Luke 1:39-45
Though brief and often overlooked, the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary as she arrives at the home of her relative Elizabeth is one worth pausing to take in. This is one of the few scenes in the gospels where the principal characters are women. It is the only scene in any of the Gospels where we witness two women - on their own - engaged in the act of worshiping God. There is a beautiful intimacy in this scene. These women come together in extraordinary circumstances, bonded by the miraculous nature of their pregnancies, and embracing each other without hesitancy. Mary and Elizabeth know deep in their bones that the event at hand is not one to be taken for granted. God has looked on both with favor.
What a contrast this must have been for Elizabeth after having spent years of her life considered a disgrace and disappointment by her community. She and her husband may both have been descendants of the house of Aaron and righteous in the sight of God, but that did not spare them from the stares and the whispers and public shunning by those who surrounded her in the midst of her struggle. Now, though, this woman - who had ceased to be in the way of women years ago - is seen and acknowledged by God. In being so thoroughly seen and known, Elizabeth not only carries a child in her womb as a soon-to-be-mother, but also becomes part of God’s plan: something bigger is coming. In fact – in the person of Christ, now present in the womb of the Blessed Virgin - something bigger has already entered her home and her reality.
"There is commonality between these two women that only they will ever know."
The Blessed Virgin Mary never discloses to Elizabeth that she is pregnant, never (at least not in this moment…) gets a chance to share about the visit of Gabriel (how does one explain an angel showing up on the windowsill?), or how she is feeling about everything that has just happened since she learned that she was to become the Mother of God. When she is greeted by the Blessed Virgin, Elizabeth dispenses with all formalities. She knows that the moment is too big to let it slip past her. The saying rightly says: “game recognizes game.” There is commonality between these two women that only they will ever know. In this case, the one who has been seen and lifted up by the Lord recognizes when she is in the presence of the one who has also been seen and lifted up. “Why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me?” I imagine this sacred scene being filled with dancing and laughter and joy beyond measure.
What is your story of being seen by the Lord?
How has God lifted you up and filled you with the Holy Spirit? Have you ever seen someone and known (without speaking to them) that they, too, have experienced God in a miraculous way? I wonder if these are questions you might ask those whom you serve. In the midst of short hours of daylight and some who are missing loved ones as Christmas approaches, might we - called to be Christ’s hands and feet in the world - take a moment to ponder the wonderful things that God has done for us? Might we name that we, too, have been favored and seen by our God? And might we – in reflection of this Gospel of the coming incarnation - connect and uphold each other in these days of waiting and watching?
PASTOR JEN KIEFER serves as an Assistant to the Bishop and Director of Candidacy for the Southeast Michigan Synod, ELCA. Previously, she served as pastor of St. John Lutheran Church in Dundee, MI and as associate pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Lawrence, KS. Pastor Kiefer holds an MDiv from the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago, where she served as a student assistant to the Dean of the Chapel, and a BA from Kalamazoo College.
Nicely done. Thank you.