“In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.”

I don’t know why Mary set out “with haste” to go to Elizabeth. I don’t know what she wanted or needed from Elizabeth. Today’s gospel (Luke 1:39-45) doesn’t tell us. But if we look at our own lives it’s not too hard to imagine what might be going on. 

Mary is young, maybe thirteen or fourteen. She is an unmarried virgin. She’s pregnant with God’s child. At least that’s what the angel told her. And none of it makes sense. “How can this be?” she asks the angel.

Haven’t there been times when you couldn’t make sense of your life? Haven’t there been times when you needed to tell someone what was happening? Mary knows what has happened but no one else knows. Maybe she’s scared of what others will think or say. Maybe she needs Elizabeth to not just believe her but to believe in her. I know what that’s like, don’t you?

When have you needed a familiar face, a safe place, someone to talk to, the wisdom and guidance of another? When have you wanted someone to hold you, remind you of your worth, affirm your life, or confirm that you still have a place of belonging? Who has done that for you? 

Maybe Mary doesn’t want to be alone. Maybe she’s overwhelmed, scared, embarrassed, ashamed. Maybe she needs someone to listen to her without judgment. Maybe she wants to hear a familiar voice call her by name, greet and welcome her. Maybe Elizabeth is the one who has always been there for her. Who is that one for you?

I wouldn’t be surprised if Mary is physically and emotionally exhausted. Her life has completely changed from one day to the next. Maybe Mary is running away or maybe she just needs a place to rest, cry, question and doubt. Maybe she needs to be with someone who knows, loves, and cares about her. Maybe she needs Elizabeth to do for her what she cannot yet do for herself. Or maybe she wants Elizabeth to celebrate, give thanks, and rejoice with her. I’m familiar with all of those, aren’t you?

If Mary really is the human mother of Jesus then maybe she’s not as different from us as we often make her. We tend to sanitize, sentimentalize, and romanticize Mary and her pregnancy. But that’s never been my experience of life. I’ll bet it hasn’t been yours either. And I don’t think that was Mary’s experience. 

Maybe you’ve been through some of what I’ve just described. Maybe you’re going through some of that today. When have you been Mary in search and need of an Elizabeth? What was that about? What was going on? 

Here’s what strikes me. Of all the things Mary might have wanted or needed from Elizabeth and of all the things Elizabeth might have said to or done for Mary, the only thing today’s gospel records is that Elizabeth blessed Mary. 

• “Blessed are you among women.”
• “Blessed is the fruit of your womb.”
• “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”

What if blessing is the only thing today’s gospel records because blessing incorporates all the other things Elizabeth might have said and done? What if Elizabeth’s love, support, welcome, wisdom and guidance, belief in Mary, and all the other things I described are not separate from the blessing but are the blessing? 

Elizabeth’s blessing is her response to Mary’s fear, shame, and confusion. Blessing is her response to Mary’s exhaustion, uncertainty, and questions. Blessing is her response to Mary’s aloneness and need for connection. 

Blessing is her response, not because it eliminates or fixes those things, but because it calls Mary beyond those things just as it does for you and me. Blessing is the expression of and the call for us to remember and return to our original blessing.

Let me give you an example of what I mean by that. For the past several weeks St. Philip’s collected fifty dollar Walmart gift cards for high school students who, because of their living arrangements or family circumstances, would not otherwise receive a Christmas gift this year. Many of you helped with that. 

Last week the counselor overseeing that program told me that when she distributed the cards most of the students were surprised and in disbelief. She said two of them, a boy and a girl, both in high school, began to cry. “This is for me?” they asked. “Really? Why me?” 

When she told me that I thought to myself, Why not you? What happened? Who said or did something to you that you would ask that? Blessed are you too.

The gift cards, however, were not the blessing. They were just the outward expression and reminder of the students’ original blessing, an inner reality of what has always been and always will be. Those children felt remembered, seen, recognized, valued, loved, and called beyond the circumstance of their lives. The boundaries of the sacred were extended and they felt included. 

They caught a glimpse of and connected to their truer selves, who they were in the mind of God before they ever existed in this world. That’s the original blessing. Everyone is held within the image and likeness of the divine. What God creates, God loves; and what God loves, God loves everlastingly. That’s the original blessing. 

No wonder those two students cried and no wonder Mary “went with haste.” We long to remember and reconnect to our original blessing and there is so much that tries to make us forget or deny that original blessing. 

Maybe that’s why we Episcopalians love to bless things. We know how easily and quickly we can forget. At St. Philip’s we’ve blessed people, dogs, cats, horses, and goats; bread, wine, water, and oil; meals, books, crosses, and necklaces; candles, chalk, and backpacks; classrooms, cars, and a kiln; a labyrinth, an icon, and doors; buildings, homes, and each other. 

“Blessings keep our awareness of life’s holy potential ever present. They awaken us to our own lives.” (Kushner, The Book of Words, 20)

I wonder what that means for you today? What would it take and look like to reconnect to your original blessing? Where is that happening in your life? Where is it needed? 

Now let me ask you two very important questions. Who is your Elizabeth? To whom might you be an Elizabeth?

Well? 

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Image Credit: By Deodato Orlandi, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons.