Behold The True Beauty of The Coming of Christ :: Luke 1:39-56
Women in our culture are too often celebrated for what they look like instead of who they are. You see and hear this all the time in our media ... television, radio, and celebrity magazines ... ads for diet pills and plans, cosmetics and calisthenics. It’s all aimed at showing us what we can be if only we’d improve the way we look and feel. It’s an endless parade of glitter and glam, the young and beautiful. And it keeps us from recognizing true beauty.
There’s no such problem in our Gospel reading today. In Luke chapter 1, we see true beauty in two women and their response to our Beautiful Savior. Luke doesn’t bother to tell us what these women looked like. He doesn’t mine the details of their fashion. He simply shows True Beauty.
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The first of these women was probably quite young, perhaps a teenager. Her name was Mary.
As was the custom of the day, she was engaged. Her fiance was a carpenter named Joseph. And, as you know, she found herself pregnant. The angel Gabriel had announced the beautiful miracle of life to her ... the good news that God was coming to her in the flesh. Mary took the news with beautiful grace. She didn’t complain or cry that God was messing up her life and her plans. She didn’t worry about what her family and community might think. Behold, I am the servant of the Lord, she said simply. Let it be to me according to [his] word (Lk 1:38).
That’s where our Gospel reading picks up.
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So, bursting with joy and excitement and wonder, Mary hurried into the hill country to visit Elizabeth and to share the good news. Elizabeth was one of Mary’s relatives. She was much older than Mary ... well advanced in her years, as Luke says. In other words, she’s well past menopause ... probably old enough to be Mary’s great grandmother. But she was no less beautiful.
Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, a distinguished priest who served in the temple, were both righteous in the eyes of God, blameless in all their ways. More than that, Elizabeth also was pregnant, carrying the forerunner of Christ, John the Baptizer, who would spend his entire life pointing all who will see and hear to Jesus.
It was no sooner than Mary’s arrival that Elizabeth felt the good news of great joy that God was coming to us in the flesh that John began his work. Elizabeth’s baby skipped for joy in her womb. Elizabeth, in turn, cried out in beautiful joy, singing Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb skipped for joy (vv 43- 44).
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Brothers and sisters in Christ, today we are seeing the beauty of faith ... not only in these women ... but in infants. We are gaining a picture of Christian faith that responds to the promises of God, who says he is coming to you. And we have a vivid reminder of why we baptize infants.
In faith, John skipped with joy that the Lord had come near. In faith, he continued pointing us to what the child of Mary would accomplish. In many ways, the same thing happens to us in baptism, where the Holy Spirit gives us faith. The Holy Spirit comes upon us, just like he did with Elizabeth’s baby. We too begin skipping for joy knowing God comes to us ... that he actually is Immanuel in the womb of Mary. He reminds us that life does actually begin at conception! Oh, what joy there is in this good news! More than that, today’s Gospel shows us that when God comes, he sanctifies human life in all of its stages, from infancy to old age.
What was seemingly impossible for Elizabeth, having a child in old age, is proven possible with God. All human life is made beautiful by the Lord through whom the world was created, by whose death the world is redeemed, and by whose incarnation the world is sanctified.
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Now compare this beautiful biblical scene with the ugliness of sin.
The world is constantly looking at itself in the mirror, without a thought for others. The world says, A woman should not have to carry a child that she doesn’t want. Especially if the child gets in the way of her own plans, her own career. In the ugliness of sin, life is all about “me, myself, and I.” We judge life by how useful it is to us. And woe to anyone who gets in our way ... whether that be an inconvenient child, a person suffering with a handicap, or an elderly person who requires “too much” of our care, attention, and love.
How much better is it for us to ponder Luke’s beautiful scene? Here we see a wonderful affirmation of life. Here we see beautiful faith as it is given by God.
Now consider Mary. At hearing that she would be the mother of our Lord, Mary did not succumb to vanity or engage in empty boasting. She had no ideas of self-promotion or self-fulfillment. Instead, she finds herself graced by what the Lord has done, and rejoices in the news that she would be the mother of God. She finds her fulfillment in what the Lord has promised to her. Yes, Mary’s beauty is in her humility and trust and faith. Mary knew that through her child, God would do great things.
And so in great joy, Mary began to sing her wonderful song: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed (vv 46–48).
Brothers and sisters in Christ, this song isn’t only for Mary. This is you and me.
Like Mary, we too see the proud being scattered and the mighty being knocked off their thrones. We too see the humble being exalted and the hungry being filled with good things. And we too see the salvation of Israel.
Maybe that’s the point of all of this.
Society teaches young women to look in the mirror and judge themselves by appearance. But what’s the result? Vanity or despair? Because, finally, there’s nothing there.
Mary and Elizabeth, on the other hand, were women of substance. They give us a beautiful picture of faith. They didn’t look vainly in the mirror, but were happy for each other, and more important, they put their focus on Christ. Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptizer, was most excited by the fact that Mary would give birth to the Savior. And because of that, Elizabeth could rejoice with Mary, apart from jealousy. And Mary looked at what God had done for her and saw the One who would come forth and save not only her but the entire world. She looked into the face of the Lord and reflected his beauty.
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So, what does this all mean for us in our world of vane idolatry that is constantly focused on itself and what I will get out of the deal?
I suppose that ... in this season of Advent ... we do well to take time out of our busy schedules and reflect once more on what it’s all about. We all do well to reflect on this season now, fixing our eyes on the coming of Christ our Savior, who came to bring us redemption, sanctification and eternal life.
This means teaching our children the values that Mary sang about in her Magnificat. Earthly beauty is a gift from God, but earthly beauty fades. So, let us move away from the vanity of the mirror and the ugliness of pride. Let us move past our vain grudges and unforgiveness. We do better to adorn ourselves with Christ and to put on his Spirit of holiness. When we do, God shows us true joy and true peace and enables us all to skip for joy at the coming of Christ.
Not only has God kept His Word and promise and sent his son to deliver man from sin, death, and the grave, but we are standing in the very presence of our Savior. Christ has come in the flesh, he continues to come in word and sacrament, and he will come once again on the last day in glory.
Even when we don’t think we deserve this good news, Jesus, our beautiful Savior, willingly bears the scars and nail marks of what he didn’t deserve. As he willingly endured the ugliness of the cross, he gave us what we don’t deserve: eternal life. Death has no more dominion over you because of Jesus. He arose from his rest in the grave into the paradise of everlasting life. And this good news should make you skip for joy ... like John the Baptizer in the womb of his mother when he realized God in the flesh was here.
Now we know he is always with us ... always coming to us. Now we know he comes to us and delivers clothes of righteousness, that we may be presented holy and blameless as we attend the marriage feast of the Lamb in his kingdom where he feeds you the finest bread and wine ... his body and blood shed for the forgiveness of your sins. And in communing with him and each other, we are truly at one with our Lord and we know that he will be with us throughout the week.
Why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?
Brothers and sisters in Christ, nevermore will you hunger and thirst for righteousness. Our righteousness has come. No matter what trials we may face or what burdens we may bear, you can take comfort knowing this reality: Your sins are gone. So ...