God Visited His People.

My topic today will be visiting.  When I was a child we did not have telephones or email or texting.  So we had to do our visiting in person.  For example, on Sunday mornings we stood outside the church and visited for an hour - no matter how cold it was.  And after lunch we visited our uncles and aunts and cousins or they came to our house.  We did not have technology, so we did our visiting person to person, face to face.

And that brings me to my main point today: Visiting is a holy action.

Visiting is something that God does frequently.  There are many passages in the Bible where the sacred author says: “God has visited his people.”  Visiting is a sacred action.  Time after time God has visited his people.

In the Book of Genesis, Chapter 18, we read that the Lord appeared to Sarah and Abraham when they were sitting in the shade of an oak tree on a hot summer day.  The Lord appeared in the presence of three travelers.  Sarah and Abraham welcomed them and killed the fatted calf and served them a very good meal.  But their visit wasn’t over yet.

Scripture says that God spoke through the voices of the visitors when they said, “We will return at this time next year and Sarah will have a son.”  Sarah laughed because she was well beyond child-bearing years.  God said to her, “Why did you laugh?”  Sarah said, “Because I am too old to have a child.”  Then God said, “Nothing is impossible for me.”  When God visited them one year later they had a baby boy and they had named him Isaac, which means “She laughed.”

When we get to the New Testament, we see that God continued to visit his people.  When the Virgin Mary was praying one day God came to visit her.  Speaking through the voice of the angel God said, “Hail Mary, the Lord is with you.  Behold you shall conceive by the power of the Holy Spirit and you shall bear a son and you shall name him Jesus.”  Mary said, “How can this be since I have no relations with a man?”  The angel said, “For God nothing is impossible.  Your cousin Elizabeth has conceived a child in her old age and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.”  After the angel left Mary decided to visit Elizabeth in Judah.

The journey from Galilee to Judah was a long trip, on foot, under a hot sun, over dirt and sand and rocks.  But those rough conditions could not prevent Mary from visiting Elizabeth. 

They had a joyful visit because Mary had good news for Elizabeth and Elizabeth had good news for Mary.  Sharing the latest news is what every visit is all about.  Both had been visited by God and both had learned that nothing is impossible for God.

About 8 months later Mary made another trip to Judah – this time to the town of Bethlehem.  When the time came for her to deliver her child she gave birth to Jesus.  And with that an outburst of visiting took place.

The angels came to visit and the shepherds came to visit and the magi came to visit.  They all wanted to see the child who would become their Messiah and Lord.  The angels came to the stable with Good News, glad tidings of great joy.  The shepherds brought that good news to other shepherds.  The magi brought gifts for the new born king.  Gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  And Mary treasured all these visits in her heart.

When Jesus was 30 year old people began to see evidence of his Messiahship.  In Luke, chapter 7, we read that Jesus healed the centurion’s slave and brought a dead man back to life.  He was the only son of his mother and she was a widow.  The people responded by saying, “A great prophet has arisen in our very midst and God has visited his people.”  Thus we have come to that point in history where God is visiting his people in the person of Christ.

On Easter Sunday two disciples were visiting with Jesus on the road to Emmaus. At the end of the day they recognized him in the Breaking of the Bread.  And that brings me to my next point: Jesus is with us and visiting with us when we celebrate the Holy Eucharist like the disciples in the Emmaus story.

Our church says that Jesus is with us and visiting with us in 4 ways when we celebrate the Mass.  Jesus is in the people here because each person is a holy person.  Jesus is living in each person.  Jesus is in the Bible readings - giving us his messages for today.

Jesus is in the Bread after it has been by the priest during the Eucharistic Prayer.  Jesus is in the wine after it has been blessed by the priest during the Eucharistic Prayer. 

I will close by asking us to visit with Jesus. Frequently. You can visit with him by visiting friends, family members and people in need.  And during the Mass today you can enter into his sacred presence in his Holy Word, in his people and in his Eucharistic body and blood at communion time.  Jesus came down from heaven in the Incarnation and he begs us to visit with him.