The visitation – Langside 14/12/2014
In early Oct a small group of us set out from Greenock Cut on a pilgrimage walk to the Cathedral of the Isles in Millport. Despite a dull start to the day, by the time of our coffee stop mid-morning the sun was shining and apart from a short shower at lunchtime, we had sunshine most of the rest of the way. The only casualty on the way was Lisa’s shoe, which gave up the ghost half way there!
We were joined by Jeff and Lydia and family and also Karen Barclay in Largs and we headed over on the ferry to the island, and got the bus round to Millport.
We arrived at the Cathedral where we had a short service of meditation in the Lady Chapel – where the alter cloth has beautiful embroidery of the words of Mary which we hear at this time of year – My soul doth magnify the Lord.
In the Cathedral sanctuary there is a painting on the wall which is a copy of a much more famous painting by the artist MariottoAlbertinelli’s.
This is a painting of the visit which Mary makes to Elizabeth when they are both pregnant – Elizabeth with John and Mary with Jesus, which we heard in our reading this morning.
This is an amazing vignette which it is easy to overlook in the time of preparation for Christmas, but in this time of advent we are going to pause for a while and consider this encounter between these two women. And we could ask - What is this little story all about? What is the point of this story – why are we told it? Why does the story of Jesus begin with the story of an old man and an old barren women? Why not just get straight to the point and start with Mary? What can we learn from this story?
As David said last week, the stories we read in scripture are stylized stories, told with a particular purpose in mind, and told to make connections and make the reader take note of certain references.
Just before the story of Mary’s visit to Elisabeth we have the story of Mary who has just been told by the angel Gabriel that she is going to have a son, even though she has not had sexual relations with any man. Mary is also told that her cousin Elisabeth is pregnant – and has been for 6 months – and so Mary sets out to visit Elisabeth – which is why this story is called ‘The visitation’ in the Christian tradition.
But before we look at this story a bit more closely we need to go back to see how Elisabeth became pregnant in the first place. And that was the second reading that we had this morning.
The story begins with the visit of the angel Gabriel to Zechariah, Elisabeth’s husband, to tell him that he – an old man – and his old barren wife – are going to have a son.
But Zechariah does not believe the angel, such a thing is simply an impossibility, and so he is silenced because he did not believe.
But why should Zechariah have believed the angel? Why should he have accepted that it was possible for an old man and an old barren woman to have a child.
Often when we watch a film or TV series the story begins in the present, but then we have a flashback where we are taken back to the past to be shown something that has relevance to the present.
Well, this morning we are going to have a little flashback – right back to the start of the story of the people of Israel, right back to Abraham and Sarah, which was our first reading. When Abraham and Sarah were told that they were going to have a son, they didn’t believe the messenger and they both laughed – after all, Abraham was an old man and Sarah was an old barren woman. But the visitor who gave them the news asks a question – Is anything too wonderful, too difficult, too impossible for God? And of course, it turned out that it wasn’t impossible for God because Sarah did have a son and they called this son Isaac, which means laughter.
This story – of a barren woman having a child – then becomes a recurring story down through the generations of Israel.
In the Old Testament there are six stories of barren women – all of whom eventually bore a son:
Sarah & Abraham
Rebekah & Isaac
Rachel & Jacob
Samson’s mother
Hannah & Elkanah
Woman of Shunnem
We don’t have time this morning to re-read all these stories, but if we did, we would see that through the stories of these barren women who all eventually have a child, the narrators of the Hebrew scriptures are teaching Israel that God can bring life out of impossible situations, God can make an impossible thing possible.
One story of a barren woman shows us that birth order, tradition or custom, not on being the favourite have no influence on who God chooses for who carries on the promise he has given.
Other stories of barren women tell us that life is always and ever a gift of grace and that even though Israel wandered from the path God laid before them, became self-centred and lost their sense of purpose, and failed to live up to the expectations of their miraculous beginnings, God never gives up on them – he continued to give them life and an identity based on his gift rather than their behaviour.
And so each story of a barren woman eventually having a child builds up an image that becomes a symbol for Israel which was to remind them that God can bring new life out of the most impossible situations and that he will preserve and protect the life he has given.
In our call to worship today we recited Psalm 113. The book of Psalms was Israel’s hymn-book which was used both personally by people when worshipping God, but also by the community as a whole. In it is collected together hymns of lament, hymns of requests, hymns of struggle with the questions of life and also hymns of praise – like Psalm 113.
It is interesting to see what is included in this psalm as a reason to praise God – two reasons are given – the first is that God raises the poor man from the dust and makes him a prince and the second is that God makes the childless wife the joyful mother of children.
The purpose of these two images is to remind Israel that without God they would have no place in the world and no future, they would have no significance and sense of worth. Most significant in relation to our focus this morning is the last image of a barren or childless woman who is given children – it is a reminder that Israel would not even have come into existence if a barren woman had not given birth.
So all the way through the Old Testament scriptures we have, first of all, a story at the beginning of the first barren woman, then we have several stories of barren women, which becomes an image for Israel itself, this is then written into a hymn and it also becomes an image of hope given by the prophets to the people when they were in great difficulty.
And so we arrive at the story in our reading today – the story of another barren woman – Elisabeth. This story depends on understanding all the threads of the stories that had gone before – which the first readers of the gospels would have know very well.
