Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, December 22, 2024

Micah 5:2-5a+Canticle 15+Hebrews 10:5-10+Luke 1:39-55

I am not sure that there are any more scandalous figures in all of scripture than the two women we encounter today. Mind you, our sacred texts include prostitutes and adulterers and murderers in the lists of Jesus's ancestors, so this is saying something. What is so scandalous is not the rather contemporary debate over whether or not Mary had agency to refuse to become pregnant - a fiercely debated topic in the #MeToo era - or that there is some kind of misbehavior or malfeasance. No, what is scandalous is how each of them becomes pregnant and what they do in response to their pregnancies, and most scandalous of all, is that this story is focused on the women, told by the women, experienced by the women.

For context, let me give you some data points:

• There are approximately 1.1 million words in the bible. Women speak about 14,000 of them. That's just more than 1% of all the words in the bible.

• 93 specific women speak in the bible though not all of them are named.

• Mary the mother of Jesus is not even close to being in the Top 10 of women who speak. She has 191 words. Elizabeth her cousin has 102.[1] Between them, they speak fewer words than I generally write in my weekly e-news essay.

 While they may not speak many words, the women are the only ones with the words in this part of the story. Zechariah is struck mute until after John the Baptist is born and Joseph has not yet made an appearance except as a way of identifying Mary as his betrothed, and even when Joseph does show up, he never says a single word.

 Women are rarely the central characters in scripture even though they often serve as the ones who move the story forward. But here in the very first chapter of Luke, they are front and center, these two women. The older one has lived her married life in disgrace for being unable to conceive and then scandalously becoming pregnant  beyond the age for such things; the younger now faces disgrace for becoming scandalously pregnant too soon. And the first thing this younger one does is to go be with her kin because, in making his announcement that she will conceive a son, the angel Gabriel has told her of Elizabeth's pregnancy. Did the angel know that Mary would need the support of her cousin? Or maybe Elizabeth needed Mary's presence? Was there some notion of divine compassion in the annunciation scene? Whatever the reason, Mary - this young newly pregnant girl - heads off to the Judean hill country. If she lives in Nazareth, that's a long journey, about 90 miles through hilly country, taken on foot by a young, unaccompanied girl. Talk about scandalous! And our text tells us that she went "with haste," as if compelled by some interior notion that she needed to go to where Elizabeth was.

When they see each other, it is Elizabeth who is filled with the Spirit. It is Elizabeth who first acknowledges the significance of the child Mary is carrying. It is Elizabeth who fills out those ancient words said daily with such devotion by Roman Catholics and others around the world every day. Yes, the Ave Maria, may start with Gabriel's "Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you" (Luke 1:28), but it is Elizabeth who finishes it with "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb" (1:42). It is Elizabeth who first recognizes who Jesus is even before his birth: "And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?" (1:43).

Who is this woman? We do not get the beginning of this story in our Sunday lectionary. It is appointed for this Tuesday in the Daily Office Lectionary, but because that is Christmas Eve, we get the birth of John the Baptist. It's a shame, because the story of John's parents is a great story all by itself.

Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah were descended from the priestly lines of Israel - Zechariah was a Levite and Elizabeth from the line of Aaron. Luke begins his gospel by telling us that they were old and childless which, for a woman, was an immense shame. It's also always a signal to us to pay attention because God is fixin' to do somethin'. Zechariah was serving as high priest in the year in which our story takes place, so he was the only one who could enter the holy of holies in the temple which could be a terrifying assignment because that was where the presence of God dwelled. And while he was lighting the incense at the altar, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that his prayer had been heard, that he and Elizabeth would have a son, they would name him John, and that son would be great and help prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. Zechariah then asks a question he should not have asked which was, "How can I know that this will happen? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years." (1:18) Gabriel gets a little testy at this, basically saying that he, Gabriel, a messenger from God is telling him so, and he strikes Zechariah mute. The people are worried that it's taking Zechariah so long to come out of the temple, and when he does and cannot speak, they know that something big has happened.

Sure enough, Elizabeth becomes pregnant. It is after these things that Gabriel returns and tells Mary that she, too, will conceive. She also asks a question of Gabriel, but the text does not say she is asking for proof, just that she is perplexed because she knows that this is not generally how these things happen. She accepts what Gabriel tells her, saying, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word" (1:38). And then she runs off to see her kinswoman, her auntie, and spends then next three months with her.

So, Mary and Elizabeth, scandalous as they are, recognize in each other that the hand of God is moving. And it is here, not with Gabriel and not right at the annunciation, but here that Mary praises - magnifies - God, recounting the mighty deeds that God has done, that God is doing, and that God will continue to do. Even as it echoes the song of Hannah, mother of Samuel, it is also a manifesto for what the child she carries will accomplish, casting down the mighty and lifting up the lowly.

Luke tells us right here at the beginning what his gospel is about: the lowly outsiders, the disregarded women, are central to the story, and Jesus who is coming will proclaim in his first public appearance as an adult, baptized by John and just returned from 40 days in the wilderness,

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    because he has anointed me
        to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
    and recovery of sight to the blind,
        to set free those who are oppressed,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18-19)

It may be true that Mary and Elizabeth and all the other women in the bible don't have many words attached to them, but the words that have come down to us are words of promise, prophetic hope, and power. Mary may have uttered the words of The Magnificat, but it is Elizabeth who perceives that Mary is not carrying just an ordinary child, but the Lord, the one promised to redeem the people walking in darkness.

Elizabeth, as much as any of the prophets of old, points us toward the savior who is coming into the world. And we are put on notice that God is not above doing scandalous and outrageous things through the most unexpected of people in order to inaugurate the reign of God.

So, on this Fourth Sunday of Advent, look around. God might just be looking for you to partner in this scandalous holy mischief, too.

[1] Data taken from "Bible Women: All Their Words and Why They Matter" by Lindsay Hardin Freeman