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SERMONS

Fourth Sunday of Advent
December 21, 2008

By The Rev. Sylvia Czarnetzky

2 Samuel 7:4, 8-16
Psalm 132:8-15
Romans 16:25-7
Luke 1:26-38

I lead a Bible Study that meets on Tuesday mornings, and at our last meeting in December we watched a movie on DVD. It was the movie that came out a while back called The Nativity Story, and Lynne Stillions (a member of the Bible Study) had seen it in the theatre, and had raved about it. Now normally, I wouldn’t spend valuable Bible study time on anything Hollywood had to say about the Bible, but Lynne had said such good things about the movie that we decided to watch it. So we gathered in the parish hall to watch this imaginative retelling of the story of Mary and Joseph and the birth of the baby Jesus.

I really enjoyed the movie, and I thought it was carefully and well done. It was faithful to the gospels of Luke and Matthew. Both Matthew and Luke tell their nativity stories with great economy of language. And that sometimes means there are gaps in the story that we end up using our imaginations to fill in. And that’s what this movie kind of helped me do. Let me give you an example.

After the angel Gabriel had come to Mary with his surprising news, Mary decided to visit her cousin Elizabeth in the hill country of Judea. I’ll tell you the truth, I never really thought much about this journey to Judea from Galilee. I guess I’d always assumed that Elizabeth lived more or less around the corner from Mary, but this isn’t the case. But between what I saw in the movie and what I learned in my own travels to the Holy Land last year, I can now report that the journey from Galilee to the hill country of Judea is a long one, about 60 miles.

And I’d never thought much about how a young girl who had probably never been away from her family might get from Galilee to Judea without her parents. How would a girl Mary’s age (we think she was of 13 or 14 – certainly no more than 16 (Taylor 33)) – how would she have gotten from Nazareth in the north, to the Judean hills to the south and west? Well, the movie’s answer to that question is, that Mary would have gotten a ride to Judea from a family her parents knew. In the movie Mary gets a ride to Judea with a local family in their donkey cart, with her parents’ reluctant consent. And that is the kind of detail that the movie fleshes in for us – it kind of does the imagining for us.

Then I started to wonder why a girl as young as Mary might want to undertake such a long and arduous journey at the beginning of her pregnancy. I would imagine that was Mary’s first trip on her own, without her parents. I mean, Mary would have traveled to Jerusalem with her family several times a year for the big Jewish feasts, like Passover, (Vamoush 30) but it was pretty brave of Mary to embark on a trip to Judea on her own, in the early months of her miraculous pregnancy. We don’t really know what kind of relationship Mary had with her older cousin Elizabeth – whether they were close or knew each other well. But then, it occurred to me – who better than Elizabeth to be Mary’s companion in her unique journey to motherhood? And one thing that’s true about a long trip, whether by car or by donkey cart, is that it gives you plenty of time to think. (Taylor 35) It gave Mary time to work herself up into a state. When Mary and Gabriel spoke, Mary only asked the him one question, “How can this be?” But surely there were all sorts of other questions racing through Mary’s head by the time she set out for Judea. (151)

“Will Joseph stick around? Will my parents still love me? Will my friends stand by me…? Will the pregnancy go all right? Will the labor be hard? Will there be someone there to help me when my time comes?” (151)

In the movie you can see that Mary, as she travels to the hill country, gets more and more excited, the closer she gets to her destination. And when Mary finally jumps down from the cart and runs to find her cousin Elizabeth, her face is bright with anticipation. When Mary finds Elizabeth, she throws herself into her cousin’s arms. For when Mary sees Elizabeth, she sees for herself that Gabriel’s words were true -- that Elizabeth, who was thought to be barren, has become pregnant in her old age, just as the angel said!! The moment Mary and Elizabeth embrace, all Mary’s cares and worries seem to get pushed aside. (Taylor 35) Mary’s face, as she hugs her cousin, is a face that has relief written all over it. For Elizabeth is the one person – literally the only person in the universe– who would understand why a woman would ever believe the preposterous prophecy of an angel! It must’ve come as an enormous relief for Mary to fall into the arms of the one person in the world who would understand why Mary might be willing to trust the words of an angel about the birth of a Holy Child. It struck me that Mary went to the only safe place she knew as she struggled to understand what Gabriel had said to her, and what Gabriel’s words might mean for her life.