So should Zechariah have recognised what God was doing in his own life and in the life of his wife Elisabeth? Should he have remembered the stories of how God had, several times in the history of Israel, given children to barren women. Obviously the angel thought that he should have – he was a priest, a man who had studied the scriptures and followed them all his life. Barren women giving birth was not something that was unknown. And so because Zechariah did not believe that this could happen to him and his wife, the angel made him unable to speak until the child would be born.
Elisabeth herself does not seem so sure about being pregnant either. Elisabeth sees her pregnancy as a removal of the social stigma of being barren, but at the same time she hides herself for 5 months. It might appear that she was uncertain of her condition, unsure of the consequences, afraid of what pregnancy at her advanced age might bring – we don’t know the reason – but she definitely does not go out telling every one the good news – because I don’t think she was so sure that it was good news, she is not so sure about this thing that God was doing either.
So Zechariah and Elisabeth, although they knew the history, didn’t seem to think that this could happen to them and when it did they weren’t sure how to handle it.
After the story of Elisabeth we then have the story of the angel appearing to Mary to tell her that she is going to have a child.
Zechariah had been told that his son would bring joy and gladness, with many people rejoicing at his birth. But Mary is not promised joy and gladness – she is promised that her son will become great, that he will be called the son of the most high, that God will give him a throne and that his kingdom will have no end – lots of great prospects for Mary son.
Mary’s response, is first of all to question the physicality of the situation – she is not in a physical relationship with any man – so how can she have a child. The messenger assures her that her pregnancy will be the result of the work of the Holy Spirit and the power of the Most High. After telling Mary about her cousin Elisabeth’s pregnancy, the messenger makes a statement that brings the story of all the barren women right into this new part of the story – this time it is not a question – is anything impossible for God, but rather a statement – nothing is impossible with God.
Just as the impossibility for Abraham and Sarah had been turned into a possibility by God, in the same way the impossibility for Mary would be turned into a possibility by God.
And so, here we see Mary, a young girl from a town of no great importance, from a family that was of no special pedigree, she is placed into the story of her faith parents and she is willing to believe that what God has promised he will do. Mary the young woman, has faith while Zechariah, the old priest has not. Mary rejoices, while Elisabeth the old woman does not.
Having received her own good news, Mary sets out to see her cousin Elisabeth.
We are told that when Elisabeth sees Mary and hears her words of greeting that the baby, who is later to be known as John the Baptist, leaps in her womb.
So what happens when these two women meet? Here we have the meeting of the old and the new – birth from barrenness was not now the most impossible thing – the impossible thing is a birth from a virgin. God was beginning something that was going to surpass anything that he had done before. And in our story, John, the child filled with the Holy Spirit while still in Elisabeth’s womb, recognises the newness of the life that is within Mary womb. With the work of the Spirit in her son, Elisabeth has insight that she hasn’t had up until that point. Her pregnancy is not an end in itself – her pregnancy is simply the final sentence at the end of a chapter and the new chapter is about to begin.
And so, suddenly it seems, everything makes sense to Elisabeth. The angel had told Zechariah that this son would prepare the way for the messiah and that he would be filled with the Holy Spirit – or have great spiritual insight – even before he would be born. And so Elisabeth interprets this movement of her baby as his recognition of the baby which is already within Mary’s womb, who will be known as Jesus.
The work of the Holy Spirit in scripture is first of all that of bringing life into the world and one of the most significant characteristics of anyone filled with the Holy Spirit in scripture is spiritual insight into both the past and the future. Here Elisabeth displays both these things – she is carrying new life and she receives spiritual insight.
The stories of scripture can seem distant and unreal to us – they are stories of people and places which seem to have no relevance to our lives. But in the story of Elisabeth we see God bringing an old story into the lives of Elisabeth and Zechariah.
In the picture the artist has painted the two figures so that Mary’s face casts a shadow over Elisabeth’s face – indicating that the old image has now been overshadowed by the wonderful new thing that God is beginning to do. In the story of Mary we see God doing something completely new – something unexpected and life changing – not just for Mary, and not just for Israel, but also for all of humanity. It is this new thing that we remember at Christmas time. The good news of a possibility of a new life for everyone.
In this story we are reminded that life only ever comes from God – and that it can appear in the most impossible of situations. We immediately think of the life of a new child, but there is also the sense of a new view on life, a new sense of purpose, even though things seem hopeless, or a new sense of call when we thought we were of no use to God.
We are also reminded that spiritual insight comes from our cooperation with the Holy Spirit and then we can gain new insight into what God has done in the past, insight into what God is doing in our present in our own lives and also what God is doing in the lives of others.
When we look at the close up of this picture of this encounter between these two women we see the deep communion between Elisabeth and Mary as they both experienced the work of God in their lives. It is so easy to dismiss other people and assume that God is not at work in their lives, but it is the insight of the Holy Spirit which enables us to see the work of God in the lives of those we encounter, even if it is not visible to others. God is at work in all of our lives, just as he was at work in the lives of those in the past. The work of God in our lives is related to our co-operation with him -
Zechariah was reluctant in his co-operation,
Elisabeth was hesitant in her co-operation ,
but Mary was eager and willing in her co-operation.
So this morning, let us remember the old stories – or if you don’t know the old stories – go and read them – let us also look out for the new stories that God is writing in our lives and let us also look for the stories that God is writing in the lives of those around us.
Amen
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