4th Sunday in Advent

With growing concern in recent years about the representation of minority groups in films, books and other works of fiction, a certain test was developed as a tool to measure the representation of women in a work of fiction. This test, known as the Bechdel test, has three criteria. The way the test is performed is that there must be at least one scene in the film or in the book which fulfils these three criteria: [1] there must be at least two women, [2] who talk to each other, [3] about a something other than a man. Apparently, roughly half the films Hollywood churns out in a given year pass this test. The Bechdel test has also been applied to our Scriptures, and as you can imagine the Bible has been found wanting on this score. There are only four passages in the Old Testament that meet the first two criteria: Lot’s two daughters, but this fails on the third criterion because they are talking about sleeping with their father, the second is Moses’ sister talking with the Egyptian princess, but once again fails on the third criterion because they are talking about Moses, the third is Leah and Rachel, but fails because they are bickering about their husband Jacob, and the last is the passage is the story of Naomi and Ruth, which is the only passage in the Old Testament to successfully fulfil all three criteria because their subject of conversation is their mutual devotion to one another, and not about a man. There is only one passage in the whole of the New Testament that fulfils the first two criteria, and the jury is out on whether it fulfils the third criterion. This passage is the visitation of Mary to Elizabeth which we hear in our gospel today.

Of all the four gospel writers, Luke is the author that pays most attention to the role of women in salvation history, which is often a hidden role, one that plays out in the background. It is perhaps because of the hidden nature of this role that the other three gospel writers did not give as much attention to it. We are deeply indebted to Luke for his wonderful rendition of this encounter between two women who played such a central role in salvation history. As the only scene in the whole of the New Testament that portrays two women talking to each other, this scene is surely one to be cherished. At its most basic level, today’s gospel portrays a scene of domestic felicity. It is a mundane event, and has nothing of the marvelous or miraculous that the rest of the gospel stories have. However, Luke has overlaid this ordinary encounter with a layer of deep sensitivity to the grace of God that renders the ordinary extraordinary.

As we draw near to the birth of Christ, the Church directs our attention today to the experience of pregnancy that is the necessary gateway to the new life that is celebrated at Christmas. Many women describe ambivalent feelings that course through them during their pregnancies. On the one hand, there is a feeling of deep joy and happiness regarding the new life that is taking shape within them. Some women describe it as a miracle and marvel at the amazing thought that inside of them a completely new and independent life is taking shape. In the case of both Mary and Elizabeth, the miraculous dimension of their pregnancies leads them both to marvel at the grace of God that has brought about the new life that takes shape within their wombs. On the other hand, many women describe being filled with apprehension when they discover that they are pregnant, for there are so many unknowns and risks that surround their pregnancies. They are apprehensive about their own health and the health of their babies, about the many things that can go wrong during a pregnancy and the toll that child-bearing and child-birth will take on their own bodies. Whether the experience of waiting for the birth of a child is joyful or fraught with anxiety depends on how one navigates the challenges that pregnancy presents.

During Advent, we are similar to both Elizabeth and Mary in that God sows in our bodies the seeds of hope. If those seeds find good soil that fertilizes them, then we become pregnant with hope. Along our way, there will be many challenges and setbacks that will challenge our hope and threaten to overwhelm it with fear and dread. Like Mary and Elizabeth we are called to bring to term our hope so that it can concretely affect the way we live our lives and give witness to others. An arresting image for the death of hope in us is the birth of a still-born child. For those of us who are parents, we might look at our children and all the joy that they have brought into our lives and see in them the seeds of hope that are slowly coming to term through God’s grace. We might profitably reflect on how Mary and Elizabeth nurture the gift of hope in their own lives.

Once again, on a most concrete and basic level, this meeting is a meeting between an old woman and a young one. All her life, Elizabeth has been eclipsed by younger more fertile women than herself. She has been mocked for her lack of fertility and shunned as a result. Finally, in the twilight years of her life, she has been blessed by God not only with a child, but with a son who will be the one to prepare the way for the Messiah. But just as soon as she receives this gift, she is eclipsed once again by her young cousin who is to be the Mother of her Lord. Elizabeth could very well have chosen to let jealousy get the better of her, and become snarky with this young upstart cousin of hers who has stolen the limelight from her. Instead, Elizabeth is as gracious with Mary as her son will be when he is eclipsed by Mary’s son. Elizabeth does what every member of the older generation needs to learn to do with the younger generation: she blesses her.

Far be it from me to suggest that Mary is Gen Z to the Gen X of Elizabeth. However, it is true that Gen Z are in desperate need of being blessed by the older generation. A friend who belongs to Gen Z recently remarked to me that no-one ever has anything good to say about Gen Z. The younger generation are always, whether they acknowledge it or not, yearning for the blessing of their elders. It is this blessing that enables them to go confidently into the world and to share their gifts with others in a mature and humble way. Even though Mary was surely mature beyond her years, she would have cherished the blessing given her by Elizabeth. It was an effective passing of the torch and giving Mary permission to let her light shine in all its glorious brightness. When the blessing of the older generation is withheld, the younger generation are so much the poorer and lost without it. The Church Fathers, in commenting on this scene, have long seen it as a passing of the torch from the Old Testament (represented by Elizabeth) to the New Testament (represented by Mary). I think that this is an essential component of hope. Hope arises when the wisdom of the past is offered to the present in a way that makes the future possible. Those who belong to an older generation need to think about the duty that they have to bless the younger generation and pass on their wisdom in a way that it can be received by the younger generation. In the words of the blessing of Elizabeth to Mary, we have to learn to be people who “believe that the promise made to us by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

Questions for reflection

1. Who are the people in my life who have blessed me? How did they pass on their wisdom to me?
2. Who are the people in my life that I can bless? How can I pass on some of my life to them?
3. How do I nourish the hope that has taken root inside of me? What are the things that threaten this hope?