The Church Season of Pentecost is sometimes called “Ordinary Time” because there aren’t any major feast days to break up the long stretch between the Day of Pentecost and the First Sunday of Advent. It can be easy to slip into a daily routine during the hot days of summer. It can be equally easy to miss where God is acting during our Ordinary Days and Times. During this season of the church year, we’ll be meeting some Bible women who encountered God in their daily lives and were never the same. Last week we looked at Mary of Nazareth. Her daily routine and plans for a simple marriage were dramatically changed by her acceptance of Gabriel’s announcement “You shall bear a son.”
This week we think about Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin. She is an
old woman who has given up hope of ever having a child. We hear her story in
Luke 1:5-25 where we meet the elderly couple of Zechariah and his wife
Elizabeth, both of the priestly order of Abijah. They had no children, a
sorrow and tragedy for them as there would be no one to carry on the family
line, and no one to care for them in their old age. Then Zechariah is honored
to be chosen to enter the sanctuary of the Lord and offer incense. While
doing this duty, Zechariah meets Gabriel who informs him that Elizabeth will
have a son. Zechariah dares to argue with his heavenly visitor, ‘How will I
know that this is so? For I am an old man, and my wife is getting on in years.
The angel replied, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been
sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news. But now, because you did
not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time, you will become
mute, unable to speak, until the day these things occur.’
Struck dumb by his doubt, Zechariah returns home, and
Elizabeth does conceive. Her first reaction is to stay away from people. She
recognizes God is acting yet she doesn’t want to share her joy with her
friends. ‘This is what the Lord has done for me when he looked favorably on me
and took away the disgrace I have endured among my people.’
Brene Brown notes, “vulnerability is at the center of fear and
shame, but it is also at the center of joy and gratitude and love and
belonging... If we continue to wake up every day and put our game faces on and
think that invulnerability is the way to be … then we pay the price, because I
don't know that we would ever fully experience joy and love and belonging.”
Elizabeth chose to not be vulnerable to what the neighbors might think or say.
She wanted to keep the special miracle to herself, just as she had kept the
years of grief hidden.
It isn’t until Mary comes to visit that she fully embraces
the joy of her gift. Mary’s response to Gabriel’s announcement is to rush off
to see her cousin who is also blessed by God with an unexpected pregnancy.
Elizabeth and her unborn child recognize the truth of the Incarnation.
Elizabeth exclaims, “‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit
of your womb…For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my
womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a
fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:42-45)
Writing for the DuPree Institute’s Life for Leaders daily meditation on December 17, 2021, Inéz Velásquez McBryde suggests we “Think about the vulnerability of these two women. Societally, Elizabeth had probably endured much deferred hope and waiting to have a child. Now, God had remembered and heard her long prayers at her older age. Think about Mary being pregnant with a child and not yet wed to Joseph. The plans of God are high risk! Yet, God sends us messengers to confirm and affirm the calling in us, the invisible hope before there is a visible manifestation of that calling.”
We also bear the Light of God within us, just as does
everyone else on the planet. As McBryde states, “the plans of God are high
risk.” When we don’t think we can say ‘yes’, God holds us close and says, ‘yes
you can.’ Just like our earthly parents and friends who support and encourage
our endeavors, God is always there to urge us forward.
Who are the family and friends who support and encourage
you? Tell them thank you—they are the embodiment of the Holy One in your life.
What can we learn from Mary and Elizabeth about saying Yes
to God and bearing God’s love to the world?
Can we be vulnerable enough to share what God is doing in
our life at this moment?
