This week's study is more about Mary, though we will touch a bit on Elisabeth as they both are in this part of scripture together.
The Announcement of Christ's Birth to Mary - Luke 1:26-38The angel, Gabriel, is once again the messenger of a glorious birth. This time it is the birth of the Son of God, Jesus, and to the virgin, Mary. In this time, girls were given to men to be betrothed at a young age. Mary was probably around the age of 14-16. He greets Mary with a title of being highly favored and blessed among women. He also says that God is with her. Mary was troubled at this greeting and confused as to what it meant. Gabriel reassured her again that she found favor with the Lord, so there was no need to be afraid. To a young girl, having all this happen would be so terrifying and confusing, but she was a follower of the Lord and willing to listen to what Gabriel had to say. He told her that she would conceive a Son and name Him Jesus. He told her that the Baby would be the Son of the Highest and would reign over the House of Jacob (Israel) forever, with no end to His Kingdom. I think this is foretelling how His Kingdom is not like an earthly one as we are used to, but instead is the Spiritual one which we have become part of since our acceptance of salvation. In the next question which Mary asks, some have said she was expressing doubt, but I think she was just expressing her confusion. We find things that we don't understand to be confusing and she was just trying to figure things out. With Zacharias, he was expressing doubt when he said, "How shall I know this? For I am an old man, and my wife is well advanced in years." (vs. 18) and we know this because of Gabriel's response. In response to Mary's question of "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" (vs. 34) Gabriel explains how her conception will take place, not with a man, but through the Holy Spirit and the presence of God. I noticed also that he refers to the Child she'll carry as "The Holy One" and that He'll be called the "Son of God". I think this is to emphasize that her Son won't be the same as other children. He also tells her about her relative, Elisabeth, who is pregnant after her barren life then adds that with God nothing will be impossible. I think this is to give her another miracle that has happened to help her think about the one that will happen to her. I don't know though. It may also have been a way of telling her that the prophet who is to come before the Messiah is already on the way through Elisabeth. I love this last part of this section of scripture. Mary says in verse 38, "Let it be to me according to your word." I wish I was as accepting of the Lord's will as she was. I have a hard time with accepting it sometimes. I even fight against it so often. I knew from the first when I heard about a possible job for Jeremy in Chicago that it would go through and that it was God's will for our lives that we should move yet again, but I didn't want to. I just wanted to stay where I was. It took me a while to finally say that I was willing to go where God wanted me to be and to do what He wants me to do, though at the moment, I'm not sure what He wants from me. I'll find that out sometime later.
Mary visits Elisabeth - Luke 1:39-56Mary went to see Elisabeth. Why? We are not given a reason. Maybe to share the wonderful news she had since Elisabeth would probably be more willing to accept it than any others. As soon as Elisabeth heard Mary greeting her, the baby leaped in her womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit. She knew about Mary before she was told. How amazing! We know that this made Mary joyful from the song she sang at this time rejoicing in the blessings of God. When I read her song, I can almost see how blessed and joyful she must have felt at this time. Have you ever felt that much joy? Think about the time that you came to realize that Christ is the only way to eternal life and you accepted Him as your Saviour. Did you have a great amount of joy then? I know that I did. It was so awesome. I noticed that in verse 50 she sings that mercy is on those who fear Him. We have felt that mercy every time we have sincerely asked for forgiveness. At the end of this section, we see that Mary stayed with Elisabeth for about three months. That would have put her there right around when John was born. I wonder if she helped Elisabeth with the birth of the prophet. Would that not have been a wonderful experience? My sister, Jill, has been there to help me with the birth of two of my children and I was there to help with the birth of her firstborn. It was such an awesome time for both of us. I can't imagine what it would have been like knowing that the baby was one who had been prophesied about long ago and was also going to be such an important person.
Comments (1)
I am a little late joining the Bible study. Hope that's O.K. I do think one of the reasons Mary went to Elizabeth was that she probably knew Elizabeth would be more accepting of her news than other people would. Can you imagine how overwhelming it would be for Mary to know that her baby was the Son of God, and for Elizabeth to know that her son would play such a key role in God's plan for His ministry? Wow.
It is really neat to be reading these scriptures at a time other than Christmas, which is when most churches emphasize them. It kind of gives you time to view them in a different light and think about things in a deeper way than you normally would in all of the Christmas hustle and bustle.