The Gospel of Luke: A Meeting of the Mothers

Transcript

JRNT 63
07/07/2024
The Gospel of Luke: A Meeting of the Mothers
Luke 1:39-45
Jesse Randolph

Well, as is always the case here at Indian Hills, at the heart of what we’re going to do this morning in our gathered worship service, is engage ourselves in the study and exposition of God’s word. So, I’d invite you to turn with me in your bibles to the Gospel of Luke. The Gospel of Luke, and of course, we’re still in Luke 1.

If you go down to Texas, as my wife and I do in January now, it’s kind of a tradition, you’re going to see these frontage roads that run on for miles and miles, right near the highway. Within spitting distance of the interstate. So, what you’ll have are these two sets of cars, heading in the same direction on these separate stretches of asphalt or gravel. That’s how I like to think about the study that we’ve engaged in so far in the Gospel of Luke. As these two parallel and immediately adjacent roads.

On one of these roads, we’ve seen the account of Zechariah and Elizabeth. They were, you’ll recall, this elderly couple from the hill country of Judea, outside of Jerusalem. Both came from priestly families. Both, Luke 1:6 recalled, “righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all [His] commandments and righteous requirements of the Lord.” Both found themselves sitting under that cloud of embarrassment and shame, brought about by the fact that they were unable to have a child. Because, as it says in Luke 1:7, Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years. Well, as we saw several sermons ago, it was while Zechariah was on duty in the temple of Jerusalem that he encountered the angel Gabriel. Who told him, in Luke 1:13, “your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will call his name John.” And as we saw, as we studied that text, Zechariah doubted the angel’s proclamation. And his doubt is recorded in verse 18, “Zechariah said to the angel, ‘How will I know this? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.’” Zechariah faced a consequence for his doubt. In his doubt he was rendered mute. He left the temple making signs and being unable to speak. And then, soon after he left the temple, he returned home to Elizabeth in the hill country to explain to his wife, Elizabeth, what had happened. And then Elizabeth conceived. So now, this elderly, once barren woman of faith, was now carrying a child in her womb. A child who would serve as the forerunner to the arrival of the Messiah here on earth. A child who, as it says in verse 17, would “make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

So that’s one of the roads that we’ve been on in Luke’s Gospel. Let’s call that the frontage road. The account of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Running parallel to that road, has been another road. The account of Mary. A young girl, likely 12 or 13 years old. This virgin who was betrothed to a man named Joseph. Who, like Zechariah, Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel. Here’s what Gabriel told her, in Luke 1:31. He said, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of His kingdom.” Now, in Mary’s case, having received an announcement, there was fear. And there was pondering. And there was a sense of being perplexed. And there were questions. But there was no doubt. Instead, there was faith. And instead, there was resolve, and there was commitment. Which we saw in this godly young woman’s words, in verse 38, where she said, “Behold, the slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”

Now, so far, we’ve taken these two accounts in isolation. First, we studied the angel Gabriel’s visitation of Zechariah. And then we studied the angel Gabriel’s visitation of Mary. But when we dig a little deeper, it’s impossible to ignore the fact that these two accounts follow a very similar path as parallel roads tend to do. Consider some of these similarities. In both accounts, there is a parent, or parents to be. “…there was a priest named Zechariah.” “…he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.” “…the virgin’s name was Mary.” Both accounts give this obstacle, or this barrier, to a child being born. “Elizabeth was barren.” Mary was a virgin, “the virgin’s name was Mary.” Both accounts involve an angelic visitor, in both cases the angel Gabriel. Both accounts involve these very natural human reactions to being in the presence of a holy angel of God. “Zechariah was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear fell upon him.” Mary was “very perplexed at this statement, and was pondering what kind of greeting this was.” And then, both accounts involved these nearly-identical sets of dialogue between the angel Gabriel and the parent or parents-to-be. To Zechariah he said, “Do not be afraid.” To Mary he said, “Do not be afraid.” To Zechariah he said, “your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son.” To Mary he said, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son.” To Zechariah he said, “You will call his name John.” To Mary he said, “You shall name Him Jesus.” To Zechariah he said of his son, “he will be great.” And to Mary of her son he said, “He will be great.”
In both accounts, the angel Gabriel’s words brought a question. In Zechariah’s case, his question was rooted in doubt, “How will I know this?” In Mary’s case, her response was rooted in wonderment, amazement, awe, when she said, “How will this be?” And in both accounts a sign was given to show that what the angel Gabriel said would happen would actually happen.
In Zechariah’s case his lips were sealed shut. That was the sign. In Mary’s case she was told that her relative, Elizabeth, had herself improbably conceived a son.

