At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”
Luke 1:39-45, NIV
“But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?” Elizabeth is unexpectedly and joyfully pregnant at last. In fact, she is not only pregnant, she is carrying a prophet. And no ordinary prophet, but the one who will announce the coming of the long-awaited Messiah.
When Mary arrives, this baby kicks and kicks! At this moment Elizabeth has a choice—to believe that her baby is the prophet announcing the Messiah, or simply to attribute the kicks to something else. She chooses to believe this is no ordinary set of kicks, but God fulfilling his promises.
By faith Elizabeth recognizes God moving. By faith she does not see a scared, young, pregnant and unmarried teenager, but the mother of the Messiah. By faith she knows that the Messiah has come to her.
And she asks, “why me?” How can this wonderful thing be happening to me? Why would God come to an ordinary old woman, making her the first person other than Mary to know that the Messiah has come? Why are ordinary people so important in God’s plan of salvation?
Prayer Guide: