Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent
Bethlehem Lutheran Church; Los Alamos, NM
[NOTE: Texts in Greek, Latin and English follow the Sermon]
+ In nomine Domini. Amen.
It is a sweet and beautiful and lovely story. We only find it in the Gospel according to Luke — that grand account of the Story of Jesus of Nazareth. Luke’s Gospel is compiled from stories we find in the much earlier Gospels of Mark and Matthew, and also includes material from other sources as well — sources, some of which were only spoken and not written down.
The Gospel According to Luke comes onto the stage of History sometime in the 8th or 9th Decade of the First Century — some 10 or 20 years after the end of the Jewish/Roman War when Jerusalem was destroyed and the Temple was burned — and some 50 or 60 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus.
Why was this Gospel written? In fact, why were any of the Gospels written? And the answer is: to keep alive the Story of Jesus and his followers, to allow the Story to be handed down generation to generation, and to give hope and comfort to in a time of persecution and fear and doubt.
Luke (the Gospel) is part of our history as believers; it is part of our story of faith; it is our inheritance. We are the recipients of the Story, it is our heritage. It shapes us and forms us as followers of Jesus in the world.
The Story comes to life in us — which is why we read it aloud when we worship. And one more thing: the Story compels us into action, it directs us into a movement the path of which leads us into the world, not away from the world. The Story, when we immerse ourselves in the Story, places our feet and our hands and our bodies and our minds and our souls on a journey of peace, hope, and love — the very words we sing about this Advent Season as we move closer and closer to the Feast of Christmas.
This morning, on the Fourth and Final Sunday of Advent two pregnant women meet together. Two pregnant women who are related — one much older than the other, the other much younger.
The older woman we know as Elizabeth — the wife of Zechariah. He was a priest in the Temple at Jerusalem. We learn earlier as we read the Gospel of Luke that one day as he was burning incense at the Altar in the Temple an angel of God appeared to him telling him that his wife is going to have a baby, and Zechariah is to name the child John. Furthermore this child would grow up to be a prophet, the forerunner of the Promised One.
Imagine! That should have been good news because Zechariah and Elizabeth were very old, and Elizabeth was well beyond child-bearing years.
But, Zechariah did not believe the angel. He asked for a sign. We can understand that — what would you do? What would you say? Put yourself in the Story — you’re coming to Holy Communion this morning and as you are standing in line waiting your turn, a huge heavenly being appears to you, and to you alone — none of the rest of us can see the angel. And the angel is not some little cherub wearing a white acolyte’s robe with little wings and a smile — no this is Gabriel (and like the other angels mentioned in Holy Scripture) they are huge, tall, one could say menacing creatures — they get your attention and their voices boom as they speak.
What would you do? You would say maybe: “Could you wait a bit until I have taken Holy Communion and then meet me back by the coffee pot, I want to see some ID.”
[Now if this happens this morning, and we see one of you leave worship and head for the coffee and snacks, we’ll know it’s and angelic moment.]
So for Zechariah the angel identifies as Gabriel and says in essence, “You want a sign? Here’s one. You will not be able to speak until the child is born! There’s your sign.”
And so it was. And as soon as Zechariah returned home ‘lo and behold, Elizabeth conceived and became pregnant.
When she was five months along, the same angel, Gabriel, visited her relative Mary with the message that she too (Mary) would conceive a child and she (Mary) should give him the name Jesus when he would be born.
At the time, Mary was engaged, but not married. You see the bit of a scandal here — what we have to remember about the Gospels is that they are about real life. They are not essays about holiness and ethereal wisdom, they are stories of encounters of humanity. That’s why we can identify with the Story.
So, when Joseph found out his very young wife-to-be was already pregnant, he wanted to divorce her, but quietly because he was decent man.
And then again that same angel, Gabriel, appeared to Joseph convincing him not to do that, but that when the child would be born, he was to name him Jesus [Yeshua in Hebrew, which means “salvation” or “deliverance.”] And you know already how things turned out — which is what we will be celebrating and singing three nights hence on the Eve of Christmas.
Back to the story at hand. Mary who is pregnant goes to visit Elizabeth who is pregnant. And the account of that we heard read for us so well by the Price women.1
When Mary comes to see Elizabeth, Elizabeth says with a loud voice:
“Εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν, καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου!”
That is how Luke records her words, in Greek — actually whatever she said she said in Aramaic, which was the common dialect of Hebrew. In English what Elizabeth said was:
“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.”
Now where might you have heard that before? In Latin it is: “Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui.”