So up to this point Luke has run these accounts of Zechariah and Elizabeth on the one hand, and Mary on the other hand, side-by-side. Like two parallel roads. Like the interstate and the frontage road. As we turn to this next section of the narrative though starting in verse 39 and going all the way down to verse 45, Luke brings these parallel roads together. Like a frontage road, it eventually connects with the highway. They converge. They intersect. As we see this meeting of these two mothers, Mary and Elizabeth.

Our text, again, is Luke 1:39-45, God’s word reads, “Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And it happened that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.’”

Our outline for this morning is as follows. First in verses 39-40, we’ll see “The Confirming Sign.”
Then in verse 41 we’ll encounter “The Controlling Spirit.” And then in verses 42-45 we’ll learn of “The Coming Savior.”

Let’s pick it up in verses 39-40, with “The Conforming Sign.” Again, it reads this way,
“Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” This, these two verses, is that exact moment where you could say the frontage road and the interstate intersect when these two mothers meet. And recall, going back to our last message in Luke, that after being told that she would conceive a son, Mary asked, in verse 34, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And “The angel answered” in verse 35, “and said to her, ‘the Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.”

And then recall, though Mary unlike Zechariah didn’t ask for a sign, the angel Gabriel gave her one anyway. And that sign was this, look at verse 36, “And behold, your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.”
The fact that Mary’s own relative, Elizabeth, had conceived a child under her own set of inconceivable circumstances, namely, in her old age, after her child-bearing years had long since passed, was a sign to Mary that she too, would soon be with child. And so, what did Mary do, having received this sign? Well, she went as fast as her legs could take her to the hill country, to this unnamed city of Judah, to visit with Elizabeth.

And that sounds like such a simple statement, there in verse 39. “Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah.” Okay, next verse, please. But there’s actually quite a bit of depth to this. And a series of questions and interpretive choices we need to make. For instance, why? What was the purpose of Mary’s visit here? And why the hurry? Some have suggested that Mary arose and went in a hurry to hide her pregnancy. In other words, this is a fear-driven cover-up trip. Likely taken under the cover of darkness. To avoid scorn and judgment and ire from others. Including her betrothed, Joseph. But think about it. From a physical standpoint, Mary had nothing to hide at this point. Her belly wasn’t growing. And she wasn’t showing. So she didn’t need to be going. She wasn’t on the run. She wasn’t trying to hide. Remember, this is a godly, young woman. This is a woman who, verse 38, had just declared: “Behold, the slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” Running and hiding, and shielding and deceiving, would have been inconsistent with her character.

So, what were Mary’s motivations for arising and heading off to the hill country immediately? Well, on a very human level. She went to go visit with somebody who would understand. She went to go visit with someone who was, not only her relative, but someone who could relate to her wonderment and awe. Who could relate to the joy and the unique fears that Mary was experiencing. There was no one so uniquely situated as Elizabeth, who could listen with an impartial ear as Mary shared with her this improbable series of events that she had just gone through. There was no one so uniquely situated as Elizabeth, who could lend Mary this sympathetic ear. And be a steadying hand. Unlike her own townspeople in Nazareth, Elizabeth wouldn’t ostracize her. And unlike her betrothed, Joseph, Elizabeth wouldn’t be offended. Rather, Elizabeth would understand. And Elizabeth could relate.

