Advent 4 - 2021 - Luke 1:39-58

I love Christmas songs. A recurring phrase in our house during this time is, “Alexa, play Christmas Classics.” Christmas hymns, jingles, and Crooners. I love them. But I do have to say, a lot of Christmas songs feel very trite. They tend to offer a very simplistic view of the world. And the worst offender of this trite sentimentalism has to be Deck the Halls. I mean consider this with me: Deck the Halls is so lacking in substance, that they have to fill every line with incoherent babble. Fa la la la la la la la.

We just watched National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and the movie opens with an obviously dysfunctional family driving out into the woods to pick out a Christmas tree. And the Dad starts up “Deck the Halls” and after leading the first stanza, turns it over to his disgruntled son in the backseat, who completely ignores his parents. But does that deter the Dad? Not in the least. Keeping to the beat of the song, he chimes in with the requisite “fa la la la la las.” It’s a perfect example of how we can sometimes plug our ears and close our eyes to the brokenness and dysfunction in our lives and forcibly sing, “fa la la la, everything is fine.”

Sometimes it feels like that’s what we’re expected to do around this time of year - close our eyes, plug our ears, and be happy for a month no matter what’s going on in our lives. If we’ve got problems with the kids or in our marriage or with our boss, well, now’s not the time to think about it or talk about it.

But really, this is the best time to open up about what’s really going in our lives, because the message of Christmas is this: God has entered into our struggle. He’s entered into our pains and hurts and the messiness of our lives. And his arrival should give us hope and strength to enter into them as well.

This morning, we’re going to take a look at a small part of Mary’s story, when she takes refuge in the home of her relative, Elizabeth. And in this interaction between Mary and Elizabeth, I pray we take to heart the beautiful truth that is revealed: that God became vulnerable for our sake.

So let’s take a look at the situation. Luke 1:39.

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah...

In those days, Marry got up and booked it, about 80 odd miles, to a town in the hills called Judah. Now, why is she in such a hurry? Well, Mary has just been visited by an angel who said something to her that shook Mary to the core. The angel said that this 14-15 year old girl, who was a virgin, who was engaged, is going to become pregnant. The Holy Spirit of God Almighty would come upon her and overshadow her, and would create in her the Son of God himself. The one that Israel had been waiting for and longing for for centuries - Mary would be his mom.

While amazing news as that may be, it came attached to a significant amount of trouble. What would her fiancee think when Mary shows up to the wedding pregnant. The argument, “I didn’t have sex with anybody” is seriously undercut by being pregnant. What would Mary’s parents or neighbors think? The good news that the angel brought was laden with trouble for Mary. Who is going to believe her? It’s crazy! Why should Mary even believe it?

And so the angel gives Mary a gift. Mary is given a sign. The angel says, “You know your relative, Elizabeth? The wife of Zechariah? You know how she is really old, way past childbearing years? You know how she has been barren, unable to have a child for decades and decades? Well, the Lord visited her too and she is also going to have a baby.”

Now, do you think Mary got much sleep the night after this angelic visitation? No! What must she be thinking? I’ve got to go see Elizabeth. Because if Elizabeth is really pregnant, which would be nothing short of a miracle, than it would give her some confidence that what she experienced with the angel was real and true. And if Elizabeth were, in fact, pregnant, than there is no better person on earth for Mary to confide in regarding this incredible thing that has happened to her. So she books it to Elizabeth.

Let’s pick the story back up at verse 40:

and Mary entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. 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. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

So before a word was spoken about Mary’s situation, before Mary had the chance to explain anything about the angel or the baby or the trouble she was in, before Mary could say anything but, “Good morning,” something incredible happens inside Elizabeth, as the baby inside her hears the sound of Mary’s voice, and he leaps for joy.

Elizabeth had been promised that her miracle baby would be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he was born - meaning, even before he was born, John would have special insight into the redemptive plans of God - and he would go before the coming King and announce his arrival. And here’s little baby John, still in his mother’s womb, and already from Day 0, he is making people aware of the presence of the Lord. At the sound of Mary’s voice, John, filled with the Holy Spirit, leaps in the womb, because he knows that the Christ is present.

But it isn’t just John that’s filled with the Spirit, because Elizabeth is also given insight and understanding. She is also filled with the Spirit, so that before Mary can say anything, Elizabeth understands what’s going on and exclaims:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

Now, you might be familiar with this line, especially if you have experience in the Roman Catholic tradition. It is featured in a famous prayer used by our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters, where it is said, “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

Now, there is a tension in the Church regarding Mary’s position in redemptive history. The Roman Catholic church takes a very high view of Mary’s role in God’s redemptive purposes. In some measure, Mary gives grace and hope and peace to the church, and so she is venerated and lifted up as the subject of praise. At the other end of the spectrum, and in fact in response to the Roman Catholic tradition, there are other churches that all but throw Mary and her story away. The riches of her story is avoided, and she is treated as a simple vessel for God’s Son. Any further attention would divert our attention from the prominence of Jesus.

But I think there is a third way. A middle way. We don’t have to worship Mary, nor do we need to avoid her like the plague. There is a middle way that both gives due honor to the faith and obedience of this teenage girl and affirms the Spirit-breathed acclamation of Elizabeth that Mary is blessed among women for the unique role she was called to.

Mary’s faith must be praised! If we lift up the faith of Paul and Peter, John and James, Martin Luther and Billy Graham, than we must lift up the faith of Mary. She risked much for the sake of the world and for the sake of God’s kingdom. When the angel came to her and called her into the mission of God, how did she respond? “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Translation? I am surrendered to the purposes of God. My life, my livelihood, all that I have and all that I am is your's, Lord. I will gladly bear whatever cost - social shame, pain, the end of my personal dreams, being ostracized by family and friends - I will do as you say, for you are my God.” A faith of that measure is worthy of honor and respect and praise. It is worthy of emulation. Mary had a willingness to do what God asked. Nothing more, nothing less, and nothing else. And because of that, she is blessed among women.

