Sermon, Sun 4 Dec wk15: 'Two women'...WMRBW

READINGS: Isaiah 9:2-7; Luke 1:26-38; Luke 1:39-56    

SERMON
Two women:
one is old, one is young.
One, married, the other, betrothed.
Both, however, find themselves unexpectedly pregnant.
The older woman, Elizabeth, has lived with years of shame –
a shame brought about through social custom, expectations, and pressure...
In the early days of her marriage, hope was high of maintaining the family line.
But, as the years pass, the only thing bearing fruit
has been the idle speculation and disapproving gossip of her neighbours.
More years pass and with them, hope has faded,
even as the endless whispered conversations have grown.
An old woman, now mostly ignored, mostly invisible, of little account;
a woman who is just getting on with what is left of her life.
A woman who is surprised one day to find that hope has not entirely withered:
like that great ancestor of her faith, Sarah, who thought she was too old to bear a child,
miraculously, Elizabeth too shall have a child in these, her later years.
Her world is turned upside-down.
She, and her strangely silent husband, Zechariah –
silent since his last stint at the temple –
watch and wait, and prepare for the unexpected.

The younger woman, Mary, has lived a quiet life,
stayed at home and helped her mother, and waited upon her father,
as all good daughters are expected to.
Following the cultural norms, this gentle and obedient daughter,
has recently been betrothed to a man deemed by her family to be suitable.
He will be more suitable than she currently understands:
showing patience, care, loyalty, and love in the midst of possible scandal.
However, at this point in time,
Mary has just been given utterly unexpected tidings from a strange messenger:
like Elizabeth, her whole world is about to turn upside-down as well.
In that most conservative of societies, where women are controlled
by their fathers, brothers, and husbands,
she has just been told by God’s messenger that she will have a child...
and, it will not be Joseph’s child that she’ll carry.

In a different way to Elizabeth, Mary too, will be subject to gossip and snide innuendo...
but she will bear it, and the child, for God’s sake.
In some strange way, this humble young teenager
- a woman of no importance in her society,
has been chosen to carry the hope of the nation,
the hope for the world.
Letting the message sink in, as much as she can, Mary says ‘yes, may it be as you say.’
Both women, older and younger, dare to believe that the impossible is...possible,
that they worship a God
who can do all things,
who can overturn all things.
They rejoice as they meet, and ponder what is about to come.

Later, sons will be born to both of them:
Elizabeth’s son will prepare the way for the son of Mary, Jesus...
who, in the mystery of incarnation, will be God, with skin on.
Even later, both sons will say ‘yes’ to their respective tasks,
and both will suffer for their willingness to play their part in the great story
of God’s rescue,
God’s deliverance of humanity...
God’s good news that turns the ways of the world upside-down,
which Mary sings of in her great song of rejoicing that is referred to as ‘the Magnificat’.

As Elizabeth and Mary meet one another their hearts sing as they realise that
something awesome, something amazing is about to happen:
something bigger even than God’s rescue of the Israelites from Egypt.
And, echoing the liberation song of Moses’ sister Miriam, Mary sings:
of the God who saves,
of the God who sees those unseen by society,
of the God who showers the most lowly with his blessing,
of the God who shows mercy...
This is the God who does not play by human rules of grabbing all for one’s own gain,
of having power by keeping others down:
for in God’s economy, God’s kingdom,
power is seen in vulnerability,
it is where the poor are fed while the rich are sent away.
Here is a God who believes
that all are entitled to share in the good things of the kingdom,
that all deserve to have life that is abundant – in body, mind, and spirit...
This is the God of unlimited grace
and unmerited blessing.

Mary’s song encapsulates what the gospel is:
good news for all of humanity, not just a select few.
And the life of her son, Jesus,
is the good news in word and in deed:
showing those who followed him and those who follow him still,
how to live, and what it is to be willing to say ‘yes’ to God.
Shortly, we share in bread and wine – the meal that Jesus made for his friends
and bid them, when eating, to remember him.
It is a solemn meal –
for we know that shortly after he met with his friends,
his willingness to be obedient to God would lead to suffering and death ...
But it is also a joyful meal –
for we know that death is not the end of Jesus’ story.
His story continues - even here, among us.
Perhaps if last week the question was
‘Are we ready?’ this week, the question is:
Are we willing – like Elizabeth, like Mary, John, and Jesus –
are we willing to say ‘yes’ to God,
to sing with Mary a hymn of good news, and, as God’s people,
to live out God’s good news in word and in deed?
Dare we believe in a God who makes the impossible... possible?
And, if we do, how might that transform not only our lives,
but the lives of all those   around us?

Let’s pray:
Enable us, gracious God, to listen as Mary listened
and to give ourselves fully and humbly and joyously
to that which you call us to do.
And whether it be dramatic or mundane,
may we reflect your wonderful love for each of us
and serve the world your Son came to redeem.
We ask this in his name.  Amen.