So that would be one of the reasons for Mary’s haste in hurrying off to see her relative, Elizabeth -- would be her relative’s familiarity with, and her lack of condemnation for her circumstances. But, of course, at the heart of Mary’s visit to Elizabeth and her rush to do so, and we’ve seen this already, and alluded to it multiple times now -- it was to confirm the sign that the angel Gabriel had given her back in verse 36. Where, again, he said to Mary, “And behold, your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age; and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren.” So, by seeing with her own eyes that her relative Elizabeth was indeed pregnant under the most unlikely of circumstances, Mary would have immediately have this joyful confirmation. That what the angel had told her (Mary) -- that she, too, would be with child -- was in fact to take place. And faith-filled young woman that she was, she didn’t waste any time in heading out to the hill country to receive this confirmation.

Now, still in verse 39. What are those words “in a hurry” mean? It says, “Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country.” In other words, how soon did Mary leave? The answer is immediately. It likely was no more than a day or two after the angel Gabriel visited her that Mary began making this journey south to the hill country to visit Elizabeth. There are all kinds of speculation out there, by the way. You know, she’s only 12 or 13 years old. Was she alone? Was she in a caravan? Was she with a male relative? We don’t know. The text doesn’t tell us. But we do know that she was in a hurry. Now, we can just rely on the plain language there. “In a hurry” means in a hurry. That’s understandable to us. But to even drill down further, and see that this meant, like literally within a day or two of being given this announcement, let’s do a little bit of sleuthing. Because there are some more clues here in this text. Remember, back in verse 36, the angel Gabriel told Mary that Elizabeth’s pregnancy was already in its sixth month. At the time she goes to the hill country, Elizabeth is already six months pregnant. Now, track with me. When you drop down to verse 56, Luke tells us that Mary remained with Elizabeth for “about three months.” Which, six plus three, would make the end of Mary’s stay with Elizabeth, at the very end of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Right before John’s birth. In fact, verse 57, the very next verse confirms that Mary returned right before the birth of John. This is recording Mary’s departure. Luke 1:57 says, “Now the time was fulfilled for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.” But Mary was already gone by then. So, working backward. For Mary to have returned to Nazareth before John was born. And to have stayed with Elizabeth for three months, as verse 56 says she does. While Elizabeth was already six months pregnant, as verse 36 say. Would have meant that she must have left Nazareth for the hill country within days of the angelic announcement. That’s the only way the math works. All this to say, the words “in a hurry” there in verse 39, mean “in a hurry.” Right away. With haste. She departed without delay. She wasted no time.

Now, note also, that our text here, verse 39, tells us that in this hurried state, Mary went “to the hill country, to a city of Judah.” Which was the home of Zechariah and Elizabeth. Now, the hill country stretches for about forty or so miles. Running in a south to southwesterly direction out of Jerusalem. All the way down to Beersheba in the south. And because of the natural features of this terrain, with rocky crags, and sloping hills, and exposed valleys, it would have been perilous terrain for anyone to travel. And again, we don’t know who or if Mary was with anyone here.

But as for the city of Judah reference here, where Zechariah and Elizabeth lived and where Mary was headed, Luke also doesn’t specify where that was. Some have speculated that it might have been Hebron. Which was a prominent city in the hill country. But, again, we don’t really know.

But here’s a matter we should work through and spend some time on. We’ve just come out of this section of this narrative, where Mary, this young woman, is highlighted as having this depth of faith that, frankly we all should aspire to, verse 38, “Behold, the slave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” So here’s the question. Did Mary’s haste to go see Elizabeth, and to see with her own eyes that Elizaberh was in fact pregnant, as a way to confirm that the angel would make good on his promise to her, that she indeed be pregnant, that Mary would be pregnant… Did her haste to go down to the hill country in some way undermine her statement of faith? Did it reveal that her faith perhaps wasn’t as strong as she made it out to be? Because, we think, as New Covenant believers, 2 Corinthians 5:7, we “walk by faith [and] not by sight”? The answer is no, not at all.
Putting this all in context here, the angel Gabriel’s appearance had this profound impact upon Mary. We’ve seen that multiple times now. She at first was perplexed. And then she pondered. And then, in verse 38 here, she professes this deep and committed faith in the Lord. And then, as we’re going to see next week, when we get to her Magnificat, we see that she was joyful. And she was elated over this news. Her heart was overflowing with awe and gratitude. So, her visit to Elizabeth here was the natural outflow of her joy and her thanksgiving and her awe. She was going to see her relative for the faith-filled purpose of confirming that this was really so. So, her journey down to the hill country, to see Elizabeth, didn’t contradict her statement of faith. Rather, it was built upon her foundation of faith. It was the result of her faith as this humble servant of the Lord.

