{"id":9697,"date":"2021-02-07T19:49:29","date_gmt":"2021-02-07T19:49:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theologie.whp.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/?p=9697"},"modified":"2022-10-27T14:20:05","modified_gmt":"2022-10-27T12:20:05","slug":"luke-139-45-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/luke-139-45-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Luke 1:39\u201345"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the
\nhill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted
\nElizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in
\nher womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed
\nwith a loud cry, „Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
\nfruit of your womb. 43And why has this happened to me, that the mother
\nof my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting,
\nthe child in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed
\nthat there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.“<\/p>\n

Leaping for Joy! <\/strong><\/p>\n

At the sound of Mary’s voice, the child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped for
\njoy. This God-bearer (theotokos), this Mother of God, this model Christian,
\nthis Blessed Virgin Mary is so filled with the grace-full presence of
\nEmmanuel (God with us) that even the sound of her voice can make the
\nunborn forerunner, John the Baptist, leap with joy !<\/p>\n

One of the great 20 th century Lutherans said, \u0093The function of the
\nBlessed Virgin Mary in the Sacred Scriptures, in the history of salvation,
\nand in the faith and worship of the Church is to point to her Son\u0094 (\u0093Blessed
\nArt Thou Among Women\u0094 in The Church: Selected Writings of Arthur Carl
\nPiepkorn, American Lutheran Publicity Bureau Books).<\/p>\n

And so it is in this Gospel lesson that the mere sound of Mary’s voice
\nis so filled with the promise of the Messiah that her cousin Elizabeth’s
\nbaby leaps for joy! The sound of Mary’s voice is already graciously pointing
\nto the Savior of the world still being knit together in her womb. This
\nteenaged mother, through no effort or merit of her own, has become the
\nMother of God whom all generations will call blessed, because God has
\ndone great things, impossible things, for her \u0096 and then through her
\nfor the world.<\/p>\n

Despite Mary’s centrality to the Christian story, Protestants have often
\ntreated Jesus of Nazareth almost as if he were the Christian equivalent
\nof Athena, the goddess who sprung forth fully clothed from Zeus‘ head.
\nFearful of the Roman cult of Mary, Protestants have often ignored the
\nfact that Mary is essential to salvation. Without Mary there is no humanity
\nfor Jesus. Without his humanity Jesus cannot be the Savior of the world.
\nHe must be fully human and fully divine, or Jesus cannot save humanity
\nfrom sin, death, and evil. The death of Jesus is pointless \u0096 it points
\nto nothing \u0096 unless he is truly Son of Mary and Son of God.<\/p>\n

So what does Luke want his first reader Theophilus and us the subsequent
\nreaders to get from this episode? Is the goal to get us to leap with
\njoy like unborn babies kicking and turning inside Mama’s belly?<\/p>\n

God knows it wouldn’t hurt us stoic Lutherans of northern European roots
\nto exhibit a bit more joy. Despite Luther’s own fears of enthusiastic
\nspirituality, it wouldn’t hurt us staid Lutherans from time to time to
\nget up from our pews, join hands with the children, and dance for joy
\naround the room while the musicians played some raucous hymns. An occasional
\noutbreak of \u0093Amens\u0094 and \u0093Hallelujahs\u0094 echoing our African-American sisters
\nand brothers wouldn’t hurt us. Yet I suspect that some Lutherans might
\nsooner consider hell if heaven were going to turn out to be too joyful!
\nAch, who can stand the noise?<\/p>\n

But have we reached the goal for today if we are uncharacteristically
\njoyful \u0096 if our feet begin to tap during the singing of \u0093Joy to the World\u0094 and
\nholy mirth begins to break out all over our faces? No, that’s not quite
\nit.<\/p>\n

You see the unborn baby John leaped for joy at the sound of Mother Mary’s
\nvoice, because she was carrying the Good News \u0096 she was bearing the Gospel
\ninto the world! She was filled with the incarnate Love of God for this
\ntattered creation. And even the unborn preparer of the way, even the
\nunborn prophet knew by the sound of Mary’s voice that the Good News was
\nfor him and for his salvation! Mary was already pointing the way to Jesus
\nwhile he was still in her womb. Leaping with joy, the unborn John knew
\nthat he was called to join Mary in pointing the way. And that’s the point
\nof today’s joy. We are called to join Mary and John in pointing the way
\nto the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n

