At Christmastime, it’s easy to move quickly. At my house right now, the kids are home, we have bread baking in the oven, and cookie dough ready to roll out as soon as we get home from our Christmas Eve service. It’s easy for me amid all of the preparation, commotion, and familiarity of our Christmas traditions to forget to pause in the old Advent texts and listen.

Have you ever looked deeper into the Biblical text to see what is hidden between the lines?

St. Ignatius of Loyola instructs retreatants doing his spiritual exercises to ponder the hidden life of Christ. To do that, you have to use your imagination. You have to look “between” the words to see what is going on in the background of the passage. 

Who was waiting for the coming of Christ? 

For three months, Mary and Elizabeth wait together as babies grow inside of them. Hidden in the hills of Galilee two mothers-to-be prepare for the births of two sons. What was that like?

Were they both exhausted—Elizabeth from late-stage pregnancy and Mary from the fatigue of the first trimester? What did they cry over? What made them laugh? How did they go about the daily chores, while also coping with the unexpected pregnancies and complicated storylines?

How did they live so ordinarily when nothing that was happening to them was ordinary? 

Did Elizabeth teach Mary how to ponder? Was it Elizabeth who taught Mary to lean into the questions that did not have easy answers and navigate the unknown? Was it Elizabeth, who spent years childless, who helped coach Mary on what it felt like to live with shame? Did the little lamp around their table burn brightly as they shared dinner each night? 

What did they talk about? 

Mary’s Magnificat echoes Hannah’s prayer in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. Did they recite to each other the stories of Sarah, Rachel, and Hannah? Was it Elizabeth who reminded her that God does mighty things with the children he promises?  Did they recite these stories together wondering what it was that God was doing with them? Did it help them to be brave as they faced the uncertainties of childbirth? 

Were Mary and Zechariah worried about losing Elizabeth in childbirth? Did they feel a gnawing anxiety remembering that Rachel died when Benjamin was born? Did Mary hover around Elizabeth, watchful, hopeful? 

Did Zechariah pore over the Torah, searching again for signs that showed what God was up to, as he watched Mary’s belly grow and Elizabeth come closer to her due date? 

Did he suddenly, in his silence, start to understand the urgent need to raise his voice and proclaim to his people God’s radical benevolence coming through Mary? 

Did Elizabeth (and Zechariah) help Mary communicate the awkward pregnancy to her family in Nazareth?

It is remarkable that these baby boys are known in every corner of the globe throughout time. 

It is remarkable that they both live faithful to the calls they are given. 

It is remarkable that they both die violent deaths. 

It is remarkable that their mission to usher in the Kingdom is proportional to their hidden, quiet beginnings. 

I wonder where the hidden work of God is going on right now. I wonder if I would recognize it. 

This Christmas season, take another look between the lines in Luke and see what you discover.