Luke 1:39-55

 

 

• LUKE’S DRAMA IN FOUR ACTS  – 1:39-41a / 41b-45 / 46-55 / 56

Act I:  Mary visits Elizabeth in a village presumably near Jerusalem.  She’s in a hurry; they share a common experience of child growing within them.  One is old the other is young—one will close an age, the other will usher in a new age.[1] 

Act II:  Elizabeth dominates with a visceral and vocal response to Mary’s entry.  Immediately the Spirit (so prominent in Luke-Acts) fills Elizabeth thus providing her the appropriate words to proclaim.  As with Peter at Pentecost explaining the phenomenon of glossolalia, so the Spirit in Elizabeth creates meaning for Mary.  Elizabeth’s words at the very least corroborate Mary’s experience and go on to bless Mary in eulogy. 

Acts III: Called the Magnificat, Mary now dominates the scene as she bursts into psalmic praise and thanksgiving to God.  Mary describes God’s gracious personal salvation to her as a divine pattern for how God comes to all the oppressed of the world—those who are poor, powerless, and needy.  The song is not original with Mary; it draws heavily on Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10.  Such is an appropriate prayer-form to follow since Hannah, too was promised and given a child that would mark a new place for God’s relationship to Israel.

Act IV:   A single sentence closes Luke’s marvelous drama:  Mary will remain with Elizabeth presumably until John is born and then will go home.  Mary will again return to the fore when the time for her birth draws near. 

• John exults before he is born.  Before his eyes can see what the world looks like, he can recognize the Lord of the world with his spirit . . . thus from his confinement, when even confined in the womb he preached the same Lord by his movements.[2]

 

 

• What things that Mary and Elizabeth did are important to you in a friendship?  A shared experience?  Taking time to visit each other?  Talking about faith?  Mutual support?  “Bonding?”  Sharing another’s joy?  Sharing in confidentiality?[3]  

 

 

• On this Sunday—the final Sunday in the countdown to Christmas—congregations will enjoy hearing this passage carefully read and with a bit of pageantry.  Consider inviting two women from the congregation—a youth and an older woman—be this Sunday’s Elizabeth and Mary.
• Follow the outline mentioned under the “Scripture” above and after each “Act” freeze the character and offer some reflection on that particular part of the story.  Then move to the next “Act” and do the same. 

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[1] Fred Craddock, Interpretation Series: Luke (Atlanta: John Knox, 1990), page 29.

[2] Maximus of Turin [d. 408] in Ancient Christian Commentary of Scripture (InterVarsity, 2003), page 21.

[3] Questions adapted from Serendipity Bible (Zondervan, 1998), page 1418.