The Journey to Bethleham
Mary's Visit to Elizabeth

by Pastor M.J. Fitch
December 11, 2011
Text:  Luke 1:39-56

To listen to and audio recording of the sermon, CLICK HERE.

I invite you to get your Bibles out and turn to our text for today, found in the gospel of Luke, the first chapter. Luke is the third book in the New Testament, right after the gospel of Mark. Turn to the first chapter and follow along as I read verses 39-45.

39 At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, 40 where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit.

42 In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! 43 But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? 44 As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. 45 Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Joy! This passage is full of joy! Everyone seems to be leaping for joy - even the baby inside of Elizabeth recognizes that there is something special about Mary as well as the baby inside of her. The joy that Elizabeth and her unborn son feel is contagious! Immediately after Elizabeth shares her joy, Mary bursts out into song. She praises God by saying, "Oh how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!"

Think back to what happened to Mary just about 10-12 days before this visit to Elizabeth. She had received an unexpected visit from the angel Gabriel and learned that she was to have a baby - the Messiah. While Mary was obedient and said "yes" to the Lord, can you imagine how scared she might have been? She was probably around13 years old, engaged to be married to Joseph. If this secret got out to the wrong person, her family could have shunned her or the religious leaders might have condemned her and had her put to death. If King Herod heard that she was pregnant with the Messiah - the King of kings - Herod might have had Mary killed. And maybe she was confused, trying to figure it all out, wondering what all this meant - and if she could really trust God. It was a scary and dangerous task she was being called to do for the Lord.

So, Scripture tells us that Mary hurried off to see her cousin Elizabeth, whom the angel told her was also pregnant. Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah are in their old age, living in the town of Ein Karem, about 80 miles from Mary's town of Nazareth. I think the reason Mary was ready to travel so far was because she wanted to talk to someone would understand and would believe her experience with the angel. And maybe she also wanted to see if Elizabeth really was pregnant like the angel said.

Zechariah and Elizabeth were very old and never expected to ever have any children. But the angel Gabriel surprised them by announcing that they were going to have a baby - a son that would prepare the way for the Messiah - and his name would be John. At first Zechariah did not believe it - so God prevented Zechariah from speaking until the promise became a reality. And Elizabeth went into seclusion for 5 months, quietly reflecting on this miracle God had given her.

In our story for today, Elizabeth is beginning her last trimester of her pregnancy and Mary is in her first trimester. They both have all sorts of reasons to be afraid or anxious. And they definitely both need each other - to support and encourage one another. And what is so wonderful is the joy that they both feel once they are together.

As we walk in their footsteps and look at their story just a little closer, I think we can learn a lot about joy and finding it, especially during those times when life takes some surprising turns.

I believe joy came to Mary and Elizabeth and John because they were open to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Flip back to Luke 1 verse 13. Here we read about Gabriel's message to Zechariah, Elizabeth's husband about their future son. The angel says:

"Don't be afraid Zechariah! God has heard your prayer.

Your wife, Elizabeth will give you a son, and you are to name him John. You will have great joy and gladness and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord.

He must never touch wine or other alcoholic drinks.

He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before his birth."

Wow! I'm not sure I ever remember reading that part of the story before. Even before John was born, he was filled with the Holy Spirit; which caused him to leap and kick with joy when he heard the voice of Mary and knew the Messiah was present.

At the same time as John the Baptist was kicking for joy, it says in verse 41 that Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. Being filled with the Holy Spirit must have given Elizabeth insight because she knew, at the sound of Mary's voice, that she was the mother of the Messiah. And that good news caused her to praise the Lord and shout for joy! What an incredible affirmation that must have been to Mary - she really did hear the voice of the angel correctly!

In turn, that joy from the Holy Spirit just keeps bubbling over. Now Mary takes that leap of joy and starts singing a song that we call now the Magnificat. It begins in verse 46 with Mary saying: "Oh, how my soul praises the Lord. How my spirit rejoices in God my Savior!"

