Last week, I looked at the women in Matthew's story of Jesus' birth, and the way the women in the genealogy draw out themes of Jesus' ministry. This week, we look at the women in Luke's story.

"Behold I am the handmaiden of the Lord," Mary said when the angel told her she would bear God's son. Despite that acceptance, she leaves home for three months to visit her cousin. The angel had told her that this cousin, Elizabeth, was six months pregnant. This was a surprise as Elizabeth was childless and post-menopausal. "Nothing is impossible with God," the angel declared.

I can see why she didn't run home to tell her mother. Mom would be sure she had slept with her fiancé or worse, with some other man. There would be questions and recrimination. The story of the angel would seem made up. It would be worse with her fiancé Joseph. He would know it wasn't his child, would be certain some other man had defiled her.

So instead, she retreats to Elizabeth who is carrying a miraculous child herself. This child was also promised by the angel, though the message went first to her husband, Zechariah. He was a priest taking his turn serving in the Jerusalem temple. He was chosen by lot to offer incense in the holiest of places. There the angel came to him and declared his wife would bear a son. He asked how he could know this would be true. As a result of his doubt and his request for proof, he was punished. He became mute. He was told he would remain unable to speak until the child was named. The punishment was also the proof he asked for.

Thinking these stories through this year, I had to back up at this point. Mary also questioned the angel, but she was not punished. Her question was a bit different. Mary asked how it was possible, where Zechariah had asked how he could know it would happen. Mary was open to the vision, but unsure how it would unfold. Zechariah desperately wanted the promise to be true, so while he had an angel's attention, he asked for proof.

Given that Mary did not know of Elizabeth's pregnancy, her cousin may not have immediately announced the news. As a literate man, Zechariah would have been able to tell his wife what had happened, even if someone else had to read the note to her. Once pregnant, Elizabeth chose to sequester herself for five months. She may not have told people at first fearing she would not be believed. Then, she would want to rest and be careful to prevent miscarriage. By the time Mary comes, in her sixth month, Elizabeth is starting to feel as if this birth will come to pass.  

Mary has time to think as she goes to Elizabeth. The conversation with the angel works on her. The angel told her the child would be called great, would take the throne of David, would be called Son of God. She pondered these words. The child of an unwed mother from a village in rural Galilee would be called great? She likely understood that the child would not depose King Herod, that the angel was talking about the Messiah. That would open a whole realm of possibility. And a Son of God. That was what the prophets, Isaiah and Jeremiah, had been called. I can imagine her hands going to her belly, wondering how she could carry a child who would influence her nation as those great men had done before.

When she arrives at the home of Elizabeth, when she speaks the words of greeting, Elizabeth's child moves in her belly. Elizabeth understands that Mary also carries a special son. Elizabeth's affirmation releases something in Mary. She speaks words of praise to God and proclaims God's mercy. But she also realizes that something new is happening because she was chosen: "[God] has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. [God] has brought down the powerful from their thrones and lifted up the lowly. [God] has filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. (NRSV)"

With these two women, Luke foreshadows the themes of Jesus' ministry. God will bring new life where none was thought to be possible, and the social order will be turned upside down so that the oppressed and the poor are cared for.

Cathy Hird lives on the traditional territory of the Saugeen Ojibway Nation