December 22, 2024 at Saint Peter Catholic Church in Naples, FL
Micah 5: 1-4 + Psalm 80 + Hebrews 10: 5-10 + Luke 1: 39-45
Often with the Gospels, the message comes to us through details rather than words which means we have to pay attention to place and people. That could hardly be obvious than with the story of the Visitation. Like the Annunciation to Mary, this event has captured the imagination of artists for ages. There are countless paintings of the Visitation, and that event is still inspiring artists to this day. Some of them that I have enjoyed and studied really get the point of what Luke is saying here without any words. Remember, the Gospel is not history. It is theology. You have to ask, “What does this mean? What is God saying to us?”
In one painting that sticks in my mind, Mary arrives at the rather elegant home of Zechariah. Elizabeth has come down the steps and embraces the obviously younger woman. At the left edge is Zechariah in the shadows holding open the door. Remember, he can’t talk because he got sassy with an angel. At the right edge also in deep shadows is Joseph who is loaded down with luggage. While there is some humor there for any man who has travelled some distance with a wife, sister, or mother, you get that artist’s idea. However, the point is that the men are in the shadows at the edge of the action. Those two women are what matters. Those two women hold the promise of God, a promise being fulfilled.
While some may choose to interpret this as feminist liberation, I don’t think that is exactly the message. It is about women, but it is about what women stand for and their place at that time. The fact is, they stand for nothing. Yet, in God’s way of turning things upside down in order to get things right side up, It is women who are chosen to get things going, the lowly, the servant handmaids. In Luke’s way of writing, just in case we don’t get the message of how salvation is going to work, Mary begins to sing her Magnificat announcing that the mighty will be pulled down and the lowly lifted up. So, here we are right in the middle of a revelation of how God works – two unlikely people, an old lady and a young girl coming together in joy because they know that God’s promise is fulfilled. Pay attention to where they are too. Luke says it is the hill country of Judea. It doesn’t even have a name. Mary has come from another no-place, Nazareth. Nothing is happening in Jerusalem, that place of power and mighty power brokers. God does not work there. That place and what it stands for is finished.
There is one other detail that speaks to us, and that message is captured by a different artist who contrasts the ages of the two women. Mary is clearly a very young woman, and Elizabeth looks every bit her age. She is ancient. There’s been no “Botox” on that face. The shared celebration between Elizabeth and Mary shows how one generation can enrich and inspire the other. History has shown us that how one generation relates to the next generation often dictates the prosperity or the demise of the whole. A generation that clings to power and seeks to preserve its own well-being at the cost of the young creates a crisis for the future. The young who refuse to listen to those who have walked before them become isolated wanderers with no center point to their lives because of their distrust and rejection of traditions and institutions.
This is what the Visitation speaks of, and it is the Word of the Lord.