Homily for the fourth Sunday of Advent: Year C
Readings: Luke 1:39-45
The Risk of Encounter
22 December 2024
Why is Mary in such a hurry to visit her relative Elizabeth? “To support her, to help her,” was the quick answer. However, if we look at the context of the Gospel of Luke, a different answer becomes clear: the angel of God offered Mary a sign by pointing to Elizabeth, because “in the sixth month” a pregnancy is already visibly apparent, even in Elizabeth, who was considered “barren” (cf. Luke 1:36). Mary’s haste is thus shown as joyful anticipation of perceiving the announced divine sign. It looks as if the event of the encounter was a dramatic device used by the evangelist Luke in the narrative flow of his childhood story. Is it just dramaturgy or is there more to it?
If we stay on the narrative level of the first two chapters of the Gospel of Luke, we will recognize other such encounter stories. Let’s take a closer look: The angel Gabriel meets Zechariah in the temple to announce the birth of John. Later he comes to Mary. Today we hear how Mary visits Elizabeth, which used to be called “visiting” and was meant in a very positive way. And in a few days, we will be told how the shepherds find the divine child in the stable and then Simeon and Hannah allow themselves to be “met” by the longed-for divine saviour in the temple, to put it that way.
God wants to meet and lets himself be experienced where human encounters succeed. And how does that happen? That is what Luke wants to convey to us: today’s Gospel tells of two women who both carry new life within themselves. They know this, but do not remain inwardly because of the wonderful event, but rather give praise back to the one who called them to it. In this way they open up.
Only in such a withdrawal of one’s own ego and unpretentiousness can a free space arise in which encounters can succeed, and new things can emerge. Elizabeth “hears” and in doing so she “feels” how she is filled with the Holy Spirit and, as the evangelist puts it sensitively and poetically, how the child in her womb leaps for joy. With such openness, something can happen within her, which is why she can really meet Mary, and the encounter leads beyond what has happened.
We hear little from Mary in this short scene, apart from the Magnificat that follows, in which she praises God exuberantly. But the fact that she sets out on her journey, indeed that she “hurries” in anticipation of the promised sign, shows that she too is open and ready not only to physically come to Elizabeth, but also to settle in with her and let her feel comfortable with her.
This is how real encounters become possible.
Sometimes, however, the others remain “outside the door” because we are already “occupied”. Occupied by our schedule, by our worries, by wishes, by prejudices and fixed judgements, by everything that often seems so indispensable and necessary for ourselves. Can real encounter happen here?
But back to Luke. Luke tells us that the pregnant Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit when she met the equally pregnant Mary. The space mentioned above became living space in both women and there is also the connection of divine life in the two unborn children. In this way, the encounter opens up to an experience of salvation.
Where we open up living space within ourselves, the experience of salvation becomes possible in everyday life.
This is precisely where the connection between what has been said so far and Christmas lies. Christmas is the celebration of God’s encounter with us in the person of Jesus. God opens himself up, trusts us, gets involved with us, believes in us, becomes one of us. When we accept this, when we get involved with this God who is friendly to us, the encounter with him will really be successful and will become an experience of salvation.
God and humankind can come together if both take the risk of meeting. God dares to take this step: we will celebrate this in a few days. A celebration without end will take place if we are ready for it. Then God’s closeness will be experienced in the midst of our human encounters. And then God’s spirit comes to the fore as the peace that connects everything.
Wishing you and your family a very blessed Christmas.
Joseph Lam P.P.
