Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
Sunday December 22, 2024 – 4th Sunday of Advent
Scripture: Luke 1:39-56
This is the fourth
week of a 4-week (plus Christmas Eve) story-telling series. In week one, Mary
told us how the beginning of Jesus’s story ended; in week two she spoke about the
beginning of the beginning of his story; last week she told of her visit to
Elizabeth; her story continues this week
Over the past several weeks, I’ve been telling you my story. I actually started at the end of the story – or at least the end of the beginning of Jesus’s story, when my boy Jesus was executed on a cross, and those of us who were with him wept for the sight of it on that hill outside of Jerusalem. But then I went back and tried to start my story properly, with the beginning of the beginning of my story, when I was still young, and an angel, a messenger from God-Whose-Name-is-Holy, told me that I had been chosen to carry a Holy Child within my own body, and raise him as my own.
I told you that the Divine Presence gave me the courage to say yes, as I trusted that I had the strength of my ancestors behind me; though I thought that it was best to leave Nazareth for a time to visit my kinswoman Elizabeth while my parents managed the consequences of what had happened.
Even as I said yes to the angel, my knees trembled for fear underneath my skirt. I knew that even before I risked losing my life in childbirth, I risked losing my live to stoning if my village found out that I was pregnant before I was married. And I was almost certain that I never would be married, as my parents were going to have to tell the family of Joseph, my betrothed, what had happened. And even though Joseph had kind eyes, and I had witnessed some of his acts of kindness towards others, I knew that it was not his kindness, but rather the opinion of his family that would have the final word. And because of the way that inheritance is passed to the eldest child, there is no way that they would want to bring a child not their own into their family.
Let me jump ahead a little bit in my story. I can tell you that when I got home from Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house, I learned that all of my fretting and worry had been for nothing. My parents had spoken to Joseph’s parents, and eventually word came back to them that the marriage could still go ahead. Joseph would later tell me that he too had been visited by an angel, and that the angel had told him what had happened to me, and that he, Joseph, was to raise this child as his own; and because Joseph and his family are people who love and fear God-Whose-Name-is-Holy, the marriage hadn’t been called off. But it was three months before I would learn this news; and many more months after that before Joseph would share his story with me.
Now back to where I was in my story. That first night at Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house, the child that Elizabeth carried in her belly began to dance and leap for joy, so much so that I could almost make out the tiny hands and feet as I pressed my hands to Elizabeth’s belly.
And as I felt the dancing beneath my hands, something came over me – something like I’ve never felt before. A vision came over me. The closest way that I can describe it would be like standing way up on the hillside looking down on my village from far above; and yet in my vision that day, even though I was at a distance I could see things as clearly as if I was standing right next to them. And somehow I knew that I was seeing the world as God-Whose-Name-is-Holy sees the world. The colours were somehow brighter and more vivid than regular colours, and I could see more than one place at once, so many places and times all at the same time.
And I began to sing about what I was seeing. I began by praising the name of God-Whose-Name-is-Holy. I sang:
My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
For God has looked with favour on his servant,
and from now on, all generations will call me blessed.
for The Mighty One has done great things for me,
and Holy is God’s name.
And then I went on to describe what I saw. I sang:
God’s mercy is for all of revere God, from generation to generation.
God has sown strength and power.
God has scattered the proud.
God has brought down the powerful from their thrones.
God has lifted up the lowly.
God has filled the hungry with good things.
God has sent the rich away empty.
God has come to the aid of God’s people,
according to the promises made to all of our ancestors.
That day with Elizabeth was the first time I sang that song, but it wasn’t the last time. I wanted to hold on to that vision, to hold on to those words, so I used to sing it to myself as I went about my day. And when my baby was born, I sang it to him as a lullaby as I rocked him to sleep.
And so when my boy Jesus grew up and began to teach people about God’s vision for the world, I wasn’t surprised to hear him teach things like “the last shall be first and the first shall be last.” I wasn’t surprised to see him welcoming the most vulnerable and marginalized people. I wasn’t surprised to see him feeding crowds of hungry people. Because this is the message that he heard from his mother from before he was even born.
And as for me, even when the world feels overwhelming, even when it seems as though the powers of Empire, the powers of Rome, are stronger than anything else in the world, even when it seems like pain and suffering will never end, I remember my song. And my song reminds me of the vision that I had that day. And I can never fall into despair because I’ve seen a different world. I’ve seen the world as God-Whose-Name-is-Holy sees the world, and I’ve seen that some day this vision will have come to be. I may not live to see the day when hunger has ended, when the powerful Empires have been overturned, when the lowly have been lifted up, but I trust that this day is coming because I’ve already seen it.
My story is drawing to a close, but it isn’t over yet. I stayed with Elizabeth for three months before I returned to my parents and began preparing both to be married and to birth my child. The last part of the story I’m telling you is about the time when my baby was born, and I do hope that you’ll come back to hear the ending.
Image: “Magnificat!”
Lawrence OP on flickr
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