Fourth Sunday of Advent – December 19, 2021
Luke 1:39-55

It bears repeating the etymology of the word “joy.” In the Greek New Testament, joy is translated from cara (chara), which means a surprise. There is joy at the surprise of seeing a loved one from whom you have been separated due to COVID-19. Cara also serves as the root for the word cariς (charis), which is translated as “grace.” Grace, as you know, is a gift, or connecting it to its root, it is a surprising gift of joy, or even, a surprising gift that evokes joy.

There is plenty of joy and rejoicing in this Sunday’s lection. Elizabeth rejoices upon seeing Mary. Her son in utero, John the baptizer, “leaped for joy” upon hearing Mary’s voice. Mary sings the so-called Magnificat as “my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” With them, whenever we get to this part of the lectionary and whenever we hear choral and hymnal renditions of the canticle of Mary, we rejoice too. We rejoice because of the surprising gifts of life: John the baptizer, Jesus the Word made flesh, Elizabeth, Mary, and Zechariah. The holy scene that unfolds in this narrative are characters who have been blessed with the gift of life, with being in the presence of God, of being a part of the sacred gift of God’s deliverance “for the Mighty One has done great things for me,” and of bearing witness not only to personal gifts from God, but God’s gifts that abide and abound towards the lowly, the hungry, upon Israel.

But there’s another whose presence, power, and personhood is celebrated, and which believers in every generation rejoice: there, sandwiched in the text is this phrase, “And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” It wasn’t that Elizabeth (and everyone else for that matter) just went on their instincts or on pure emotion; the realization of this sacred moment, the specialness of being in the presence of the holy Christ Child and of his mother is no less than the One who is the source of joy, and who is joy itself, the Spirit of Christ. It’s no wonder that when the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians writes about spiritual gifts, or gifts of the Spirit, this is the Greek word carismata (charismata), which connecting it to cariς (charis, “grace”) and cara (chara, “joy”), means gifts of the Spirit of surprising joy. In short, we rejoice because the Spirit, who is God’s gift to us and who is always a surprise whenever and wherever the Holy Spirit appears and works, draws people to God and to one another, changing and transforming lives, helping us to be aware of God’s mighty deeds, and enabling us to praise God. And beyond our own praising the living God because of the Spirit who enables and empowers us to do so, Mary praises God because the Lord has “shown strength with his arm, he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly … he has filled … and sent … he has helped” (vv. 51-54). That is, where the Lord God is, the Spirit is. The Gospel has a word to describe when we are filled with the Spirit, welcoming the familiar promise of God’s surprising gift of joy: Blessed.