Mary Shows Us When Haste Can Be a Good Thing

There seems to be no shortage of old proverbs and well-worn sayings about the perils of hurrying through things—but ‘haste’ is exactly how Mary is described in Luke 1:39 as she heads out to visit her cousin Elizabeth.

Did Mary rush into things? Far from it! Instead, Mary—who, by the way, led a sinless life—shows us the way in which haste can be a good thing.

Consider exactly what Mary was hurrying towards in the Visitation account. On a natural level, this is a woman who wanted to share the joy of an unexpected pregnancy with her cousin. Though Luke does not say it, presumably Mary also came to help out Elizabeth in the final months of her pregnancy.

But something more than this seems afoot. Mary, we are told, remained with Elizabeth three months (Luke 1:56). Surely she could have waited a little bit and taken things a bit slower on her journey to Elizabeth? What was it that really made her rush?

In the infancy narratives, Luke depicts Mary in terms that recall the ark of the covenant in the Old Testament. A few examples: Mary ‘arose and went’ just as David did in 2 Samuel to get the ark and David’s mixture of joy and fear in receiving the ark is closely mirrored in the joyful leap of the unborn John the Baptist and the cry of Elizabeth when Mary arrives. (For more, see The Truth of Christmas by French Catholic theologian Rene Laurentin.)

In the Old Testament, the ark signified the presence of God. It is fitting that Luke thought of Mary in the same way: as the mother of the unborn God Incarnate, she too brought the presence of God to others.

On a supernatural level, this is what Mary was hurrying to do in the Visitation: even before Jesus was born, she was in haste to share His divine presence with others. In this context, her haste was not a waste—to paraphrase one of those old proverbs—but, in fact, was virtuous. (In fact, the persistent and unhesitating pursuit of some good was once formally known as the virtue of diligence.)

The Gospel of Luke suggests that other Christians ought to emulate Mary’s example of holy haste.

The Greek verb form of haste, speudō, occurs three other times in Luke.

In Luke 2:16 it describes the action of the shepherds after the Annunciation, as they rushed to find the baby Jesus in the manger.

The other two instances of the verb are in the story of Jesus and the short-of-stature tax collector who had to climb onto a tree to see Jesus in Luke 19. Here’s the exchange recorded in verses 5 and 6 (Douay Rheims version):

And when Jesus was come to the place, looking up, he saw him, and said to him: Zacheus, make haste and come down; for this day I must abide in thy house. And he made haste and came down; and received him with joy.

Unlike the story of Mary, these last two stories involve individuals who are hurrying to encounter Christ. Of course both stories are instructive for us. Certainly, like Mary we are to—as far as possible in us through the grace of God—hurry to bring the joyful presence of God to others. And may we also, like that tree-scrambling tax collector, hurry to Jesus and receive His presence with joy.

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Stephen Beale is a freelance writer based in Providence, Rhode Island. Raised as an evangelical Protestant, he is a convert to Catholicism. He is a former news editor at GoLocalProv.com and was a correspondent for the New Hampshire Union Leader, where he covered the 2008 presidential primary. He has appeared on Fox News, C-SPAN and the Today Show and his writing has been published in the Washington Times, Providence Journal, the National Catholic Register and on MSNBC.com and ABCNews.com. A native of Topsfield, Massachusetts, he graduated from Brown University in 2004 with a degree in classics and history. His areas of interest include Eastern Christianity, Marian and Eucharistic theology, medieval history, and the saints. He welcomes tips, suggestions, and any other feedback at bealenews at gmail dot com. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/StephenBeale1

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