Imagine, if you will, being a Jew living at the time of Jesus. You have spent your life hearing the scriptures proclaimed: listening to the prophecies concerning the Messiah. You have prayed that God would send him into the world to deliver you from bondage and restore the glory of Israel. Then it happens. Jesus of Nazareth is born into the world and after many years of anonymity, he bursts onto the scene in the wake of the preaching of John the Baptist. Just imagine the astonishment that gripped your heart. Now carry that astonishment into Christmas.
Mary Visits Elizabeth
In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a city of Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the babe 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 me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe 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 : 39-44
Scriptural Analysis
The traditional location for the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth is the village of Ain Karim in the hill country near Jerusalem. It is about five miles from the temple which would have been important given Zechariah’s priestly duties. However, for Mary, this is about a 90-mile journey from Nazareth taking several days to complete. There is no mention in the scripture of Joseph accompanying her and she left in haste indicating her earnestness if fulfilling the plan of God.
Mary’s greeting of Elizabeth elicits a response just as the greeting of Gabriel did. The infant, John, leaped in his mother’s womb. We are told that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. The verb used for leap is also used in the Septuagint to describe how Esau and Jacob would struggle in the womb of Rebekah, another once barren woman, “The children struggled together within her.” (Genesis 25:22) Rebekah was told that the older would serve the younger which is also going to happen here with John and Jesus, “The elder shall serve the younger.” (Genesis 25:23)
Filled with the spirit, Elizabeth tells Mary, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” A better translation would use the word most to describe the blessedness of Mary. Elizabeth’s greeting recalls two great heroines of Jewish history, Jael, “Most blessed of women be Jael” (Judges 5:24), and Judith, “O daughter, you are blessed by the Most High God above all women on earth.” (Judith 13:18)
Like her predecessors, Mary has a mission to accomplish through which God would help Israel. The mission involves bearing the fruit of her womb, Jesus, who would save his people from their sins. Elizabeth recognizes that Mary is pregnant and like Mary, the child is also blessed. The Greek verb used here, eulogeō, means to invoke a blessing on someone. In other words, Mary and Jesus have been blessed by God.
Elizabeth then asks her famous question, “And why is this granted me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” In Old Testament writings the title, my Lord, frequently refers to the Davidic King, “Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and did obeisance to the king, and said, ‘May my lord King David live for ever!’”(1 Kings 1:31). Filled with the spirit, Elizabeth must recognize that Mary is carrying the king, the Messiah.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew name of God was often translated as Lord (kyrios). Thus far Luke has used that word to reference the Lord God but now he is using it to describe Jesus. Luke has spoken of Jesus’s divinity, thus Jesus shared, in the fullest sense, this title with God.
Throughout this section, Luke is trying to show how Mary is the ark of the New Covenant. Note how Luke states that Mary went to Judah, the tribal name of the region, instead of Judea. David too went to the village of Judah to retrieve the Ark, “And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-Judah, to bring up from there the ark.” (2 Samuel 6:2) Elizabeth’s surprise in the visit from Mary also echos that of David when he was about to bring the ark to Jerusalem, “And David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, ‘How can the ark of the Lord come to me?’” (2 Samuel 6:9)
John leaped when Jesus arrived where as David danced when the ark arrived, “King David leaping and dancing before the Lord.” (2 Samuel 6:16). Finally Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months. This is the same amount of time the ark remained in the house of Obed-edom before David brought it up to Jerusalem, “And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months.” (2 Sam 6:11). All of these comparisons are used by Luke to show that Mary is the true ark of the covenant.
Daily Application
The visitation by Mary to her cousin Elizabeth is a pivotal story in the infancy narratives of Jesus Christ. We see in this story so much richness. The announcement of the birth of John the Baptist and the Annunciation of Jesus converge. We witness the excitement of Mary as she travels in all haste to see her cousin Elizabeth. In the visit, we continue to see the story of Jesus as the culmination, the fulfillment of all that had been promised in the Old Testament.
Yet I get the feeling that for most of us, these events have lost their astonishment and wonder. We hear about them so frequently that in many ways they have become the scriptural equivalent of the television rerun. We hear the words and in the back of our minds, we already know the story so we don’t really pay attention. That is a shame. Scripture and salvation history should never become commonplace for us. There should never come a time were we forget just how awesome God’s plan is. We must fight that temptation.
Instead, read the Gospel passage again but read it slowly. Stop and imagine that you are there, watching this event unfold and listening to the conversation between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. Imagine that you are Zechariah, unable to speak but knowing what the angel said about your son and now seeing Mary and Elizabeth together. You would be blown away watching the salvation of humanity coming to its fulfillment. That feeling, that awe, and wonder at the power of God should never leave you.
As we approach the Nativity of the Lord, the birth of Jesus, allow your heart to come alive. Listen to the readings and view these events with the eyes of faith. Allow the astonishment to grip your heart again. Then pray for the grace to never let go of that astonishment and wonder. God is awesome and we should never stray from that realization.
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