The Three Wise Women -- Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna
Last week we spoke about the Magi who came and gave gifts to Jesus after He was born. We think of them as the “Three Wise Men”, even though we really don’t know how many there were. Each of the Magi’s gifts had a specific meaning and relevance to Christ the person, Christ the Son of God, and Christ the sacrificial lamb. They travelled a long distance to publically worship Him, then left. We don’t know their names; in fact, all we know is in 12 verses of Matthew.
Tonight, though, I want to share the stories of the three wise women of Christ’s birth, and they gifts they brought. These women were mentioned multiple times in multiple gospels, and were even mentioned by name. In fact, much more time is spent discussing these three women than the Magi. Any guesses on who the three wise women were?
Elizabeth, Mary, and Anna.
Let’s start with Elizabeth. Some of you may remember me saying several weeks go that I’m a big believer that names have meaning, and I chose the name “Elizabeth” for my daughter for a reason. The name “Elizabeth” means “Promise of God” or “Fulfilment of God” -- in this case, “fulfilment” is referring to a promise that God has already kept. Keep that in mind as we read Luke 1:5-7:
“5In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old.”
We’re introduced to Elizabeth through her husband, Zechariah; one of the priests of Judea. We’re told that they were both descendants of priests (Zechariah through Abijah, Elizabeth through Aaron), and were righteous and blameless. Sound like pretty good people! But, verse 7 shows that things weren’t all rainbows and puppydogs for them -- Elizabeth could not get pregnant, and they were both very old.
Just to put things in perspective, “very old” here probably means somewhere in their seventies or eighties. Never got pregnant, never had any children. Today, that doesn’t seem like that big of a deal -- there are a lot of people out there with no children, right? Back then, though, this was a huge issue. Back then, getting pregnant was considered a blessing from God -- if you’re married and you can’t get pregnant, then obviously God is withholding His blessing from your life, right? You must be filled with sin! Elizabeth was obviously a terrible person! I can see the gossipers now -- wondering if the sin belonged to Elizabeth, or Zechariah; or both of them! Nasty looks behind their backs, pitying looks to their face.
How many of you can relate to doing your best to live for the Lord, but despite everything people still make up rumors about you, and assume you have sin because your walk doesn’t look like theirs?
Remember what her name means? “Promise of God” and “Fulfilment of God”. Elizabeth knew that God had a promise for her life, and that it had already been fulfilled -- she just needed to keep her faith long enough to see it!
She kept up the faith, even when it got difficult. And, she was rewarded for it! Like her name says, God’s promise was fulfilled! One day Zechariah was chosen to enter the temple and burn incense at the altar. While he was in there an angel appeared to him and told him that Elizabeth would bear a son! Verse 15 shows that that son would be a very special man -- John the Baptist, the one who would prepare the way for the Messiah.
“15for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born.”
Elizabeth never gave up her faith. She was confident that God’s promise was coming, and that God wouldn’t ever forget about her or her desire for a child. She trusted in Him to provide a miracle when no one else thought it was possible. Elizabeth is happy! Verse 25:
“25‘The Lord has done this for me,’ she said. ‘In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.’”
After this, though, before her son was even born, another woman came around: Mary. Mary tells Elizabeth that she’s pregnant with the Messiah! Talk about a potential buzzkill -- Elizabeth is finally pregnant with her own very special son when this 15 year old comes up to her and says that she’s pregnant with the Most Special Son of all! But Elizabeth doesn’t see it that way -- she is excited, praises the Lord, and rejoiced not only at what the Lord did in her life, but what He was doing in other people’s lives as well. Luke 1:39-25:
“39At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!””
Elizabeth’s gift was joy. It’s easy to be joyful when good things happen to you; but Elizabeth was joyful even when someone else came up to her and said “something even more amazing has happened to me!” Elizabeth stayed joyful, even when it was difficult, because she knew that God’s promise would never waver. What made that different than ordinary faith is that she was equally joyful when God’s promises were fulfilled in others -- even if that meant that her own promise wouldn’t look quite as good in comparison.
But what about Mary? The gift she brought is obvious, right? Jesus Christ Himself! Well, not so fast. Let’s look and see how it all went down; again, in Luke chapter 1:
26In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, 27to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”
29Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. 30But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
34“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36Even 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. 37For no word from God will ever fail.”
38“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.
Remember, Mary was around 14 or 15 at this time -- about the same age as most of you. Can you imagine what you would think if an angel appeared to you and told you that you would not only have a kid, but this kid would be the very Son of God? Talk about blowing your mind! But what did Mary do? Did she freak out and run away screaming? I bet a lot of people would have. But Mary was different, Mary was smart. Look at the first thing she does -- she’s visibly troubled. She’s nervous! I would be too! But she doesn’t run. She knows that something amazing will happen, and she wants to know what it will be. Then she gets the big news -- she will get pregnant. Her response is priceless -- “How? I’m a virgin!” She’s already put two and two together, and she wants to know more information. How will this happen? Note that she doesn’t ask “Why me?”, she asked “How?”
The angel explains that the Holy Spirit will come down upon Mary, and even brings up her relative Elizabeth. The angel finishes with a verse that we should all memorize: Luke 1:37 -- “For no word from God will ever fail”. Mary responds simply: “OK, if that’s what God wants, then that’s what will happen.” No arguments, no more questions. I’m sure it hasn’t really sunk in yet that she will give birth to the Messiah, but she doesn’t care. She has faith that the Lord will see her through!
Faith was Mary’s gift. She didn’t understand what was happening to her -- no one really could. After all, no one has been pregnant while a virgin before! The only question she asked was “How” -- not because she was doubting, but because she wanted to prepare! She accepted everything she was told because she had the faith to understand that not all things will be revealed to her, and not all things will make sense all of the time. God has amazing, far-reaching plans; plans where the details may not be shown. She’s OK with that, because she has faith.
Luke says the most about Elizabeth and Mary, but he only has 3 verses about Anna -- Luke 2:36-38.
“36There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Anna was old and lonely -- she was only married for seven years before her husband died, leaving her a widow for 84 years. At that time, widows didn’t have much. They didn’t have a pension or Social Security they could rely on. Anna had been scraping out an existence for 84 years! But how does she spend her time? Worship, night and day; fasting, and praying. And her response when she sees the baby Jesus when His parents bring Him to the temple for his consecration? Thanksgiving! She’s thankful, even after so many decades of hardship. She came up, prayed for other people, praised God, and gave thanks. That couldn’t have been easy to do. Anna was filled with thanksgiving, and refused to allow the bitterness of her situation influence her.
Often, women in the Bible seem to get overlooked. Instead, pay attention to the gifts these women brought. The gifts are for Jesus, yes; but they also serve as examples for the rest of us. This Christmas, I pray that you use the gifts these women have brought: show the joy of Elizabeth, the faith of Mary, and the thanksgiving of Anna.
