MARY: THE VISIT

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!”

Luke 1:39-45

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

The experience was one that would be hard for anyone to believe.

Mary, a young woman growing up in a nondescript community called Nazareth, was singled out by the Lord who sent an angel to bring a fantastical proposition, one that transcended the realms of believability and human biology. Usually, a woman would conceive by lying down with a man and having sexual relations but the angel was suggesting pregnancy by supernatural means. For Gabriel told Mary she would bear a son and call Him Jesus and this would happen despite the fact that she was a virgin as the Holy Spirit would come over her and by that Spirit, she would conceive.

Think about how Mary must have felt.

How would you have felt at that point if you were in her place?

It all had to feel too surreal, like a dream before thoughts of what this all would mean came rushing in as a wake-up call.

You see, Mary was already betrothed to a man named Joseph. They would be married and through the period of engagement, they were required by the law to remain faithful to one another and celibate. If what the angel was saying would come to be, how would Mary explain the pregnancy to her family, to the community, to Joseph? How in the world would they ever believe that she had been fertilized by the Holy Spirit?

But despite all this, we find Mary going all in on Gabriel’s proposal, simply stating:

“I am the Lord’s servant. May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1:38

It was an amazing display of trust and faith in the Lord, an incredible model of selfless service by the soon-to-be mother of the Savior of the world.

But what happened next? What happened after Mary agreed to what Gabriel suggested?

Well, before we look at that, let’s go back to some other words of Gabriel that sometimes get lost in Mary’s divine conception story:

“Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month.” Luke 1:36

Why did the angel take the time to tell Mary about the parallel miraculous conception of her relative Elizabeth, who not only conceived but was well into her second trimester?

Perhaps it was to inject more believability into what he was saying would take place. Or maybe it was to set up the encounter found in today’s scripture passage as Mary pays Elizabeth a visit with some rather amazing results. Look again at those words here:

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!”  Luke 1:39-45

After committing herself to Gabriel’s proposed plan, we find Mary running to meet up with her relative, no doubt to see for herself that even against convention, Elizabeth was well along with child despite her old age. As Mary entered the home of Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah, greeting them as was the custom, we read where the baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped and, at that very moment, the Holy Spirit filled her.

Wow! Just the mere sound of Mary’s voice triggered an amazing reaction and response within Elizabeth, particularly in the gestating baby who would be named John. Those occurrences led to a wonderful proclamation from Elizabeth who exclaimed:

“Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill His promises to her!”

Imagine the quantum impact these words had to have on Mary. At a minimum, they were completely unexpected but think about how Elizabeth’s proclamation had to validate everything that Gabriel had spoken, something Mary hadn’t even had a chance to share yet. Here’s what Mary learned as Elizabeth spoke while full of the Holy Spirit:

1. She was blessed among women, blessed because she believed the Lord would fulfill His promise to her.

Any woman who would conceive and bear a child would feel blessed in biblical times because to be barren was to be culturally excluded as others viewed the barrenness as a punishment imposed by God. Elizabeth certainly had to feel overjoyed that she had conceived at such an old age.

But Mary’s conception was different because it had come from God Himself. Through Gabriel, He assured Mary she would conceive by the Holy Spirit, she believed it, and God did what He said He would do. This leads to the second thing Mary discovered.

2. She would be the mother of the Lord.

While filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth’s heart and mind were opened to the truth that the child Mary would bear was no ordinary child. Rather, she would bear the Lord of all, the Lord of lords and King of kings. With that, the child would be blessed too which is the third thing Mary learned.

3. Jesus would be blessed.

Think about the life, ministry, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus. Think about the power and authority that God imparted on Him. Think about all the people He healed and brought salvation to.

Jesus was blessed from the moment He was conceived and set on the path of destiny to be the Savior of the world and Mary would bring Him into the world and raise Him up.

So in sum, it was quite a scene, Mary and Elizabeth seeing one another, relatives both literally and figuratively. In regard to the latter, they both experienced miraculous conceptions. They both would bear sons. And both of their sons would play a key role in changing the narrative toward the new covenant: John paving the way for Jesus, the Lamb of God who was to come to take away the sins of the world, the long predicted Messiah who would be born of a virgin named Mary.

Tomorrow, we find her filled with more than just a child. We see her pour out her praise to the God who blessed her.

In Christ,

Mark
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