At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” (Luke 1:39-45)

Upon receiving the news that she would give birth to the Son of God, Mary packed her bags and hurried to Elizabeth’s house. Ever catch that? She hurried! And very, very strangely, there is no indication that anyone went with her on this journey. What on earth is an unmarried girl doing running through the hills of Judea all alone in the ancient times of the Bible? That’s a three-day journey on foot through hills filled with robbers like the ones from Jesus’ later parable of the Good Samaritan. No wonder she hurried.

But even if she traveled in a more culturally appropriate way—like, not alone—there is probably more to her sense of hurry than just the danger in the hills.

She had just heard that she was favoured by God, that God was with her, and that God had chosen her to bring life into the world that would bring all God’s promises of life to the whole world. Somehow or other, she managed to say yes to all that. But as Pastor Michael noted yesterday, it was not so much a yes of “I understand and I’m ready” as a yes of “I will trust and follow even though I don’t have it all figured out.” Then the angel left her and just like that, it was all over. What a surprising and confusing revelation!

Heart pounding and face flush with excitement, confusion, or maybe just adrenaline, Mary packs her bags and hurries out to the only words that did make sense to her in the whole thing: her relative Elizabeth. Old, wise, faithful Elizabeth. If there was any peace be found to calm her pounding heart and nerves and make it all real, surely it would be found in the home of Elizabeth.

Ever wonder why God chooses two people that happen to be related to one another? Why didn’t God choose women who were perfect strangers to each other to be the mothers of John and Jesus? No answer is given, but I think he did it to honour their humanity.

God not only chose to need Mary’s willing participation, care, and nurture to birth and nurse his cosmic salvation plan to life, but He also chose to create a context within which Mary herself could be cared for and nurtured within a human community of those who could sympathize and understand these strange, supernatural happenings together with her.

I mean, come on: Zechariah had been struck speechless and post-menopausal Elizabeth was in her third trimester. Nothing made sense in their house either. What better people to put on a pot of tea and welcome this confused, pregnant-out-of-wedlock teenager than them?

And indeed, upon Mary’s arrival and through a Spirit-powered baby kick, Elizabeth bursts into that same kind of wonderfully odd and exuberant act-of-God-talk that reassured Mary that she wasn’t crazy. This was a work of God after all. She had heard it right. She could exhale now and drink it all in. This was a time for joy and singing…

God was knitting together home and hospitality, a loving context of grace within which His grace could be birthed into the world. This Advent, remember that the nurturing gift of human community and hospitality—as simple as an understanding conversation over coffee or tea—is precisely the context within which God births His promised gift of life into this world.