The Gospel of Luke

by Pablo T. Gadenz

  Mary’s Visitation to Elizabeth and Her Magnificat (1:39–56)

  39During those days Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, 40where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the holy Spirit, 42cried out in a loud voice and said, “Most blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.”

  46And Mary said:

  “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord;

  47my spirit rejoices in God my savior.

  48For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness;

  behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.

  49The Mighty One has done great things for me,

  and holy is his name.

  50His mercy is from age to age

  to those who fear him.

  51He has shown might with his arm,

  dispersed the arrogant of mind and heart.

  52He has thrown down the rulers from their thrones

  but lifted up the lowly.

  53The hungry he has filled with good things;

  the rich he has sent away empty.

  54He has helped Israel his servant,

  remembering his mercy,

  55according to his promise to our fathers,

  to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”

  56Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.

  OT: Gen 17:7; 22:17–18; 25:22–23; Judg 5:24; 1 Sam 2:1–10; 2 Sam 6:1–15; 1 Chron 13:5–14; 15:25–28; Jdt 13:18

  NT: Luke 6:21; 11:27–28

  Catechism: visitation, 717; Mary, Mother of God, 495; Mary’s faith, 148, 273; John the Baptist, 523; promise to Abraham, 422, 706; Marian devotion, 971; Magnificat and Hail Mary, 2097, 2619, 2622, 2675–77

  Lectionary: Assumption; Visitation; Luke 1:39–45: Fourth Sunday Advent (Year C); December 21; Luke 1:39–47: Our Lady of Guadalupe; Luke 1:46–50, 53–54: Third Sunday Advent (Year B: Responsorial Psalm); Luke 1:46–56: December 22

  LIVING TRADITION

  Mary’s Yes and the Incarnation

  St. Bernard captures the drama of this crucial moment in salvation history by portraying the longing of the human race for Mary’s response:

  Rejoice, O Daughter of Zion. . . . And since you have heard joyous and glad tidings, let us hear that joyous reply we long for. . . . The angel is waiting for your reply. . . . We, too, are waiting for this merciful word, my lady. . . . The price of our salvation is being offered to you. If you consent, we shall immediately be set free. . . . Doleful Adam and his unhappy offspring, exiled from Paradise, implore you, kind Virgin, to give this answer; David asks it, Abraham asks it; all the other holy patriarchs, your very own fathers beg it of you, as do those now dwelling in the region of the shadow of death. . . . Give your answer quickly, my Virgin. . . . The very King and Lord of all, he who has so desired your beauty, is waiting anxiously for your answer and assent, by which he proposes to save the world. . . . So, answer the angel quickly or rather, through the angel, answer God. Only say the word and receive the Word: give yours and conceive God’s. Breathe one fleeting word and embrace the everlasting Word. Why do you delay? Why be afraid? Believe, give praise and receive. Let humility take courage and shyness confidence. . . . Blessed Virgin, open your heart to faith, your lips to consent and your womb to your Creator. Behold, the long-desired of all nations is standing at the door and knocking. . . . Get up, run, open! Get up by faith, run by prayer, open by consent! “Behold,” she says, “I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”a

  a. Bernard of Clairvaux, Homilies in Praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary 4.8–9, trans. Marie-Bernard Saïd (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1993), 53–54.

  [1:39–40]

  The village of Ain Karim in the hill country near Jerusalem is the traditional site of the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth. It is located about five miles from the temple, a convenient distance for Zechariah’s trips for priestly duty. For Mary, however, the journey from Nazareth would be about ninety miles, depending on the route, taking several days. There is no mention of Joseph accompanying her, unlike the later journey together to Bethlehem (2:4–5). She goes in haste, indicating her earnestness in fulfilling God’s plan.

  [1:41–42]

  Mary’s greeting provokes a reaction as Gabriel’s greeting did before (1:29). The infant John leaped in his mother’s womb, and Elizabeth herself was filled with the holy Spirit. The angel’s words to Zechariah are being fulfilled, as the child is “filled with the holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb” (1:15). The verb “leap” is used in the †Septuagint to describe how Esau and Jacob leaped or “jostled each other” in the womb of Rebekah, another once-barren woman (Gen 25:22). She was told that “the older will serve the younger” (Gen 25:23), which is the case here as well, as the older John already signals his role as precursor of the younger Jesus.

