Worship from the Womb...

At the church where I serve we are spending the weeks leading up to Christmas looking at an account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke and have been discovering several timeless truths when it comes to how we respond to announcement of the arrival of Jesus as the Messiah today.

This week I would like for us to pick up where we left off last week. And as we jump into the next section of this account of Jesus life in the Bible called the gospel of Luke, we are going to discover another timeless truth when it comes to how we can respond to announcement of the arrival of Jesus as the Messiah that marks the Christmas season. So let’s do that together, beginning in Luke 1:39:

Now at this time Mary arose and went in a hurry to the hill country, to a city of Judah, and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth.

Luke brings us into this section of his account of Jesus life by providing the context for the event from history that we are going to look at this morning. After hearing the news from the Angel Gabriel that her relative Elizabeth had become pregnant as a result of the God’s supernatural activity in her life, Mary immediately left Nazareth to visit Elizabeth. This journey from Northern Israel to Southern Israel would have covered between 80-100 miles, and would have taken around four days to complete.

You see, Mary desired to connect with her relative who shared the similar connection of experiencing God’s miraculous activity in their lives. And that desire drove this Jr. High girl to make the four day journey to share in what God was doing in both their lives. However, upon arriving and greeting one another, Luke gives us a glimpse into how Elizabeth and her unborn child responded to the arrival of Mary in verse 41:

 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb; and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me? "For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy. "And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what had been spoken to her by the Lord."

Luke tells us that before Elizabeth could begin to tell Mary about her encounter with the Angel Gabriel; before Elizabeth could share with Mary about the Angel Gabriel’s announcement that that their son would be the messenger prepare the Jewish people for and to announce the arrival of the Messiah; before Mary could begin to tell Elizabeth about her encounter with the Angel Gabriel; before Mary could share with Elizabeth about the Angel Gabriel’s announcement of the arrival of Messiah through her as a result of the supernatural activity of God in her life; before any of that could happen Elizabeth’s yet unborn son leaped in her womb.

Now when Luke says that the baby leaped in the womb, he is not saying that the baby kicked in the womb. Luke is saying that the baby literally leapt in an exuberant springing motion out of joy. You see, as we discovered two weeks ago, the Angel Gabriel had explained to Zacharias that their child would be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb. The Angel Gabriel had explained to Zacharias that their child would announce the arrival of the Messiah who would bring the Jewish people back to God and back to prominence in the world.

And as Mary walked into the room and greeted Elizabeth, John the Baptizer fulfilled the very words of the Angel Gabriel. John the Baptizer, while still in the womb, announced to his mother that the Messiah had just entered into the room. John the Baptizer, already alive in the womb, was already fulfilling the role that he would have in God’s story by announcing the arrival of the Messiah while still in the womb.

And as Elizabeth experienced the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence, Luke tells us that Elizabeth responded to her unborn child’s announcement and the Holy Spirit’s indwelling presence and influence in her life by rejoicing in the Lord’s supernatural activity in Mary’s life; "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb! "And how has it happened to me, that the mother of my Lord would come to me?”

Elizabeth’s proclamation, if communicated in the language we us in our culture today, would have sounded something like this: “Mary, how blessed are you to be the recipient of God’s favor and activity in your life. And how blessed is the child that is within you. And how has it come to be that I would have the privilege to have the mother of my Messiah come to visit me!” Elizabeth then explained to Mary that at the sound of her voice, her son announced to her that she was in the presence of the Messiah.

And Elizabeth proclaimed to Mary that she was the recipient of God’s favor and activity in her life as a result of her placing her confident trust in God’s promise that had been proclaimed to her by the Angel Gabriel and that had driven her to travel to visit Elizabeth. You see, Elizabeth responded to the Lord’s supernatural activity in her life and in her relative Mary’s life by worshipping the Lord.

Now I want us to take a minute and imagine ourselves in this event from history as Mary. I want us to place ourselves in her shoes. You travel four days to see your relative, after an angel tells you that, in spite of the fact that she was incapable of bearing children and was at a place in her life where children were beyond a possibility, she has become pregnant. Then, as you greet her, and before you can even tell her why you have traveled so far to see her, she breaks out in worship of the Lord after telling you that you are pregnant with the Messiah before you could even tell her that you were pregnant with the Messiah. Can you imagine what that must have been like?

You are Mary. What would you be thinking? What would you be feeling? How would you respond? Friday we will see Mary's response and discover another timeless truth about Christmas...