Matthew 1:39-49

The Gospel, today, has such what would you call it? I guess in journalism they call it a human-interest story. It is not about anything terribly significant, but it tugs the strings of everyone’s heart.

Two cousins, both unexpectedly find themselves expectant. Unexpectedly because one is so elderly and beyond the childbearing age, and the other one because she is still unmarried, a young virgin. The younger one dutifully goes into the hill country to be with her elderly relative that she might assist in the preparation for the birth.

There is that tendency for us to become occupied with the human-interest story and not move deeper. Luke is not a journalist, nor is he an historian. He does not write this Gospel to record historically what happened or to warm the hearts of the readers. He writes, as all the evangelists do, to explain the meaning of what has happened. Basically, he’s a theologian. Luke is attempting to communicate how God is present in all of our actions. So, he takes what seem to be very ordinary human events and shows how God is present, and secondly, how those events model for us how we are to respond to God’s presence in our midst.

In Luke, it is important that recognition of the Messiah by John the Baptist take place in uterus. John’s mission is to announce the presence of the long awaited Messiah—the one that the prophets had foretold for centuries. It is his duty, and John would later say, the only duty, to recognize and announce the presence of God breaking into this world.

Read this gospel as more than just a delightful and wonderful story of hospitality. It most certainly is that, but that there is much more going on for us. We must apply this gospel to our day. The Baptist’s mission was to recognize and announce the presence of the Messiah. That too, is our mission. In this generation, we are the ones who are called to acknowledge the presence of God in the world.

Secondly, what goes on is the work of the Holy Spirit. Luke underscores the fact that it is Elizabeth filled with the Holy Spirit that allows her to interrupt and to recognize the signs. Countless thousands other women have experienced the kicking and the fighting of the child within the womb. But, Elizabeth, filled with the Spirit recognizes that the Messiah is present. Therefore, filled with the Holy Spirit, she says those wonderful words about her cousin, Mary.

As Catholics, our spirituality is so strong in asserting our belief that God is present in our humanity and our human relations. We are a sacramental Church. We maintain that God continues to act in our world, mediated by physical, created matter. This Gospel fits right in. In a seemingly ordinary event of two cousins, pregnant women getting together, God is present. Like John, we must be open to the Spirit to recognize God’s presence in the ordinary events of our lives. Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and recognized the presence of Jesus. We have spent the last three weeks saying that we are preparing ourselves to be open to that Spirit.

Therefore, if you have not yet begun, you’ve still got four days left, not to shop, but to do daily prayer that you might be open to the Holy Spirit.

Thirdly, we have Elizabeth, the elderly cousin, praising her younger cousin, Mary. Praising her because of her obedience and faith. It is helpful to understand the origins of the word obedience. It is from the Latin, ab audire which means out of hearing. From hearing your call, your need, I respond.

To be obedient means to be able to hear the need of another and to respond to that call. It applies first of all to our relationship with God. Hearing God’s call, and responding. But Jesus is clear that we are to hear the voice of the anawim the “poor of the earth”, those who live on the edge of society, frequently are poor and have great needs. Paul also uses these words when he writes: husbands, wives, be obedient to each other; listen to each other and respond to the need of each other.

What Mary did, perhaps beyond anyone else, was to listen to hear the call of God in her life and to respond whole-heartedly. Thus, we speak of her as being the model of all believers. She is the model of the Church. Elizabeth said: from this forward all people will call you blessed.

Just as this Gospel story should not be just a delightful story about hospitality, neither must we, as a parish simply welcome one another because it is nice, or the social thing to do. We must go beyond mere greeting and support one another, caring for one another, welcoming especially the anawim into our midst. If you welcomed all new comers, as you welcomed a new pastor these past 5 months, people would be reading about us in the Courier and perhaps even the Des Moines Register. We are already a wonderful parish. Imagine what we could be if we are truly open to the Holy Spirit.

We must go beyond that ordinary human hospitality to see that God is at work in our midst. In the way that we attempt, sometimes not perfectly, to live out what it means to be parish, what it means to be family, what it means to be neighbor, what it means to be a classmate, an employee, a supervisor. In those ordinary relationships, the long awaited Messiah is just as truly present as he was in the hill country of Judah.

If that spirituality becomes the basis of our lives, and our parish life, than it would be appropriate to say every day of the year: Merry Christmas.

Rev. Everett Hemann