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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning comes from the Gospel reading. You may be seated. Every year on the fourth Sunday of Advent, we are always introduced to Mary, one of the more important figures in the birth of our Lord for obvious reasons. And the church looks at Mary not so much because she was different than you or me. She was a sinner of God’s redeeming. She died a sinner’s death like we all will. It is her faith that trusted in God’s promise that is really what we’re focusing upon this morning.
She comes to Elizabeth’s home. And as soon as Elizabeth’s ears hear her greeting, the baby leaps in Elizabeth’s womb: John the Baptist. He is rejoicing because he is in such close proximity to the Lord whom he will continually be pointing to throughout his whole life. There he is in her, in his presence. As much as Elizabeth is rejoicing to be in the presence of the Lord, Elizabeth immediately confesses Mary to be the mother of my Lord. Amen. Meaning, she confesses Mary to be the mother of God. How that can be, we do not know. But that God was in flesh, in Mary’s womb, recently conceived by the Holy Spirit, the answer is yes.
That those few cells which haven’t even begun to form a human face or a backbone, that that is God in the flesh. If there ever is any doubt as to when life begins… Here is our answer very clearly. Life begins at conception. Elizabeth does not center the attention on Mary. That is how Scripture presents Elizabeth’s statement; it’s not centered on Mary. It’s centered on what Mary’s womb contains: Jesus, the God who is also man, in her womb. The God who heaven and earth cannot contain is contained in her womb. Amazing indeed.
Her response to being in the presence of her Lord, that is Elizabeth, and well as Mary’s response to Elizabeth’s proclamation to her, both women give off worship in a very psalm-like liturgical style. Mary’s is very long; it’s called the Magnificat. That’s the latter half of that proclamation in the Gospel reading. But it is Elizabeth’s short phrase that’s the important part. Elizabeth cried with a loud cry, she says, “‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy.'”
And it is this verse that we’ll look at particularly. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord. Filled with the Holy Spirit, did Elizabeth become the first person to worship the Christ child before the Christ child ever was born, when the Christ child was located in the womb of Mary.
And in fact, that is Mary’s blessedness. Mary’s blessedness is because she contains God inside of her. She’s the location of where to point to. Who wants to know where God is hidden? He’s hidden inside of her womb. For those nine months, she is the vessel that contains God. And then after nine months, that was all. No more. Because just as Mary was the location for God to be found during those nine months of gestation, ever since the church has started, the church has wanted a place to find the God whom they worship.
He started it with the tabernacle, culminated in the temple, but then Jesus said, what? Destroy this temple and I will rebuild it in three days. He became the locus of God. But where is he now? In the same way they could not see inside of Mary’s womb with any cool 3D or 4D ultrasound, but by faith they believed… And even though they saw him with their own eyes throughout his life, so many did not believe.
So the church has become the repository for God in the flesh, Christ Jesus. We are the church only because we contain Christ. Get rid of Christ and we become nothing more than a social institution. Our existence is dependent upon Christ being contained here, revealed here, put forth here, delivered here, just as upon Mary, all the fulfillment of all the Old Testament women came to fruition in her. All of the daughters of Eve who preceded her, hoping for the Messiah, it was culminated in her.
So the church, since Christ has come, died, and risen again, has become the place where all the fulfillment of all those Old Testament prophecies are fulfilled and delivered here. Here is where Emmanuel is found. The same Emmanuel that we sang and cried out, O come, O come, Emmanuel, ransom, captive, Israel, the church, he has here. This is where Emmanuel is found.
He is now with you as he will be with you always because he has revealed himself in you. Not in the same miraculous way as Mary, mind you, but in your baptism does Christ dwell with you and in you. Why is the church Christ’s repository? Because the people that fill it have been given Christ and are filled with Christ because you have been baptized into him. You bear Christ. Not in the same miraculous way as Mary bearing Christ, but you bear Christ. Emmanuel is in you and with you.
It is Mary’s faith that is the beautiful example for us to focus upon in this morning’s text. Turn it around and put you in there instead of her and she. Listen to it again. This applies to you: Blessed are you who believe that there will be a fulfillment of what has been spoken to you from the Lord. Mary received that word in faith and believed it, and then she submitted herself to it. “May it be done unto me as you have said, I am the Lord’s handmaiden.”
Isn’t it interesting we really don’t get an insight as to whether she said, “I don’t know if I’m up to this, Lord. Surely there is someone else,” like Moses did. We don’t get insight into her life that says she says, especially when the angel proclaimed to her, “Your heart shall be pierced by this as well.” She doesn’t say, “You know, I don’t know if I want pain involved with this blessing you’re giving me.” And yet every day she had to live in repentance, just like you.
