Whatsoever |
Whatsoever |
This song teaches us how to praise. The focus is God, his glory, his constancy from generation to generation and his surprising priority for the lowly and humble. He notices, shows strength, overturns power, provides and helps.
How amazing that in this place, with Elizabeth there, Mary was able to praise. She perhaps shared some of these feelings and words with her cousin, and gradually let them sink in over the years until she was, in old age, interviewed by Luke. This was the distillation of all that she knew and experienced and understood. This young, ‘insignificant’ girl was able to understand these very deep truths. The connection from her to God was the most intimate. Sh somehow was able to throw off any sense of pride, entitlement, fear or guilt. There was just wonder. This is an expression of deep joy welling up. We are seen, however small and frail. The joy that Mary experienced is ours too because of the life inside her. God did great things for this “me” and for all of us, every other ‘me’. So it rolls on: the joy of generations. God’s might is so big that it overthrows the world’s might and lifts and fills and helps and remembers. There is this great chain of faith.
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It is good to go back to that actual account of this meeting, rather than just looking at and enjoying paintings of the event, so many that I love What strikes me, as the paintings do, is the way these two women come together and shared this time together. Elizabeth, the old woman, is further along in her pregnancy. Mary is still young and unsure and needs to be near her relative. Zechariah is still silent, so Elizabeth's loud voice must have filled the house and given them all a shock but also affirmation. What is remarkable is that Elizabeth talks about ‘my Lord’. Presumably she had heard the story of Gabriel coming - and she believed totally and ‘gathered in’ this great event, this new life growing, to herself, so much so that it was transmitted to her baby. There is this crucial blessing from the old lady to the young one: ‘blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfil his promises to her’. So she has great discernment, great understanding and rightly honours Mary’s belief. And by saying this would have built up each others’ faith and confidence. Images of the Visitation
This passage that is so well known, read every Christmas time. and with so many wonderful paintings showing the annunciation - the angel coming and Mary’s reaction. In the account there is this wonderful link between one miraculous baby and another. Elizabeth was old, Mary very young. The same angel comes, half a year later, to shine the light of heaven on this small, insignificant person living in a town in a distant part of the Roman Empire with no power and influence - young and just starting her life. The Catholic Church and tradition puts so much on Mary’s shoulders. I wonder that she can bear it. She is the accepting receiver of God’s power, the Holy Spirit coming to create. This is scandalous, impossible, deeply unlikely and unlooked for. And just as Gabriel explained to Elizabeth what John would do, so he explains to Mary that this child would become a great and all powerful king. That makes it all even more impossible. What about the phrase - ‘no word from God will ever fail’. Does it link to the fact that God sent an angel............who is this being, what did he look like. He is clearly a messenger...why is he always painted with wings? In Daniel 9 he is mentioned and it talks about swift flight, so that presumably is why. A messenger brings a word....and in this case it is from God, directly and specifically and the truth of what he says is visible, tangible, in these two babies growing in their mothers’ wombs. There is nothing conjectural about this, there can be no questioning that what he said was true. And So the word didn't fail. The babies did both go to full term and were born safe and well. And what the angel said they would be, and do, would come to pass - although not entirely how it may have seemed when their parents first heard. Mary would only see the ‘throne’ eventually in heaven. . Elizabeth would presumably not live to see her son grow to be a man and to baptise Jesus. A prayer: Lord, thank you for the words of assurance and confidence in this most momentous account: The Lord is with you; dont be afraid; his Kingdom will never end; no word from God will ever fail. Some thought about timelines...Elizabeth was very old, so perhaps 40 or even 50. She would have to be 70 or 80 when John reached manhood and may well have died by then,
Mary was perhaps 16 or 18, so she would be in her late 40s when Jesus started his ministry. And then, Luke was writing at least 30 years after Christ’s death. So even if her was collecting material before then, Mary would have to be around 70. But Luke was with Paul in AD 50 - so he was involved then and could have been talking to Mary and others from then, or even before then. If you didn’t know, you would assume that this book is going to be all about John. Here is the God ordained and signalled story of how he came to be born.
