Picture: The Visitation (Fresco), Lower Church, San Francesco, Assisi

Audio: iTunes | Spotify | Download

“What is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

᛭ INI ᛭

When Mary visited Elizabeth, it wasn’t just Mary that took that trip. That’s not why we celebrate the Visitation. Elizabeth words tell us why: “And why is this this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Don’t you see? Elizabeth calls Mary, “The mother of my Lord.” That means she’s already pregnant—pregnant with Jesus! That means it’s not just Mary who showed up for a visit, but the Lord Himself!

When the Lord pops in, what would you expect to happen? What if the Lord popped in to your house? What if He visited you this afternoon? Or sometime during the week? What would He find? What would He find you doing or saying? What sort of condition would He find your house in, or your life, your behavior? What if He visited you while you were working or doing your chores? What then?

These are the terms and conditions we often have in mind when it comes to the Lord showing up, whether that’s for a visit or for His final return on the Last Day. But is that really what we should expect? Do we even expect the Lord to show up? Or is He just off on His throne? 

Yet, today’s color is white! The color of purity and holiness. How could such a thing be true when the Lord shows up in the daily lives of His people? Can purity and holiness be found in such a place as your home, your family, your life?

(2. The Lord is the Lord who visits His people.)

The Lord He doesn’t stay far off. He visits His people. “I am your God, and you are My people,” He says. He dwelt among His people Israel: the tabernacle was in the center of the camp. He dwelt there as He promised. He is “enthroned upon the cherubim,” as the Psalmist says. That means not just off in heaven but also over the ark of the covenant which was covered by cherubim. He didn’t stay put. “The LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp.” (Dt 32)

He’s the Lord who promised to dwell with His people by taking on human flesh, and so the Holy Spirit, “the Lord and giver of life,” ruled and gave life to the egg of Mary, so that she would conceive apart from a man. The child carried in her womb to Elizabeth’s as, as the Angel Gabriel said, “The child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.” “The Word became flesh and pitched His tabernacle among us.” (Jn 1) As even Isaiah prophesied, “His name shall be called Immanuel,” which means, “God with us,” “God among us.”

The Lord always shows up. “The Lord visited Sarah as He had said,” and she conceived Isaac. He visited His people in Egypt (Ex 4:31) to bring them out “with a mighty hand and outstretched arm.” He visited His people with grain so that Ruth would get married to Boaz, the grandfather of David. He visited Hannah, so that she bore Samuel. He visited His people in Babylon to bring them back to Israel. He visited Mary and Elizabeth, too. And He visits you.

(Transition.)

When the Lord visits, things don’t work as we think they should. (Like your parents coming to see if your messy room is clean yet.) Not so with the Lord. Rather, He comes as He says He would and not as you deserve. When the Lord pops in for a visit, it’s as Mary sings: “He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers.”

(1. When the Lord visits, mercy happens!)

That’s how it was in all the examples I listed before: Sarah, the Israelites in Egypt, Ruth, Hannah, even Mary and Elizabeth. The Lord visits with mercy, with salvation, with forgiveness. That’s why He walked among His people! “The LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you.” (Dt 32)

So, when He comes, mercy happens! But what is mercy? It’s not just being kind or giving out what is UNdeserved. “I am not worthy of the least of all the deeds of steadfast love and all the faithfulness that you have shown to your servant.” (Gen 32) Mercy, as defined by the Spirit through Mary, is … reversal!—the hungry stay full, the full leave empty; the poor are rich, rich are poor; the lowly exalted, the mighty laid waste; the sinner innocent, the righteous guilty; the dead made alive, the living made dead.

This isn’t about worldly things, like the Lord will turn your life situation around. Mary, the poor woman from backwater Judea, was still poor and lowly after Christ’s birth. She was, however, righteous by faith in God’s promises. “Blessed is she who believed that their would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the LORD.”

David and his army are another example. Yes, the Lord brought great reversal to David—youngest son shepherd to anointed King of Israel, who also was a fugitive from King Saul. David had his fugitive army, too. Who was in David’s army? “Everyone who was in distress, … in debt, and … bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them.” (1 Sam 22) What were they even in the service of David? They still were still poor: poor in spirit, and poor, poor—“in debt.” Their fortunes did not change until David truly entered into his kingdom.

So also the thief on the cross. His worldly fortunes did not change. He still died. But his enteral fortunes changed. He didn’t deserve it, yet the Lord said, “Today, you will be with Me in Paradise.” A dying convict was now, by Jesus’ own Word, an eternally innocent child of His Father who would live forever in His Kingdom.

So also you and me. I get it. It’s easy to want reversal right now when it comes to the things of this life. I know that any sort of talk about the LORD Jesus showing up conjures up ideas either of some sort of payout right now or abject fear. You don’t really want the LORD to know what you’re up to in your day to day life, but He already knows what hiding under your bed or in your closet before He gets there.

Nevertheless, the Lord works reversal for you. The Prince of Life is subject to death in your place. “The LORD who is your Righteousness” becomes the Rebel who is your sin. You, “child of wrath” (Eph 2), are made into “son of the Father” in baptism (Gal 3). You are forgiven daily and much. Simple bread and cheap wine are blessed to be also Jesus’ holy body and priceless blood for you for the forgiveness of all your sins. You are the dying and dead who will rise and live forever.

(Conclusion.)

The Lord pops in for a visit. He always visits His people, and does so for the sake of His mercy. In fact, that’s what He shows up to give!

THE LORD VISITS HIS PEOPLE WITH HIS MERCY.

That’s what the Visitation’s all about because that’s what the Lord Himself is all about: visiting His people with His mercy. He reverses their status and situation. The weak are made strong, the strong weak. The dead are made alive, the living-dead are wiped out. The sinner is made righteous, the righteous are made sinner. The guilty declared innocent, the innocent condemned forever.

So it is when the Lord visits you. He visits you here in this place. He pops in here to visit His people with His mercy, His forgiveness. And in your daily life, He does the same. He sends His Spirit who “richly and daily forgives all your sins and the sins of all believers.” (SC 3rd Art)

Can purity and holiness be found in such a place as your home, your family, your life? Yes, because

THE LORD VISITS HIS PEOPLE WITH HIS MERCY.

He forgives all your sins. Daily and much. Not only does He do so here, but from here it overflows—“my cup runneth over”—into your daily lives, as He uses each of you to visit each other with His mercy. “I forgive you” is our refrain as you live as “father, mother, son, daughter, husband, wife, or worker.” For in those words (“I forgive you”), words enlivened by the Words of Institution and actually taking communion, it’s not you being merciful but again it’s THE LORD VISITING HIS PEOPLE WITH HIS MERCY, which is what He always does.

᛭ INI ᛭