Joy comes from and by the Holy Spirit. In fact joy is known as the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22). When we are open to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, we can be filled with joy. And how do we do that? How do we open ourselves up to the Holy Spirit? We begin by confessing Jesus as our Lord and Savior and we start living for Him, rather than be self-centered and living for ourselves. Through that confession of faith and that turning from self to Christ, we are filled with the Holy Spirit. What's so important is having that central focus on Jesus!

Which leads us to the second leap of joy: we need to occupy our hearts with the Living Lord. The first Christmas, Mary, John the Baptist and Elizabeth focused their hearts and minds on Jesus, the Messiah. And, they were filled with joy. The question for us is what is occupying our hearts?

Many years ago, Carole Mayhall wrote an article in Today's Christian Woman, asking that very question. (7/1998, vol. 20, no. 2) She shares a story about talking with two women about this subject. She tells it like this: I squirmed a bit as I forced myself to listen to my friend cataloging her problems. After three hours, I interrupted her gently to ask, "If you were to draw a circle to represent your life, what would be in the center? She thought a moment, then said, "My problems." My friend spoke the truth.

A week later, I sat across the hospital bed of my younger sister, Joye, who had just been diagnosed with acute leukemia. Gray and perspiring, with bandages encasing her throat from a biopsy, Joye talked to a student nurse who was interviewing terminally ill people to see if there was any way she could help them.

"Oh, Jan, I'm a bit fearful of the pain and process of dying--but I'm not afraid of death! It'll just be a change of residence for me," I heard my sister, her face radiant from within, say to this student nurse. And for forty-five minutes, Joye explained the good news of Jesus Christ to Jan.

Afterward, I thought, both my friend and sister have serious problems. Yet one's walking in despair, and the other in joy. What makes the difference? Then I realized what it was. My friend's heart was occupied with her problems; my sister's heart was occupied with the Living God.

What occupies your heart in this Christmas season? If you were to draw a circle there on the back of your sermon guide to represent your life, what would be in the center? If your mind is filled with thoughts of presents and parties and decorations and Santas, then joy is missing. If your heart is filled with thoughts of problems and worries and income and health and illness, then joy is missing. But, if your mind and heart is filled with the Lord, then you experience and sing for joy.

It is so important to keep your priorities in order, giving Jesus the top priority - the central focus of your life. Jesus has to come first!

Really, as you might have heard before, the only way you can have lasting joy is to follow the letters of the word joy: J - O - Y. Jesus has to be first, then others, and then yourself.

Mary put God first in her response to be mother of the Messiah. Despite all the dangers and risks - and all those dreams that were suddenly changed - Mary "magnified the Lord and rejoiced in God." She chose to look past those difficulties and potential problems and respond in joy and trust.

As Adam Hamilton shared in his devotional book called The Journey, "Joy is a choice we make when look at our present circumstances through the eyes of faith, trusting that God is at work and that He will never leave us nor abandon us."

Which leads to our third leap of joy - and that is to Choose Joy! Joy is something you can have regardless of what else is going on. It doesn't come from changing the circumstances but from changing your perspective and your attitude. You choose to have joy rather than despair - hope instead of hopelessness. You look at your circumstance through the lens of faith.

I read this week something interesting about the word "joy". In our language, joy doesn't have an automatic opposite, created by added "dis" or "un" to the word. For example, we have the word pleasure and dis-pleasure. We have the word happy and the opposite - unhappy. But there isn't a word "unjoy" or "disjoy". The writer said that the reason for this is that joy is something you can have regardless of what is going on in our lives. Joy is not dependent on the circumstances in our lives. We can have joy, even in the most difficult of situations. (Richard Burkey, "Finding Joy Amidst Life's Surprises", www.sermoncentral.com)

Joni Eareckson Tada knows about joy. You will remember hearing me talk about Joni before. She is someone I really admire. She has been a quadriplegic ever since she was 17 years old when she was in a diving accident. She has every reason to complain, to wallow in despair, to be bitter because life didn't turn out the way she had thought it would. But instead Joni is filled with joy. As you can tell from this picture, she has a beautiful smile. What I really love to do is to hear her sing and to hear her share about her faith. I recently read a story that Joni tells about a time she was a speaker at a Christian women's conference.

