Fourth Sunday of Advent C         December 20, 2009

Micah 5:2-5 Psalm:  80  Hebrews 10: 5-10 Luke 1:39-45 

Theme: “I gotta do, what I gotta do.”

The Story of Jesus is a story of Obedience.

1. Our first reading of Prophet Micah takes place in the southern Kingdom of Judah. He was like two other minor prophets: Zephaniah (from last Sunday) and Amos. These prophets were concerned more about the social injustices within the Jewish Community than with the political turmoil and chaos.

We have a similar situation today. There is political chaos in Afghanistan , Iraq, Palestine and Israel. Although we are concerned about world peace, our immediate issues are recession, holding on to our jobs, anger with banks asking for a bail-out and yet, giving bank managers huge bonuses. Micah and Amos would have had a field day with such a situation.

In the middle of this, Micah has one ray of hope: Out of Bethlehem will come a saviour who would lead the people back to God. After the Resurrection, the Christians immediately identified this prophecy of Micah, with the birth and life of Jesus Christ. He would come to proclaim the Kingdom of God.

2.  the Messiah would proclaim God’s Kingdom through obedience. For this task, for this role, the Messiah would take a human body as an instrument to fulfil and to proclaim the Kingdom of God.

 However, he would not take on a human body, the same we put on and remove clothes. Otherwise, we would fall into the error of Docetism, viz “it only appeared that Jesus was human.” Jesus was truly human. He was a man like us in all things but sin. We have been sanctified through the body of Christ, once and for all.

3. This body of Christ, - this Word made flesh, leads us to our Gospel today. The obedience of Jesus would require the faith of a woman who said, “behold the handmaid of the Lord be it done to me according to your will.”

And so when Mary, meets Elizabeth it is not merely a meeting of two pregnant women, it is a union of two women who had deep faith. Elizabeth would bless Mary twice:

First, Mary was blessed because she consented to be the mother of the Saviour

Second Mary was blessed because she believed that God’s word would come true.

Mary would add a third blessing, claiming the blessing for herself in the beautiful prayer of the Magnificat:

All generations will call me blessed because the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is God’s name.

The mystery of the Visitation is rich in spiritual thoughts.

1. A bonding of two women with a unified vision. We have two women who come together in friendship, which should be the pattern and model of our church communities. They came together because of a unified vision of faith. They were women with a deep belief in God. They acted because they knew that God not only gave a promise, but God was capable of keeping the promise.  It was a leap in the dark – and towards light, because in both cases, the wonder of pregnancy was not exactly what either woman was expecting.

2. The wonder of miraculous births. 

Elizabeth was considered to be both barren and passed the age of child -bearing. (Childlessness in the Old Testament always seemed to be the woman’s fault. She was considered barren. The possible sterility of the male was never mentioned.)

Mary was pregnant, but the conception was virginal.

 However, for Luke, the miracle of the births was not the focus of the infancy narratives. Rather, Luke focussed on the action of God who would fashion special persons for a specific role in the history of Salvation. There were men who would either pre-figure the Messiah, or be as signs pointing to the work of salvation. Each of these persons would have something special about their birth. So we have Isaac and Moses, Samuel and Samson. Each of their mothers was either too old to have children, or were barren, or unable to get pregnant.

 Each of their sons, would be obedient and hence play a pivotal role in salvation history. For each of us, these men and their mothers are important. Each of these should be intercessors in our prayers of thanksgiving to a Redeeming God.

3. The women of obedience.

Isaac and Moses, Samuel and Samson, John and Jesus are important in our salvation history. But their lives and their stories would not even begin, if their mothers did not have a great trust in God and were willing to be obedient to God’s plan for each of them. In many cases, they were mystified. They did not know how God’s promise would be effected, but they knew as Jesus would say in his public ministry: For God all things are possible.

Like Mary and Elizabeth, God has a specific role for each of us in the continued Salvation History of us all. In most cases, we have to make known the goodness of God to our own families, to our spouses, to our children and grandchildren, to those who are our neighbours. But every now and then – God will send a total stranger in our paths, - a stranger who needs to hear from us, and through our lives of God’s saving power, of God’s wondrous care, of  God’s concern for our well being. Hopefully they will BLESS us as Elizabeth blessed Mary: ‘blessed are you because you believed that God’s will would be fulfilled in you.”