Christ Lutheran Church
Cleveland, Ohio
December 22, 2024
by: Rev. Dean Kavouras
Advent 4
Two Babies In The Womb
In those days Mary arose with haste and went to the hill country to a city in Judah; where she entered the house of Zechariah, and greeted Elizabeth. And upon hearing Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit; and she exclaimed with a loud cry and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For Behold! When the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the child in my womb leapt for joy! And blessed is she who believes that what was spoken to her by the Lord would come true! Luke 1:35-45 (DKV)
--
There is something wonderfully mysterious about today’s gospel! It happened 2,000 years ago but it’s as fresh as today’s newly-baked bread. What is it? Precisely this, that two babies in the womb are communicating with each other! That Elizabeth is saying to the Blessed Virgin Mary, in effect: “The child in my womb tells me that the child in your womb is my Lord, the Son of God come in the flesh.” And so again what we hear in today’s gospel is not simply two-dimensional history, but three-dimensional worship of God from which we learn two lessons:
First, that the things to which we are being made privy are things that belong to the, “Immortal, Invisible, Only-wise God!” Here we get a glimpse of what it means when Gabriel says to the Blessed Virgin Mary: “For with God nothing shall be impossible.” This is difficult to take! That we, finite beings, have the infinite laid before us and offered to us for the taking – if only we could, Oh if only we could.
But our challenge is no different than that of St. Elizabeth who, though dumb-founded by this visitation, cannot help but cry out in utter surprise: And why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” She got it immediately, because both she, and the baby in her womb, were both “filled with the Holy Spirit.”
But what does it mean that the Great, Glorious and Mighty God, Creator and Sustainer of all that is, should desire our friendship? Should open Himself up to the likes of rebels and runaways, who curse his name, and want nothing to do with his will or his ways?
What can say except to sing:
“What wondrous love is this,
O my soul, O my soul?”
What wondrous Love and what wondrous Light – that of the Incarnate Christ giving Light to the darkness we dwell in. The light that Isaiah foresees when the says of Christ’s birth, “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.”
Yes that is the stultifying, muffling stygian darkness of sin and Satan that covers the world; that blocks out the Son of God; and makes all men desperate; alone, nervous, champions of the irrational and unreasonable; waterless clouds, and both perpetrators and victims of dark deeds done in darkness? Who wants to live that way? If not wake up from your woke agenda and humble yourself before the new born Babe of Bethlehem who says, “I am the Light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but have the Light of Life.” (Jn 8:12)
The second lesson is this. That the church of Jesus Christ who hears today’s gospel, and by the Holy Spirit believes these things, should confess them aloud as Elizabeth did. What we have before us in today’s gospel is not just a report of what happened, or information and facts. But it is an authentic liturgy in itself. All that the church ever needed or needs to liturgize the Father is there: Jesus in the flesh. And two worshipers filled with the Holy Spirit and with faith, confessing his Name, and singing his magnificent creeds and deeds.
Though small, this assembly was an example of the Great Congregation that King David teaches when he says, "I will confess you in the Great Congregation; in the mighty throng I will praise you.” (Psalm 35:18).
Beloved, today we are that Congregation and that Mighty Throng who, by this Holy Communion, sing glory to God in the Highest, and Peace on Earth and Good Will to Men. This is good, true and beautiful, and whatever earthly goodness, truth and beauty there are, flow from this.
Moving forward, who are these babies still in the womb – who in keeping with today’s brittle ideologies, and Herodian, Hitlerian practices, would never have seen the light of day. But by the irresistible might of our God they were easily preserved to live out their lives; and were both allowed to die at their divinely appointed times and manners, “for us men and for our salvation.”
Who are these babies of miraculous birth? The One conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of a Blessed Virgin? The other conceived of a woman who was known everywhere as, “The Barren One.”
The first is the greatest man ever born of woman. The second the Greatest Man ever born of a Virgin! He is the New Man, True Man, Second Adam and the firstborn from among the dead. He is the “mighty God, the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace,” in whom the fullness of the Godhead dwells, bodily.
This is the Lord of Glory with whom, mind-boggling as it is, we have intimate communion every Lord’s (Christ’s) Day. As Mary carried God in her womb for nine months. So we also carry the glorified and exalted Body of this same Lord in our bodies as often as we: Eat THIS Bread and drink THIS Cup, proclaiming the Lord’s redeeming death till he comes again.
As Elizabeth praised and worshiped “God in Man made Manifest,” so the church in post-Communion wonder – newly nourished and made alive again, intones:
“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation; which thou hast prepared before the face of all people. A Light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel.” Luke 2.29-32
Once we have received the Body and Blood of Jesus in Holy Communion then we, too, like the Blessed Virgin Mary, are temples, nay: singing temples, of God the Father Son and Holy Spirit who dwells in us – and there is nothing better than that.
It is state of being that “sanctifies us” (Heb. 10:10) as today’s epistle says – and makes us fit for eternal life with God in Heaven; and enables even us to say, “Be it done unto me according to Thy Word.”
“Hear O Heavens!
and give ear O Earth!” (Is. 1:2)
“Our star is risen!
our light is come!” (LSB 516)