Advent 4                  Pastor Ryan Wolfe
12/22/24                   Luke 1:39-55

“Blessed are those who believe!”

Perhaps nobody in history celebrated Advent with the same kind of joy as the two women in our text today, Elizabeth (the mother of John the Baptist) and Mary (the mother of Jesus). God not only told them that the Savior was coming; he sent angels to reveal that they would be directly involved. The angel Gabriel had come to Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah and told him that Elizabeth would bear a son, who would be a great prophet. This son would prepare people for the Lord. Of course, we recognize John the Baptist in that announcement.

Then six months later, that same angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and told her that she would miraculously bear a child also. The Savior himself. In the season of Advent, we talk about preparing for Christ’s coming. But what we talk about, they lived. And they rejoiced because of what they knew. They knew they were blessed. That word is used four times in these verses and that’s our focus today. We see that Mary was blessed by God’s Choice and that All People are blessed by God’s Mercy.

This account comes right on the heels of the meeting between the angel Gabriel and Mary. Gabriel had come to this young girl, almost certainly no older than 18 or 20, and gave her news that had to be impossible to believe. Though she was a virgin, not even married yet, she was going to have a child. And not just any child, but the Messiah! Mary was going to have a role in the fulfillment of the single most important promise her people knew. That the world knew. Her child would be the Son of God. Miraculously conceived for a miraculous purpose. After the angel left, can’t you just see Mary sitting there, her head swimming with thoughts about what the angel’s words meant? Surely she wanted to talk to someone about it, but who? Who would believe her? So Mary went to her relative Elizabeth. Gabriel had told her that Elizabeth was also with child and was in fact in her sixth month already. This was a miracle too! Elizabeth was old, probably past regular childbearing age. If anyone could understand the joy and fear that Mary had, it was Elizabeth.

And so Mary got her things ready and made the 70 to 80 mile journey to Elizabeth’s house. Mary went to Elizabeth because here was someone who knew the power of God. Mary wanted to see this other miraculous pregnancy for herself. Not because of doubt, but because she wanted to share in the joy of Elizabeth’s miracle with her. Here were two women, blessed by God because he had chosen them to be a part of his plan.

And as Mary walked in and greeted her relative, Elizabeth’s baby, John the Baptist, leaped in the womb. The word for “leaped” here is the same word used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament for Jacob and Esau struggling in Rebekah’s womb. This was not an ordinary kind of movement for a woman in her sixth month. The man who would grow to be Christ’s forerunner in preaching recognizes his Lord even now. I couldn’t help but think of the next time in Scripture that these two would meet. Years later on the banks of the Jordan, John would shout for all to hear, “Look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Years would pass from this first meeting to that one, but at both times, John pointed to Christ. He rejoiced at the coming of the Savior.

And filled with the Holy Spirit, Elizabeth exclaimed in a loud voice, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear!” The Holy Spirit reveals the truth about Mary’s child to Elizabeth and leads her to give this amazing testimony. Elizabeth herself had been chosen by God to give birth to the forerunner. Elizabeth was the older woman. Elizabeth was the married woman. Yet it is Mary that she calls “blessed among women.” Elizabeth’s child would be a blessing to many. Mary’s child would be a blessing to all. Mary recognizes that blessing herself later in the text in the words of her song, “From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.”

There’s a difference though in how Mary sees the blessing of her choice and how some in the world revere her. Mary knows it’s nothing in her nature that makes her so extraordinarily blessed or worthy of God’s choice. Mary was just an ordinary girl, pledge to be married to an ordinary carpenter. When Mary and Joseph later came to Bethlehem they had no royal entourage or heralds. All we really know about Mary is that she was a faithful child of God. And that faithful child of God reminds us that what makes a person blessed is not what they do for God, but what God does for them.

And that’s where we can turn from the special blessing that Mary enjoyed as the mother of Jesus, and turn to the greater blessing that we enjoy with her. The greater blessing that all who believe are blessed by God’s mercy.

After Elizabeth proclaims Mary’s blessedness as mother of Jesus, she continues. “Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!” That’s a significant statement coming from Elizabeth because she knows what happens when a person doesn’t believe what God says. When Gabriel came to her husband Zechariah and proclaimed that Elizabeth would have a child, Zechariah didn’t believe it. So the angel took away his speech. And for the past six months Zechariah and Elizabeth were reminded every day of the importance of trusting in God.

But now here stood Mary. The same angel that had silenced Zechariah had come to her too but Mary believed. Where Zechariah doubted, Mary had faith. Mary proclaims that faith in her response to Elizabeth’s comments. Her song is a song of humility and joy, of such grace and beauty that Christians of every kind continue to put it to music and sing it 2000 years later. She begins praising God from the very beginning. “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.” This was a deeper joy than she had ever known before. More than the joy of motherhood. More than the joy of being chosen as Christ’s mother. This is joy in God’s mercy. “God my SAVIOR,” she says.

She sings on, “The Mighty One has done great things for me. Holy is his name.” Mary recognized her greater blessing. Not in being the mother of the Savior, but in being one of the saved. Mary knew where she stood before God without this Savior. And she understood how that position changed with this one little baby. No, she didn’t know the details yet, but she knew the promise and what this child meant. In him, she went from being God’s enemy to being God’s child. Brothers and sisters, Mary’s joy, Mary’s blessing, is our joy. It is our blessing. It’s why we still sing her song to celebrate the great things he has done for us. We who once hated God and opposed him are now his children in faith and grace.

Mary sang with such joy because she trusted that God in the future would do what he had done in the past. As she sang about God performing mighty deeds and scattering the proud, as she thought of him bringing down the rulers of the world and lifting up the humble, she recognized God’s power and love to do those things again. The whole history of Israel, from the promise to Abraham and his descendants all the way to Mary herself, serves as an example to us. We know God is a God of mercy. He showed it to Adam & Eve when he promised a Savior in the garden. He showed it to Noah and his family as the floodwaters lifted them over the destruction of the whole world. God showed his love for his people as he brought them through the Red Sea. God showed his power in keeping David safe when he faced Goliath. We are surrounded by this cloud of witnesses to God’s grace.

And we know, just as Mary did, that this merciful, powerful God has done great things for us. He chose us, not to be a part of our Savior’s birth, but to be reborn ourselves. From before time began God knew you. He knew what your name would be. He knew what you would look like and how you would sin. And still, he called you. Through the word of God, through the power of the sacraments, God’s mercy came to us and made us blessed. And so in yet another Advent season we join Mary and Elizabeth and every believer of all time in welcoming our coming Savior.

This last week of Advent brings us closer to Christmas than any other. As we prepare for the child in the manger though, see him with Mary’s eyes nine months before. See that child as the one who does great things for us. See the connection to the cross on the hill and the crown of the returning king. This year as you drive past nativities with the blessed mother and the holy child, may you be led to rejoice in your great blessings. Come, Lord Jesus. Our spirit rejoices in God our Savior. Amen.