Last thought here on this section of the narrative. Beginning in verses 39 and 40. We’ve seen that Mary went in a hurry to see Elizabeth. And that she journeyed to the hill country to see Elizabeth. Note, now, in verse 40, what Luke tells us next. He says that Mary “entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth.” Now, we might be tempted here to layer on top of these words, as we are prone to do when we read the Old and New Testaments, to layer on top of these words our own norms and notions of what a greeting looks like in our day. And assuming that must be what a greeting looked like in these days. You know, we think of the high-five, or the fist bump, or the dap-up, or the clip (that thing that young people do now today). Is that what Luke is describing here? No. Consider the words in the context. And we need to consider what a greeting would have looked like in these ancient times.

In fact, to get a feel for that, why don’t we go back to Exodus. To Exodus 18. Now, admittedly, this is centuries before the days of Mary and Elizabeth. But it gives us a feel for what ancient greetings looked like that would be much closer to what we think of when we think of greetings today. Go to Exodus 18. And the context here is that visit that Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, paid him. And recall the visit there was for Jethro to tell Moses that he needed to start delegating some of his leadership responsibilities to other men in the camp. Let’s pick it up in Exodus 18:5:
“Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness where he was camped, at the mount of God. And he sent word to Moses, ‘I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons with her.’” Now, look at verse 7, “Then Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him; and they asked each other of their welfare and went into the tent.” Did you catch all that? There’s the bowing down and the kiss. Aspects of what we would think about as the physical part of an ancient greeting. But note that last part, “and they asked each other of their welfare” and then they go into the tent. See, ancient greetings in these times, didn’t only involve the embrace and the peck on the cheek. They involve some sort of dialogue, which could actually be quite lengthy.

Meaning, back to our text here in Luke, and Mary and Elizabeth’s encounter on the doorstep of Zechariah’s house there. This wouldn’t have been merely a “hi” and “hello” type of thing. Instead, this would have been an extended social greeting, involving conversation, and catching up on all that was going on in their lives. Mary was the initiator. We see that in verse 40. She’s the one who’s described as greeting Elizabeth. But the greeting that would have been described here, culturally speaking, historically speaking, would have involved both parties. And again, we’re not talking about a matter of seconds or minutes here, devoted to surface-level pleasantries. We’re talking about the possibility here of hours of catching up. And when you think about the fact that we’ve now been studying all this material in Luke’s gospel, for the past three months now, they have a lot to catch up on.

Now, culturally speaking, again, Elizabeth, as Mary’s senior, as a matter of honor and respect, would have gone first in this greeting in this time of greeting there on the doorstep on Zechariah’s house. And you can only imagine what came out of her mouth. Elizabeth would have told Mary how she, though advanced in years and though once-barren, was now pregnant. And she would have explained how her husband, Zechariah, who had been serving in the temple in Jerusalem, had been visited by this angel Gabriel, while he was there in the holy place at the altar of incense. She would have explained how after his week of service there in Jerusalem, Zechariah came home to her, mute. And though he couldn’t speak verbally, he managed to communicate to her this incredible message that he had received from the angel Gabriel, there in the temple. And this message had to do with the fact that they were going to have a child. If you go back to Luke 1, the first verses, 15 through 18 or there about, that’s this message. That they were going to have a child. And the child would cause many to rejoice. And he would be great in the sight of the Lord. And he would drink neither wine nor strong drink. And he would be filled with the Holy Spirit while in his mother’s womb. And he would turn many of the sons of Israel back to God. And he would serve as the forerunner of the soon-to-arrive Messiah. She would have explained there to Mary on the doorstep, how after Zechariah told her all of this, after they had come together physically, she found herself in her old age pregnant. And she would have explained how, up until very recently, she had stayed secluded for five months.

Now, imagine again, being young, teenaged Mary taking all of this in. As Elizabeth recounts all of this. And imagine the thoughts that must have been firing off in Mary’s young mind. As her relative was sharing this data with her. With every wrinkle of that detailed story that Elizabeth was telling her. Mary would have come to realize, even more concretely, that what the angel had told her, Mary, was in fact true. She really was going to be the mother of the Messiah. And she really was going to carry this special Child in her virgin womb.

Well, that would have been Elizabeth’s side of this greeting. Next, it would have been Mary’s turn. And that’s really what Luke zeroes in on, by the way, in verse 41, were he records what happened when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting. So, as Elizabeth wound down her own recounting of the events. And when it was the appropriate moment in this customary, cultural dialogue for Mary to speak up. This young girl began unfolding her own wonderful story. Of how Gabriel came to her in her home in Nazareth. And how he had told her that, though she was a virgin, a child would be conceived through the Holy Spirit in her womb. A Child who would be named Jesus, verse 31. He would come as the Messiah. He would have the throne of His father David. He would reign over the house of Jacob forever. He would have an everlasting kingdom. He would come as the Savior offering salvation to His people, as His name, Jesus, Joshua, would indicate. He would come as God in human form, as the very Son of God. Son of the Most High.

Now, Mary, based on her interaction with the angel Gabriel, she already knew ahead of time that Elizabeth’s own incredible story was linked to hers. That’s why Mary was there on Elizabeth’s doorstep in the first place. To confirm that what the angel had said, would in fact take place. But for Elizabeth, when she first heard Mary’s side of the greeting, it would have been an incredible source of surprise and delight. And that’s exactly what’s recorded in verse 42. Look at Elizabeth’s reaction in there. It says, “And she cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.’” More on that in just a moment. I’m getting ahead of myself.

Here in verses 39 and 40, we’ve seen how Mary’s trip to the hill country to visit with Elizabeth, was ultimately, to confirm by way of a sign, namely, Elizabeth’s pregnancy, that Mary herself would soon be carrying the Messiah in her womb. That was our first point, “The Confirming Sign.” Now, as we turn to verse 41, Luke continues on with the narrative. And here’s our second point, “The Controlling Spirit.” Look at verse 41. It says, “And it happened that when Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” We’ve already worked our way through what Mary’s greeting entailed. That it wasn’t just an embrace. And it wasn’t just a holy kiss. It was a full-on recounting of all that had happened to her when the angel Gabriel visited her back in Nazareth. Well, when Elizabeth heard all that Mary relayed to her in that greeting, something happened. It’s right there in the middle of verse 41, “the baby leaped in her womb.”
Now, Elizabeth, we know, was at this point, six months pregnant. And, at this six-month phase, a mother is starting to feel, has been feeling that baby move with some regularity. And so, you can imagine in the times in which we live, there are those who doubt the truthfulness of the Gospel accounts. They doubt the inerrancy of scripture. And they will attempt to shoehorn some sort of different anti-supernatural explanation for what Luke records here. And they’ll say, for instance, that this was just a normal movement by Elizabeth’s baby while there in the womb. Just a typical kick at the six-month phase of pregnancy. But that argument ignores two truths, two key truths.
First, the verb there for “leaped” is not describing some soft and gentle kick. This is not something like when an expectant mother might confuse a kick for indigestion. That’s not what’s happening here. No. The word here describes a much more forceful movement by this child, by this baby. Note, it’s a baby. That’s the description here. Not a clump of cells. Not a fetus. A baby. A human, made in God’s image. But the word here for “leaped” describes force. It recalls what we saw back in Genesis 25, where Jacob and Esau were struggling within Rebekah’s womb. They weren’t softly kicking. They were contending. That’s the idea here in our gospel account in Luke’s Gospel. That the yet-to-be born John the Baptist wasn’t simply kicking. He was leaping.
So that’s one problem with the anti-supernatural view of this passage. It ignores the plain language of the word here. It’s not merely kick. It is a leap.

