Luke 1 part 3

Luke Christmas part 3

In those days Mary arose and went with haste into the hill country, to a town in Judah, and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby 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 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. (Luke 1:39-45 ESV)

The fun thing about reading the Christmas story in Luke is the reactions of people to the news of a savior. Full-grown people say and do crazy things, all because of a little baby. Seriously, imagine walking thousands of miles and spending thousands of dollars on baby presents because you saw a special star!

Mary's cousin Elizabeth is one of the first encounters. They touch bellies, John goes crazy, and Elizabeth is filled with the spirit and gives an excited monologue. She says several very profound things - she calls Mary "the mother of my Lord" and considers herself unworthy. The salvation of the world is in your belly and you're sitting in my living room drinking my tea. What could I ever do to deserve such an honor!

The other über-profound thing that Elizabeth says is that Mary is blessed because she believed what The Lord promised would happen. Mary is not blessed because she was sinless as the Catholics say. She is not blessed because she is Jesus's mom - that is such a mixed blessing that it could be a curse - Simeon calls it a sword that will pierce Mary and Joseph's hearts. Watching your innocent son die a horrific death is not a blessing, as necessary as it was for our salvation.

Mary's was blessed for the very same reason we are blessed: faith. She believed that God's promise to her is true. Her promise was to have a son, and our promise is to have life through Mary's son, but we both must believe in the promise. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 ESV).

Check out this cool passage about how faith works: What then shall we say was gained by Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness, just as David also speaks of the blessing of the one to whom God counts righteousness apart from works:

"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,
and whose sins are covered;
blessed is the man against whom the Lord will not count his sin."

Is this blessing then only for the circumcised, or also for the uncircumcised? We say that faith was counted to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it counted to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness that he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that righteousness would be counted to them as well, and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised. For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. For if it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath, but where there is no law there is no transgression. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring—not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, "So shall your offspring be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was as good as dead (since he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. That is why his faith was "counted to him as righteousness." But the words "it was counted to him" were not written for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification. (Romans 4:1-25 ESV)

What made Abraham righteous? When was he made righteous? He was made righteous when he believed, long before he had children, before he was circumcised. Abraham fell on his face laughing when God told him what would happen to him, but still he believed!
What made Mary blessed? Surely nothing she had done, right? Seriously, if you were filling out an application to be mother of God, what would you write on it? Hi, I'm Mary, I'm a 13-year old girl, one day I'll be married, but I'm not yet. I'm pretty good at babysitting:)!! On paper it is crazy, right! There is nothing Mary could ever have done to earn God's favor.
When was she blessed? She was blessed the second she believed the angel! She hadn't had a baby yet, she hadn't even had a minute of morning sickness, but she is already blessed for believing in what God promised her.
Why does the Old Testament (or the Bible in general) matter? Paul says the words that were written to Abraham were written for us to - God showed Abraham that righteousness comes through faith so that 5,000ish years later, we may know this truth as well! We believe in several big things that we have not yet seen, one being Jesus's death and resurrection. Like Mary and Abraham, we believe the testimony of the messengers who brought this news to us, and we are blessed because we believe! We we also believe that Jesus has a place for us in heaven - this is a future event that sound dreamlike or crazy, but we are promised that we have a place there if we believe!

Magnificat - And Mary said,

"My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
for he has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for he who is mighty has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
And his mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.

He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones
and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent away empty.

He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
as he spoke to our fathers,
to Abraham and to his offspring forever."

And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home. (Luke 1:46-56 ESV). Based on Hannah's prayer 1 Samuel 2.

what is the proper way to speak about Mary? If you think about the words in this passage, they will teach you to say, "blessed virgin, mother of God, you were unimportant and ignored by people. However because God is kind, he looked favorably on you and performed great things in you. You didn't deserve any of those things, and you could never have earned them. Nevertheless, God's grace rested on you. You were blessed the first moment you found such a God, and you will be blessed forever.". From what happened to Mary, you can learn that God does not reject humble, poor, insignificant people. He tenderly cares for them. This will strengthen your faith, love, and hope. - Luther
Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, but his mother answered, "No; he shall be called John." And they said to her, "None of your relatives is called by this name." And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. And he asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And they all wondered. And immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he spoke, blessing God. And fear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all the hill country of Judea, and all who heard them laid them up in their hearts, saying, "What then will this child be?" For the hand of the Lord was with him.

What does the name John mean? God is gracious or God is merciful. After 9 months of silence, thinking about his encounter with the angel, Zechariah had no doubts anymore. His job is to name and raise the baby, and he is not going to let anyone stop him from his mission! As soon as he writes John's name on the tablet, he is able to speak, and that he does!

And his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying,
"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
for he has visited and redeemed his people
and has raised up a horn of salvation for us
in the house of his servant David,
as he spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,
that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us;

to show the mercy promised to our fathers
and to remember his holy covenant,
the oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us
that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,
might serve him without fear,
in holiness and righteousness before him all our days.

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace." (Luke 1:57-79 ESV)

Like Mary, Zechariah starts singing! The internet calls Zechariah's song a joyous song for sad people. In a nutshell it says, life is brutal, things are tough in our world, but God is keeping his promises that he made thousands of years ago to Abraham and he is bringing us salvation!

One of the common themes of scripture is that things are not as they seem. It would have seemed to a Jew like Zechariah that things were not great. The Romans were ruling the city, your religion an way of life was in peril every day, you were not sure if you would have freedom to worship and practice the faith. But right in your midst, God is changing everything. He is putting on his baby-Jesus suit, becoming human, so that not just the Jews, but the entire world might be saved. Paul says, "we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." (2 Corinthians 4:18 ESV). Zechariah had to be struck mute before his eyes were opened, but now he sees the invisible: God is a God of tender mercy, he is saving us from our sins, and my son is going to lead the way! Sunrise! Light in the darkness! I picture him grabbing all the men in the temple and doing a Jewish circle happy-dance while they sing the song of God's salvation.