4th Sunday of Advent
Micah 5:1-4 Hebrews 10:5-10 Luke 1:39-44
Zachariah and Elizabeth had been praying for a child for many years. Perhaps their initial fervour and desire for a child had grown a little stale. They had become accustomed to being alone, being together. They had become settled in their ways, they knew each other’s habits, eccentricities, likes and dislikes. Like many older people, they had become settled in their ways. ‘Out of the blue’ God answered their prayers! God’s timing is not always convenient for us!
The pending arrival of a baby must have shaken the roots they had laid. But they would manage in their own way. They were wise enough now to know how to do things well. They lovingly accepted what was God’s plan for them. They recognised their place in the History of Salvation.
They did not need the help, advice, support, the interference of a young relative, who might push them into new ways of doing things! Of course they would welcome her, of course they loved her and when she did come they were open to God’s revelation to them as to who she was and the one whom she bore.
Can’t we see in ourselves in Elizabeth and Zachariah? Of course we want to hear what God wants us to hear, to do what God wants, but so often we want it on our own terms, we want it to fit into our plans and not disturb us very much!
Mary came to minister to her ageing relatives. She bore the Son of God and He was God’s Word made flesh. Surely Mary realised the resistance to her mission. But she carried not just her own self into that hill country, she was carrying with her the traditions of her Faith and driven by the example of the holy women who had gone before her
Mary’s journey into the hill country was just that – a journey into a hill country. The Journey was long and arduous but it was touched by God and required courage, commitment, vision and concern for others.
Mary went to ‘Evangelise’ – to bring the Good News, the Word of God and that word was proclaimed not just by the unspoken Word within her womb but also by the loving action and concerned care she expressed for her cousins Elizabeth and Zechariah. Mary and Elizabeth and Zechariah are models for us as make our Advent journey. Each of them while having their own plans of life is alert to the signs of God’s presence and open to respond to the promptings to do God’s will.
Surely the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth ranks as one of the great encounters in the history of salvation: as they meet each other they bring together, for the first time, John the Baptist and the one he would proclaim, Jesus Christ, the Messiah.
John leapt with joy in his mother’s womb at recognising the presence of the Messiah. Thirty years later he would again ‘leap with joy’ when he recognised Jesus walking by the River Jordan. His immediate reaction would be to proclaim Him as the Lamb of God. Though the people had gathered to hear John preach, he immediately diverts their attention to the Lord and fades into the background. “He must increase and I must decrease” (John 3:30)
For us as it was for John the Baptist, making a way for the Lord will allow His light to shine. We are called today, at this eleventh hour of Advent to push aside whatever in our lives and our world is blocking the Light from shining brightly.
‘God of hosts bring us back; let your face shine on us and we shall be saved’.