Bitter Tears
Last week, I told you that while I was working on last week’s sermon, Elvis Presley’s song “All Shook Up” was going through my mind, because of how “shook up” Zechariah was after his encounter with the angel. In today’s scripture, the same angel appears to Mary, but this time it’s not “All Shook Up” that’s running through my mind; it’s the “Macarena.”
The reason I have “Macarena” stuck in my head will take some explaining.
The name Mary derives from the Hebrew Miriam, and it’s a name that means “bitter.” In fact, in the First Nations Bible, Mary’s name is Bitter Tears.
Does the meaning of her name have any significance in the Nativity story? I don’t know. We don’t often think of Mary as bitter, or at least we don’t like to think of her that way.
But maybe her name is meant to be reflective of the world in which she lived.
As I mentioned last week, it was a challenging time to be alive; a time of occupation and oppression and obscene economic injustice, which made life very hard for so many people.
Unless you were one of the very few born in the right place, with the right connections to people of power and wealth, there was just no way to get ahead. People were losing their land, losing their livelihoods, losing their homes, because Rome took so much from them, and gave them so little in return.
Sometimes, people protested or even tried to revolt. But such demonstrations were not tolerated by Rome. There are accounts of the main roads being lined with crosses as a warning to any who would dare try to stand up to Rome, and sometimes, entire cities were destroyed as retaliation for an uprising that took place there.
It was a difficult time to be alive. I’m sure that many people shed many bitter tears in those days.
To make matters worse, it seemed that God had abandoned the people. They still held out hope that God would intervene, send a savior, to rescue the people, but as the years passed, it became harder and harder to hold on to hope.
The Angel Appears to Mary
But then, as we heard last week, a messenger - an angel - appeared to Zechariah. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth had given up hope that they would ever have children, but lo and behold, after the angel’s visit, Elizabeth became pregnant!
It was now six months after that event. Elizabeth was well along. And Zechariah was still unable to speak.
Then it happened that the angel appeared to Mary. The angel said to Mary, “Rejoice, favored one! The Lord is with you!”
But Mary was confused by these words. How could someone whose name means “bitter tears,” who lived in such a troublesome time as she did, rejoice? And what is it that the angel called her? “Favored One?” She’s not the “favored one;” she’s the “bitter one,” the young woman of bitter tears, who lived in a time that was bitter and sad…
You may be wondering what all this has to do with the Macarena. Be patient, I’m getting there…
The angel said to Mary, “Rejoice, Favored One! Don’t be afraid. God is honoring you. Check it out! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and he will be called the Son of the Most High.”
Keep in mind that Mary was poor, lowly, oppressed. She lived in a small town called Nazareth, farther away from the centers of power and wealth than even the Judean hill country where her cousins Elizabeth and Zechariah lived. It was not a town where people expected anything good to come from.
And yet, this child that would be born to her would be called Son of the Most High - the Son of God.
Only the emperor dared use such a name for himself. It was the highest of all names given to any person on earth. To receive a name like that, you had to be born in a palace in Rome, not in a poor, lowly dwelling in Nazareth (not to mention a barn in Bethlehem).
So, forgive Mary for being confused by the angel’s words. And, there was another flaw in the angel’s plan. “How can this be?” Mary asked. “I’m just a girl; I’ve never had sex with a man.”
The angel said, “You know, your cousin John asked a similar question, and I silenced his tongue for it. You think you can’t have a child because you’re young and unmarried and have never had sex. Well, John and Elizabeth were much too old to have children, and look! Six months along, Elizabeth is doing great, and soon they’ll become parents. So don’t say it’s impossible; nothing is impossible with God.”
Mary Visits Elizabeth
When the angel left, Mary felt the need to go visit Elizabeth and Zechariah. It was a long journey, but she went as quickly as she could, and when she arrived at their home in the Judean highlands, Elizabeth greeted her - and the child in Elizabeth’s womb also greeted Mary by leaping in Elizabeth’s womb.
Filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth blurted out: “God has blessed you above all women!”
And now, Mary, aka “Bitter Tears,” aka “Favored One,” has received yet another name: “Blessed.”
“Blessed are you, Mary,” Elizabeth said; “And, blessed is the child in your womb.”
I don’t recall Mary actually telling Elizabeth that she was pregnant; maybe Mary wasn’t even sure, yet, herself, that she was actually pregnant. Yet, hearing Elizabeth speak those words, Mary knew in her heart that it was true.
She placed her hand over her belly. Her eyes teared up - not bitter tears, but tears of joy - as she realized that what the angel had said would happen has now started to happen. She really was pregnant!
She really was the “Favored One,” the “Blessed One.”
Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.
Blessed
That word, blessed, appears a lot in this story. Mary is blessed.
In Greek, the language of the New Testament, the word for blessed is makarios. And then, when makarios was translated from Greek into Latin, it became macarius. And Macarius became a name people gave to their children.
And Latin, as you know, developed into a bunch of other languages, including Spanish, where Macarius became… (can you guess?) Macarena.
Hence, the title of this sermon: Mary does the Macarena. Mary - bitter tears - becomes Blessed. In fact, Mary doesn’t just do the Macarena; Mary becomes Macarena.
This is an important part of the Christmas story; an important part of the gospel…
…When you feel you are worthless; when you cry bitter tears because of the dehumanizing ways of the world; when you know too well the pain of having scorn and contempt heaped upon you; when you cry out to God, hoping that God might take notice of you and your situation, and do something…
God gives you a new name.
No longer is your name Shame, or Embarrassment, or Abomination, or Worthless.
Now, your name is Glory. Now, your name is Beauty. Now, your name is Beloved. Now, your name is Blessed.
Isaiah 62:2: “You shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give.”
As a sign of God’s blessing and favor, Jacob was given a new name: Israel.
As a sign of the special role he would play among the disciples, Peter was given a new name; actually, Peter is his new name; it means “rock.” Before, he was known as Cephas.
God gave Mary a new name. No longer Bitter Tears; Now she would be known as the Favored one. The Blessed One. Makarios. Macarena.
Think of the names you’ve been called. The descriptions. The labels that have been attached to you; names and labels meant to bring you down, perhaps even dehumanize you, taking away your dignity.
Maybe someone made you feel worthless by the names they called you or the way they talked to you.
If you’ve ever experienced something like that - and many people have - hear the names God calls you.
God calls you good - very good. (Genesis 1)
God calls you precious and honored. (Isaiah 43)
God calls you beautiful. (Psalm 139)
God calls you one with Christ (Romans 6).
And since you are one with Christ, God also calls you Beloved.
You - whoever you are, whatever you’re going through, whatever brought you here today - are Beloved.
No matter what anyone else has said about you, you are beloved.
And you are blessed. Blessed by God to carry God’s own image within you, and to let it shine for all the world to see.
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