  In the Spirit, Elizabeth says to Mary: Most blessed are you among women. The translation “most blessed” captures the superlative sense of the expression, which recalls Jewish heroines such as Jael and Judith: “Most blessed of women is Jael” (Judg 5:24), and “Blessed are you, daughter, by the Most High God, above all the women on earth” (Jdt 13:18). Like her forerunners, Mary has a mission to accomplish by which God will help Israel (see Luke 1:54). That mission involves bearing the fruit of her womb, Jesus. With these words, Elizabeth recognizes that Mary is with child, and like Mary, that child is blessed. The verb eulogeō, meaning “to invoke a blessing” on someone, appears here twice in passive form. What Elizabeth is saying is that Mary and Jesus have been blessed by God.

  [1:43–44]

  Elizabeth then asks a question: How does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? In the Old Testament, the title “my lord” is frequently used for the Davidic king (e.g., 1 Kings 1:31; 2:38; Ps 110:1). In the Spirit, Elizabeth may thus recognize that Mary bears her king, the Messiah. Moreover, in the Old Testament, the Hebrew name of God, †YHWH, was translated in the †Septuagint as “Lord” (kyrios). So far in Luke, that word has thus been used to refer to the Lord God,20 but now it is used for the first of many times for Jesus. Moreover, Luke has also just told his readers about Jesus’ divinity as “Son of God” (Luke 1:35). Jesus can thus share with God the title “Lord” in its full sense (see the sidebar, “Jesus the Lord,” p. 115). This affirmation about Jesus will also eventually lead to a deeper reflection on Mary’s motherhood, culminating in a dogmatic definition at the Council of Ephesus. Since “the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father’s eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity . . . the Church confesses that Mary is truly ‘Mother of God’ (Theotokos)” (Catechism 495 [citing the Council of Ephesus, AD 431: Denzinger 251]).

  Elizabeth’s question also echoes the expression of awe of David when he was about to bring up the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem: “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” (2 Sam 6:9). This suggests that Mary is being presented as the new ark of the covenant, an image or theme similar to her being presented as the new tent of meeting overshadowed by God’s presence (Luke 1:35). Such a connection would also be a recurrence of references to this part of 2 Samuel (Luke 1:32; 2 Sam 7:12–16). There are also several other repeated words and phrases that serve to turn up the volume of this echo.21 For example, verse 39 says that Mary “arose and went” (RSV) to the region of “Judah” (only here does Luke use the tribal name of the region, instead of “Judea” as in 1:65). Similarly, David “arose and went” to a village of “Judah” to retrieve the ark (2 Sam 6:2 LXX, the only other verse in
Scripture that uses the same three Greek words in this way). Mary entered Zechariah’s “house,” as the ark entered the “house” of a certain Obed-edom (Luke 1:40; 2 Sam 6:10). The infant John leaped (skirtaō, Luke 1:41, 44) for joy when Mary arrived; so too David “danced” (skirtaō in one Greek version of 2 Sam 6:16) before the ark “with joy” (2 Sam 6:12). Elizabeth herself in verse 42 “cried out in a loud voice” (literally, “with a great shout”), like the people with their “shouts” before the ark (2 Sam 6:15 LXX). The Greek verb translated “cried out” (anaphōneō), found only here in the whole New Testament, is used in the parallel account of David’s transport of the ark in 1 Chronicles (1 Chron 15:28 LXX); it only occurs five times in the Septuagint, always to describe liturgical singing and music before the ark (1 Chron 16:4–5, 42; 2 Chron 5:13). Finally, Mary stays with Elizabeth “about three months” (Luke 1:56), the same length of time that the ark remained in the house of Obed-edom before David brought it up to Jerusalem (2 Sam 6:11). In summary, “Luke, with various allusions, makes us understand that Mary is the true Ark of the Covenant, that the mystery of the temple—God’s dwelling place here on earth—is fulfilled in Mary.”22

  [1:45]

  Elizabeth concludes her Spirit-filled words by pronouncing the first beatitude in the Gospel: Blessed are you who believed. Unlike the word “blessed” found twice in verse 42 (a verb, eulogeō), here the word “blessed” translates the adjective makarios, referring to one who is “fortunate” or “happy” on account of receiving God’s favor (see Luke 6:20–22). In contrast with Zechariah, who “did not believe” (1:20), Mary “believed” that God’s word spoken to her would be fulfilled. In this way, she received the privilege of being the mother of the Son of God. She also became a model for all those who “hear” God’s word and accept it (8:21; 11:28). Throughout the Gospel, not only God’s words spoken through an angel but also those written in Scripture will be fulfilled (4:21; 18:31; 22:37; 24:44).

