This is an unusual church year, in the fact that the fourth Sunday in Advent also happens to be Christmas Eve Day. This evening we will talk about our Savior's birth. However, this morning, it is still Advent. And so, we have before us an Advent text that takes us nine months before our Savior was born.

Let me begin by taking you to five quick snapshots. Snapshot number one is out in the plains of Nebraska. In a farm home sit two elderly farmers who have been friends all of their lives. They have been neighbors all of their lives. One of them has just lost his wife, his dear wife, of fifty-one years. The other one has come for an evening visit. The gentleman who has lost his wife, his dear wife of fifty-one years, needs to talk. And, they are both Christians.

Snapshot number two. Now we go into a bad part of the city. We are in an apartment building. We are in a bedroom. Sitting on the edge of the bed are two teenage girls. One of them is sobbing, because she has great regrets over what she has done in her life. The other one has her arm around her friend and she is holding her hand. The one who is sobbing needs to talk. And, they are both Christians.

Snapshot number three. Two middle-aged men are driving in a car. They are on a business trip. And, they begin to talk about their families. One of them begins to pour out his heart and talk about how his grown son has fallen away from the faith. He is going down the broad path to destruction and has forsaken his mother and father. This gentleman’s heart hurts and he needs to talk. Both of the men in the car are Christians.

Snapshot number four. Now it is a diner, in a little town. A grown woman has taken her elderly mother for coffee and toast. The elderly mother is failing. She is becoming frail. She is becoming forgetful. She looks at her daughter and tells her that she is scared of what the future will bring, and she needs to talk. And, both of them are Christians.

Snapshot number five. A young teenage woman, who is unmarried, is pregnant. She is going to give birth in nine months. She rushes through the hill country of Judea, to her cousin's home, named Elizabeth. She needs to talk. And, they are both Christians.

Mary rushes to the home of her cousin, Elizabeth. And in today's scripture reading, we find a beautiful picture from God of the importance, the critical importance, of cultivating Christian friendships. I firmly believe that the faith of more people in time of need has been strengthened, sitting in somebody's living room, sitting in a car, sitting around a table in a diner, or sitting on the edge of a bed, with Christian friends, talking to Christian friends, than you and I can possibly ever imagine.

And today, we learn from Elizabeth three beautiful lessons about when a Christian comes to you and visits you, when they are in need and they need to talk.

Mary needed to talk. Mary was not a stone. She was not a young woman who had no emotions. Mary certainly must have, in her heart, been concerned. She was pregnant. She was not married. What would her mom and dad think? And how would they react? What would Joseph think? And how would he react? How would the world treat her?

And so, we find her in her hour of need, coming to a Christian friend, Elizabeth, (who happened to be her cousin), in time of need.

Let's look at how Elizabeth reacted. Number one, Elizabeth was honored. She was honored to have Mary come to her in her time of need. What did Elizabeth say to Mary? Elizabeth said to Mary, "Why am I, why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?"

Elizabeth recognized that the woman who had come through her door, this young woman in a time of need, who needed to talk, was bearing in her body, Elizabeth's Savior. And, Elizabeth recognized, "Here, in this young woman, who stands before me, my Savior is in her body!" And, she was so honored to have Mary in her presence, because it was also a visit from her own dear Savior, who was in Mary's body.

When a Christian, a fellow Christian, comes to you in need, it is no less of an honor for you. What does the Bible tell us about believers? St. Paul says, "The life I live I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. Therefore, I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

In your fellow Christian, is Christ, no less than Mary carried Jesus in her body. And so, in your fellow Christian lives Christ.

Jesus lives

in your fellow Christian.

And, when your fellow Christian (like Mary) comes to you in an hour of need, we can say, "Why am I so highly favored, that someone who has Christ living in them, would come to me?"

What an honor it is! There is Christ, in our neighbor, in his or her time of need. Jesus tells us, "Whatever you do to the least of one of these, my Brothers, you do it for me."

And so, Elizabeth understood what a great honor it was to help Mary, in her time of need. And, you and I should understand that even if it is the most humble and lowly Christian, "Here stands someone before me, in whom my Savior, Himself, lives. Therefore I will treat them with nothing but respect. I will strive to do nothing that would cause any hurt or harm to them in their body or in their emotions."

Number two, we learn this from Elizabeth: Elizabeth approached this situation with nothing but utter humility. Elizabeth understood how totally undeserving she was of Mary coming to her. Elizabeth said to Mary, "Why am I, why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come me?"

Elizabeth understood she was all-undeserving. She understood, "I am a sinner. I am a nobody. Who am I that Mary, with Jesus in her body, would come to me for help?"

When we have a fellow Christian come to us, in time of need, we should not consider ourselves better than them. We should consider ourselves all-undeserving. We should consider ourselves the greater sinner.

I have a lot of friends, who happen to be pastors. And, I will tell you that there are a few of my pastor friends, if I were in a time of need, if I were in trouble, if I were worried about something, if I felt I was struggling with my faith in this area or that area, if I was struggling with some sin, there are a few of my pastor friends that I would not go to. I would not go to them, for fear of what they would think, because of the way they deport themselves. "Will they look down on me, because they think I am weak in my faith? Will they look down on me, because I confess some sin to them? Will they think they are better than me?"

