1st June 2014Mary's Visit to Elizabeth – Luke 1:39-56
Today we celebrate the visit of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth. In typical
Anglican lectionary style, this feast can be observed on July 2nd
which this year is a Wednesday, so perhaps they thought it better to make it a
Sunday celebration.
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There is a lot happening in the church at the moment. Saint’s Days are
upon us daily, and I think in May there are only 9 days where we are not
remembering or celebrating the life of someone who, loosely, had nothing,
overcame obstacles and adversary, preached and taught with huge fortitude,
became loved by all (we’ll come to various hermits at another time!)…and then
they seem to die a horrible, sometimes very early, death…for their devotion to
God.
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One person who was, by her very action, possibly the most dedicated woman
we know. That is Mary, the mother of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. I have recently
written a presentation about Mary, her visit from the Angel Gabriel, and what
would have happened if Mary had said ‘no’ to him?? But you can hear that closer
to the time we celebrate that glorious day!
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But Mary did say yes, and she, as prophesised by Isaiah in 4:7 does
conceive a son by the Holy Spirit. Then, she goes to see her cousin, who
according to St. Luke, was a cousin of Elizabeth, wife of
the priest Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah, who was herself part
of the lineage of Aaron and so of the tribe of Levi….brother to Joseph, he of
the multi-coloured coat fame from Genesis 39! Lineage and genealogy in the
Bible will certainly keep you on your toes, you just wait until we’re going
through it during Advent – it is really fascinating, and puts much of God’s
work and how he calls people, and who he calls into a fantastic perspective. I
promise you will feel much better about yourself after that! But now back to
Mary and Elizabeth.
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Much like the Annunciation, we
only read about the Visitation in Luke’s Gospel; and rather frustratingly, the whole
New Testament tells little of Mary's early history. Phyllis G. Jestice in
Holy people of the world: a cross-cultural encyclopedia, Volume 3. Published
in 2004 tells us The 2nd century Gospel of James is the first source to name
her parents as Joachim and Anne, there is also talk of a sister named Mary, but
she is more likely to be her sister-in-law, the wife of Joseph's brother, Cleophas.
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As names are so important in the Bible, so let us have a quick look at a
few we’re talking about here. Elizabeth may mean ‘God’s promise’, or ‘my God is
generous’.
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Mary means ‘wise woman’ or ‘lady’. It is a Greek form of
the Hebrew Miriam, and was the most popular woman's name at the time.
Hence confusion between Mary Magdalen, and other Mary’s throughout the
New Testament!
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John means ‘God has been gracious’.
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Zechariah means 'God has remembered'.
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Elizabeth, who was previously
thought to be barren, is miraculously pregnant with John the Baptist. We are
told that Mary left Nazareth immediately after
the Annunciation (when the angel tells her that she is about to do probably the
most important job in the history of creation to that point) and went
"into the hill country...into a city of Judah" (Luke 1:39) to attend
her cousin Elizabeth. There are several possibilities as to exactly which city
this was, including Hebron, south of Jerusalem, and Ein Karem.
The journey was about 100 miles and would have taken around four days to do. Elizabeth was in her
sixth month of pregnancy before Mary turned up and she stayed for about three
months. Most scholars hold she stayed for the birth of John, which makes sense
when you add 6 and 3 but there are no details about the birth of John. Some
believe that the purpose of this visit was to bring divine grace to both
Elizabeth and her unborn child. Even though he was still in his mother's womb,
John became aware of the presence of his Divine Saviour; he leapt for joy (as
indeed Esau and Jacob did in Rebekha’s w
