Supporting Cast: Part 1 - Sermon for the Fourth Sunday of Advent Narrative Lectionary 3

Supporting Cast: Part 1

Advent 4 – NL 3

December 22, 2024

Our Savior’s, Faribault, MN

Luke 1.26-56

“The Admirable Crichton” is a 1957 British film. It was released in the US as “Paradise Lagoon.” I don’t know why I saw it but there is a scene I’ll always remember near the end of the film. Crichton is a butler in the service of an earl’s family. Some of the family are marooned on a deserted island in the South Seas, including Crichton. In a reversal of roles Crichton becomes their leader and saves them from certain starvation. The royalty become dependent upon Crichton and he who gives the orders. Two years later, a ship is sighted and a landing party comes to rescue them. Crichton, understanding that the new order on the island would not work in Britain, goes off into the jungle and reappears in his butler’s outfit, much to the amusement of the rescuers.

Though I’ve not taken a film class, I’ve learned to look for a supporting cast member in a film, TV show, or book. This would be someone who exerts an outsized impact relative to their role in the work of art. In fact, the movement of the film often depends upon this somewhat minor character. Disney does this particularly well, although you can find these influential characters in any film. This might be like focusing on a lineman during a football game rather than the quarterback or whoever has the ball. Perhaps that’s why I was drawn to Elizabeth in today’s Scripture, one that focuses heavily on Mary.

Earlier in chapter 1, we learn that Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah are old and past the time of childbearing. As you know in biblical times, this was a shameful thing for a woman whose value consisted of being able to bear children, especially sons. Thankfully, that’s not true today. Her husband, Zechariah, is a temple priest who receives an angelic message. He and Elizabeth will indeed conceive a child that will become the forerunner of the long-awaited Messiah. Because Zechariah questions how this can happen, the angel strikes him mute. So much for being able to mansplain. As an aside, becoming mute is not something that happens when Mary questions the angel.

But Elizabeth is far more than a vessel containing the baby who becomes John the Baptist. Under the influence of the Holy Spirit who causes the baby to leap in her womb, Elizabeth becomes a prophetess, declaring the blessedness of God’s favor on Mary. She then confirms for Mary that the child she carries would fulfill God’s promises. In other words, Elizabeth helps Mary understand and see what God is doing in, with, and through her.

We need people like Elizabeth in our lives and maybe we need to be those people, too. There are times in our lives when things don’t go as planned. It is in those dark times when God is most often present and real, but we need the Elizabeths to help us see them. One blessing of the Advent season is that it invites us to be open and accept what God has in store for us, often what we aren’t expecting. The Elizabeths in our community help us to see God where we aren’t able to do so ourselves.

Yet, there’s another supporting character who is vital to this work: the Holy Spirit. It may be argued that the Holy Spirit is the main actor in Luke and especially Luke’s second volume, The Acts of the Apostles. The Holy Spirit is mentioned 20 times in Luke and more than twice that number in Acts. In fact, one person has noted that The Acts of the Apostles could more accurately be titled “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.” Truth be told, even Mary, who seems to be a central character, in the end gives voice to what the Gospel is about, the birth and ultimately death and resurrection of God’s Son. Mary also gives voice to the great reversal that the butler Crichton couldn’t see happening in his situation. Even so, Crichton will eventually seek that reversal elsewhere than the earl’s home. (You’ll have to watch the film to find out.) 

Elizabeth and Mary will share one more thing in common: the brutal deaths of their sons. It is unlikely Elizabeth will have to endure the agony of watching her son, John the Baptist being beheaded given her advanced age. Mary, of course, will endure seeing her son crucified. But she will also see the Greatest Reversal yet, the resurrection of her Son. It’s this message that shows us a God that we can believe in, who brings life from death. This Advent and Christmas, may you have an Elizabeth in your life who helps you see God present in the world and may you be an Elizabeth to someone else. Amen.

My sermons don't always preach as they are written. For video of the sermon with the entire service, click here.