Here’s another problem with that interpretation. It ignores what Luke has recorded here. And really all throughout his gospel, of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in these events. It wasn’t just that this baby in Elizabeth’s womb leaped. He did so under the direction of the Holy Spirit. In fact, look up the page at Luke 1:15. And recall what the angel Gabriel said to Zechariah about his coming son in Luke 1:15 there. It says, “For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and He will not drink any wine or strong drink,” and then note this, “and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.” In other words, the leaping infant in Mary’s womb was already filled with the Holy Spirit. He was already being directed by the Holy Spirit. Controlled by the Holy Spirit. Moved by the Holy Spirit. And the Spirit moved this unborn child, the forerunner to the Messiah, to recognize that he was in the presence of the Lord. And to leap to greet his Master. Who was right there, nearby, in Mary’s womb. That’s what’s happening here.

And note this, not only did the infant leap in his mother’s womb in recognition of whose presence he was in. He leapt for joy. And you’re thinking, I don’t see that in verse 41. It just says the baby leaped in her womb. Well, look at verse 44 just down the page. We’ll get there momentarily. As Elizabeth replied to Mary, note what she said, “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.” This baby didn’t merely kick. This baby didn’t simply reposition or rotate. This baby leapt for joy. In utero. John the Baptist was jumping with divinely-inspired delight.

Now, let me show you something really interesting. If you would, go over to the Gospel of John with me, for just a moment. In John 3, we’ll start in verse 22. And for context, this is one of those scenes where Jesus’ disciples aren’t quite sure about who John the Baptist is. And how he fits in with all that Jesus was doing. And all of Jesus’ ministry. Look at verse 22, we’ll start here,
“After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. And John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized – John had not yet been thrown into prison. Therefore there arose a debate between John’s disciples and a Jew about purification. And they came to John and said to him, ‘Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have borne witness, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.’ John answered and said, ‘A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, “I am not the Christ,” but, “I have been sent ahead of Him.”’”
So there’s John the Baptist, making it abundantly clear that he was not the Messiah. But rather the forerunner to the Messiah. Then look what comes next in verse 29, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full.”
That’s John testifying to the great joy he had as the forerunner to the Messiah. Yes, John was clothed with camel’s hair. And yes, he ate locusts and wild honey. And yes, we stereotype him as being some form of primitive, wild man. Who was foaming at the mouth, as he preached in the wilderness, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” But we don’t often think about this aspect of John the Baptist’s ministry. Which is that, as the Messiah’s forerunner, he had great joy. There it is again in verse 29. He rejoices greatly, that’s John, because of the bridegroom’s voice. “So this joy of mine has been made full.” And that joy that John the Baptist had, as the forerunner to the Messiah, to Christ traces all the way back to our text, Luke 1:41, to when he leapt in his mother’s womb. The reality of the arrival of the Messiah on the scene of history, caused this Spirit-filled, little infant, while still in his mother’s womb, to leap for joy. This was an extraordinary and incomprehensible working of the Spirit of God.

And speaking of the Spirit. It wasn’t just John who was filled or controlled by the Spirit. So was his mother, Elizabeth. Look at the last few words of verse 41, it says, “and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.” Now, unfortunately, those words, “filled with the Holy Spirit” have been hijacked. Especially over the past 125 years or so, by those who claim they have some form of miraculous gift to heal, or to speak in tongues, or to prophesy. Those words, “filled with the Spirit,” are often associated with opportunistic so-called prophets who seek to turn a profit by making certain canned and silly predictions. Those words, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” are used by modern-day faith healers who hinge their fraudulent ways on supposedly being Spirit-filled. Those words, “filled with the Holy Spirit,” empower the so-called tongues-speakers of our day who hinge their made-up gibberish language on apparently being filled with the Spirit. But that’s not even close to what it means to be “filled with the Spirit.” To be “filled with the Spirit,” today. In the modern-day church age, means to be controlled by the Spirit. As He guides you by His word, the scriptures, the very word He has breathed out. As He conforms you into the image of Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit’s ministry, in other words, in our day, is to make us progressively more holy. His interest is our actual sanctification, not our sanctified showing off.