I love that he was to be a joy and delight to Elizabeth and Zechariah. They matter in this story - their faithfulness and service. We are not told whether they had other children - presumably not in their old age - so this man would bring them joy even though there would be no daughter in law or grandchildren. He would take up the mantle of prophet and they knew, from their devotion and study, what an important, vital role that was. The themes of joy and of the Holy Spirit at work are introduced here and Luke emphasises them throughout the gospel and Acts The mention of Elijah by Gabriel...and the ‘prepare for the Lord’ - priest Zechariah would have known well the prophecy in Isaiah 40 I am struck by the silence and seclusion. The silence is so telling. Zechariah was not to go around telling people what was happening. Perhaps he did write things down a bit, but this was the work of God and the only way to stand before this is in silent awe. He doubted, so fell silent.... and Elizabeth was able to testify ‘the Lord has done this for me’ A prayer: Lord there are strange resonance with these times. Like Elizabeth we are in seclusion - and perhaps it will be for five months....And Zechariah was forced to lay aside his priestly role - he could not speak out, for nine months. All the things he thought he knew were silenced by the mightiness of God’s command and will. His fierce religiosity and devotion to God was broken into by this messenger sent straight from God, to him. The miracles start as they mean to go on:
The heritage - the chain of witness of the chosen people The breaking the mould starts here - Zechariah silenced, Elizabeth carry a child in old age. If you didn’t know what was to come you would think that this was a story about this new prophet. Surely this is going to be a story about him. What about Zechariah and Elizabeth? He and, I am sure, she prayed for children even though it seemed hopeless. They remained faithful to their calling and heritage and they were very old. Yet he and she are chosen - seemingly random in world terms but not in God’s - Gabriel was getting ready to come. Far more is being set in place than even this miracle . God knows that Jesus, even Jesus, needed commissioning and validating. This child needs to be chosen and born to be the forerunner, the path clearer. A prayer: Lord, thank you that your great patchwork of life extends back and forwards. Thank you, although it is scary, that you are in the business of calling and choosing. That includes the very old. Surprises can come even when they seem impossible. The same happened to Sarah and Abraham, Hannah and Elkanah. It is as if either the waiting, or the unexpected are how you choose to work. THE START of a journey through Luke’s gospel.. Walking with Luke to know Jesus better, to understand more of God the Father and to be led by the Spirit into better insights of his purposes and priorities What is the word or phrase that I want to concentrate on here? I think it is actually at the beginning - the things that have been fulfilled among us. The grace and mercy and peace that has been fulfilled - and the promises of the Scriptures
Luke hadn’t met Jesus - this was 30 years later. But he knew deep in his heart that this mattered, that he could write a contemporaneous story of the growing church (which he did in the book of Acts) but it was pointless unless based on the truth of Jesus life and teaching - the reality of his time on earth, the great fulfilment explained and illuminated. A prayer: It begins with a chain of witnesses. Lord I am so grateful for the chain of witnesses that have passed the faith and focus on you down through the years. I am so grateful that we have this account of Jesus’ life so clearly written. I am grateful for this professional man who realised that this was all more important than even his healing role, certainly than his expected role and position. He took the trouble to ask, to add, to delve more, to make an account that would stand up to the strictures of the early church and come into the official cannon of faith. And the purpose - to know the certainty of the things we have been taught. Making sure the basis of faith. This may seem a strange image to choose. A cold empty garage with very little comfort and certainly not designed to make a home for anything apart from buses. Yet this is the modern equivalent of the place that Jesus arrived in this world. A stable was the place for refueling the transport and keeping it safe overnight (not buses of course but donkeys). It would not have provided much comfort or security, yet the King of the universe chose to start life here. At the end of his life he returned 'home' to heaven on ascension day.
So today, where do I find home? What makes a true home? You could say that home is somewhere to sleep soundly. And Jesus, again, confounds our expectations. He was able to sleep soundly in the middle of a storm on Lake Galilee. What will allow you to sleep soundly, whatever the storm that we are living in? |
WhatsoeverThe posts are 'postcards' on my journey through faith and art. The name 'Whatsoever' comes from Philippians 4:8 in the Bible : Categories
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