Blessed, not Shamed

Paul Walton
23 December 2003

Today, a couple of days before Christmas, we hear the lovely reading of the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth. Mary has been visited by the archangel Gabriel, and she is to have a son—Jesus. Gabriel has told her that her relative, Elizabeth, will also have a child. That child would grow up to become John the Baptist.

I remember that when my wife was pregnant with our children, she liked to spent time with other pregnant women. It is a great opportunity for women to share their knowledge and mutually encourage one another. So Mary goes to the hill country, where Elizabeth lives, because she needs her company.

In this delightful story, John leaps in the womb when Mary draws near, and Elizabeth is inspired by the Spirit to pronounce to Mary, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb’—which has been kept alive in the Catholic Church in the words of the Hail Mary.

It’s obvious what Mary and Elizabeth have in common: they are both pregnant. And both of them under unusual circumstances. And for both of them, these circumstances involve shame. It’s important to realise that the culture of Israel 2000 years ago was one in which shame was a very powerful social reality. Similarly, in some cultures today, a young woman who has been raped is ‘damaged goods’—even though she is an innocent victim. When I was younger, ’living in sin’ or having a child outside of wedlock were also sources of deep and abiding shame.

Elizabeth’s shame comes because she is old. She is quite beyond the normal age for childbearing, and she has been called ‘barren’. In that time and that place, to be barren was a real source of shame.

On the other hand, Mary is young. And an unmarried virgin. As we would expect, having a child while unmarried was another very real source of shame.

It might seem that Elizabeth’s shame was ending, and Mary’s just beginning. Yet God removes the shame of each of these two women. He removes the shame of Elizabeth, the shame of barrenness, by giving her a son. And he removes the shame of Mary: ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus!’ And Mary responds, ‘Magnificat! My soul magnifies the Lord!’

Mary needed Elizabeth. She needed someone to talk to, to help her discern what God was doing. She needed to be lifted up. Because Elizabeth knew what it was to be lifted up by God, she was attuned to Mary and her needs.

People we can talk to about things are a real gift. Mary and Elizabeth both knew of the grace of God to them, but I am sure that it helped each one of them to be able to talk to the other, and have their experience confirmed and enlarged. To know that this is how God works—God lifts up those who are cast down.

God still lifts up those who are the objects of shame; indeed God lifts up all who are in trouble, who face an uncertain future, who experience pain and darkness.

Jesus Christ, God’s Son, was the product of an irregular birth. Whatever we believe about the Virgin Birth—whether we believe its truth is literal, or symbolic—Jesus’ birth would have set tongues wagging. It seems that he was thought of as a bastard by some. He was a person who knew shame.

So it is not surprising that Jesus acts to remove shame. In the days of his flesh, he lifted up the poor, the broken and the fearful, and brought light, hope and the forgiveness of sins. Christ’s Spirit today brings the knowledge that we are loved by God, God’s beloved sons and daughters.

‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb, Jesus’—and blessed are those today who bear the name of ‘Christian’, and who extend that freedom from shame to others! Amen.