So there Elizabeth and Mary stand, forehead to forehead, perhaps Mary’s hand resting on Elizabeth’s big stomach, feeling for herself the evidence that the mysterious angels spoke the truth, and that nothing is impossible with God. And that’s when Mary burst into song (Taylor 35-6) -- the song we know as the Magnificat, the song we sang/read in place of the psalm today. “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my Saviour.” (Canticle 3) Mary spends three months of her pregnancy with Elizabeth, and you can just imagine their easy comfort with one another, as they waited together. That’s how I picture them, two women, one very young and in the early weeks of pregnancy, and one very old, in the last trimester of her waiting time.

Ann Weems has a poem about Mary in her book, Kneeling in Bethlehem. It starts: “Mary, Nazareth girl: What did you know of ethereal beings with messages from God? What did you know of men, when you found yourself with child? What did you know of babies, you, barely out of childhood yourself?” (25)

By coming to be with Elizabeth, Mary comes to the only place she can think of where her story might not sound ridiculous -- where Mary might tell the story of Gabriel’s visit to someone who might have no trouble believing the truth of her story.

And so it is that these two women come together to wait. They keep each other company. They support one another. They share their hopes and dreams with each other, and probably their fears and terrors too. (Taylor 35) But the point I want to make is that these two women did not wait alone. They had each other. They formed this little community of two -- waiting for new birth, (Senterfitt 80) waiting for an angel’s promise to come true, waiting for a holy future without knowing exactly what shape that future was going to take. But they kept one another company. And these two ladies keep us company, too, during these last days of Advent, (Taylor 33) as we count down the days until Christmas.

We are kept company by two pregnant ladies. Two ladies given news by angels that sounds impossible. Two ladies who trust God enough to say “yes.” Two ladies who stand at the threshold of a future that will lead to things they can’t yet imagine.

I say, let Elizabeth and Mary be our companions as we walk through these last days of Advent. Let the song of Mary ring in your ears as you prepare for Christmas. Our companion on the one hand is and Elizabeth, whose wisdom and quiet confidence bolsters our own faith. And our companion on the other hand is Mary, who “had little idea of what would be required of her,” but yet was filled with “wonder and joy” (Norris 18) which spilled out of her in song.

Let us walk with those companions through the last days of Advent, as we prepare to come and kneel at the foot of the manger, come Christmas Eve. And while there’s really nothing we can do to stop the commercialism of Christmas. we can choose carefully our companions this time of year. Even though we might have had a belly full of Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, let us choose other companions for these last days of Advent. Like Elizabeth and Zechariah, Mary and Joseph and Jesus; the shepherds and the angels and the star; the wise men and wicked King Herod. These are the characters that people our drama of Christmas. Of course, Rudolph and Frosty are part of the landscape too. Dust off your Bibles and turn to Luke for the wonderful story of Elizabeth and Mary, and the birth of a baby in a stable. Because it is the birth of that baby long ago in a stable that has change our lives forever and given us the gift of new life in Christ. And may the angel’s words to Mary ring in our ears as we go. “The Lord is with you.” (Lk 1: 28)“Do not be afraid.” (1:30) “…nothing will be impossible with God.” (1:37) (Taylor 153) Amen.

Works Cited

Borsch, Frederick Houk. “The Season of Advent/Christmas.” New Proclamation Year B 2002-2003. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.

Brueggemann, Walter, et al. Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on the NRSV - Year B. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1993.

Craddock, Fred B., et al. Preaching Through the Christian Year B. Valley Forge, PA: Trinity Press Intl. 1993.

Daniel, F. Harry. “The Lectionary Advent Texts for 2002.” Journal for Preachers. 26(1) (Advent 2002). 3-15.

Norris, Kathleen. “Open Paths.” “Living by the Word.” Christian Century, December 13, 2005. 18.

Senterfitt, Trisha Lyons. “Pastoral Perspective on Luke 1:47-55.” Feasting on the Word, Year B, Vol. I. Eds. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008. 80 – 85.

Stendahl, John. “Mary says yes.” “Living in the Word.” Christian Century December 9, 2002. 16.

Taylor, Barbara Brown. “Magnificat.” Mixed Blessings. 2d ed. Cambridge: Cowley Press, 1998. 32-8.

_________________. “Mothers of God.” Gospel Medicine. Cambridge: Cowley Press, 1995. 154-57.

Vamosh, Miriam Feinberg. Daily Life at the Time of Jesus. Herzlia, Israel: Palphot Press, 1998.

Weems, Ann. Kneeling in Bethlehem. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1980.

Winner, Lauren. “Living by the Word.” Christian Century December 16, 2008.