{"id":39,"date":"2013-10-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-10-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2013\/10\/12\/sunday-23rd-december-2012-he-is-a-god-for-the-outcasts\/"},"modified":"2013-10-12T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2013-10-12T00:00:00","slug":"sunday-23rd-december-2012-he-is-a-god-for-the-outcasts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2013\/10\/12\/sunday-23rd-december-2012-he-is-a-god-for-the-outcasts\/","title":{"rendered":"Sunday 23rd December 2012 &#8211; He is a God for the outcasts\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"paragraph\" style=\"text-align:left;\"><font size=\"4\"><strong>The Word This Week:<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<ul style=\"\">\n<li style=\"\"><a title=\"\" style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=98#hebrew_reading\">Micah 5:2-5a<\/a>\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a title=\"\" style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=98#psalm_reading\">Luke 1:46b-55<\/a><em style=\"\"> or <a title=\"\" style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=98#psalm_oth_reading\">Psalm 80:1-7<\/a><\/em>\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a title=\"\" style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=98#epistle_reading\">Hebrews 10:5-10<\/a>\u00a0 <\/li>\n<li style=\"\"><a title=\"\" style=\"\" href=\"http:\/\/lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu\/texts.php?id=98#gospel_reading\">Luke 1:39-45, (46-55)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span><\/span><font size=\"4\"><strong>Thoughts on the Word:<\/strong><\/font><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><br \/><strong>Luke 1:39-55     (NRSV)<br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><span><\/span> 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\u2019s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, \u2018Blessed 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 leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.\u2019 <br \/><span style=\"\"><\/span><br \/><\/strong>There are many at this time of year who struggle, who feel marginalised,  ostracised or oppressed.\u00a0 There are many who mourn the absence of loved  ones &#8211; and some who mourn their presence&#8230; There are many who struggle  with the stresses of this season as we desperately try to meet the  cultural expectation spend up big. There are many more who feel the  stress, and the accompanying shame and guilt of not being able to  provide adequately for their loved ones.\u00a0 There are no doubt many of you  listening to (or reading) this right now who identify with this  pressure, stress, or marginalisation.\u00a0 Today&#8217;s Gospel reading is for  you.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span>We begin today&#8217;s Gospel scene immediately after the annunciation (the appearance of the Arch-Angel Gabriel to Mary to advise her of her virginal conception), during His appearance Gabriel also advised Mary of Elizabeth&#8217;s pregnancy, and following his departure, Luke tells us that Mary<strong> &#8216;&#8230;set out with haste <\/strong><strong style=\"\"> to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth<\/strong>&#8216;.\u00a0 Mary is eager to see her cousin, who like her has miraculously conceived a child, Mary knows the ridicule and marginalisation that Elizabeth has endured due to being barren, and she is eager to confirm for her the work of God in all that is happening.\u00a0 Mary no doubt is also seeking the support and consolation of her cousin, as she becomes the subject of scorn in a society that didn&#8217;t look favourably on unwed mothers. <\/p>\n<p><span><\/span>The baby in Elizabeth&#8217;s womb leaps at the sound of Mary&#8217;s voice &#8211; seemingly recognising that the Lord of Lords is present. Then the Holy Spirit\u00a0 fills Elizabeth, who exclaims those words which are so familiar to those of us who come from the Catholic side of the faith &#8211; &#8216;Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb&#8217;!\u00a0\u00a0 These words are read and spoken so often by Christians, and often the focus in our mind is on what they tell us about the Blessed Virgin, however I want us to consider this a little deeper than the obvious statement about Mary being blessed.\u00a0 I wonder have you considered that this is the first proclamation of Jesus coming as Lord?\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p><span>Consider the scene for a moment &#8211; the first proclamation of the t<\/span>he coming of the Messiah who will redeem Israel, and indeed the world is anticipated and proclaimed, not by archangels or high priests or emperors or even ordained preachers. Rather, two marginalised, pregnant women\u2014one young, poor, and unwed, the other far beyond the age to conceive\u2014meet in the hill country of Judea to celebrate (and possibly commiserate about) their miraculous pregnancies. A baby leaps in the womb and\u00a0 blessings are shared. Astonishment is expressed and Songs are sung. <\/p>\n<p><span><\/span>Yes, the Lord of Lords and King of Kings is first acknowledged and proclaimed by two women&#8230;\u00a0 Two women who were no doubt the subject of much ridicule and stigma &#8211; Mary after all was an unwed pregnant teenager &#8211; consider how today&#8217;s comparatively liberal society still denigrates and looks down on women in the same situation, and then consider how it would have been for her living in ancient Jewish society where such a situation was not just embarrassing &#8211; but shameful.