jordan River where he was preparing the way of the Lord through the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is the same leaping for joy that we will do when this same Jesus, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary, crucified, died and buried for our sins, comes again in the clouds in all His glory.
Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. And blessed are you when you believe the same. Amen.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment