The Church Season of Trinity
The Fourth Sunday
after Trinity
The Visitation
Our Savior
Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (July 1, 2012)
Readings: Psalm 138
Isaiah 11:1-5Romans 12:9-16
Luke 1:39-56
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Grace, mercy and
peace be to you from the Father
and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen
The text for today IS the Gospel lesson from St. Luke the first
chapter, verses commonly known as The Visitation.
Luke 1:39–56
39 In
those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in
Judah, 40 and
she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And when Elizabeth heard the
greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with
the Holy Spirit, 42 and
she exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb! 43 And
why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For behold,
when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby 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
from 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 on the humble estate of his servant.
For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 And 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 mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever.”
56 And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.
Grace,
Mercy, and Peace be to you from the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Pregnant Mary who is the mother of Jesus
Christ visits her cousin Elizabeth who Is the mother of John the Baptist. Elizabeth’s father is Zechariah a Levite and
a temple priest.
And
so this meeting takes place in hills Judah, part of the Southern kingdom of
Israel, now a place where the threat of rockets and missiles may be launched
from or may land. A place which was arguably
last totally safe under the rule of King Solomon as mentioned in 1 Kings
4:25. A place where the prophet Micah
(2:6) prophesized these words, “ ‘And
you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers
of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ”
(Mt 2:6) This is the land of Judah of
which Sirach speaks, “15 Despite
all this the people did not repent, nor did they forsake their sins, until they
were carried off as plunder from their land, and were scattered over all the
earth. The people were left very few in number, but with a ruler from the house
of David.” 48:15 (NRSV) Pretty good
notes from a person whose words are housed not in our Bible, but in the words
of the what we call the Apocrypha, extra books not sacred, but good for
informational purposes as Martin Luther would state. Actually pretty good words for our time too,
carried off as plunder, scattered over the earth, left few in number, that is
what we as Christians have become, that is what we are, and increasingly that
is what we will be.
Chapter
1, verse 39, reads, “In those days Mary
arose and went with haste into the hill country.” So states our Gospel lesson a visitation in a
formally safe meeting ground. And what
we hear in those following verses following verse 39, is what Mary saw, what
Mary heard, what Mary said, what Elizabeth saw, what Elizabeth heard, and what
Elizabeth physically felt. And were all this
evidence to be offered to a courtroom today, it would be more than enough to
prove beyond a shadow of a doubt, that all that was said, all that was heard,
and the contents of all this discussion not only happened as they said, it
would be considered the truth too.
We
here today read it, hear it, and we say we believe it, but we don’t. It’s just a story we hear or read, usually
only at Christmas. A story from a book called
the Bible that very, very few people actually read. A book which we think has some truth, some
fairy tales, and it’s up to us to pick and choose which are which, which words
we think God would say and which ones we don’t think God would say. For most of us the Bible is a good starting
point for self-justification, like a true and false test, with the exception
that the correct answers of what is true is based solely upon our own
opinion.
But
dare us not be reminded of what the Bible says about itself, as St. Paul writes,
“16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and
profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in
righteousness…”, 2 Timothy 3:16 (ESV)
Dare us not also to be reminded that as Christians, as Lutherans, as
members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod,
that we confess that the Bible IS the Word of God, infallible and without error. At least those are the words we stated when
each one of us became members of the Lutheran Church. For those of you who are older it doesn’t
matter what synod, or what Lutheran Church version it was when you said it way
back when, that is what you said. And
for newer members, those who weren’t born Lutheran, like me, that is what you
were taught the Lutheran church believed based upon what the Bible said about
itself, and by what Jesus said about the Bible.
Jesus said, 39 “You
search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and
it is they that testify on my behalf.” John 5:39 So according to Jesus’ red letter words, this
IS the very Word of God. This IS what
God has given us to believe about Jesus, and this IS what He has freely given
us the faith to believe.
So
how does all this relate to Mary? Verse
39, “In those days…” Mary visits her
cousin Elizabeth, Jesus in Mary’s womb, John the Baptist in Elizabeth’s
womb. Okay, maybe we can believe that,
but somehow we fail to hear the implication of a baby leaping in one mother’s
womb, when Jesus’ mother speaks. We
prefer not to hear or speak to our society about wombs being blessed. Because its too confusing. You know, because at the time of this
scripture John the Baptist was after all just a fetus and Jesus was only fetal
tissue, and all that is just a bit too much and too confusing to sort out. And certainly it is much too hard to explain
to anyone these days.
But
now look at verse 42 and listen to the words of Elizabeth, “Blessed is the fruit of your womb” she exclaims,
“blessed is she who believed that there
would be fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” And if
you’re wondering what Mary thought, see verse 45. Mary believed. And if you’re wondering what Mary believed,
well that’s back in verses 1:26 through 37 and Mary said “Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to YOUR
Word.”
Now
comes the good part, beginning in verse 46, the Magnificat, meaning my soul
magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices”, just what it says right there in
verse 46. Mary did not rejoice for
herself, she rejoiced that she had received a savior. From these first few words we know that Mary,
the mother of Jesus Christ, was not born between 1946 and 1964, because she did
not frame this miracle in the god she wanted for herself, she said she was of
“low estate”, but in the God which had given her a soul, given her grace, and
honored her with the blessing of the Holy Spirit.
Now
listen to the litany of words which flow from Mary’s lips…listen to the
personal pronouns.
Verse 48, “For He has regarded the low estate” It is not Big Mary and little
Jesus as rendered in Roman Catholic artwork and belief. It is not big us little Jesus as in what we
want the Bible to say.
Verse 49, “For He has done great things for me.” Mary received the Holy Spirit and so was
blessed. You received the Holy Spirit in
Baptism and so you ARE blessed.
Verse 50, “And His mercy” It is in
Jesus Christ’s mercy that generations are blessed. Christ’s mercy to the poor the sick, the
lame, His mercy to endures the cross, His mercy endureth forever, from
generation to generation.
Verse 51, “He has shown strength” Not a strength of His arms to hold onto
nails on the cross, but that He would have the strength to honor His Father and
hang there, not for Himself, but for us.
Even in the face of people like our generation who are so proud we can’t
admit that we believe in Jesus to people around us because we are so proud of
ourselves.
Verse 52, “He has put down the mighty.”
The truth is our father’s and mother’s, grandparents and beyond knew and
read the scriptures more than we do. For
we are more likely to quote the book of Benjamin Franklin, “God helps those who
helps themselves,” than we are to read the Bible and learn just the opposite,
that God came to help sinners, which are
those who cannot help themselves.
Verse 53, “He has filled the hungry with good things.” But all too often we despise the food which
He offers. We want winning lotto tickets, and to be fed with the smugness that
our enemies have tripped and fallen that they got they got a poke in the eye because
they deserve it. And yet Jesus Christ
fills you today with good things from Himself, His body and His blood.
Verse 54, “He has helped His servant in the remembrance of His mercy.” Jesus said, “DO THIS, in remembrance of ME.”
Versee 55, “as
He spoke to our Father’s, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.” Christ’s
posterity throughout all scriptures speak that He provides you with your
posterity. Simon Peter answered Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life,
69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of
God.”(Jn 6:68-69)
Mary is definitely not a baby
boomer, she does not believe in what she has done, but instead what God has
done for her. And for Mary and Elizabeth
who would bear their children in a few months from the time of this writing,
that was enough. The fetus of Elizabeth would be John the Baptist the last of
the human prophets, who we hear of in scripture proclaiming repentance for the
forgiveness of sins. The fetal tissue of
Mary, who IS THE prophet, priest, and King who would in His first sermon
proclaim repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
And Mary and Elizabeth believed that because it was
God’s will not their own.
Repent,
believe and believe the Word of God.
Salvation does not come from within but from Jesus Christ and Him
alone. Believe the personal pronouns,
the He is Jesus and it is Jesus who comes to comfort you. In all that you would face in your lives,
whether it be sickness, adversity, times of personal pain, times of personal
crisis, when your world is exactly like the long years of turmoil in that far
off land of Judah. Look not within, but
look to Jesus Christ. He is with you
always, He counts your every tear, He knows your inner turmoil, He knows your
pain, He knows your anguish, He knows your joys, He knows your pride, HE Knows
you, that is His joy. To be Your
servant, even unto death.
Do
not share the truth of your scriptural analysis, but do not fail to share the
Gospel of Jesus Christ. Love your
enemies, give to the poor, assist the weak, comfort those who are low in
spirit. Point not with your thumb to your chest, but point
them with your lips to Jesus Christ, point them with your thoughts to Jesus
Christ, point them with your heart to the one who gave you salvation, in spite
of yourself.
Now
turn back to Luke 1, verse 47, read and hear these words, “my spirit rejoices
in God my Savior.” That comfort was for
Mary, that comfort IS for you, that comfort is to be shared in this world. It is eternal comfort won for you by Jesus
Christ, forever and ever. Amen.
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