The Prophetic Voice of Elizabeth

A homily on the woman whose words are said by millions every day, for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

The Visitation (artist unknown)

Two women meet. Both are pregnant. One is young. One is old. One is a virgin. One is not. One is betrothed to a simple carpenter. The other is married to a priest of the Temple. Each carries a child who will play an important role in the drama of salvation.

One of them, Elizabeth, carries the messenger. The other, Mary, carries the message. One of their babies will grow up to speak the word that announces the coming of the Lord. The other, is that word. He is that Lord.

Everything in the Bible meets right here, in this passage. All of salvation history from creation and the fall, through the Exodus, through all the kings and prophets of Judah and Israel, through war and exile, all of it comes together in the moment we heard today. It’s really quite incredible, and all of it converges on a figure we don’t really talk about much. Elizabeth, the mother of John, the wife of Zechariah, the kinswoman of Mary and Jesus, and the first prophet of the gospel. Even more remarkable, she only appears in one chapter, in one Gospel. Let’s look at what happens, and what that means for us.

Luke has already given us two annunciations of two miraculous babies. Before the angel Gabriel visits Mary, he visits Zechariah in the temple to tell him that his wife will have a baby. But it’s Elizabeth who is the key here. She is a bridge between the Old Testament, and the New. She is a sign of hope in a dark time, that God’s promises will be fulfilled. Luke proves this by using phrases and images and prophecies from the Old Testament. It’s like he’s taken threads from an old garment, and woven in into a wonderful new tapestry.

Elizabeth lives in the hill country, about five miles outside of Jerusalem, where Zechariah could make his daily journey to serve as a priest of the Temple. Mary has travelled, in haste, about 90 miles to get there. So about four days travel–young, pregnant, probably alone. She’s done this because the angel told her that Elizabeth also has a miraculous pregnancy, and these two women need to meet and fulfill God’s plan for them.

Zechariah was told that Elizabeth’s child would be filled with the Holy Spirit even in the womb, and Mary is coming to fulfill that prophecy so that Jesus can bless John and impart that spirit. The presence of Jesus causes John to spring to new life, and soon it will cause all creation to spring to new life.

When he hear how John leapt in the womb, of course we think of our children. I remember feeling my children kick while my wife was pregnant, and it’s a thrilling experience. It’s new life coming into the world.

The image here, however, is a bit different. It’s the same word used to describe how Jacob and Esau jostled other in the womb of Rebekah, who was also once called barren. It’s meant to evoke this prophesy from Genesis that the older (Esau and John) will serve the younger (Jacob and Jesus). It’s also meant to remind us of this long line of childless women who are filled with life by the action of God. Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Hannah. And all of them are linked to prophets or fulfillment of prophecy.

The word also calls to mind how David leapt before the Ark of the Covenant that held the word of the Lord. The parallels don’t end there, though. David says “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” just like Elizabeth asks “How is it the mother of my Lord comes to me.” David “arose and went” to the ark, just like Mary “arose and went” to Elizabeth. David takes the ark to a town outside of Jerusalem, and he stays there three months. Mary comes to a town outside Jerusalem, and stays there three months.

So Luke it telling us something: the ark of the covenant carried the word of God, and Mary, is the new ark, also carrying the word of God, the new covenant of God. When Elizabeth hears the voice of Mary, that word changes her. At that moment, both Elizabeth and John are filled with the holy spirit, and they become prophets. The last prophets of the old covenant. Elizabeth will deliver her famous words and disappear from the story, while John will go out into the wilderness and prepare the way of the Lord.

Elizabeth is the first person in the Gospels to refer to Jesus by the divine name: my Lord. The first to recognize him.

She is also the first person to offer a beatitude in the Gospel. She utters three blessings. blessed is Mary, blessed is Jesus, and blessed is Mary’s belief in the promise of God.

And all over the world, every day, Elizabeth’s words are repeated millions of times, every time someone says Hail Mary, full of grace, blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

So what does it all mean for us. It means this. First, that God keeps his promise. That he promised in the Old Testament to send the messiah and his forerunner and he did. He promised his word would become flesh and it did. He promised these women miraculous pregnancies, and it came true.

Second, it shows us that salvation proceeds through history, and that even in humble places and simple moments, great things can happen that shake the very foundations of our world.

Third, it tells that we are, like our Blessed Mother, supposed to arise and hasten out into the hills, carrying the word of the Lord within us. Like Elizabeth, we are blessed with the Holy Spirit from hearing the word of the Lord, which makes everything within us leap to new life. And in a moment, we will be like Mary as well. We shall receive the eucharist, and then we too will carry Jesus within us, so we can rush out, and bring him in to the world, where his presence can touch another and another, like it touched Elizabeth and John. And each time that happens, those we encounter should leap to new life at the sound of our greeting, because now we are bringing Christ our light into the world.

Amen.