Just a word before we go...Fourth Sunday of Advent...December 19, 2021

Two women comprise the centerpiece of the unusual Gospel we are presented with today. We hear that Mary left her home and traveled to see her kinswoman, some 90 difficult miles away. We know that she and Elizabeth were pregnant, both under unusual circumstances. We are told that Elizabeth greeted Mary warmly, with the recognition of her elevated status as the mother of the Lord. This is an important and heart-warming story; but what really intrigued me was what was left unsaid.

It is easy to surmise that Mary, as she was coming to grips with her new reality, was seeking comfort from an older relative, one who was experiencing a similar mysterious condition and who, she hoped, would greet her younger cousin with open arms and an open heart. After all, Mary must have been the talk of her hometown; that would have been an uncomfortable and exhausting position in which to find herself. So off to Elizabeth Mary goes. 

However, I suspect there was much more to the visit than seeking comfort from wagging tongues. Beyond the bond that would form between two women who had received a seemingly impossible ask from the Lord, and replied “yes,” there were additional gifts that each brought to the other.

I can imagine that among these gifts acceptance would be primary; by recognizing thegoodness in each other and providing a judgment-free zone, their level of comfort with each other would deepen. Their listening hearts, able to absorb the joy and deflect the anxieties that would be natural to each of their situations, would cause those hearts to swell. It would seem that each would come to appreciate the courage of the other, which, in turn, would engender great compassion. By being present to one another, in mind, body and spirit, their understanding of the situations each faced would increase. And one of the great blessings of the friendship of women is the gift of tears; those, I am sure, flowed freely. 

I expect that after three months of being immersed in one another’s gifted company, Mary and Elizabeth would emerge strengthened by the experience, and filled with hope. They would be peaceful as they faced their future and that of their offspring, even while knowing that heartache would eventually come their way, but trusting, always trusting, that what the Lord had promised would be fulfilled.

Elizabeth, who has come to represent the Season of Advent, and Mary of Nazareth, who is central to the Season of Christmas, would have discovered in their time together that God would never abandon them, and neither would the gifts of friendship they shared during those three months together. God’s promises and the strength of their shared experience would carry them forward as they played out their inimitable roles in our salvation history.