But we have a problem, don’t we? Who doesn’t get a little sick of Christmas
\nafter having seen the first decorations on sale in late September \u0096 after
\nhaving been bombarded with Christmas catalogs, e-mail advertisements,
\nand holiday music for weeks on end? By the time the Church gets around
\nto properly celebrating the birth of the Messiah the world has overdosed
\non Christmas. It’s enough to infect even the most fervent believers with
\nthe Ebenezer Scrooge virus. (In fact I have known some Lutherans that
\nwould sooner say \u0093Bah Humbug\u0094 than \u0093Hallelujah!\u0094)<\/p>\n

Doesn’t this Gospel lesson come as a just-in-time antidote to all that
\nChrist-less Christmas cacophony? Luke reminds us to sift through the
\nnoisy cultural rubble to find the reason for the season. There is cause
\nfor us to leap for joy. Christmas is still about the birth of our <\/em> Savior \u0096 mine
\nand yours! This priceless treasure wrapped in rags has by his cross destroyed
\nsin, death, and evil. Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to
\nGod forever. In the washing of Holy Baptism, we have been marked with
\nthe holy cross and sealed with the Holy Spirit forever!<\/p>\n

Knowing whose we are forever should put a little dance in the step of
\neven the most beleaguered believer. Clinging to God’s promise in Jesus
\nChrist becomes part of the immune system of our faith. We might think
\nof that children’s song \u0093This Little Gospel Light of Mine.\u0094 We might
\nlisten to its encouragement as it says: \u0093Don’t let Satan blow it out!\u0094 Don’t
\nlet the old enemy steal your joy even when he attacks your most vulnerable
\nplaces.<\/p>\n

Today’s Gospel lesson demonstrates to us the value of faithful participation
\nin the worship life of the community of faith. Left on our own apart
\nfrom the means of grace \u0096 the Word and the sacraments \u0096 we will be sitting
\nducks for every attack of unbelief, anxiety, despair, loneliness, disappointment,
\nand resentment. But gathering with the people of God today, we hear the
\nVirgin’s promise-filled voice crying out to our less than fully formed
\nfaith. God is not aloof and capricious. God is gracious and merciful,
\na down to earth God who gives himself to us in love. Come, hear God’s
\npromise \u0096 taste and see the Lord is good as he comes in bread and wine!<\/p>\n

Walking away from the table \u0096 tracing the holy cross upon our forehead
\nand our breast \u0096 we become, like Mary, bearers of the Living Word of
\nGod, Jesus Christ. Trusting that the One we have received in bread and
\nwine is truly for us, we may begin to exhibit the first hints of leaping
\nfor joy.<\/p>\n

Leaving this house of God filled with the loving presence of the Living
\nGod, we can point those we love and those we care about to the cause
\nfor our joy. We can invite a friend, a neighbor, a co-worker, a child,
\na spouse, a parent to join us on Christmas Eve for the real Christmass \u0096 the
\ncelebration of Jesus‘ birth. Like the Virgin Mother, like John the Baptist
\nwe can point the way to heaven. We can point out the Savior of the world!<\/p>\n

Many of the millions of unchurched persons are waiting for someone to
\ninvite them to the services of God’s house. Be a partner in the Gospel
\nthis Christmas by inviting someone you love to receive the gift of God’s
\neternal love! Point them to Jesus!<\/p>\n

The Rev. Dr. Samuel D. Zumwalt
\nSt. Martin’s Lutheran Church
\nAustin, Texas USA
\nszumwalt@saintmartins.org <\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with a loud cry, „Blessed are […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8543,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,727,108,110,262,3,109],"tags":[],"beitragende":[],"predigtform":[],"predigtreihe":[],"bibelstelle":[],"class_list":["post-9697","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lukas","category-archiv","category-current","category-engl","category-kapitel-01-chapter-01","category-nt","category-predigten"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9697"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14472,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9697\/revisions\/14472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"beitragende","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/beitragende?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"predigtform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtform?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"predigtreihe","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/predigtreihe?post=9697"},{"taxonomy":"bibelstelle","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theologie.uzh.ch\/apps\/gpi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bibelstelle?post=9697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}