Sermon: “Mary and Elizabeth”
Luke 1:39-45
A sermon for December 13, 2020
Pastor John Bright
Luke 1 “39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth. 41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. 42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
This is a story from the days before cell phones – “I needed to call home, and the only pay phone I could find was in use. So, I stood to the side and politely waited until it was free, thinking it would only be a couple of minutes. Five minutes went by, and still the man was on the phone. He was just standing there, not saying a word. Two more minutes went by, and he still wasn't talking.
Finally, I tapped him on the shoulder and asked if I could use the phone. I really wouldn't be long, but needed to make an important call.
"Hold your horses," he responded, covering the receiver. "I'm talking to my wife."
Ok – for the folks who know nothing about pay phones:
Q: Is Google male or female?
A: Female, because it doesn't let you finish a sentence before making a suggestion.
Now that I have made all the ladies mad for suggesting you like to talk – let me be really clear about what I’m trying to say today – we all, everyone of us, not matter your age or gender – we all want to feel like we have been heard… that whoever we talk to, actually listens. Would you agree?
Mary needed someone to listen to her – v.39-40
“39 Now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste, to a city of Judah, 40 and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.”
It’s not certain where Zacharias and Elizabeth lived, but tradition holds it was about 5 miles from Jerusalem, making Mary’s trip about 100 miles. When I leave the parsonage in Swansonville and travel to Clarksville, its about 70 miles and takes me and hour and fifteen minutes to drive. Back then, Mary would have traveled four days to reach her destination.
We can easily believe today that she had been there before. In that day, you didn’t call or send an email that you were coming – you just showed up at the door. One of the wonderful things about the parables of Jesus is that they give us insight into everyday happenings and circumstances of His day. In Luke 11, Jesus shares a parable about persistence in prayer that begins like this:” 5 And He said to them, “Which of you shall have a friend, and go to him at midnight and say to him, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves; 6 for a friend of mine has come to me on his journey, and I have nothing to set before him.” If the man had known that his friend would arrive (apparently after dark) – he would be prepared.
So – Mary arrives as anyone would in that day… unexpected. When she came into the house, she would have offered a greeting that is also a blessing.. We hear this blessing explained by Jesus when He sends out the 70 in Luke 10 – “5 But whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’” So there is nothing out of the ordinary in how this visit is unfolding… except that both of these women have experienced a wonderful miracle.
Now, the miracles continue – v.41
“41 And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.”
To the modern-day reader of Luke, we may pass over this verse with little more than a slight curiosity. Yet, here is a miracle and the fulfillment of an angelic prophecy. Back when Gabriel spoke to Zacharias by the alter of incense deep in the Temple, he spoke these words about John the Baptizer – “15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb.’ A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned this is how they described the Old Testament prophets. Let me explain more, because we have a different view of the Holy Spirit today.
Christians today agree that when we accept the free gift of Salvation that is offered through the blood of Jesus shed on Calvary; each new Believer is in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit. This fulfills Jesus’ promise in John 14:15-18 “15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments. 16 And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.” Believers today have access to the Holy Spirit that folks in the Old Testament never had!
In the Old Testament, the pattern is God giving His Spirit to certain persons for a specific purpose and a limited amount of time. I’ll use the first King – Saul – as an example. In the book of 1 Samuel – the Spirit comes to Saul: 10:10-11 “10 When they came there to the hill, there was a group of prophets to meet him; then the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. 11 And it happened, when all who knew him formerly saw that he indeed prophesied among the prophets, that the people said to one another, “What is this that has come upon the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets?” You see, only the prophets would have the Spirit and they spoke an ecstatic language. Later, when King Saul disobeys the Word of the Lord, the Spirit leaves – 1 Samuel 16 “14 But the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and a distressing spirit from the Lord troubled him.”
This is a verse that troubles some today. We need to remember that God can allow what God allows. Saul was a human, just like us. All humans are designed to contain spirit. We are each Spirit Beings. I have a buddy, Dr. Dale Sides that puts it this way – “I am a Spirit Being, temporarily housed in a body, attempting to control the soul (mind, emotions, desires). If I don’t control the soul, the soul will control me.” Because we are Spirit Beings and because we are designed to have the Holy Spirit dwell within us – we can be visited by other spiritual entities. I would go ahead and call them demonic if I thought you might not freak out. Let me give you an example of “a distressing spirit” that bothers so many Believers today – unforgiveness. Listen to this description that is so full of truth – “Unforgiveness is like drinking poison and expecting it to hurt the other person.” If you are a Believer, trying to walk with God every day, unforgiveness has NO place in your life. So, make a list of all the folks you need to forgive (including yourself) and say this every day – “I choose to forgive ____(fill in the name)__________ for __________(what he/she did to me)__________.” That daily process is what I call “The Hard Work of Forgiveness.”
