Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Luke 1:39-56)
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.
Prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
The Visitation of the Virgin Mary is such a wonderful event. And from the outsider’s point of view, nothing much happens! We have two pregnant ladies who meet together—one of the babies does a somersault, and then the two ladies tell each other how wonderful this whole event is.
That’s pretty much it!
But that’s precisely what’s so wonderful about it—not much actually happens.
But here’s what’s amazing about it: Let’s listen to the beginning of Luke’s gospel, at the beginning of the chapter. He writes: Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
Luke is about to tell us about something amazing. He is about to tell you about the life of a man, Jesus Christ, who changed the course of world history—but not only that, who invented world history in the first place and will eventually bring it to an end. Luke is about to tell you about what the ministers of the word and the eyewitnesses saw, so that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.
And then Luke writes: In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah.
Listen to that… Luke tells you was happening in world politics at the time of all of this. King Herod was on the throne.
Later on when Jesus was born, we read the well-known text from the beginning of the Christmas passage: “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was the governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town.” Once again, we hear about all the major figures of world history and politics: Caesar Augustus, Quirinius the governor of Syria.
At the beginning of Luke chapter 3, we read thee same sort of thing again: “In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberias Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, and Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, and his brother Philip tetrarch of the region of Iturea and Trachonites, and Lysanius tetrarch of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.”
Listen to the detail—all these great people, these world leaders, emperors, kings, governors.
And nevertheless, in the midst of all this, amid all the international politics, the Holy Spirit draws us to two pregnant women in Judah. One is a young woman—a virgin named Mary. The other is an old woman—Elizabeth.
And this event that is happening in this humble little house somewhere in Judah is the most important thing happening in the world at the time. A baby doing a jump in his mother’s womb is the most significant thing happening at this time—and most likely the kings, governors, princes, emperors had no idea about it. Even the twelve disciples weren’t there to appreciate it. Most of them probably weren’t even born yet.
And this little event of the Visitation sets the entire course of Christianity for the centuries to come. John the Baptist leaps for joy in the presence of his Saviour, still in the darkness of the womb. And the Christian Church on earth does the same thing—it is overflowing with joy in the real presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the divine service. We come into the presence of our risen and living Saviour and we rejoice. Sometimes, we rejoice in the midst of great darkness, just like the baby John here. But we rejoice nevertheless. We rejoice in our sufferings, as St Paul says in Romans 5—we speak words of encouragement, words for the building up of faith. And we sing, just like Mary did on this occasion, singing the first Christian song ever sung, which we call the Song of Mary, or in Latin, the Magnificat. My soul magnifies the Lord, my Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour.
And for world historians at the time, this little event doesn’t even make it on the radar. But from God’s point of view, this is the most significant thing in world history to date.
And so Mary sings:
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my Spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant [he has not looked on Caesar Augustus, or Quirinius the governor of Syria—he has looked at me, sweet little Mary]. For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed… [and later on she says:] He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts; he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.
And so, we should never think that what we do in our little gatherings of worship here in the Gippsland Lutheran Parish [is insignificant]. We know that Gippsland is by no means the centre of the universe. It is not the centre of world politics and events. It is not the world centre of education and learning. Darnum’s not the centre of the world, neither is Traralgon, or Sale, or Bairnsdale, or Yarram.
It’s not even on the radar in the broad scheme of Australian politics and news, or even on the radar most of the time in the broad scheme of Victorian politics. Every now and then, we make it onto news when we have a fire, flood or an earthquake, or when there’s some threat to jobs at the power stations.
Now—don’t be offended at what I’m saying! I’m not trying to talk Gippsland down. Remember, I’m talking as a man from Adelaide. And they say that Adelaide is to Australia, what Australia is to the rest of the world—they forget that it exists!
But all of this aside, whenever you come to a service in your old cars and utes and 4-wheel-drives, God shines his light on our little gatherings. Look at us—most of the time there’s more old people here than were there at the Visitation. A lot of the time, there’s just as many, sometimes even more babies at our divine services. And sometimes, there’s even a few more virgins.
What we are coming to do each time we gather in the divine service is to rejoice and confess the presence of our Saviour Jesus Christ. At the Visitation, Jesus is hidden in his mother’s womb. In the divine service, Jesus is hidden in the words of absolution, the reading of Scripture and the preaching of the word of God, and in the waters of baptism and in the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper.
And the major players in world politics don’t realise this. They don’t know what’s going on, otherwise they’d all be flocking to Yarram just to be here. But those of humble estate—those who live outside of the gaze of governments, and world powers and the United Nations—we know where Jesus is hidden, and we confess that he is there to be found. And so what do we do? We sing as it is fitting and right to do when you happen to be in the presence of the living God together with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. We sing in the great tradition of Christian singing that was begun all those many years ago when Mary sung her Magnificat.
That’s what it means when it says:
He has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate.
In the 60th year of Elizabeth II the Queen of England, when Barack Obama was president of America, and Hu Jintao was the president of China, services of the Evangelical Lutheran Church were held in Gippsland, Victoria—in Yarram, Wellington Shire.
And so Elizabeth says: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And 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 leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”
What is spoken to you from the Lord?
Jesus died for you. He rose again for you.
Your sins are forgiven. He has baptised you. He has absolved you. He gives you is body and blood to eat and to drink.
You will rise again on the last day. You will have eternal life.
Blessed are you who have believed that there would be fulfilment of what was spoken to you from the Lord.
Let it be done for you as you have believed.
And so we say together with the words of Psalm 100:
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!
Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank you for this marvellous event so many years ago when John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother’s womb in the presence of your Son, Jesus Christ. Give also to us the joy that comes from being in the presence of your risen and ascended Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and fill us with the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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