Every day she had to live in repentance and trust in that promise that was given to her by the Holy Spirit, unto which she yielded, believed, and submitted herself to. So, you have had that word placed in your ears. You have had that word given to you and planted deeply within you. And it has caused pain at times. It has pierced your soul as well. It has not always been easy. It has never been easy.
It wasn’t easy for Elizabeth. At 80-some years old, she has to be awakened by the cry of a baby. Oh, the newness would have been great for a while, but it would have worn off rapidly. She, too, had to live in repentance for the word that was planted in her. She, too, had to trust in the promises that God had planted and had revealed to her and submit to it as well, just like you. Amen.
But it’s not as if they once submitted and everything goes rosy along the way. Daily, Elizabeth, daily Mary, the mother of our Lord, had to repent and had to submit to the will of God because they wrestled against it, as only Satan would torment them. You know that torment. You know that struggle. Repent with me for we don’t always bear Jesus faithfully. We don’t always receive his promises with great joy. We doubt them. We question them. We find them mind-boggling or overwhelming. And we don’t submit to them always either.
We don’t like having to submit when things are going to be difficult. Submitting when things go smoothly doesn’t require any faith. It’s for us. Blessed are you who believe there will be a fulfillment of what has been spoken to you from the Lord. Mary had to watch her son die. This would be the only word that could sustain her. If you’ve ever spoken to anyone who has had to bury a son or daughter, they can tell you the pain that is involved. This is real pain that the mother of our Lord endured because of God’s promise. Amen.
We love to talk about God’s promise when it always brings about cessation of pain or sorrow. And that will happen, won’t it? That will come to us. But when God’s promise causes us difficulty, when God’s promise causes us to wrestle with our flesh, for us to cry out, “It doesn’t make sense, it’s not fair, I don’t know why,” one can say, “Well, but pastor, there’s nothing in the text that says Elizabeth or Mary did that.” No, no, there’s nothing in the text.
Did Elizabeth die as all the daughters of Eve died? Yes. Did Joseph die as all the sons of Adam died? Yes. Then they had to live the same repentant life that you and I have to live. It was just as difficult. The details of which we don’t get to know. But that we know that they are just like us, we do know. It wasn’t a matter of Mary and Elizabeth conjuring up this strong determination. No.
You and I can be determined about many things, but determination never lasts, does it? It gives up. It wanes. We justify and make excuses for it. That is why we have to repent together for not always faithfully believing the promises will be fulfilled in our lives. That’s the point of Mary. It’s about trusting in that word of God, not because she was different than you. It’s about trusting in God.
The only thing that made her different was that she was the repository for Christ, but yet, aren’t you? You who have been baptized into Christ? No, you don’t get to feel him move in your womb like she, but you know he is dwelling there because of God’s promises. That is why Christ is here among us, through ordinary words spoken by sinners just like me. Unseemly water and ordinary bread and wine that seem nothing out of the ordinary, and yet everything is extraordinary because of God’s word attached to it.
Do you remember there was a woman once when Jesus was walking along and surrounded by crowds, and she shouted out to refer to Mary, “Blessed is the womb that carried you and the breast which you sucked. Blessed.” Jesus responded to that woman’s proclamation, pointing that woman away from Mary to himself. He said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it.” We could add, like Elizabeth, like Mary, like Joseph, like you, but like them and you, we don’t always hear the word of God and keep it, which is why we repent.
As we prepare to celebrate his first coming and as we live day by day knowing he could return at any time to take us home or we could be brought home because it’s our time. He desires to be your peace, but peace doesn’t always seem like peace. At the end of every sermon I say to you the peace that passes all understanding. Surely in your mind don’t you say to yourself, “You know, I would love to have some of that beyond comprehension peace because I don’t always get it.” In fact, rarely do I have it because I don’t think there’s anybody here that can say that they always get that beyond comprehension peace every day.
I don’t. And if you do, God be praised. But I doubt it. I think you’re like the rest of us. He wishes to be your peace in the midst of things that are unpeaceful. In the midst of hearing John the Baptist cry out for his mother, Elizabeth had peace knowing this was God’s will. In the midst of teaching Jesus how to relieve his bladder and bowel without having to soil the diapers, she knew this is God’s will.
In the midst of you dealing with the things that life is, living as a sinner in a sinful world, he wishes to be your peace because you know that is God’s will fulfilled in your life, culminated in your death, but fulfilled in your life now in forgiveness. It is peace that comes with forgiveness. Elizabeth and Mary and Joseph could look at that baby and say, “Here is my forgiveness.” As much as they could gaze upon the broken body of Christ on that cross and say, “There is my forgiveness.” And yet they could not comprehend it any more than you can comprehend it.
He desires to be your peace because he is Emmanuel in you now. And he will always be Emmanuel with you and for you forever. Forever. You bear him. We gather together as those who bear him. His word has been fulfilled in us. Blessed are you who believe such a proclamation in the name of Jesus. Amen.
The peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.
