While Elizabeth was pregnant with the future John the Baptist, she gave refuge to her young cousin Mary of Nazareth who, pregnant with Jesus and single, might have been escaping from the anger of her relatives.
Mary’s visit to Elizabeth, about a hundred miles away in Judea, might’ve been a dire effort by her family to save her from this destiny [in a Middle Eastern rural community at the time, this kind of situation could simply result in an honor killing of the young girl by her fiancé’s family], to get her out of the way until a resolution had been worked out. Leaving Galilee and traveling south, Mary punctually arrived at Elizabeth’s house in Judea after a trip of about three or four days.
When they met, each recognized that they and their children would be an incredible part of God’s plan for mankind.
Luke 1:39-45 Mary got up and went quickly to a town in the hills of Judea. She came to Zechariah’s house and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the unborn baby inside her jumped, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. She cried out in a loud voice, “God has blessed you more than any other woman, and he has blessed the baby to which you will give birth. Why has this good thing happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? When I heard your voice, the baby inside me jumped with joy. You are blessed because you believed that what the Lord said to you would really happen.”
56 Mary stayed with Elizabeth for about three months and then returned home.
Well, in this story, at first glance, we just think two women relatives were meeting and the younger one might’ve been visiting to help the older one through the childbirth.
It’s likely that Luke was making diagonal references to the Old Testament stories of Hannah and Sarah.
You may not see it in your life, but God is using you and your life for a bigger plan than you realize. A magnificent and awesome plan. In the grand scheme of it all, our lives are like a massive grand puzzle that God is putting in place using all the pieces of life.
Don’t allow all of the life’s pieces to bring you down. That’s what satan wants. He wants us to be in strife so he can slip in and manipulate us with his sneaky ways keeping us oppressed and depressed.
How does this look in your life? What are you doing with your life puzzle pieces to honor and glorify God? Comment and let’s interact. Bless others with your testimony. Be blessed by what God is doing in other’s lives.
Next & final post coming up: Elizabeth gives birth to John the Baptist.
You must be logged in to post a comment.