In the old days, theaters only had one screen. So on the marquee out front there would be the name of the one movie they were showing and they would be able to add the name of one or two of the main actors in the movies, the stars.
So far we have looked at the two main actors in the story of the birth of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Of course, Jesus is the most important character, but he isn’t doing much yet, just lying there, so it’s Mary and Joseph who did most of the work and their parts would be played by the most skilled actors.
Today we come to another very important character in the story. But she’s never on the marquee. She’s never in the manger scenes, because she wasn’t there for the actual birth. She would show up in the smaller print on the movie poster in the lobby, not on the marquee. But she played a very, very important part in the story. Her name is Elizabeth.
We’re backing up in the story a bit today. Go back to the moment when the angel had just finished announcing to Mary that she, a virgin, would be the mother of God’s Son, when she was all alone. Her brain was spinning, trying to figure out how this was all going to work out. What were the chances that anyone would believe her? How could she be the mother of the Son of God? What should she do next? She knew just the person she needed to talk to, it was Elizabeth. The angel had said that Elizabeth pregnant in her old age, so if Mary could see that was true, it would confirm what the angel had said was going to happen to her.
They were relatives of some sort. Elizabeth was much older, so maybe an aunt. They lived far apart, but I wonder if Mary‘s family had stayed in the far suburbs of Jerusalem with Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Zechariah when they came down to Jerusalem each year for the Passover. The text tells us that Elizabeth had gone many years of married life without children. Maybe she had poured some of her maternal heart into Mary for many years. Elizabeth was the one she needed to talk this out with. So off to see Elizabeth she went. Our text for this morning is Luke 1:39-56.
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord."
46 And Mary said, "My soul magnifies the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me, and holy is his name. 50 His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has helped his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors, to Abraham and to his descendants forever." 56 And Mary remained with her about three months and then returned to her home.
So Elizabeth was married to a priest, Zechariah. Luke’s gospel tells us: “6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.” That’s in Luke 1:6-7. So these were really good people. But they had this terrible sadness, that they had been unable to ever have children. The day had come when it became biologically impossible for Elizabeth to conceive. But an angel had appeared to Zechariah while he was serving in the temple and told them they would have a son who would have a very important role in God’s plan of redemption.
And when the angel appeared to Mary, he told her Elizabeth was pregnant. And that would be just the confirmation that Mary needed that she really wasn’t imagining things. If God was doing a miracle in Elizabeth, then that would be her sign, her confirmation, that God was doing a miracle in her, too.
So what can we learn about our God see about our God? We see in our text that when God sends us out with challenges, he doesn’t send us out alone. He puts others beside us to lift us up when we need it. There are no Lone Rangers in the body of Christ. Imagine the flood of emotion when Mary completed that long walk to Elizabeth’s house, agonizing over whether anyone would understand. And she met Elizabeth and Elizabeth was so affirming. Elizabeth understood. Elizabeth was supportive. Elizabeth had heard from God about Mary.
In every age the younger generation needs the guidance and affirmation of the older generation. They don’t need bossiness. They don’t need criticism. They need encouragement. They need listening ears. They need someone who is ready to give advice when it’s asked for.
In our generation it’s even more important. So many kids grow up with both parents just too stressed to pay them much attention. A whole lot of kids are growing up without much moral guidance. A whole lot of kids are going to have a hard time getting established in a job.
Someone once did a study to try to explain why some kids go through adolescence bouncing from one near disaster to another, taking risks, wasting their lives, getting into trouble. And other kids go through their adolescence so beautifully, just growing in wisdom and skills and confidence year by year.
They interviewed thousands of kids. And the conclusion was that the highest correlation with a positive adolescence was that the kids who did well had 2-3 adults other than their parents that they could talk to. When kids are going through their teens, one of their developmental tasks is to separate from their parents a bit, to find out what they believe for themselves, to decide what kind of people they are going to be. And that bit of separating from parents can be scary, so the security of a circle of friends comes to mean everything. But those teen friends don’t have a lot of experience and life wisdom yet, either. So it’s really important to have a couple of other adults to talk to, adults who will listen, adults who will care. And what better place for that to happen than in the church? What better place to find the love and encouragement and support to work out your life issues than church? Than Bethel Church? Let’s look for every chance to support our teens and our young adults. Pray for them. Listen to them. Care for them. They are so important.
And kids and young adults, there is a lot of wisdom in this congregation. There are a lot of people who have faced the challenges you are facing now, who have asked the same questions for themselves. Don’t be afraid to seek someone out to just talk about the things that matter to you.
There are a number of important lessons in this text, but I’ll just talk about one more. When God says he will bless someone, he often means something different from what we mean as being blessed.
If you hear someone today saying God has blessed them, often it means things are going well for them. They have good health. They have plenty of money. Their family life is going well. They have a nice home.
Well in our text, Elizabeth says twice that Mary is blessed, and then Mary agrees. I suspect that she wasn’t sure that this was a blessing at all until she heard Elizabeth’s confirmation, but Elizabeth set her free to really accept and celebrate what God was doing. I can hear her saying, “Yes, I really am blessed. Now I can feel it. “
But did Mary go on to have a cushy life? Not at all. She wasn’t able to deliver this special baby at home with her family, where she had made her preparations. She had to take a long, bumpy trip right at the end of her pregnancy. When they finally got into a house, King Herod got word that people were saying a new king had been born in Bethlehem and they had to run for their lives to Egypt to keep Herod from killing their baby. So Christmas is a time to remember the refugees of the world. Being a refugee in a foreign land isn’t what we normally call blessed. Then Jesus began his ministry. And there were days when he was pushing so hard, so exhausted, that Mary thought he had gone off the deep end, so she gathered up some of her other kids to try to get him to just give it up and come home for a while. And of course she was there at the foot of the cross as this special son of hers was publicly tortured to death. Would you put any of those things on your blessings list?
How in the world can you say Mary was blessed? She was blessed because she was right in the middle of God’s will for her life. She was being obedient to God. She had taken her place in God’s great plan of salvation. And what’s better than that?
No human on earth, except Jesus himself gave a greater gift to the human race than Mary did. Sure, she had a few rough years around the birth of Jesus and about 3 rough years of his ministry. But in the end she saw the complete vindication of her sacrifice. She wouldn’t have traded the life God gave her for anything. And she will be honored throughout human history and throughout eternity in heaven. True blessing is not how much stuff you pile up or how cozy you make your life. True blessing is being in the middle of God’s will.
You may think your life is incomplete today, or even a failure because there is some ‘blessing’ that you just aren’t able to have. Maybe you wish you had more money. Maybe you wish your family got along better. Maybe you wish you had a better housing situation.
But maybe God is holding out to you in his hands a blessing that is ten times greater than the things you are obsessing about. Maybe he is holding out for you an adventure in serving someone else. Maybe God is holding out to you the chance to be right in the middle of something wonderful he wants to do. Maybe this is your “Mary Moment,” the day to say “yes” to God like Mary did, to accept the adventure, to dare to risk the comfortable and predictable. Maybe this is your day to ask God what his call is for you today, this week, for your life. Maybe this day will be the beginning of an adventure that will be the best thing you ever did. And remember, God won’t leave you alone. Step out with your eyes open. He just may have an Elizabeth for you, too, an encourager, someone who understands. AMEN
