"In those days Mary arose and went with haste
into the hill country, to a town in Judah, 40 and she entered the house of
Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary,
the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and
she exclaimed with a loud cry,
"Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the
fruit of your womb! And why is this
granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the sound of your greeting
came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. And blessed is she who
believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the
Lord." Luke 1:39-45 ESV
We are not told
exactly why Mary went Elizabeth's house, but we can imagine. She was a teenage unwed mother sent away to stay with relatives, until the baby had
arrived. For a girl in such a predicament, such a trip was a walk of shame.
If the circumstances
were different--that is, God were not the father of the baby--we could easily
imagine how her relatives would have received her. The would be kind, but they would also feel
her disappointment and shame. There
would be pity and sorrow and maybe some judgmentalism, too in their
actions. For a teenage girl who was
enduring such a shame, the pity can sometimes hurt more than the condemnation,
since it would remind her of an enduring blot on her reputation.
But there was reason
for shame in Mary when she traveled to Elizabeth's, and there was no shame in
Elizabeth's mind at seeing her. God had
already been preparing the way. Elizabeth
was also experiencing a miraculous pregnancy.
Even though she was past childbearing years, she had become pregnant
herself through God's miraculous intervention. Her child was to be John the
Baptist, the prophet who would introduce
Christ to the world.
When Elizabeth laid
eyes on Mary, the unborn John started leaping in her womb. The Holy Spirit in John recognized Mary as
the bearer of Jesus. God's grace echoed
from one womb to another. What might have been a moment of shame and tragedy
was a time of praise and triumph. God
was working miraculously in the wombs of these two women.
When we are faced
with troubles, we have two ways of looking at it. We can either view it as a
problem or a potential blessing. The difference is whether or not we are
listening to the Spirit of God. God is
arranging our lives in such a way that He can bring the maximum glory to
Himself, and joy and peace to us. Problems are always with us, but so is the
Spirit of God. Which one shall we
listen to--our problems, or the Holy Spirit?
If we listen to the
Holy Spirit instead of our problems, we may experience God's grace even when we
are walking down a difficult path. God
never calls us to take on great challenges without giving us great assurance.
"Father, thank you for giving me this day an
assurance that you will help me with whatever task you call me to do. Thank you for showing me Your plan for my
life. In Jesus Name, amen"
