Fourth Sunday of Advent: Leaping for Joy

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Mary and Elizabeth might seem unlikely figures for the prominent roles they play in Luke's prologue. Elizabeth is old and barren. Mary is young and not married. They're both women from the more modest layers of society. Hear the words of the text for this coming Sunday from Luke 1:39-45:
In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."
 As Luke describes the prenatal stories of John and Jesus, Mary and Elizabeth become forerunners of what's to come. Later in Acts 2, Peter will declare that the time has come for the fulfillment of Joel's prophetic words: "And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams." But long before Peter makes his bold claim, Mary and Elizabeth are already filled with God’s Spirit and are prophesying things they could not possibly know except through God's divine and mysterious revelation.

Even the baby in Elizabeth's womb unconsciously knows the significance of Mary's child. Elizabeth feels the baby's leap. And filled with the Spirit, she interprets the meaning for the jump: It's for joy! The coming of Jesus brings such joy that an unborn infant instinctively leaps for joy in the presence of the messiah-to-be.

What would make you leap for joy today?

So many people today feel anxious. Our world is in transition. One age is coming to an end. A new way has not yet become clear. Our world appears to be caught in between various forces that are pulling us forward, backward and sideways.

On top of that, much of the world experiences crushing economic, ecological and political stress. Perhaps this is why Mary is such an important figure to poor women throughout the world. She and Elizabeth break the mold of what the world views as plausible. Elizabeth is way beyond the age of childbearing. Mary is unwed; she's never been with a man. Through divine revelation, however, they are able to envision a world in which the proud, rich and powerful are brought low and where the lowly, poor and powerless are given all the good things of life that they have heretofore missed out on.

Can you envision a world where everything is new? There's joy in the coming of Jesus. He comes among us not to pull us forward, backward or sideways. Jesus comes to flip our world upside down. And for many people, this is cause for great joy.

Are you one of those? Do you welcome his coming with great gladness? Do you leap for joy at the coming of Jesus? May God fill our hearts with delight over the birth of Jesus!

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