In the days surrounding Jesus’ birth, back in our text, to be “filled with the Spirit,” likewise meant to be controlled by the Spirit, as it does today. But in these days, before God had completed and closed the canon of scripture, when one was “filled with the Spirit,” there was typically this connection between that one who was being filled or controlled, relying upon that controlling or that filling, to declare a message from God. So, there was a link by being Spirit-directed to then speaking for God. We think of passages, and I’ll give you a few here in the Old Testament like 2 Samuel 23:2, “The Spirit of Yahweh spoke by me, and His word was on my tongue.” Or Isaiah 61:1, “The Spirit of Lord Yahweh is upon me because Yahweh has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted.” Or this is Micah 3:8, “On the other hand I am filled with power – with the Spirit of Yahweh – and with justice and might to declare to Jacob his transgression, even to Israel his sin.” Note that connection between the Spirit leading, controlling, filling, and then proclamation.

And then we get to the New Testament. And we see very similar trends like 2 Peter 1:21, “no prophecy was ever made by the will of man, but men being moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.” Or even in Luke’s Gospel. Just down the page in Luke 2:25. We see the example of Simeon. Luke 2:25, Simeon there is called “righteous and devout.” And then it says: “the Holy Spirit was upon Him.”
And then, look at verse 26, it says, “And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” And then, verses 27-28, “And he came in the Spirit,” there’s the Spirit again, “into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, then he took Him into his arms and blessed God, and said,” and then he gives this proclamation, this pronouncement, in verses 29-32.

But I want to make sure we’re latching on to the big idea here. Which is this, in the times in which Luke’s Gospel was recorded, God filled, God controlled, God directed certain people, whether prophets. Or apostles. Or men like Simeon. Or, back to our text, a woman like Elizabeth. To declare what he wanted them to declare. And to reveal what He wanted them to reveal.

And what was it that He wanted Elizabeth to declare and to reveal? Not only to Mary, the young girl that was standing right in her presence. But to all future generations of believers, as Luke recorded her words. That takes us right to the third point this morning. Where we’re going to get right into what Elizabeth said, while “filled with the Spirit.” Elizabeth spoke, as we’re about to see, of how blessed Mary was. Because of Who she was carrying, namely, the coming Savior. That’s our third point, “The Coming Savior.” Look at verses 42-45, “And she cried out with a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.’”
Those first few words in verse 42, “And she cried out with a loud voice,” in Greek are, “She cried aloud in a great cry.” There are two uses of the words, the word “cry” there. And that redundancy is intentional. It signals this unrestrained joy that Elizabeth was experiencing in this moment. But, as one who was “filled with the Holy Spirit,” this wasn’t some form of wild, unrestrained, ecstatic utterance. No. This was a joyful, heart-level cry. Which reflected her wonderment, and her thanksgiving, and her awe.

And then come these words of blessing. There’s three of them. And we see three of them in these few verses here. First, she said, verse 42, “blessed are you among women.” The word for “blessed” there, means someone on whom God’s favor rests. Someone in whom the Lord delights. That’s what Elizabeth was communicating to Mary here. It wasn’t because of her betrothal to Joseph. It wasn’t necessarily because of her visitation by the angel. It wasn’t even the fact that she was now carrying a child. It was because of who that Child was that she was now carrying and this distinct privilege that she had to carry that Child that Mary was “blessed.”

And not just “blessed.” But, as it says there, “blessed… among women.” “Blessed are you among women.” It’s a superlative expression. Meaning something like, “Mary, among all women on the earth you are the most supremely blessed!” And she was. Not as an object of worship. Not even an object of reverence. Certainly not the idol the Roman Catholic Church has made her out to be. But undoubtedly blessed. By virtue of the fact that she, Mary, was in a class of one. Only one woman has ever had the privilege of carrying in her womb the God-Man. The Messiah of Israel. The Savior of the World. And that was Mary, of course.