  [1:46–47]

  My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord. In this first of the Lukan canticles—the Magnificat (the first word of the Latin translation)—Mary magnifies God for the blessings she has received, in words that echo the psalmist: “My soul will glory in the LORD. . . . / Magnify the LORD with me” (Ps 34:3–4). Earlier, Elizabeth commented briefly on what the Lord had done for her (Luke 1:25), but here Mary sings praise in an extended way. The Magnificat and the other canticles have been compared to opera arias, where the action of the story comes to a halt for the purpose of entering more deeply into the significance of the events already recounted. As prophetic songs (see 1:67), they comment on the events of these first two chapters but also look forward to the whole of Luke’s Gospel and Acts. In particular, Mary’s song announces the great reversal that is unfolding as God raises up the lowly (v. 52).23 This reversal will be seen later in the Beatitudes and woes (6:20–26) and in Jesus’ teaching that “everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted” (14:11; also 18:14).

  LIVING TRADITION

  The Assumption into Heaven of Mary, the Ark of the Covenant

  St. John Damascene describes Mary as the new ark of the covenant when explaining her assumption into heaven, body and soul: “The company of Apostles lift you up on their shoulders, the true ark of the Lord God, as once the priests lifted up the †typological ark that pointed the way to you. . . . Your immaculate, completely spotless body was not left on earth, but you have been transported to the royal dwelling-place of heaven.”a

  In the readings for the feast of the Assumption (August 15), the Church similarly presents Mary as the ark of the covenant. At the Vigil Mass, the first reading recounts David’s transfer of the ark to Jerusalem (1 Chron 15:3–4, 15; 16:1–2), suggesting a parallel to Mary’s assumption, body and soul, to the heavenly Jerusalem. This idea receives emphasis in the psalm response: “Lord, go up to the place of your rest, you and the ark of your holiness” (Ps 132:8 Lectionary). At the Mass of the Day, the first reading juxtaposes the ark of the covenant in heaven with the woman clothed with the sun (Rev 11:19; 12:1–6, 10). The Gospel reading is the visitation (Luke 1:39–56), which itself echoes the Old Testament passages about the transfer of the ark.

  a. John Damascene, Homilies on the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God 1.12, in On the Dormition of Mary: Early Patristic Homilies, trans. Brian E. Daley (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1998), 197–98.

  The Magnificat can be divided into two strophes, the first focusing on Mary’s own reasons for praising God (Luke 1:46–50) and the second broadening to consider what God has done for Israel (vv. 51–55). The similar vocabulary suggests such a division: Mary is God’s “handmaid” (v. 48), and Israel is “his servant” (v. 54); God looks upon the “lowliness” of Mary (v. 48) and lifts up “the lowly” in general (v. 52); God’s “mercy” extends “from age to age” to those (such as Mary) “who fear him” (v. 50), as also “his mercy” toward Israel is remembered “forever” (vv. 54–55). Mary thus stands as representative of her people Israel in singing praise to God.

  Stylistically, the canticle has features often found in the psalms and other Hebrew poetry. The first two verses use synonymous parallelism—“my soul” and my spirit, “the Lord” and God—to twice express the same idea with similar words, as in the psalm: “Bless the LORD, my soul; / all my being, bless his holy name!” (Ps 103:1). Antithetical parallelism is later used to describe the reversal being worked by God, which contrasts “the rulers” with “the lowly” (Luke 1:52) and “the hungry” with “the rich” (vv. 52–53).

