A Moment of Two Ages

Luke 1:39-55

Rev. Dr. Mary Alice Mulligan

A seminary professor explains the coming of Jesus Christ with a two-stroke sketch. One big half circle he explains as the way life was plodding along. Families being raised, folks trying to get ahead. You know, the one with the most toys when he dies wins. – The old age. The other big half circle he explains as the Reign of God approaching from the other direction. It’s the rule of God – life, the way it’s supposed to be. Christians live in the intersection of the two ages, stuck in history, but aware of something else. Christians sense God is at work, renewing, restoring, recreating the world the way it’s supposed to be. Throughout Advent, we’ve glimpsed moments of anticipation of the full Realm of God. Today we get to peek at the earliest moment when those two eras touch. From the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, listen for the word of God. 

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. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” 

And Mary said, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

A sculpture at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C. depicts the holy scene as Mary steps in to visit Elizabeth. The young maiden and the older cousin. Clearly more than a family reunion is going on; this is not merely cousins sharing womanly wisdom. In the carving, Elizabeth’s face is worn, but full of wisdom. She is joyously calm, her old body unexpectedly bulbous with life. As if Elizabeth bears the last child born before the coming of Christ, something about her seems dated, as if the sand in the hourglass she lives by is about to run out, while the young maiden, calm but questioning, radiates a life just beginning, with a secret that feels uncertain even as it is about to burst forth. We call the captured moment, “The Visitation.”

Past and future ages intersect at the visitation. In Mary and Elizabeth two eras span and overlap. What a juxtaposition! The young maiden travels to her cousin Elizabeth after hearing she is pregnant.  And who wouldn’t?  Elizabeth is the family’s pitiful relative, married for years and still no children. Everyone knows she is past hope for off-spring, you know – “past the change”, in a society where a woman’s value rests pretty much on whom she marries and who her sons become. Now, barren old Elizabeth? Pregnant? No wonder Mary has to go see. Anytime family gathers, a special atmosphere develops. But when 2 pregnant family members meet, the atmosphere becomes even more precious. Each knows she is holding in her womb an intimate family treasure.

However, when Mary visits Elizabeth, even more is going on. Something holy. The era which is passing away and the age to come share the same house for a brief time. As soon as Mary enters, Elizabeth knows in her womb that something sacred is happening, because her son leaps, in utero, for joy. He, who scripture says becomes John the Baptizer, physically acknowledges Mary’s son, signaling to Elizabeth the Messiah has come. One commentator calls the moment, “[John’s] own first prophecy.”[i] They are in the presence of the One for whom Israel has waited for centuries. Mary carries the Messiah, God’s chosen leader, so God’s new age is perched, ready to break in. It’s a moment frozen in time - two women, two different eras. Elizabeth bearing John, fiery prophet, as if the last child born in the old time; and Mary bearing Jesus, who inaugurates God’s new age. Like hands reaching across an immense, invisible chasm – two worlds, touch. These two marginalized, pregnant women know something holy is going on; and their children rejoice in their wombs as the two eras meet.

But the world still lives in both ages. The era of the fallen world and the in-breaking of the Realm of God co-exist, 2000 years later. We wish the old era had passed away completely with the birth of Jesus, and the entire world lived under the Realm of God, but instead both eras are alive and well – like parallel universes, I quoted the students several weeks ago. We know the old ways well – where bank executives deserve $23 million as a year-end bonus, even while hard-working people cannot get a small business loan to upgrade their production. The old age allows refugee camps in foreign countries and people sleeping under bridges in this country, because the old era says, “Every man for himself.” “Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, even if you can’t afford a pair of boots.”

But even as we recognize the old era around us, we sense at times, the in-breaking of God’s Realm, inaugurated in Jesus Christ. Haven’t we all sensed places where God is having God’s way in the world? Like the hospital that has a Tree of Life Ceremony each December, for families of those who have died in their hospice unit that year. Persons gather outside, often in the cold and dark, with scripture and words of remembrance, then passing from one person to the next, candles are lighted. In the midst of a ceremony where wrenching memories and raw emotions are re-exposed, a sense of connection develops. Each person realizes she is not alone. Lives are woven together; strangers become family. Together they realize the death they experienced is survivable. And as the light increases from more and more candles, a holy sense of comfort surrounds them. Everyone feels safe and whole. At one ceremony, a woman whispered, “Truly we are in the presence of God.” Suddenly, everyone could sense it. The new age broke in. Many of us have experienced such moments. In the midst of a world mired in the old era, the new era breaks in. The old era and the new co-exist around us.

So, we seek the New Age. As Advent comes to an end and the journey to Bethlehem nears completion, we can live into God’s new era. Not to steal the Stewardship Team’s thunder, but they developed a January stewardship season theme: “Make Way for the Future.” We want our future to move toward God’s new age, but how can we ensure it is? We can listen to Mary’s song. She praises YHWH God, who has reversed her plight, a simple nobody, from a tiny group of Hebrews, a powerless, unmarried woman from a common laborer family, yet she is favored by God. But then her song’s vision expands displaying universal changes in the new age, where the hungry have enough, daily. People who fell between the cracks are lifted up and filled with good things; while highfalutin’ hoity-toity folks are brought down to Earth. In the era of God’s rule, the wealthy do not give charity to the lowly, because God assures no one is “lowly” anymore. Equality governs God’s realm. The full personhood of everyone is cherished.

But notice Mary’s verb tenses. She claims these things are already accomplished. She doesn’t say: “God will fill the hungry.” God has filled the hungry. Here’s where we get to share in the excitement of God’s Realm. We’ve talked about it all through Advent. Now Mary paints it for us: Whenever the hungry are filled – God’s Realm is breaking in. When the forgotten are noticed – It’s the new age. When Habitat for Humanity reports over 3 million people got into new or refurbished homes in fiscal year 2024, God’s promise to lift up the lowly was fulfilled. The child in Mary’s womb inaugurates a new age. God’s New Era in Jesus Christ is breaking in around us, inviting us to join our arms with the strength of God’s arms in carrying out acts of holy justice and mercy. Like when Equality Florida reports working with 60 of Florida’s 67 school districts, providing “LGBTQ+ sensitivity and best practice professional development training” to over 12,000 school officials, God has scattered the proud and filled the needy with good things. A New Age has dawned, which means injustice has reached a dead-end. We may find it hard to believe because we hear the energy of injustice still spinning its wheels, spraying mud everywhere, even doing some damage; but the wagon injustice is pulling isn’t going anywhere for long. God has looked with favor on the oppressed. The powerful are being brought down and the lowly are elevated into the presence of God. And we are able to share the work of carrying out those divine changes in the world. We get to live into the new age.

So, here we are living in the confusing intersection of two ages, like the meeting of pregnant Elizabeth and pregnant Mother of our Lord. Mary carries the Messiah, God’s promise of wholeness for all, already accomplished. All around us, moments of divine correction are breaking in, where the least and the lowest are valued in all their natural splendor, where all humanity is lifted up before the Lord. No wonder John leaps for joy. The Messiah is among us, showing the way into God’s New Age.

[i] Stephen Cooper, “Fourth Sunday of Advent,” Exegetical Perspective, in Feasting on the Word, Year C, vol. 1, 95.