URC Daily Devotion 23 December 2024

St Luke 1: 39 – 56

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 leapt 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 leapt for joy.  And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’

And Mary said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
    and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
    in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
    to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.

Reflection

With the rush of Christmas preparations, the days of December become for many a time of haste. And it’s a theme, and a word, to be found also within the Christmas narrative. Soon we’ll read again of shepherds hurrying down to Bethlehem; soon we’ll hear again the news once announced to them: a Saviour’s birth in a borrowed space, with a manger as a make-do crib.

But the mention of haste that I find most moving is the one that occurs here in today’s passage. 

Mary has said “Yes” to God. But who among her townsfolk will believe her tale of angelic announcement and divine favour? So she sets out “with haste” and heads for the hills. Is she doing what so many young and vulnerable mothers-to-be across the generations have felt forced to do? Is she running away from home?

Yet as Mary seeks sanctuary with an elder kinswoman, there comes a hastening of joy in Elizabeth’s heart and even within her womb. And as these two blessed women meet, the elder is inspired to draw forth from the younger a song not of shame but of deliverance. 

Now boldness is brought to birth in Mary – and haste is set aside. For this Magnificat, this recital of mercy on the meek and the up-ending of every vain power-play, stands as a mighty affirmation of God’s enduring purpose and plan. Centuries later, Martin Luther King Jr would remark that though the arc of the moral universe may be long, “it bends towards justice”. But for now, let no-one dare mask or mansplain what Mary clearly knows: that her baby boy, embodying God’s merciful justice, will one day rule the nations.

And though Luke’s account of what follows is brief, clearly courage is cradled. Mary stays for about three months – just long enough, perhaps, to accompany Elizabeth through to childbirth? Then she returns home – just in time for her own baby bump to start showing.

Prayer

In the hastening-on of these December days,
so pregnant with our hopes and fears,
may every runaway find refuge
and every victim find a voice.

Sovereign God, faithful and just:
frustrate the plans, we pray,
of those who flaunt their power;
but lift up the lowly.

Mighty One, be magnified in us,
as we rejoice in your salvation.
Let your mercy be made known
in this and every generation. Amen.