Sound familiar? If you grew up in the Roman Catholic Church, while things were still in Latin, then this was part of the Ave Maria (Hail Mary). At the very least I suspect you have heard this sung as it was composed by Franz Schubert.
Ave Maria, gratia plena, Dominus tecum. Benedicta tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui, Jesus. “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus.” It is the Song of Elizabeth to Mary.
You see, sometimes we think that various prayers and hymns that are such a part of the life of the Church down through the ages, they just appear out of nowhere. No, almost everything is derived from a Biblical story, and from words that we find in the Hebrew Scriptures and/or the Christian Scriptures.
Elizabeth’s words give rise to Mary’s response, a song of her own; recorded in Greek: “Μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν κύριον.”
As it was translated into Latin: “Magnificat anima mea Dominum.”
And in English: “My soul magnifies the Lord.” Or, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord.” Again read so very well for us this morning by the Price women.
This is the Magnificat as we call it in the life and history of the Church. It has been set to music by Bach, Vivaldi, Charpentier, Bruckner, Rutter, Tallis, Vaughn Williams — and many others. It is used in worship frequently. We will sing a version of it this morning as our Hymn of the Day (my personal favourite, because it this tune is Irish).
But what exactly is the Magnificat? What does it mean, really? And how can we understand it today, now, in our time, in this place, in our society?
The Magnificat, Mary’s Song, one of the most ancient Christian hymns is much more than sweet music.
Three examples.2
(1) German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer recognized the revolutionary and subversive nature of Mary’s Song. In a Sermon during Advent in 1933, in the midst of the Nazi oppression and horror, he said: “the song of Mary is the oldest Advent hymn. It is at once the most passionate, the wildest, one might even say the most revolutionary Advent hymn ever sung. This is not the gentle, tender, dreamy Mary whom we sometimes see in paintings — This son has none of the sweet, nostalgic, or even playful tones of some of our Christmas carols.”
(2) The government of Guatemala in the 1980s also recognized the subversive nature of Mary’s Song. The government found Mary’s proclamation — that God is essentially concerned for the poor — to be so dangerous and revolutionary that it banned any public recitation of Mary’s words.
(3) In the United States, among those who saw their own story and hope in Mary’s Song was a woman named Dottie Stevens, a revolutionary mother from East Boston and a longtime organizer of the poor. She was married at age sixteen and decided to leave home, just as the beloved revolutionary sister Mary did. Facing ridicule as a young wife, she discovered a place to belong among the rank and file of the National Welfare Rights Union.
Dottie died in 2014 after a long battle with cancer. She had been a fighter, an abuse survivor, and organizer of the poor for most of her life. She was an artist, an activist, a musician who played the piano, a mother and a wife. She was an advocate for the poor who are blamed for their own poverty, for the unhoused who are demonized for being homeless, hungry and in need of rest. She fought her whole life for mothers to be able to put food on the table and have heat and hot water during the winter months.
I would call her a “Saint.”
Three examples of the strength and power of this encounter between Elizabeth and Mary. Three examples of the strength and power of the Song of Mary, the Magnificat. Three examples of how you and I, the inheritors of this Song, are called to action, not passive contemplation.
When I was in Seminary during the Season of Advent when we students in Chapel would sing this Magnificat as part of worship, frequently the Student Sermons and prayers would be something like: “Dear God, help us to be more thoughtful about the poor and homeless. Dear God, help us remember those who are in danger for their lives. And so on.”
One day The Rev. Dr. Robert Jenson (of blessed memory) dressed us down. “What is wrong with all of you? You ask God to help you be more thoughtful and more feeling. How will that help anyone‽ You need to pray: Dear God, help the poor. Help the homeless. Bring about justice and peace. And make us be the ones to do it!!”
That’s what Mary was singing about in her song. May it be so for us this Advent, this Christmas, this coming Epiphany, this New Year, and forever. May we sing Mary’s Song into justice. May we sing it into peace. May we sing it into the healing of the world!
And let us all say: Amen.
1 I asked two young women in the congregation to come to the Pulpit for the reading of this Gospel. One read the part of Elizabeth, the other that of Mary.
