Joy

Luke 1:39-56

Joy

For nine- or ten-days Mary had carried with her the most astounding secret: She was pregnant, and the child was to be the long-awaited messianic king, Israel’s deliverer.

Understandably, she had been afraid to share this news, because if the wrong person heard, Herod could have had her killed; or, if her loved ones didn’t believe her, the religious leaders might have condemned her and had her put to death.

Mary was in a predicament.

She needed someone in whom she could confide.

She needed encouragement.

It turns out that Mary found encouragement from Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was older than Mary and was married to a priest named Zechariah.

In many ways, they were the New Testament’s Abraham and Sarah.

Luke tells us that after years of hoping to have children, Elizabeth and Zechariah had resigned themselves to that fact that children were not going to be a part of their lives.

Many couples who have been unable to have children treat their nieces and nephews as if they were their own.

Perhaps this is why Mary went to see Elizabeth: Maybe Elizabeth had been like a mother to Mary in years past.

And so, Mary trusted Elizabeth, loved her and knew that Elizabeth would be a safe person to confide in.

Maybe Elizabeth could give Mary some wisdom, some advice like she had on many occasions in the past.

And when Elizabeth prophesied over Mary and announced that she was blessed, Mary was finally able to trust that God really was at work in her life.

She believed that, despite the danger of carrying the Messiah; despite the reality that her hopes and dreams had been turned upside down; and despite the fact that she didn’t fully understand what was going on, God would work through her and her child.

In her acceptance of this amazing truth, Mary finally shouted out her song of joy.

Can you hear the tone of her song in its opening words?

“My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

Have you ever felt great joy in the Lord?

If so, has it ever come through the encouragement, the acceptance and love of another?

God used Elizabeth to be Mary’s encourager.

I think all of us could use an Elizabeth in our lives, an older person who understands, who can guide and encourage and affirm us.

In the same way, we all can be an Elizabeth for a younger person.

I believe that part of God’s purpose for our lives is that we seek to mentor and encourage other people.

Who is your Elizabeth?

Who is your Mary, that younger person you’re encouraging and investing in?

One of my Elizabeths is a man named John LeGault.

John was an older colleague in the ministry.

I met him after I had graduated from seminary and was going through the three year “probationary period” “They now call it the Candidacy Process” when seminary graduates are assigned to a church, but have not yet been fully ordained.

During that time, we go through an intense time of more continuing education, and lots of examinations by district and conference boards.

When I was going through my probationary period, about 50% of the people trying for ordination were turned down.

This can be a very stressful experience; it was for me.

John had a small group that met at his church every Tuesday morning, and he invited me to join.

John had much wisdom from his many years as a pastor.

We spent many hours together discussing various aspects of being a pastor and the difficulties of trying to make it through the probationary process.

We also got into the habit of sending each other our sermons once we had written them for the following Sunday.

We would read through them and sometimes give suggestions as to how to how to, perhaps make them better.

John helped me immensely.

He was my mentor, my encourager.

He kept me going, when, at times I wanted to quit.

He cheered for me when good things happened and offered a listening ear when I was going through difficulties.

As a pastor I have had the great privilege of trying to encourage other people as they have faced hard times and celebrating with them when good things happen.

When I think about being someone’s Elizabeth, I think of a couple in one of the churches I served who had great musical gifts.

When they lost their daughter to suicide and the music had stopped for them.

One of our church members asked them if they would help other parents who had lost children to suicide.

They began to mentor them and try to help them through the difficult journey they were taking.

Later they told me, “As we helped others, we began to find joy again.