The Noontimes

Monday, Christmas Eve, December 24, 2012

Psalm 87 – Birthplace

Within you is my true birthplace.

In yesterday’s Gospel reading of Mary’s visitation (Luke 1:39-45) with her cousin Elizabeth we heard again the familiar story of how the child John leapt for joy in his mother’s womb, knowing that the Redeemer was near.  The pre-Messiah era was drawing to a close and these two women alone knew what the rest of the world would in time discover. The old way was about to be swept into a raw newness.  The present laws of the One God with whom these people lived in covenant were about to be superseded by the Law of Love.  These two women greeted one another; one was quite young and at the beginning of her life, the other was beyond child-bearing years and yet heavily pregnant.  These two women shared the Good News that would be shunned by some and believed by many.  Elizabeth would bring to life the child John who would announce the great coming.  Mary had become the New Ark of the New Covenant. 

Within you is my true birthplace.

The Jewish people into whose traditions and customs the young Jesus was born believed that God dwelt in the great Temple in the holy city of Jerusalem.  Today’s Noontime reflection reminds us of how much God loves his holy city the gates of Zion, more than any dwelling in Jacob (Israel).  And from this city the people of God were divided and sent into exile.  As this Diaspora lived for centuries in scattered places they mourned the loss of their center, their core.  When the city and Temple were later restored they made long pilgrimages to this holiest of places. The entire focus of this people rested in this one sacred site.  This people saw their origin and their destiny as rising from this one hallowed place: the Jerusalem Temple. 

Within you is my true birthplace.

When the angel Gabriel announces to Mary the coming of the Spirit upon her he also announces the changing of all the world knew and understood about God, and yet this change had been predicted by Judaism’s own prophets.  When Mary agrees to become the Ark of the New Covenant she knows that the world will never be the same.  We might wonder how much she understood the scope of this change.  From her humble smallness, did she fully comprehend the effect her son would have on the history of the world?  Might she have completely grasped the depth and breadth of his coming?  Did she know that her simple acquiescence was a remarkable response to a complex question?  Did she entirely recognize that in her singular act she had become the one true birthplace of not only the Messiah but the New Covenant as well?

Within you is my true birthplace.

Except for those who do not believe, the world holds its collective breath as it awaits the arrival of the Christ child.  Within you is my true birthplace.

Except for those who refuse to follow, the world waits to burst into celebration the arrival of Healing and Redemption.  Within you is my true birthplace.

Except for those who reject this new birthplace within, the world makes ready each heart for the in-dwelling of the Spirit.  Within you is my true birthplace.

As this Nativity so ardently predicted and so eagerly awaited draws near, let us remember Mary’s fiat – her simple answer of Let your will be done to me – and let us celebrate this new birthplace of Salvation.  Let us be glad and sing out in one accord with shepherds and kings and angels that we see and welcome this new, this true, this one . . . birthplace of Peace.

To learn more about The Visitation  by Pontormo, click on the images or go to: http://mydailyartdisplay.wordpress.com/2011/01/14/the-visitation-by-jacopo-pontormo/