2I rely here heavily on an article Song of Revolutionary Mothers by Savina J. Martin. https://kairoscenter.org/sermons-bible-studies-liturgies/politics-christmas-roman-empire/marys-magnificat-luke-146-55/
Luke 1.39-55 (Koiné Greek, in which the Gospel of Luke was written)
39 Ἀναστᾶσα δὲ Μαριὰμ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ταύταις ἐπορεύθη εἰς τὴν ὀρεινὴν μετὰ σπουδῆς εἰς πόλιν Ἰούδα,40 καὶ εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν οἶκον Ζαχαρίου καὶ ἠσπάσατο τὴν Ἐλισάβετ.41 καὶ ἐγένετο ὡς ἤκουσεν τὸν ἀσπασμὸν τῆς Μαρίας ἡ Ἐλισάβετ, ἐσκίρτησεν τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ αὐτῆς, καὶ ἐπλήσθη πνεύματος ἁγίου ἡ Ἐλισάβετ,42 καὶ ἀνεφώνησεν κραυγῇ μεγάλῃ καὶ εἶπεν, Εὐλογημένη σὺ ἐν γυναιξίν, καὶ εὐλογημένος ὁ καρπὸς τῆς κοιλίας σου.43 καὶ πόθεν μοι τοῦτο ἵνα ἔλθῃ ἡ μήτηρ τοῦ κυρίου μου πρὸς ἐμέ;44 ἰδοὺ γὰρ ὡς ἐγένετο ἡ φωνὴ τοῦ ἀσπασμοῦ σου εἰς τὰ ὦτά μου, ἐσκίρτησεν ἐν ἀγαλλιάσει τὸ βρέφος ἐν τῇ κοιλίᾳ μου.45 καὶ μακαρία ἡ πιστεύσασα ὅτι ἔσται τελείωσις τοῖς λελαλημένοις αὐτῇ παρὰ κυρίου.46 Καὶ εἶπεν Μαριάμ, Μεγαλύνει ἡ ψυχή μου τὸν κύριον,47 καὶ ἠγαλλίασεν τὸ πνεῦμά μου ἐπὶ τῷ θεῷ τῷ σωτῆρί μου,48 ὅτι ἐπέβλεψεν ἐπὶ τὴν ταπείνωσιν τῆς δούλης αὐτοῦ. ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν μακαριοῦσίν με πᾶσαι αἱ γενεαί·49 ὅτι ἐποίησέν μοι μεγάλα ὁ δυνατός, καὶ ἅγιον τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ,50 καὶ τὸ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ εἰς γενεὰς καὶ γενεὰς τοῖς φοβουμένοις αὐτόν.51 Ἐποίησεν κράτος ἐν βραχίονι αὐτοῦ, διεσκόρπισεν ὑπερηφάνους διανοίᾳ καρδίας αὐτῶν·52 καθεῖλεν δυνάστας ἀπὸ θρόνων καὶ ὕψωσεν ταπεινούς,53 πεινῶντας ἐνέπλησεν ἀγαθῶν καὶ πλουτοῦντας ἐξαπέστειλεν κενούς.54 ἀντελάβετο Ἰσραὴλ παιδὸς αὐτοῦ, μνησθῆναι ἐλέους,55 καθὼς ἐλάλησεν πρὸς τοὺς πατέρας ἡμῶν, τῷ Ἀβραὰμ καὶ τῷ σπέρματι αὐτοῦ εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.
Luke 1.39-55 (Latin Vulgate, in which the Gospel of Luke was translated)
39 Exsurgens autem Maria in diebus illis, abiit in montana cum festinatione, in civitatem Juda:
40 et intravit in domum Zachariae, et salutavit Elisabeth.
41 Et factum est, ut audivit salutationem Mariae Elisabeth, exsultavit infans in utero ejus: et repleta est Spiritu Sancto Elisabeth:
42 et exclamavit voce magna, et dixit: Benedicta tu inter mulieres, et benedictus fructus ventris tui.
43 Et unde hoc mihi, ut veniat mater Domini mei ad me?
44 Ecce enim ut facta est vox salutationis tuae in auribus meis, exsultavit in gaudio infans in utero meo.
45 Et beata, quae credidisti, quoniam perficientur ea, quae dicta sunt tibi a Domino.
46 Et ait Maria: Magnificat anima mea Dominum:
47 et exsultavit spiritus meus in Deo salutari meo.
48 Quia respexit humilitatem ancillae suae: ecce enim ex hoc beatam me dicent omnes generationes,
49 quia fecit mihi magna qui potens est: et sanctum nomen ejus,
50 et misericordia ejus a progenie in progenies timentibus eum.
51 Fecit potentiam in brachio suo: dispersit superbos mente cordis sui.
52 Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles.
53 Esurientes implevit bonis: et divites dimisit inanes.
54 Suscepit Israel puerum suum, recordatus misericordiae suae:
55 sicut locutus est ad patres nostros, Abraham et semini ejus in saecula.
Luke 1.39-55 (New Revised Standard Version in English)
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
46 And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
Nota(ble) Be(n)e 