Mid-Advent 2
Lk
1:39-45
12/13/17
There have been a couple of
occasions when the words almost came out of my mouth. There was the impulse to say something. But then I caught myself and didn’t.
There have been times when I have
seen a woman, and her appearance made me think that she must be pregnant. Seeing this there has been the impulse to
congratulate her and ask some questions. After all, as Christians we think a
child is a blessing from God.
But each time I have stopped myself,
because I had not yet received confirmation about the pregnancy from a source
other than my own assessment based on her appearance. And this fact raised the
possibility that by speaking I could have created one of the more awkward and
embarrassing moments possible.
Imagine how mortified you would be
if you said to a woman something like: “So when is your baby due?”; or, “Are
you going to have a boy or a girl?”; or, “Congratulations on your pregnancy!” –
only to have the woman respond, that no, she is not pregnant. Yikes!
In our text this morning, Mary did
not have any such concerns as she greeted Elizabeth. For one thing, Elizabeth was six months
pregnant and so certainly she looked pregnant in a way that left no doubt. Yet beyond this, Mary knew for sure because
the angel Gabriel had announced it to her.
He had said, “And
behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and
this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be
impossible with God.”
Yet
incredibly, this was not even the most surprising thing that Gabriel had told
Mary. He said, “Do not be afraid, Mary,
for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb
and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.
He
will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God
will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the
house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
The angel Gabriel told Mary that she
was going to conceive and give birth to the one who would fulfill all of
Israel’s hopes. She would give birth to
the Davidic Messiah who would reign over Israel and provide the rescue and peace
for which God’s people longed.
And that
wasn’t even the part that was truly amazing.
Mary was betrothed, but not married.
She was a faithful Jew who followed God’s word. She wasn’t messing
around before marriage. She was a
virgin. And yet Mary clearly took the angel to mean that this was not something
that was going to happen after she and Joseph were married, for she asked: “How
will this be, since I am a virgin?”
Gabriel replied, “The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore
the child to be born will be called holy--the Son of God.”
Surely,
Mary didn’t look pregnant. The angel had
just announced to her that this would happen.
We learn in our text that after Gabriel had visited her: “In those days Mary
arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah.” The news
of both women was something that had to be shared and celebrated.
Mary entered the house of Zechariah and
greeted Elizabeth. Our text tells us, “And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of
Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.” John
moved inside of Elizabeth. The movement
of a baby inside his or her mother is remarkable. The clear evidence of a
little life inside the mother bears witness to what has happened and points to
all that is to come.
John leapt
in the womb of Elizabeth. Yet this was
not a random movement. Instead it was a
result of the very thing that Gabriel had told Zechariah, “he
will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb.” Gabriel had announced Zechariah that John
would be the prophet who would go before the Lord in
the spirit and power of Elijah to make ready for him a people prepared.
John was already doing this in his
mother’s womb – bearing witness to Christ. There was no doubt about this because we are
told, “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.’” The Holy
Spirit provides through Elizabeth the interpretation of what is happening.
It is a
beautiful scene. The yet to be born John the Baptist bears witness to Jesus
Christ who is also still in the womb of his mother. Certainly when hearing it we cannot but think
of our nation today and the fact that children in the womb can be killed by
abortion at any time up to the very moment of birth.
But what I
want us to reflect upon tonight is how tiny God’s plan of salvation is. After all, there’s not much to see here –
just two pregnant women with babies inside them. I want us to reflect upon the timing of God’s
salvation. John the Baptist and Jesus
have not yet been born. It will be some
thirty years before John the Baptist appears in the wilderness preaching a baptism
of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. First, there will be years of living
day in and day out in family life. There
will be chores to do and parents to obey.
There will be children to provide with food, clothing and the
necessities of life.
Think about
where you were in life thirty years ago tonight. Think about all that has happened since then.
We see in our text that God is acting to save us. But it will happen in his timing. John the Baptist
is already bearing witness to Christ but many years must pass before his full ministry
occurs. Jesus Christ, the incarnate Son
of God is in the world, but many years will pass before he is baptized by John
in the Jordan River and begins his ministry.
It is hard
to wait for things to happen according to God’s timing. We want things now. We want answers now. We get frustrated and angry, and even feel
tempted to give up hope when days turn to weeks, and weeks turn to years.
In our text
tonight we see the first meeting between John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ. God’s saving work looks tiny in our text. It
is years from doing anything that looks like action to us. So we need to take a long look at this. We need to pay attention. Because often, this is how things look. God often works in ways that look the opposite
of what they are. He works in ways that
often take time.
We look at
this scene knowing that John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the Jordan as the
Spirit descended on Jesus and the Father said, “This is my beloved Son with
whom I am well pleased.” We know that
Jesus Christ made the journey to the cross for us and died as the sacrifice for
our sin. We know that on the third day he rose from the dead, and then was
exalted in his ascension into heaven.
This is
what the baby in Mary’s womb in our text has done. This is the reason that John the Baptist
leaps within Elizabeth in witness to him.
Because we know this, we can trust God when his work seems small. We can
trust him when his work seems to be slow.
We can trust the triune God when we don’t know what the timing will
be.
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