During a break at the conference, Joni found herself surrounded by a crowd of women in the bathroom. One woman said, "Oh, Joni, you always look so together, so happy in your wheelchair. I wish that I had your joy!" Several women around her nodded. "How do you do it?" she asked.

Joni glanced at the nicely dressed women around her. She knew that the break would soon be over. How could she answer this woman's question in about 60 seconds? How could she sum up in a sound bite what had taken her three decades to learn?

"I don't do it," she said. That raised their eyebrows. "In fact, may I tell you honestly how I woke up this morning?" Several women leaned against the counter to listen.

"This is an average day," she breathed deeply. "After my husband, Ken, leaves for work at 6:00 a.m., I'm alone until I hear the front door open at 7:00 a.m. That's when a friend arrives to get me up. While I listen to her make coffee, I pray, 'Oh, Lord, my friend will soon give me a bath, get me dressed, sit me up in my chair, brush my hair and teeth, and send me out the door. I don't have the strength to face this routine one more time. I have no resources. I don't have a smile to take into the day. But You do. May I have Yours? God, I need You desperately.'"

"So, what happens when your friend comes through the bedroom door?" one of the women asked.

"I turn my head toward her," said Joni, "and give her a smile sent straight from heaven. It's not mine. It's God's. And so," she said, gesturing to her paralyzed legs, "whatever joy you see today was hard won this morning." The women in the restroom were silent. "And," said Joni, "it's the only way to live. It's the Christian way to live." (Richard Burkey, "Finding Joy Amidst Life's Surprises", www.sermoncentral.com)

No wonder Joni has such a beautiful smile. It is a smile sent straight from heaven. That's the kind of joy I would like to have - a joy that can look beyond our circumstances through the eyes of faith and claim God's Holy Spirit power to get through the difficult times. I am so grateful for people who share their joy in Christ with others, like Joni. Their joy is inspiring and contagious.

Which is the last important leap of joy we all are called to make. Not only do we choose joy but we also are called to share our joy. There is a hurting world all around us that has no concept of what this joy is. We have been given the greatest gift of all in the joy of knowing Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We are called to share that gift - to tell others what gives us joy in the midst of difficulty - hope in the midst of pain - and peace in the midst of trials.

Mother Theresa, in her book Life in the Spirit, shared some thoughts about joy in speaking about her work with the sick in the slums of Calcutta. She said:

Why has our work in the slums been blessed by God? Not because of personal

qualities but because of the happiness that certain nuns show. What we have -

the faith and being convinced that we are the children of God - the people of the

world do not have, especially those who live in the slums. Our joy is the surest

means to announce Christianity to the world. Joy shows from the eyes, it

appears when one speaks and walks. It cannot be kept closed inside us. It reacts outside. When people find in your eyes that habitual happiness, they will understand that they are the beloved children of God. (Mother Theresa of Calcutta, Life in the Spirit, p. 69)

Mary and Elizabeth - and yes even baby John - knew that joy. And it showed in their songs of praise to God - and even in John's little dance and kick. All because they knew the good news that Jesus is coming - our Savior and our Lord!

Do you know that good news? Have you opened your heart up to Jesus and claimed Him and your Lord and Savior? He wants to be in relationship with you. He came so that we might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10) - full of His love and peace and true and abiding joy. He is standing here today with outstretched arms, reaching out to you in love. Will you accept His gift of grace? Will you make a commitment to walk in the light of His love and choose joy? Won't you make a decision today for Christ? You're invited to take that important step right now - come forward and we will pray with you and celebrate your decision. Come now, as we stand and sing.