This account in Luke is dominated by Mary’s song, known in liturgese as “The Magnificat” which was borrowed with theological as well as literary meaning from the Song of Hannah (I Samuel 2:1-10). It is the mainstay of the social doctrine of the universal church which makes clear that God favors the poor and lowly. The “mighty” and the “rich” are sent away. That’s a sermon for another time.
In reading this passage this year, I’ve been moved by the opening verses regarding Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth who was six-months ahead of Mary in her pregnancy. As Luke writes the story, Mary, without being told by the angel to do so, visits her cousin, perhaps because they share the experience of unexpected pregnancies. However, there is a dramatic contrast in their experiences. Elizabeth is aged and had been married a long, long time. Mary was very young. unmarried. and pregnant. in a culture that would stigmatize her severely with judgmental rejection because of her status as an unwed mother.
Would Mary have expected Elizabeth to greet her with harsh judgment? Without knowing the rest of the story, the first century reader of Luke might expect so. But Elizabeth’s loving and happy reaction is a wondrous and lovely point that is key to Luke’s telling the story. She feels the stirring in her own womb that she interprets as these two second-cousin yet-unborn babies greeting one another. These are not just two more false prophets.
In our families, in our friendships, and in our churches, there are countless opportunities for judgmental exclusion or rejection. How quickly can good and righteous Christians turn into unrighteous judges when someone – or some group – does not live up to our standards. Mary’s visit with Elizabeth calls us to a different attitude. Elizabeth, Luke reports, was filled with the Holy Spirit and was able to see the work of God despite human standards and culture that would call for criticism, rejection, judgment. What can Luke’s story teach us?
Loving God, holy one: fill us also with the Holy Spirit that we would see you more clearly through the fog of human standards and culture that are not of you. Jesus is Lord, in whom we pray. Amen.
Rev. Jack Lipphart
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