A Story of Biblical Proportions

A Reflection on the Gospel for December 23rd, 2018:
​Fourth Sunday of Advent

​Luke 1:39-45 

Mary set out and went as quickly as she could to a town in the hill country of Judah. She went into Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. Now as soon as Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She gave a loud cry and said, ‘Of all women you are the most blessed, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. Why should I be honoured with a visit from the mother of my Lord? For the moment your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy. Yes, blessed is she who believed that the promise made her by the Lord would be fulfilled.’

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​I’m a part of a really fantastic Bible study that meets every Sunday (with or without me, often without me because of my hectic life), and right now we’re doing a Bible study that focuses on the O Antiphons from the She Reads Truth series. What I love about the Bible study is that it takes the O Antiphons, many of which are in O Come, O Come Emmanuel, and relates them back to the old covenant in the Old Testament.
 
Growing up, even before my conversion to Christ, I used to delight in reading the Old Testament. I made a point one year when I was nine or ten, of reading the Bible all the way through from start to finish. In Church, I hadn’t given a lot of attention to the Old Testament, but reading it through carefully and in sequence, it was hard not to get into the stories. There was something unfolding. This was a story that had a long arc and plenty of interesting side stories. There were brilliantly strong women, Pharaohs, floods, manna in the desert, prophets, chariots of fire and so much more. You name it, the Old Testament had it covered. Drama, adventure, romance, battles, and wisdom. What also became clear, especially by the time I hit Exodus, and then echoed again in the prophets, was the tremendous love that God has for His children. Even when they were acting foolish (as most children do), He loved them and pursued them. Reading it all in sequence, while I couldn’t ignore some of the more dramatic elements, what always came out most strongly to me was the love story of a Father for His children. He is a father who always keeps His promises and would never abandon us.

"[W]hat always came out most strongly to me was the love story of a Father for His children.
​He is a father who always keeps His promises and would never abandon us."

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​Without that context, the story in this Gospel doesn’t make sense to me. Why would God bother to come and be so little and vulnerable except out of His immense love for His children? To keep the promise of the old covenant, He flips the story and becomes the Son of Man, a child to His creation. We see this play out in a much smaller scale when our own parents become dependent on us through illness and as they age. It jars us seeing the strong made weak and being given the responsibility to care for the one who cared for us first. He entrusted Himself to Mary and Joseph in a time when being an unwed mother was dangerous, trusting she would protect Him. Elizabeth is filled with the Holy Spirit, who teaches her to rejoice, to sing over the child in Mary's womb along with her own long-awaited son. Both women, a mirror of the promise – one an earthly promise for a child, the other a long-kept promise to a nation from their God. 
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Stephanie Potter

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