If you choose to walk in unforgiveness, God will allow the distressing spirit of unforgiveness to trouble you. See how it works?
As I was saying, every Believer today has the Holy Spirit, but not Elizabeth. When she is greeted by Mary, the same Holy Spirit that hovered over the waters in Genesis 1:2, the same Holy Spirit that came upon the Old Testament prophets and Saul, the same Holy Spirit that can be stirred up (as Paul told young Timothy – 2 Tim. 1:6) in you and me – that Holy Spirit filled Elizabeth and filled the child in her womb. She knew it and was instantly given insight that could only come from God.
Elizabeth knows v.42-45
“42 Then she spoke out with a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! 43 But why is this granted to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy. 45 Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord.”
I told you last week it was possible for Mary and her family in Nazareth to know about Elizabeth’s impossible pregnancy, but there is no way, except by way of God revealing it in the moment, for Elizabeth to know her relative is pregnant with the Messiah and had been visited by the angelic messenger. She knows it all!
This working of the Holy Spirit – revelation knowledge – is on full display in these verses. Can the same thing happen today? Absolutely… if we allow the Holy Spirit to work out God’s purposes in us. God uses Elizabeth to testify. She tells the truth of this meeting at the front door of her house. This is the first meeting of Jesus and his relative, John the Baptizer. Next year, I will come to Luke’s description of the only other recorded meeting – Luke 3: 21-22 “21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” We usually use that reading during the part of the Christian year called the Season after Epiphany. As an epiphany – it reveals Lord – the Triune God – as do these words from Elizabeth to Mary.
I want to close our time together with some personal experience and an invitation. Now, do you know what the preacher means when she or he says “in closing”? NOTHING!
Mary is in need of someone who will believe her – listen to her. Mary, the unwed mother, needs to be heard. These verses this morning show us she has arrived at the right place. Elizabeth is open to the moving of the Holy Spirit to speak truth over Mary. I believe we all have that need – for someone to listen to us and pray truth over us.
John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, saw this need in new Believers back in the 1700s. It’s well known that he gathered folks in groups known as class meetings. What has been neglected is the much smaller meetings with 3-4 men or 3-4 women meeting together in “bands.” When we look at the guidelines for these band meetings it makes us cringe because they openly discussed sin. In our day, that’s not something we want exposed – not even one-on-one. And so we struggle alone with no one to hear our cries for help.
Earlier this year, I began working on some of the discipleship classes offered by Seedbed. They have introduced guidelines to form “Discipleship Bands” that “read together, meet together, and pray together.” These are small, single gender groups that make seven commitments to one another: 1-Respect the clock: everyone has 15-20 minutes to share; 2-Challenge by choice: you can skip any of the questions; 3-No cross-talk: you never interrupt someone sharing; 4-One Counselor (Come Holy Spirit): listen for the Spirit to lead you how to pray; 5-Comfort with empathy: with open hearts we bless, encourage and build up; 6-Community of Grace: when a sin is confessed, we say, “In the name of Jesus Christ you are forgiven”; and 7-Stricly Confidential: nothing is shared outside the group.
The Discipleship Band will share a daily reading program, but that is usually not discussed with they get together. The Band meeting opens with a common prayer, then each person is given time to answer five questions: 1-How is it with your soul? 2-What are your struggles and successes? 3-How might the Spirit and Scriptures be speaking in your life? And when the group agrees it is time to go deeper: 4-Do you have any sin you want to confess? 5-Are there any secrets or hidden things you want to share? After a person shares, another band member prays for him or her. Then you close with a common prayer. That’s it. It sounds simple – it is… but it can also be hard.
I have been meeting online with two other UM ministers that were in my class. I knew both of them but they did not know each other. We have formed a Discipleship band. We are doing daily reading through the app that is available from Seedbed. We meet online once a week and, so far, we are sticking to the first three questions😊 Even so, I am starting to feel a connection with those two guys that I have missed in my Christian walk. I hope they fell the same. Next year, in 2021, I want to offer this kind of group to everyone in the two churches.
Mary needed Elizabeth. She needed to be heard. We need each other. We also need to be heard. The question is are you willing to be there for your bother or sister in Christ? Will you be the one who will listen and pray – without judgment – and be led by the Holy Spirit? Will you