\u00a0 Likewise consider how society still treats women who have reached their mature years without ever having had children &#8211; there is, shamefully in today&#8217;s world still a stigma, a\u00a0 view that these women, are incomplete &#8211; not real women, or that they are simply selfish.\u00a0 Imagine then the views expressed of barren Elizabeth, who had not born any children, in a society where family and heirs were how your worth were expressed &#8211; Where a woman&#8217;s worth especially was determined by how many sons she bore her husband.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p><span>Yet it was these two, ostracised, marginalised women whom God chose to bring the final prophet of the old covenant &#8211; John &#8211; and the fulfilment of that covenant &#8211; Jesus &#8211; into the world. It was these two women\u00a0 who first proclaimed the coming of the King!\u00a0 We see in this account the first tearing down of barriers to the Kingdom, the first signs of what the coming reign of Jesus will be like.\u00a0 The Kingdom which leads St Paul to write in his letter to the Galatians that <\/span><strong>&#8216;There is no longer Jew <strong style=\"\">or<\/strong> Greek, there is no longer slave <strong style=\"\">or<\/strong> free, there is no longer <strong style=\"\">male<\/strong> and <strong style=\"\">femal<\/strong>e; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.&#8217; (Galatians 3:28 NRSV)<\/strong>.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><span>The story of these two pregnant women, with their mutual support of and confirmation of each other<\/span>, a story of two marginalised and scorned women and their faith, tells us much about this creator whom we worship.\u00a0 It tells us that God does not look on us with human eyes.\u00a0 When God looks to us Hesees who we are, in our deepest being.\u00a0 When He looked at Elizabeth He didn&#8217;t see the woman society sees, He didn&#8217;t see a woman who deserved to be ridiculed, or judged.\u00a0 He didn&#8217;t see a woman who needed pity &#8211; rather he saw a woman who would bear the prophet who would prepare a way for the Lord! He saw a woman who would be the FIRST to proclaim the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords! <\/p>\n<p><span><\/span> Likewise when God looked to Mary, and chose her to bear Jesus, He did so because He could see who she truly was.\u00a0 He knew that this poor, peasant girl in her heart was destined to be the mother of God incarnate.\u00a0 He knew that it was Mary who had the love, the purity of heart and the faith required to become the mother of God.\u00a0 He knew that she would suffer ridicule, and her condition would be considered shameful, and so of course did Mary when she said<strong> \u2018&#8230;Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word&#8230;\u2019<\/strong> (Luke 1:38), She knew that she would be an outcast, but she chose to accept God&#8217;s will for her life &#8211; and truly since then all generations have called her blessed!.\u00a0 God knew that Mary was right for the task that He had planned for her, just as he knows that you are right for the task he has planned for you. <\/p>\n<p><span>As we await the coming of the King, dealing with the stress, the sadness, <\/span>the loneliness that comes to many at this time of year, Let us take comfort knowing that God knows us &#8211; <em>really <\/em>knows us, and loves us &#8211; <em>really <\/em>loves us.\u00a0 God does not hold our failings and faults against us &#8211; indeed they are all forgiven through the redeeming work of Jesus, when we place our faith in Him.\u00a0\u00a0 God knows what you are destined for, he sees in you, your true potential and your true purpose.\u00a0 I invite you to turn to him, and to hand over your stress, your feelings of loneliness, or rejection to Him, and when you do, be prepared to say to Him &#8211; what ever path he lays out before you &#8211; &#8216;let it be done to me according to your word&#8217;. <span><\/span><!--[if gte mso 9]>     Normal   0               false   false   false      EN-AU   X-NONE   X-NONE                                                     MicrosoftInternetExplorer4                                                   <![endif]--><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Word This Week: Micah 5:2-5a\u00a0 Luke 1:46b-55 or Psalm 80:1-7\u00a0 Hebrews 10:5-10\u00a0 Luke 1:39-45, (46-55) Thoughts on the Word: Luke 1:39-55 (NRSV) 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\u2019s &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/2013\/10\/12\/sunday-23rd-december-2012-he-is-a-god-for-the-outcasts\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Sunday 23rd December 2012 &#8211; He is a God for the outcasts\u00a0&#8220;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thewordthisweek.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}