  Mary’s canticle echoes many Old Testament verses, especially from Hannah’s canticle after the birth of Samuel (1 Sam 2:1–10), which begins, “My heart exults in the LORD, / my horn is exalted by my God” (1 Sam 2:1). Hannah continues, “I rejoice in your salvation” (1 Sam 2:1 ESV), as similarly Mary rejoices in her savior God. Indeed, as the angel will later say, Mary’s son Jesus is this “savior,” whose birth is a motive for “great joy” (Luke 2:10–11).

  [1:48–49]

  The Lord has looked upon Mary’s lowliness (tapeinōsis) or “humble state” (NIV). Mary again refers to herself as a handmaid, a servant or slave (doulē, 1:38, 48), ready to do God’s will. Hannah, before the birth of her child, had prayed in similar words: “Look on the humiliation [tapeinōsis] of your slave [doulē]” (1 Sam 1:11 NETS).

  Mary also prophesies that all ages (literally, “all generations”) will pronounce a beatitude on her by calling her blessed, recognizing God’s favor to her, as indeed Elizabeth has just done (Luke 1:45). Thus, the person who says “Blessed Mary” or “Blessed Virgin Mary” (see 1:27) is fulfilling the inspired word of Scripture!

  Mary uses titles for God that are familiar from the Old Testament: “savior” (v. 47) and Mighty One: “The LORD, your God, is in your midst, / a mighty savior” (Zeph 3:17). The reason for Mary’s praise is the great things God has done for her personally, as the Lord did for Israel of old: “He is your God, who has done for you those great and awesome things” (Deut 10:21). She acknowledges that God’s name is holy, for Scripture says that God acts for the sake of his “holy name” (Ezek 36:22).

  [1:50]

  Mary now speaks of God’s mercy (also v. 54). Soon, Elizabeth and Zechariah will also experience God’s mercy (1:58, 72, 78). Jesus will later speak about the importance of imitating God’s mercy and compassion (6:36; 10:37). In the †Septuagint, the Greek word “mercy” (eleos) often translates the Hebrew hesed, referring to God’s “steadfast love” that is “from everlasting to everlasting upon those who fear him” (Ps 103:17 RSV). The phrase those who fear him means especially the people of Israel in covenant with God (see Ps 111:5), but it will expand to include God-fearing people of every nation (see Acts 10:35).

  [1:51–53]

  Beginning the second part of the Magnificat, Mary recalls how God has shown might with his arm. In the exodus, God had displayed “the might” of his “arm” (Exod 15:16). Now, in fulfillment o
f the prophets, a new act of deliverance is taking place, one in which God will come “with power” to rule “by his strong arm” (Isa 40:10).

  God’s looking on Mary’s “lowliness” (Luke 1:48) is representative of how he has lifted up the lowly, Israel’s †anawim. There is a great reversal at work, in which the rulers are not receiving favor but are thrown down. In a world dominated by Herods and Caesars (1:5; 2:1; 3:1), it is instead the child carried by the lowly handmaid from Nazareth whose kingdom will never end (1:33). Similarly, the Lord’s blessings are upon those who fear him, not upon the arrogant; they are upon the hungry, not upon the rich (see Hannah’s song, 1 Sam 2:3–8). This is because “the Lord resists the arrogant, / but he gives grace to the humble” (Prov 3:34 NETS; see James 4:6; 1 Pet 5:5), and because the rich are often “not rich in what matters to God” (Luke 12:21).

  [1:54–55]

  As Mary is the Lord’s handmaid, so Israel is his servant whom he has helped (see Isa 41:8–10). The phrase remembering his mercy echoes the psalm: “He has remembered his mercy and faithfulness / toward the house of Israel” (Ps 98:3). Mary’s life is thus situated within the larger context of the history of salvation of her people Israel, going all the way back to the patriarchs, or fathers, especially Abraham. God established a covenant with Abraham, swearing to him that in his “descendants all the nations of the earth will find blessing” (Gen 22:18; see also Gen 12:3; 26:3–4; 28:13–14). In Mary’s offspring Jesus, who descends from Abraham (Luke 3:34), the oath to Abraham is now being fulfilled (1:73), and the blessing will be extended to all those who are reckoned Abraham’s descendants (3:8; 13:16, 28–29; 19:9; Acts 3:25; 13:26).

  [1:56]