Joy of Love - Luke 1

 Joy of Love

Tony E Dillon Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 1: 39-55, Micah 5

Opening Prayer.

I grew up praying the Hail Mary and the Holy Rosary.  Today’s lesson is the basis for those prayers. I admit that these are great meditation prayers, and we know that prayer and meditation are ways we can talk to God, to find some peace.  

Yet when I think of Mary and reading this text these days, my perspective has changed.  This is not just few good words but based upon something much more.

Two women, one past the age to conceive and the other is young and inexperienced.  Mary, the daughter of Joachim and Anna, goes to Elizabeth and Zechariah, both people of religious traditions and relative to Mary. She goes there to stay for a few months.  We have to wonder a little bit why.

Mary is in a precarious position (as most unwed mothers are).

She is disadvantaged, does not have answers, and faces public scrutiny for being pregnant and unmarried. I imagine her to be somewhat frightened and looking for reassurances. Where can she go and who can she trust?

So, she goes to Elizabeth. Does the young girl have to explain why to Elizabeth or even ask for acceptance?  

Now, we all know this feeling of being in a dark place without answers searching for reasons wondering what is true, what I should believe, or what I should do next. Yet like people do in Stephen ministry, Elizabeth does a marvelous thing (before St Stephen was even known). She welcomes, listens and walks along with Mary. She takes Mary in.

I imagine Mary questioning and unsure, but looking.  And then, when Mary sees her older cousin, she sees a woman full of life and with so much joy for her own pregnancy, her own blessing from God, is it then in that Mary would find relief and utter joy that she begins to sing praises?

To go from anxious and precarious to hope and joy! This is Mary’s Isaiah moment - “out of the darkness they saw the light”.

This song comes from deep within her, and she sings for both of them. This young, inexperienced woman sings about God’s blessings in her life, her cousins’ and of God’s vision for the whole world.  

Maybe she gets carried away, and maybe, the song becomes her. 

She is transformed from a lowly person to God’s servant. She is blessed with God’s spirit and God’s gifts. She is transformed.

The thing about this beautiful song is that it is not just for her, Elizabeth and Zechariah.  

She sings for every son and daughter who thinks that God has somehow forgotten or thinks God put calamity in our lives. She sings for those who think that God has forgotten that promise and to remind us God is there, to love forever, to give space for joy, to give life.  This song is for you and I.

To work the pun, Advent is a time pregnant with hope, wonder, and yes anxiousness and questions.  This song reminds us that we are not alone even when it feels like the world has turned away. There is someone that we can lean into to find hope, find peace, find joy and find love. 

Mary finds strength and reassurance in the joy expressed by Elizabeth and that grows between them.  We now what it is like to see people having “joy”, we want to join the fun.  She has to sing because she has found joy in love.  She has to sing because she sees and she is reminded that she is not alone and that God is with her, with her cousin another is hope in the world - through the Spirit. 

She is not royalty or prophet but prophecy is what she does. The gifts of God are not just for the rich and powerful, but for all of us.

I imagine her to be woman who is suddenly moved; has to belt out this wonderful number because the moment grips her and lift her.  She feels that wonderful sense and aura of hopeful anticipation instead of dread and worry.  She feels gitty and alive in the relief from her cousin and God.  

Thus, what the holy spirit bestows upon her is more than just passing idea, but hope for the whole world.  Elizabeth gets it. Mary gets it.  Even though she has so much against her and she can foresee the challenges ahead of her child, she sees hope and that fills her with joy and love.

Think about that for a moment.  Why do we sing Christmas carols and Advent hymns of hope and great anticipation?

Because you see, Jesus grows up with this woman as mother. 

One has to think she imparts some of her hope, her joy and her love into the child who we know as Jesus - the power of a great parent - great teacher. That starts with welcome.

Despite a society that scorns, a government that threatens, despite people going hungry and fear of military aggressions, or despite serious poverty, Mary senses the love of God with her and in her. Mary has joy in her heart. She has love for her child, a gift from God - for Elizabeth’s child, also a gift from God.  She realizes the gifts they have been given.

What does that mean for us??

Mary knows life isn’t going to be easy and the road ahead is paved with serious challenge. Yet, Mary realizes and sees a future with hope and love. Despite great odds, Mary raises Jesus as a child of hope, a child of love and peace.  Mary raises the child in the Spirit of God because God is there.   

That is why we give praise in our Christmas carols.  That is why we pray.  We could look back longingly at Christmases past hoping for more security, less troubles, but that is the wrong direction beloved.  We have grace now and in the days ahead of us. 

So when you are standing at the window of hope in a world full of suffering, maybe the path is not despair in winter but beautiful winter. Even on the longest night, there is a light.  Feel God inside you working with you. And then you too might just need to belt a great praise. Because young or old, we have so much here.

In a world that is longing for gentle peace and generous sharing of gifts, we can stand at that window with Mary waiting with great anticipation and hope and then let yourself be filled to the brim with the joy of God’s love.

Look who is with you and be transformed with that love around you and inside you.

Thanks Be to God