But then, there are other pastor friends of mine that I would go to, in a heart beat. One of them is a man by the name of (Pastor N). I have heard him preach several sermons. Several times, in sermons, I have heard him say something, which is always so comforting to me. Again, his name is (Pastor N). He said,

"Chief of sinners though I be,

(Pastor N) is worse than me."

What he was saying in that sermon is he understands, and sees himself, as the worst of sinners. That means that he, in his own life, understands his desperate need for God's grace. He understands his desperate need for a savior. He sees that his weaknesses are just as great, if not greater than anybody else's. He sees how dearly he needs Jesus.

I would not be afraid to go to somebody like that. I would not be at all afraid to go to somebody like that in a time of need, because I know he could comfort me in my troubles, with the comfort he, himself, has received from God. He clings to it. He knows he needs it.

In scripture, Jesus says that people love much, because they have been forgiven much. He understands how much he has been forgiven, so he is going to have a heart of real love, for those who need to be forgiven.

We ought to see ourselves as the greatest sinner. And then, when others, who are in need, come to us, what will flow from our mouths and our hearts is nothing but words of grace, and words of love. And if they confess some sin to us, it should not drive a wedge between our relationship at all. We can speak words of forgiveness that we, ourselves, have received, and clung to, from Christ, our Savior. Instead of driving a wedge between our relationship, it will only cause our relationship to have greater love and greater unity, because we can pour out the love of Christ to each other and cling to our Savior, together.

The third thing we learned from Elizabeth is this: When a Christian comes to you in need, what they need most of all is to be pointed to Jesus Christ, and pointed to His Word. That is the only place, the only place through which the Holy Spirit will work to comfort them.

Do you think that Mary didn't need the Word of God? Mary was just like you and me. Oh, Mary had God's promise that the child to be born of her would be called the Son of God, that it would be God, Himself. But, Mary certainly, again, was not a stone. She must have been going through struggles and turmoil.

When she came to Elizabeth, what was the first thing that Elizabeth said to her? The Bible tells us that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Elizabeth said to Mary, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!"

And then she said, "Why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?"

Through those words, Elizabeth was reaffirming the Word of God, the promise that the angel had made to Mary. Elizabeth was speaking the Word and telling Mary that the child in her womb is God Himself. Through that Word, Mary certainly must have been strengthened. And, Mary was told by Elizabeth that she was blessed. But, it was not because of who she was. It was because of her Savior.

There was a boy named Carl, in seventh grade. He was the most popular boy in seventh grade. He was good looking. He was athletic. He was smart. He was witty.

In seventh grade, during gym class, they were learning how to square dance. Unfortunately, the teacher had mercilessly, arranged things where each time they had square dancing, he would line up the boys. They would face the girls, who were sitting in their desks. Then, he would tell the boys to pick a partner. Of course, the first boy to pick a partner would pick the prettiest, the wittiest, the smartest, the most athletic of the girls, and on down the line, until, every time, the last girl left was Mary. Mary was not very smart. She was not very good looking. She was not very witty. She had had polio, so one of her arms and one of her legs were a little shriveled and a little shorter than the other. Mary was always the last one picked.

Well, it came the day that Carl was told, (as the boys were all lined up to pick their partners), it was Carl's turn to go first. All of the girls were looking at him, batting their eyes, hoping that he would pick them. Mary, of course, was looking away, kind of at the wall, because she knew she would be the last one picked.

Carl looked out over all of those girls and said, "I choose Mary."

Mary turned her head in unbelief. Her eyes opened up, she blushed, and an uncontrollable smile came over her face. She and Carl walked to the dance floor, as she limped along.

Martin Luther had a comment about Jesus choosing Mary to be the mother of the Savior. He said that when a prince chooses a poor beggar maiden and takes her by the hand, it is not the poor beggar maiden's lowliness that is to be commended, but it is the prince's goodness and grace that is to be commended.

Elizabeth pointed Mary to the goodness and grace.

"Blessed are you among women,

and blessed is the child that you will bear!"

What a blessing it was, and God's goodness and grace, and only God's goodness and grace, that God chose Mary to be the mother of the Savior.

When we see a fellow Christian in need, we point them to Christ. We don't tell them, "You have the strength. You can make it through. You are tough. You have wonderful skills. You have wonderful abilities."

No! Point them to Christ. Point them to Christ, and say,

"Look at how your Savior loves you! No matter how lowly you are. No matter how despised you are. No matter what you have fallen into you, your Savior chose you, by goodness and grace. He has taken you by the hand in love. He has gone to the cross for you. He has died for you. He has paid for your sins. He forgives you. You are saved by His goodness and His grace, and by nothing else. Look at how your Savior loves you!"

Through that the Holy Spirit builds them up in their faith in Christ, and strengthens them.

Then, we point them, (as Elizabeth did) to God's promises. What did Elizabeth say to Mary? She said, "Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished."

She pointed Mary to God's promises. She said that you are blessed, when you trust God's promises. That is where blessing comes. And when we point our fellow Christians in time of need to God's promises in scripture, there is nothing but blessing for those who cling to God's promises.

And so, here today, we see a beautiful picture. It is called The Visitation. We see how Elizabeth was there to help a fellow Christian in need. And God grant to all of us that we be such Christian friends!

Amen.