Luke 1:39-45 NIV
At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Have you ever been so excited you screamed out loud? I love watching videos of kids who find out they are going to Disneyland. They scream. They jump up and down. They don’t care what they look like, they are just downright excited.
The baby, John the Baptist, still in his mother’s womb gets so excited at sensing the Messiah that he jumps. The Holy Spirit comes upon Elizabeth and she shouts. Their excitement cannot be contained. Elizabeth is overcome with pure joy at the thought that the Lord is in her house.
I wonder if Elizabeth was around to see Jesus grow up. Did she and Mary talk about this day while the boys played as kids? Did she understand what her son would do? Her son would baptize the Son of God. Her son would lose his head for the sake of the Gospel.
So often we think about Mary and what it was like to be the mother of Jesus, but have you thought about what it was like to be Elizabeth? To be honest, I hadn’t really thought about it until I was writing this devotional.
Elizabeth was chosen just like Mary was chosen. She would raise the man who would prepare the people for their Messiah. Elizabeth and Mary shared a beautiful bond of sisterhood. These two women are set apart from the rest of us. Mary “found favor with God” (Luke 1:30b NIV). Elizabeth was “upright in the sight of God” (Luke 1:6a NIV).
What can I take away from Elizabeth? She did not back down from her calling. She followed through on the assignment God had given her. I want to do the same, to follow through on the assignments God has for me. Faithful obedience is the common denominator between Mary and Elizabeth and it can be among us as well.