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” And then Elizabeth continues. And what she says next should astound us. She says to Mary, “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

What Elizabeth is claiming here, is that within Mary, growing inside her body, is the Lord. Now, the Lord, has already appeared several times in the gospel of Luke:

In 1:6, in describing Zechariah and Elizabeth, Luke writes that they were “both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord.” Who gave the statues and commandments? The Lord did.

In 1:9, Zechariah was selected to serve in the temple, and Luke writes, “according to the custom of the priesthood, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.” Whose temple is it? It’s the Lord’s. And in the temple, there appeared to Zechariah in verse 11, an angel of the Lord. Whose messenger was it? The Lord’s.

In 1:15, the angel tells Zechariah that his son John will “be great before the Lord…and “he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God…and he will make ready for the Lord a people prepared.”

In 1:25, after finally conceiving a child just like the angel had promised, Elizabeth says, “Thus the Lord has done for me in the days when he looked on me, to take away my reproach among the people.” Who has done this great work and created life where life could not grow? It was the Lord.

The Lord has been spoken of quite a bit in this first chapter of Luke. He is the Lord of the angels, the Lord of the temple, the Lord of the prophets and the Law, the Lord who creates life, the Lord who is coming to make all things new. And according to Elizabeth, who is in this moment filled with the Holy Spirit, that same Lord is inside the womb of fourteen year old Mary. “And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

The Sovereign Lord is a baby inside the womb of Mary. And hearing these words from Elizabeth, Mary erupts in song. She can’t help herself, because it’s just too much. The Lord of the Universe is a baby in her womb.

God became vulnerable in order to reconcile people to himself. You cannot love another without becoming vulnerable. The only path to an authentic and healthy relationship with someone else, whether that is a neighbor or God himself, is to allow yourself to become vulnerable. And you and I run from that. But thanks be to God, that he does not.

You cannot go far in life without experience real hurt and pain in relationships, and we develop all sorts of ways to deal with that. Some of us withdraw. When we are hurt by someone else, we say, “I’m done with this.” When we’re hurt by our spouse, or friend, or roommate we say, “I’m done with this, and we either turn a cold shoulder or we leave altogether.” Others of us, when we are hurt, we attack back. Others say, I’m just not going to pursue relationships with anyone anymore - I don’t need friends. Others decide to keep every relationship at surface level. I’m not going to seek depth with anyone, because when I last did that, I got burned.

These are incredibly human things to do. We put up barriers in our relationships in order to protect ourselves. We put up divisions. We maintain broken relationships as a strategy, so that we won’t be vulnerable again. It is one of the saddest realities of the human condition. We maintain broken relationships.

But the scandal and the beauty of Christmas, is that God - who created us from a great outflow of love and affection but watched as we day after day, generation after generation, turned against him in hatred and rebellion - even still he does not withdraw, he does not erect barriers, instead he becomes vulnerable. He chooses to enter into our messy world as a needy, helpless, dependent baby.

You know, there is this dynamic that happens in the home when you have a newly born baby. At some point, the baby will wake up crying in the middle of the night, and both parents hear it. Both parents know that they have to go up and feed the baby and change their diaper, but both parents are actively pretending to be asleep in the hopes that the other will drag themselves upstairs to tend to the baby’s needs. So you can imagine teenage Mary and Joseph, in their home, months from now, with newly born baby Jesus, and the baby wakes up crying, and Mary and Joseph are both thinking to themselves, “Oh my goodness, I am so tired. I haven’t slept like at all the past two days. I’m always the one who has to get up at night.” And they are having this inner monologue as they hope and pray that the other will get up to tend to the baby, meanwhile the Lord of Heaven and Earth is crying in his crib with a diaper blowout.

And that may sound disrespectful, but it’s the reality of Christmas. The Lord became a baby, who could not feed himself or change himself, but was utterly dependent on his parents for everything. He willingly became vulnerable for our sake. He allowed himself to be hurt, neglected, betrayed, and finally killed. Why? Because he loves us. And to love someone else, you must be willing to become vulnerable.

We do everything we can to protect ourselves from hurt and pain, but for our sake Jesus willingly entered into it. We find security and strength in maintaining distance from other people, because we’re so afraid of getting hurt. But their are real repercussions to this tactic, because if we are unwilling to become vulnerable, we will never know love.

CS Lewis says this:

To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.

To have a real relationship, we have to be willing to become vulnerable. And the beauty of Christmas, is that it is a huge signal to the world, that God is interested in a real relationship with us. He came to us as a vulnerable baby. He allowed himself to become hurtable. He was willing to be wounded for the sake of his relationship with us. He was willing to take the hit, so that we might be reconciled and redeemed.

All of us have relationships today where we are maintaining brokenness. We are running from vulnerability, refusing to enter the struggle. And I know that each situation has their complexities, and I wouldn’t dare oversimplify your struggle. But this I know: even if we feel safe behind the walls that we’ve built, it is exhausting to keep them up. It is exhausting to maintain brokenness in our relationships, and the struggle to do so results in the shriveling up of our souls. And the Spirit of God longs to move us towards love in all areas of life and in every relationship that we have. And if we are willing, he softens our hearts, so that we like Christ, can become willing to take a few blows for love’s sake as we seek reconciliation.

He has done the same for us, and by his Spirit, we can make strides towards reconciliation in our broken relationships too.