The next words of blessing that Elizabeth gave are found at the end of verse 42, where she says, “and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Elizabeth here, wasn’t pronouncing blessing on the Child now in Mary’s womb. Like a priest would, for instance. Rather, this was a very simple way of expressing that the Child Mary was carrying would be special, significant.
Being “filled with the Spirit,” Elizabeth, as she thought about Who her relative Mary was carrying, certainly, must have had certain Old Testament scriptures in mind. Remember, she was a righteous woman. She must have been thinking about passages like Isaiah 9:6, “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
As she looked at Mary, her relative, within a few feet of her, as she has this greeting, she’d be thinking to herself, that in that womb, is the “Wonderful Counselor.” And the “Mighty God.” And the “Eternal Father.” And the “Prince of Peace.”

And those, of course, those titles all referred to who this Child would be. But then you go down to the next passage, Isaiah 9:7, and it refers to what this Child would one day do. “There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore.”

The point is, this Child, the fruit of Mary’s womb, would be altogether different. He would be the eternal Son of God enrobed in human flesh. John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” He would be the object of His Father’s delight. We think later in the narrative of Jesus’ baptism, and God the Father says, “This is My [] Son, in whom I am well-pleased.” He would be the mediator of God’s saving grace. As Paul would say in 1 Timothy 2:5, “there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.” And as Mary herself had learned from Gabriel, Luke 1:33, “there [would] be no end of His kingdom.”

Well, Elizabeth’s Spirit-controlled outburst of praise here in verse 42, spills over into verse 43, where Luke records her as saying, “And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?” Now, usually, speaking from experience, that question, “why me,” is associated with some sort of prideful sense of entitlement, right? When we’re questioning God’s perfect and providential ordering of circumstances in our lives, we ask that question, why me? And in doing so, we’re essentially telling Him that we could have done better than You, God.
That wasn’t Elizabeth’s tone here. Her words - “and how has it happened to me?” - instead demonstrated this profound degree of humble maturity. She was deeply appreciative of the privilege of being in the presence of Mary’s son, even while He was in utero. And her humility is only further reflected by that expression, when she calls him “my Lord.” “The mother of my Lord” is in her presence. She knew that that Child in Mary’s womb was her Master. Her Savior.
Earlier in Luke’s Gospel account, we learned what a godly woman Elizabeth was in verse 6. She was “righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and righteous requirements of the Lord.” But here we really see her godliness in action. Note that there is no envy here, ‘I wish I was carrying the Messiah.’ There’s no questioning. There’s no doubting. Rather, there is simple recognition. And ultimately, submission to the Child who the Holy Spirit was then sovereignly forming in young Mary’s womb.

Moving on here in verse 44. This is still Eliazbeth’s response. We’ve already covered much of this earlier. But she says, “For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.” And again, that’s Elizabeth’s Spirit-directed interpretation of what was happening in her womb, as baby John was doing backflips. Not a kick, but a leap, a leap for joy.

And then, verse 45. Elizabeth’s response to Mary, this “Meeting of the Mothers” concludes with these words, “And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord.” Now, in context there, it’s clear that Elizabeth is referring to Mary. Mary is blessed. Mary is blessed because she believed. She believed what God, through the angel Gabriel, had communicated to her. About all that He would accomplish through her, as the woman who would carry His Son in her womb. She was supremely blessed. And singularly blessed. As the mother of the Messiah.

But note, and seeing how this is God-breathed scripture, there’s no accident here. It doesn’t read, “blessed is Mary because she believed.” Though Mary certainly was blessed because she believed. We know that to be true. No. Elizabeth here says, “blessed is she who believed.” That statement is in the third person, which is broad enough in its scope to mean, that anyone, he or she, who believes in the promises that the angel Gabriel ultimately made to Mary, about the Son that she would carry, named Jesus… This one who would be “great.” This one would be “the Son of the Most High.” This one who would be “given the throne of His father David.” This one who would “reign over the house of Jacob forever.” They would be what? Blessed. Galatians 4:4-5 says, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.” Adoption. Redemption. Salvation. I would certainly call that being “blessed.” Would you not?